AP Literature & Composition
Quarter 2 Independent Novel Writing Project
Critical Analysis Essay
QUARTER 2 INDEPENDENT WRITNG PROJECT:
Write a critical analysis essay for one of the two AP novels you’ve read independently. Your
essay will focus on analyzing the novel through one of the following critical lenses:
MARXIST
CRITICISM
MARXIST
CRITICISM
PSYCHOANALYTICAL
CRITICISM
PSYCHOANALYTICAL
CRITICISM
ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM
ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM
NEW CRITICISM (FORMALISM)
NEW
CRITICISM (FORMALISM)
READER-RESPONSE
NEW
HISTORICISM
READER-RESPONSE
GENDER
NEW CRITICISM
HISTORICISM
GENDER CRITICISM
ESSAY REQUIREMENTS:
-Answer all of the critical analysis questions for the lense you choose.
-Include textual evidence (direct and indirect quotes) from your dialectical journal to
support your analysis.
-Include an analysis of at least two elements of literature (character, setting, plot, point of
view, theme, style) in the novel and how they relate to your critical analysis.
-Formatting: Typed in Google Drive, 1.5 spacing, 12 pt. font, 5-7 paragraphs in length,
submit the final draft of your essay to Ms. Smith by Sharing in Google Drive with the
document title “NAME, PERIOD, CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY”: ann.smith@juneauschools.org
*DUE DATE: Thursday, 1/14/16
AP Literature & Composition
Quarter 2 Independent Novel Writing Project
Critical Analysis Essay Outline
EXAMPLE CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY: Gender Criticism of “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin has the main character Mrs. Mallard show thoughts and emotions that can
both support and go against feminism. At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard is overcome with grief over the loss of
her husband. This shows women as being overly emotional compared to men. It is natural for her to be upset over the
death of her husband, and the story has both her sister and her husband’s friend there to break the news to her. Mrs.
Mallard also has heart problems, which can make the reader see her as a weaker person right from the beginning of the
story. From the start, we as readers are told to see Mrs. Mallard as a naturally weaker character and therefore women as
naturally weaker as well.
Another way Mrs. Mallard appears as a weaker person in the story is when she goes to her room alone to continue
her grief. After she enters her room she goes to the chair and the story says, “Into this she sank, pressed down by a
physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” This shows us that her strong emotions
caused her physical exhaustion. Not only was she emotional, but now the story shows that Mrs. Mallard can’t even handle
it physically either. The story goes even further to say that the weakness even goes into her soul which, again, is a
commentary on the physical and emotional limits of the female sex.
After she sits down, Mrs. Mallard begins to appear as a stronger woman, which is where the feminist theory takes
effect. She looks out of the house through the large open window, which could also signify the open opportunities
available to her now as a free woman. She begins to see how her marriage made her into a lesser person. She realizes that
she has been living her life through the limitations of her marriage. Mrs. Mallard knows that she can begin to live for
herself. The story says, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and
women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” This quote shows the feminist theory
that it was assumed women were to be oppressed and shows the patriarchal ideology that men naturally had the ability to
suppress women’s freedom. She had been bending her will and freedom to a man that held all of the control in the
relationship. Marriage, in this story, continues this social and cultural practice of the man having complete control over the
woman. It also seems like Mrs. Mallard thought that she wasn’t even allowed to have her own thoughts in the
relationship, which was probably true. To question your husband at this time period meant that you were being an out of
control wife.
Mrs. Mallard goes on to realize how much she really didn’t love her husband. She doesn’t feel the need to have
guilt over it since he is already gone. She finally breaks away from the role forced onto her as the perfect wife and she can
begin to stop holding herself back. This shows the reader that a woman at this time might not even be aware of just how
much of herself she had to hold back when married. It seems like Mrs. Mallard didn’t allow herself the thoughts of being
completely free from him and what she would be able to do when he was no longer around, until he was actually dead.
The story also shows how Mrs. Mallard begins to develop her own identity. As a reader, we are told that her name
is Mrs. Mallard at the beginning of the story. Through the grief of losing her husband she is still Mrs. Mallard to us. This
shows that her title is really just the name given to her by the laws of marriage. She has no identity of her own; she is just
the woman that belongs to Mr. Mallard. After she realizes how free she is, we begin to see her as an individual person,
apart from her role as Mrs. Mallard. Her emotions and thoughts aren’t about her dead husband anymore; instead they are
about her living without limits. She comes into her own as an individual person. It is right after these thoughts that we
hear her sister begin to call her Louise. Her being called by her given name can signify that she is now an equal to men, an
individual with a name of her own. She is no longer being held back by the constricting role of a wife.
“The Story of an Hour” shows how the thoughts of a woman can change without the limitations of gender
stereotypes and restrictions. Mrs. Mallard thought of time differently after the death of her husband. The story says, “She
breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be
long.” The death of her husband gave her a new outlook on life and her future. Now that she could live for herself, she
wanted nothing more than to have a long time to enjoy it. When she was forced into the role of timid and obedient wife,
she didn’t see a point in living. She would have rather died young than to have to obey her husband for the rest of her life.
With this freedom also comes the irony of the story. After she says this, her husband walks into their home and she
realizes that he wasn’t really dead at all. She had finally allowed herself to think of her life as living for herself. The shock
and disappointment of not being allowed this new independent life is what killed her. She got her wish in the end and
lived a short life, which is what she wanted all along if she was forced to live her life for her husband. It seems that her
body gave her what her mind wanted. It is also ironic because, as in the beginning, she is made to appear to be a weaker
character because of her heart condition. In the end, this weakness is what everyone thinks killed her, instead of her
resistance to being put back into the role that was forced on expected of her.
AP Literature & Composition
Quarter 2 Independent Novel Writing Project
Critical Analysis Essay Grading Rubric
TOTAL PTS._____/50 PTS.