Compose a thesis-driven analytical
Description:
This assignment asks you to compose a thesis-driven analytical close reading of one of four short stories found in Alice Walker’s collection In Love & Trouble:
1. “The Welcome Table”
2. “Strong Horse Tea”
3. “Entertaining God”
4. “We Drink the Wine in France”
5. “Diary of an African Nun”
Close reading is a key skill within literary studies. It is an analytical tool characterized by the careful, deliberate interpretation of relatively brief passages of text. Close readings focus intensely on the words on the page; writing one involves the effective use of quotations, paraphrases, and summary as an author guides readers through his or heranalysis of the text.
Length: 5+ pp.
Process:
1. Thesis: usually located in the introductory paragraph, the thesis argues for your interpretation of an important theme throughout the text, considering how the story’s language, images, motifs, and structure contribute to its meaning. Remember that you are arguing a position, and should therefore make the thesis clear and forceful. Depending on your writing style, it may be useful to draft the body of your essay before composing or refining your thesis.Note: a thesis may consist of more than a single sentence.
2. Audience: you should imagine that your reader is intelligent but does not have the work in front of him/her for scrutiny. Your analysis should be self-contained, and the reader should not have to move back and forth between your paper and the work in order to understand your argument.
3. Structure: let the shape of the work guide the structure of your paper. Since you will not be able to attend to the text in its entirety, you will have to select carefully the passages you choose to examine in detail. With that said, your close reading should probably move through the plot in what is roughly sequential order since this will help you to establish the text’s structure for readers. You can and should use brief passages of summary to help move readers from passage to passage.
4. Analysis: for each of the passages that you discuss, explain what is happening and how the language, imagery, and structure of the work contribute to its broader themes. Each passage of text you consider should ideally produce a paragraph or more of analysis. Because this is your guided tour, you should feel empowered to focus on features that will contribute most to your interpretation of the poem. At the same time it is important not to neglect any details within the text that contradict your reading. Note: it is often helpful to approach the text in a linear fashion, thinking through how someone reading the story for the first time would experience it.
5. Direct Quotes: When analyzing your text, you will want to quote from specific passages. At the same time, it is important that you “earn” each of your quotations by attending to the entirety of passage as it appears.
6. Transitions: Since you are writing a process paper that aims to lead readers through the text, transitions are particularly important. Again, it is not a bad idea for you to think of your role as a writer in this case as being akin to that of a polite tour guide steering your readers through the text.
