Second Essay Assignment –Thematic Analysis 10%
Assignment:
Thus far in the semester, we have read W.D. Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham; Robert
Frost"Mending Wall," "Home Burial," "Death of a Hired Man," "A Hundred Collars"; Edith
Wharton Summer; Richard Wright Blackboy; W.D. Howells “Editha”; Mary E. Wilkins
Freeman “A Poetess” Faulkner “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning”: and T.S. Eliot “The
Waste Land” and “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” We have discussed these works in class at
length. This assignment will allow you to further explore a theme in one of these texts. You will
identify a theme and trace that theme in the text, supporting it with ample textual evidence (close
reading of details, passages, and scenes from the book).
Theme:
A theme is what a book says about an issue. If “business ethics” is an issue in The Rise of Silas
Lapham, “The novel argues that maintaining ethics in business is impossible in the corporate
age” is a theme. Reasonable people can disagree with this theme - in other words, you have to
make your case.
For such a short essay, you will need to pay special attention to narrowing your theme. “Family
is important” is much too broad and vague a theme. “Family kinship is more important in the
novel than individual desire” is a narrower and more specific theme.
Requirements:
The essay needs to be approximately 2-3 pages double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 inch Font.
It will need to correctly cite and/or paraphrase passages from the text in correct MLA form. You
need to make it to the third page. In addition, you’ll need to submit your notes/list of evidence
from the text. Make this list before drafting (ideally before settling on a thesis/theme). Your list
should have more evidence than ends up in your essay. You will loose a letter grade on this
assignment if you don’t include this list. See third second page for example. The list can be
handwritten/informal.
Process:
After choosing a topic that interests you, return to the text. Skim the text with this topic in mind,
marking down relevant passages. Think of what stance the book takes on this theme, marshal
evidence from the text, and sketch out an essay draft. I will be available for optional conferences
the week of the 22nd. As you revise the essay, think about organization and support, be sure you
cite specific details, passages or scenes to support your theme, and be sure you explain how they
support your theme. Do not overquote (paraphrase instead!) and be sure to integrate your quotes.
Remember that revision is not correction, it is a re-seeing of your argument and involves content
and organization. Finally, edit the essay at the sentence level for style and grammar. The final
version of the essay is due (March 26).
Optional conference: Week of March 22nd
Final version: Friday march 26
Grading Criteria:
A passing essay must:
Content
 have a clear, focused, and arguable thematic statement
 support this theme adequately with passages from the text
 adequately explain the evidence supporting the theme
 integrate supporting quotes and paraphrases smoothly and correctly into the argument
(make sure quotes are accurate)
 adequately addresses opposing evidence
 conclude somewhere near the top of page three (or on a subsequent page)
Organization
 have an introduction that adequately introduces the theme
 as a whole, be logically organized into well-developed, well-organized paragraphs
 use transitions between paragraphs to make paper organization clear for readers
 use transitions between sentences to make paragraph organization clear to readers
 avoid unnecessary repetition
Style
 be clean stylistically, using concise and clear sentences, strong verbs, and sentence
variety
 be grammatically correct, avoiding “this” as a pronoun, using commas with an
introductory phrases, using a comma and a conjunction to connect two independent
phrases (phrases that can stand alone as sentences), using only a conjunction with
compound verbs
 employ a voice and tone appropriate for academic discourse
 demonstrate conscientious word choice and diction
 be formatted correctly (1inch margins and Times Roman 12inch font)
 include a works cited page, in correct MLA format
Money/materialism in “Barn Burning”
Court set in store – 3
Shelves packed with “tin cans” - 3
Dollar pound fee - 4
Stolen horse – 5
Items in wagon (battered clock etc) – 6
Items in wagon (worn broom etc) -9
Plantation house – 10
“Deluged as though by a warm wave by a suave turn of carpeted stair and a pendent litter of
chandeliers and a mute gleam of gold frames” – 11
“Fine sorrel mare” and “fat bay carriage” – 12
They owned a saddle once – 15-16
Rug cost 100 dollars – 16
Charge of twenty bushels of corn – 16
Ax as a Christmas present – 16-17
Store/court again – 17
Five dollar fine -19