Assignment: To analyze a theme or conflict in both A Doll’s House and Their Eyes
Were Watching God. You will be working on this all week.
Length: 2 1/2-4 typed pages, Double-spaced with an original title, a heading on
the upper left, and an italicized thesis.
Possible Themes or Topics:
l. The Question of Identity: how do the protagonists learn who they are
2. Growth and Change: What are the forces behind Janie’s and Nora’s growth?
3. Discrimination or Gender Bias: How much discrimination or gender or does
each face? How does this contribute to their choices or the outcomes of their
lives?
Use at least 3 quotations from each source.
For Your Analysis:
l. Always use MLA style.
2. Always use present tense to discuss literature.
3. Have an original title that suggests your topic angle.
4. Put quotation marks around your quotations.
5. Your introduction should take at least 4 sentences.
6. Use ellipses and indentation for quoted passages. If your quoted passage is
more than 3 typed lines, then you should indent it 10 spaces. The period of the
citation goes before not after the citation when indenting.
7. All titles that were previously underlined are now italicized.
8. You will be comparing and contrasting. You may use the A/B, A/B method or
the AAA, BBB method. In other words, you may discuss point A about Janie and
then follow with Point A about Nora. Then continue with B and C. OR you may
discuss all three points about one character before continuing to the next. It is
important to balance and treat each equally. I think the alternating method is
the best to use.
In your intro you will include the following:
1) An attention getter or thoughtful or interesting point
2) You should introduce the writers and the work
3) You should give a brief overview of the subjects
4) You should conclude with a thesis that contains an interpretation that you intend to prove
or develop in your essay
Introduction: In both William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and Katherine Mansfield’s ”Miss
Brill,” the reader is given a glimpse into the lives of two old women living in contrasting worlds
but sharing many traits. Both Miss Emily and Miss Brill attempt to adapt to changing
environments as they grow older. Through showing their changes in circumstances, their
relationships with their families, and their eventual approach to living their lives, it becomes
clear that Miss Brill is more successful than Miss Emily
After the introduction, the writer may then do a paragraph about each of the
points mentioned, alternating details about each character.
Contrast and Comparison Transitions
contrast, by the same token, conversely, instead, likewise,
on one hand, on the other hand, on the contrary, rather,
similarly, yet, but, however, still, nevertheless, in contrast
Another Introduction
l. Opening or attention-getter
2. Introduction of work and author
3. Overview or general comments about the book or theme
4. Thesis
Does environment or nature impact human beings more? Is it possible that both nature and
nurture influence people’s lives differently? In Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life and Elie Wiesel’s
Night, both boys undergo experiences that shape the individuals they become. Certainly, these
experiences are not similar in type: Toby must learn to survive as a stepchild of a man who hates
him, with a father who rejects him, and as the child of a mother who cannot face reality. While
Elie learns to escape the cruelty and horror of a concentration camp designed to crush both body
and spirit, he is comforted by the love of his father who stays alive as long as possible in order to
try to save his son. Although the world of Wiesel is horrific and painful, Wiesel perseveres and
does not allow circumstances and others’ behavior to crush his spirit or to violate his morality;
on the other hand, Wolff is not so unscathed: he adopts a moral relativism that allows him to
rationalize his bad behavior and to hold others responsible for his lack of maturity and integrity.
However, one thing is obvious about each: their strong will to survive the obstacles life places
before them.
Thesis Statements for Essays Examining Literary Works
Essays that examine works of literature also cannot deal merely with facts. These essays are
usually written for people who have read the work in question. There is no need to summarize a
work or give very much background on an author’s life.
Think of a thesis as the answer to a question someone might have about the topic. A thesis is
more effective and leads to a better essay if it answers the how or the why question, not who,
what, when, and where.
Beware of absolutes: “George Marshall was the greatest Secretary of State in U.S. history” is not
a good thesis. How would you possibly prove this?
Literary and artistic works never prove anything about the real world. Thus, a novel that
presumes our lives have meaning and another one that does not can both have meaning and be
great.
Be specific: A good thesis is both specific and divided.
Too nonspecific: The character of Ben in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman serves a complex
dramatic function. This point is not a thesis because it is not saying anything specific.
Never use the first person in your thesis.
Never phrase your thesis in the passive voice.
If the thesis appears in the first paragraph, it is call closed-form. Each paragraph offers
something to support the thesis and the conclusion restates the thesis and adds explanation to it,
so it is not repetitious. In an open-form essay, the thesis appears nears the end. The intro
established the issue under consideration, whether by a statement of issue or a rhetorical
question. The issue is left open, so you are offering the reader the chance to explore the issue
with you. Also, the conclusion will be radically different from the introduction, which eliminates
a common problem in closed-form essays: the dreaded summary conclusion.
Some instructors will always want the closed-form essay; others will prefer the open-form.
Conclusions
In an open-form essay, the conclusion provides the answer the question or settles the issue that
the introduction presents. In a closed-form essay the conclusion returns to the thesis and
reconsiders it in light of the evidence the essay has presented. The conclusion should never
simply restate the thesis. If you can easily switch your intro and conclusion, then you have
written a bad conclusion.
The task of a conclusion is to pull a paper together and leave the reader on a strong note. You
should refer to your thesis, pull the ideas of your essay together, and offer a final comment. Do
not introduce new evidence.