Literary Analysis & Research Paper
The next novel we read will be a novel of your choice (relatively speaking.) Your job is to
read with both a macro and mico set of lenses on, investigating the author’s purpose for
writing the novel as well as how he/she achieved that purpose. Basically, you will be
writing a literary analysis essay (as we have done with Lincoln, Birds, etc.) using the entire
scope of a novel. To compliment your insight, you will locate several literature criticisms
(remember Huck?) and utilize them in your essay. Using the novel, a selected passage and
the literature criticisms, you will write a 5-7 page paper, using standard MLA format
(parenthetical citation, Works Cited, etc.)
1)
Choose a novel from the list given. Check out, borrow or buy a copy of your chosen
novel.
2)
Read your novel actively. I would recommend writing in your book if you buy it or
using post-it notes. Identify places in the text where the author utilizes rhetorical
strategies, and keep track of the ones the author uses repeatedly. This will help you
formulate the essay and your thesis before you write it. Remember, you will need
to include page numbers when using quotations from the novel, so do yourself
a favor and keep track of them from the beginning!
3)
Research. Although you will be creating a thesis based on your analysis and reading
of the book, you will need to read literary criticism to support and give substance to
your paper.

You must have a minimum of three sources (more might be necessary and/or
helpful). All of these sources must be reputable (copyrighted and published)
sources. Although occasionally literary criticism can be found on the internet, the
majority of information on the internet is not official (published or reputable).
Please show me your source before you use it; “non-official” sources will not be
accepted. Sites such as Sparknotes and Bookrags are NOT literary criticism.
Literary criticism from the internet is usually limited to library and university
databases. (I will host two field trips, one to SVCC and one to Western to help you
find these.) You should plan on visiting a library on your own time as well.

You must include copies of all your sources. You will receive a 0 if you do not
include a copy of each source.
4)
Using your novel, literary criticism, and your own analysis, write a five to sevenpage paper on the following prompt:
What is the author’s purpose in the novel,
and how does he/she achieve it?
There are several ways to complete this assignment. You may:
 Select one or two extended passages from the novel and analyze how they
help develop the author’s purpose. Be sure the passages you select merit an
analytical discussion. If no rhetorical strategies are used in your passage(s)
then it is probably not the best selection.
 Use multiple examples throughout the novel to illustrate the author’s
rhetorical strategies.
Use the Lit Analysis & Research Paper Outline to help you figure out how to
structure and begin your paper.
5)
Academic honesty. This is a research paper and you are allowed to use other
academic’s work as support if documented properly. You must, however,
have an original thesis and commentary. Unless quoting, you must put it in
your own words. You must synthesize the information in your sources to
achieve unified support for your paper.
Any broach of academic honesty is taken very seriously. The paper will receive a
0, a referral will be written, and trust between teacher and student will be
forever compromised.
If you are unsure about paraphrasing, documenting, or writing this paper,
please talk to me. This is not a valid excuse for academic dishonesty.
Novels
To Kill a Mockingbird—Harper Lee
Through the young eyes of Scout Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty
the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a
town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man's
struggle for justice—but the weight of history will only tolerate so much. One of the best-loved classics of all
time, To Kill a Mockingbird has earned many distinctions since its original publication in 1960. It has won the
Pulitzer Prize, been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide,
and been made into an enormously popular movie. It was also named the best novel of the twentieth century by
librarians across the country (Library Journal). A beautiful coming-of-age story; first person narrator.
Ethan Frome—Edith Wharton
Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his
difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena’s vivacious cousin enters their household
as a "hired girl," Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to
represent. In one of American fiction’s finest and most intense narratives, Edith Wharton moves this ill-starred
trio toward their tragic destinies. Different in both tone and theme from Wharton’s other works, Ethan Frome
has become perhaps her most enduring and most widely read novel (Amazon.com). A heartbreaking love story.
A Farewell to Arms—Ernest Hemingway
This is the story of Lieutenant Henry, an American, and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse. The two
meet in Italy, and almost immediately Hemingway sets up the central tension of the novel: the tenuous nature of
love in a time of war. During their first encounter, Catherine tells Henry about her fiancé of eight years who had
been killed the year before in the Somme. Explaining why she hadn't married him, she says she was afraid
marriage would be bad for him. The two begin an affair, with Henry quite convinced that he "did not love
Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead
of playing cards." Soon enough, however, the game turns serious for both of them and ultimately Henry ends up
deserting to be with Catherine (Amazon.com). One of Ms. K’s favorites of all time!!
Tortilla Curtain—T.C. Boyle
Delaney Mossbacher is a wealthy, conscientious liberal on his way to the recycling center when he hits a
pedestrian with his car as he's driving in the suburbs of Los Angeles. The man hit is Candido Rincon, a poor,
illegal immigrant from Mexico. Feeling guilty, Delaney gives Candido twenty dollars to compensate for his
injuries, and the two men go their separate ways. Yet with the accident, Delaney and Candido's lives become
woven together for the rest of the novel. As the novel goes on, however, the Mossbachers begin to show their
true characters. Delaney especially is threatened by the Mexicans who are moving to L.A. looking for work. He
grows more and more paranoid and xenophobic, drops his liberal posturing and starts acting in all the
reactionary ways he never thought himself capable of (allreaders.com).
The Scarlett Letter—Nathaniel Hawthorn
Hester Prynne, a young woman, has borne an illegitimate child in a village in Puritan New England.
Hester believes herself a widow, but her husband, Roger Chillingworth, returns to New England very much
alive and conceals his identity. He finds his wife forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her dress as punishment
for her adultery. Chillingworth becomes obsessed with finding the identity of his wife's former lover. --The
Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Literature Analysis & Research Paper
Outline
Title of Novel:
Author:
Date written:
Speaker:
This information will probably appear in
your _____________________
Occasion:
Audience:
Purpose:
Subject:
Tone:
Purpose of Novel (why was it written? What is the author attempting to say/do? Use your list of
purpose words to help. Remember, purpose should be an active verb, i.e.: satirize slavery in preCivil War America, to criticize war, etc.):
Rhetorical Strategies Used (don’t forget to consider style and organization as well as 90/90
terms:
1. _______________________ (
Rhetorical strategy
2. _______________________ (
Rhetorical strategy
3. _______________________ (
Rhetorical strategy
4. _______________________ (
Rhetorical strategy
):
page(s)
):
page(s)
):
page(s)
):
page(s)
Decide on an organizational schema for your paper. Will you move chronologically through the
passage(s)/novel? Will you organize around rhetorical strategies (discuss style, then allusions, then
parallel language, then figurative language?) Organize around ideas related to purpose? Formulate a
working outline below, paying attention to the organization of your paper.
How might you use the Literary Criticisms you found?
1. ______________________ Part to use and how it might be used:
Author of Lit Crit
2. ______________________ Part to use and how it might be used:
Author of Lit Crit
3. ______________________ Part to use and how it might be used:
Author of Lit Crit
4. ______________________ Part to use and how it might be used:
Author of Lit Crit
Remember, you must include at least three different Lit Crits in your analysis. This is the research/synthesis portion of your paper. Of course, you may use
more than three and use different sections from one lit crit, but you must include at least three different ones. Don’t forget to include these and your novel on
your works cited page. Double check your parenthetical citation for accuracy!
Research paper timeline/checklist
________
Tuesday, March 8
Introduction of assignment
List of novel options
** Choose and get your novel this week. Get it from me, borrow, buy, or order ASAP; you must have it
by Tuesday.
________
Tuesday, March 15
Bring novel to class. Note: You will not be permitted to change after this date.
________
Weeks of March 15-April 1
Read on your own. Your goal should be to finish the book by the end April 5th.
_______
Tuesday, March 29—Skagit Valley Community College (Library) 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 2—Western Washington University (meet at SWHS @ 9 a.m.)
Intro to finding literary criticism at libraries
Goal: Find sources in the library and make copies today
(*Note: Bring change to make copies; meet at SWHS to carpool and caravan to Western)
If you can’t make one of these dates, do not despair. The librarians or a fellow student are at your disposal
for assistance! Use your resources. You are still responsible for finding legitimate lit crits.
________
Tuesday, April 19
Three legitimate sources (lit crits) due (I can check the others if you have more)—must have photocopies
of the sources. Remember you’ll need photocopies of ALL sources when you turn in your research.
_______
Weeks of April 11-22 (Spring Break included)
Start writing your paper.
________
Wednesday, April 20
Outline due
________
Friday, April 22
Typed rough draft due (including Works Cited, etc.)
________
Tuesday, April 26
(*Must be delivered to my classroom before 1st period; even if you are not at school this day, your paper
must be delivered at this time as well)
** DUE- Literature Analysis paper with literary criticism
You must include:
 Your paper (MLA format; Works Cited, etc.)
 Copies of ALL of your literary criticism
Please use a binder clip or other fastening device to hold all work together.
Do NOT place work in a folder or plastic sleeve!