Literary Analysis Paper

Your task is to write will write a literary analysis of no fewer than 750 words on your chosen given topic.

Choose the topic below that corresponds with the novel you read in the novel study. The introduction should include a clear thesis (not a restatement of the prompt), which should be the claim upon which your essay will be built. Each body paragraph should begin with a strong topic sentence (an assertion), and contain evidence from the novel, as well as your own commentary, which will connect your evidence with the claim. End your essay with a strong conclusion in which you again revisit your thesis statement and give your reader “food for thought”– what didn’t you say in your essay that is relevant to the overall essay and your assertion?

ESSAY PROMPTS

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Review the following themes of the novel:

1. Parents must take responsibility for their children, and creators must take responsibility for their creations.
2. Nature is a source of solace and inspiration.
3. Manipulation of nature has devastating effects.
4. Excessive pursuit of knowledge or ambition leads to destruction.
5. Human beings need love and companionship; repeated rejection and alienation leads to antisocial behavior.

Choice #1: Choose one of the above themes, and analyze how Shelley expresses the theme in the novel.

Choice #2: Analyze a key scene from the novel, discussing how this scene in particular advances one of Shelley’s major themes. In the introduction, contextualize the scene (where in the novel it is located, what characters are present). Then have a clear thesis in which you make your assertion about the scene’s importance (to plot, character, and theme).

• provide a clear and cohesive introduction, body, and conclusion
• support your main points with evidence from the text
• explain how the evidence supports your ideas
• include transitions to link the major sections of the text
• use language that is appropriate for your audience
  • Do not use 1st or 2nd person—use 3rd person.
  • Use words for numerals when no more than two words are required.  Ex:  ten, four hundred, but 123.
  • Avoid these words:  thing, a lot, nice, very, really.
  • Do not use slang (say father instead of dad).
  • For literary analysis, use present tense when referring to the literature.