Reading Critically And Interpreting Literature
Introduction:
Literature comes in many forms and comments on the culture and society in which it was written. However, the tools for successfully analyzing and interpreting literature remain constant throughout genres and time periods. Careful study of the written word results in finely honed analytical tools, which cross discipline boundaries and are further useful in interpreting and understanding mathematical equations, scientific problems, and day-to-day events.
This task asks you to critically read, analyze, and interpret two works of literature. You will analyze the ways in which characters in the literary works experience social struggles, whether they are based in class, race, gender, sexuality, educational level, or region. In order to achieve this, you will choose literary elements that help you analyze and show how this social struggle is represented in the literary works you choose.
For this assessment, choose one of the following options:
Option 1: Multimedia Presentation (suggested length of 15–20 slides)
Your slides should include the following:
Introduction with thesis
Main points of your argument/literary analysis
Relevant quotations and citations from the texts
Conclusion
Option 2: Written Analysis (suggested length of 10–12 pages)
Your analysis should include the following:
Introduction with thesis
Main points of your argument/literary analysis
Relevant quotations and citations from the texts
Conclusion
Select two of the following literary works of the same genre (e.g., two novels or two poems) to be the subject of your presentation or analysis.
Short Stories and Novellas:
Jorge Louis Borges, “The Garden of Forking Paths”
Ray Bradbury, “The Veldt”
Angela Carter, “The Loves of Lady Purple”
William Faulkner, “Arose For Emily”
Jacques Futrelle, “The Problem of Cell 13”
William Gibson, “Johnny Mnemonic”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Yellow Wallpaper”
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s Daughter”
E.T.A. Hoffman, “The Sandman”
Henry James, “Daisy Miller”
H.P. Lovecraft, “The Outsider”
Katherine Mansfield, “Miss Brill”
Yukio Mishima, “Patriotism”
Toni Morrison, “Recitatif”
Joyce Carol Oates, “In the Region of Ice”
James Tiptree Jr, “The Girl Who Was Plugged In”
Plays:
Jean Anouilh, Becket
David Auburn, Proof
T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral
Brian Friel, Translations
James Goldman, The Lion in Winter: A Play
Lorraine Hansberry, Raisin in the Sun
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House
Ben Jonson, Volpone
Thomas Middleton, The Revenger’s Tragedy
Marsha Norman, ‘night, Mother
Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey Into Night
William Shakespeare, Measure of Measure
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Anna Deveare Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Tom Stoppard, Arcadia
Luis Valdez, Zoot Suit
Novels:
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye
Jane Austen, Persuasion
Octavia Butler, Kindred
A.S. Byatt, Possession
Michael Cunningham, The Hours
Phillip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Charles Dickens, Hard Times
E.M. Forster, Howard’s End
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Ursula LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress
Michael Ondaajte, The English Patient
Zadie Smith, On Beauty
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Edith Wharton, House of Mirth
Poems:
W.H. Auden, “Funeral Blues”
Anna Leticia Barbauld, “Washing Day”
Elizabeth Bishop, “In the Waiting Room”
Gwendolyn Brooks, “To the Diaspora”
Mark Doty, “The Embrace”
Paul Laurence Dunbar, “Sympathy” (“I know why the caged bird sings”), 1899.
Queen Elizabeth I, “The Doubt of Future Foes”
Robert Frost , “Out, Out—”
Allen Ginsberg, “A Supermarket in California”
Seamus Heaney, “Blackberry-Picking”
Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B”
Suhi Kwock Kim, “Monologue for an Onion”
Li-Young Lee, “For a New Student of These United States”
Audre Lorde, “Hanging Fire”
Marianne Moore, “Poetry”
Marge Piercy, “Barbie Doll”
Mary Jo Salter, “Welcome to Hiroshima”
Wallace Stevens, “Sunday Morning”
Walt Whitman, “Beat! Beat! Drums!”
Thomas Wyatt, “They Flee From Me”
Choose three of the literary elements listed below:
Plot
Characterization
Point of view
Irony
Figurative language
Diction
Tone/mood
Symbolism
Theme
Setting
Imagery
Task:
A. Introduce the first literary work and how the characters experience social struggles.
B. Introduce the second literary work and how the characters experience social struggles.
C. Analyze the ways in which the first literary element helps to reveal the characters’ social struggles.
1. Cite one example from the first work that demonstrates how this literary element reveals a specific social struggle.
2. Cite one example from the second work that demonstrates how this literary element reveals a specific social struggle.
3. Compare and contrast how the literary element reveals the characters’ social struggles in the two works.
D. Analyze the ways in which the second literary element helps to reveal the characters’ social struggles.
1. Cite one example from the first work that demonstrates how this literary element reveals a specific social struggle.
2. Cite one example from the second work that demonstrates how this literary element reveals a specific social struggle.
3. Compare and contrast how the literary element reveals the characters’ social struggles in the two works.
E. Analyze the ways in which the third literary element helps to reveal the characters’ social struggles.
1. Cite one example from the first work that demonstrates how this literary element reveals a specific social struggle.
