Essay #2--1
English 2353: Literature by Women
Response Essay #2
Description and Directions:
A critical analysis is one in which you formally write out your reading of a selected piece of
literature. An analysis involves closely reading the text and providing a reader with what you
see as significant about it. You will need to develop your own argument about the text, citing
direct and indirect passages from the text as evidence to support your argument. You do not
need to be preoccupied with the “theme” of the text, instead you may want to consider other
elements, like cultural representation, political views the author might be offering, critiques of
society, gender issues, rhetorical strategies, and many others. However, often dealing with
other elements will lead you back to the question of main idea or function (what the text reflects
or what the author might be expressing). Remember, you do not want to try to answer all the
important questions about the text but rather the important answers relative to your own
argument: the “so what” question. Assume that I have read the text and do not summarize
unless absolutely pertinent to your own argument. Also, remember that you do not need to
convince me that the text is important/worthwhile or that the writer is good.
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Use Times New Roman, 12pt.
Double-space.
Indent for paragraphs.
Have a title and center it at the top of the page with no extra line spaces.
Use MLA style for heading and format: 1” margins on all sides, place your name, my
name, your class and section number, and the date at the top left hand corner of the first
page. Make sure your last name appears in the top right hand corner of the page along
with the page number, and make sure that the paper is stapled or paper clipped together.
 Do not use secondary sources, unless approved by me.
 Your idea should be central.
 You must cite from the text in order to support your claims about the text.
Suggestions for Topics (Don’t try to answer all the parts of every topic. These are meant
to be provocative questions to lead you to a topic.):
Choose only one author’s text(s) to consider from among the following: Harriet Jacobs,
Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Mary Wollstonecraft,
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Virginia Woolf or Kate Chopin.
1. How are women portrayed in/by the text? What is their nature? What are their dominant
qualities? How are they characterized? How are they contrasted or compared to men,
and what does this comparison illustrate about their culture?
Essay #2--2
2. How is marriage represented in these texts? Is it desirable for a woman to marry? How
is her life as a married woman portrayed? What about women who do not marry? How
are their lives represented?
3. How is a woman’s education described? Is it compared to a man’s education, and if so,
how does it fare? What does her education tell us about her lifestyle? Her expectations
for marriage?
4. How are social concerns, like the impoverished classes, represented by these women?
How do they use their text to speak their political views? Who do they blame for the
social and political ills?
5. How is motherhood represented? Has it changed from the earlier readings?
6. How is the issue of insanity considered and represented? Does the issue of insanity
connect with other female issues, such as education, proper sphere, and/or motherhood?
Suggestions for Procedure:
1. Choose 1/2 quotes that are significant to the text. In other words, they seem to state
partially or wholly what the text is all about or support the argument that you are making
about the text. Make sure that the quotes that you choose either work together to express
the point or both express the same point.
2. The format that you might follow for your paper is:
a. Introduce the quote/set it up for the reader.
b. Provide quote.
c. Write what you think quote actually says.
d. Explain the quote’s significance to the text.
e. Explain the quote’s relationship to your overall idea/argument/main
point about the text
3. If you are struggling to begin, start writing your paper with the quotes. Really work on
explaining them to the reader and on explaining their importance to the text. Then, work
on the overall coherence of the paper by adding your introduction and conclusion last.
Checklist for Final Paper:
1. Do you focus on one topic/position (or connect your ideas with a unifying topic)?
2. Is your position/opinion/voice prevalent in the paper, using the quotes as support only? Be careful to do
more than merely summarize the text.
3. Do you use at least one quote from the text in your paper to support your position about the text? Do
you introduce and explain your quotes? Do you cite and punctuate your quotes correctly?
4. Is your position debatable? Could someone else argue with your position?
5. Have you proofread for errors: grammar, typos, and punctuation? Do your sentences follow one anther
in a logical/readable order?
6. Is your paper at least three full pages long? Does it fully cover the topic you have chosen?
7. It has been my experience that the better papers almost always are the ones that have been revised and
revised and revised.