...A Guide to Writing the Literary Analysis Essay I. INTRODUCTION: the first paragraph in your essay. It begins creatively in order to catch your reader’s interest, provides essential background about the literary work, and prepares the reader for your major thesis. The introduction must include the author and title of the work as well as an explanation of the theme to be discussed. Other essential background may include setting, an introduction of main characters, etc. The major thesis goes in this paragraph usually at the end. Because the major thesis sometimes sounds tacked on, make special attempts to link it to the sentence that precedes it by building on a key word or idea. A) Creative Opening/Hook: the beginning sentences of the introduction that catch the reader’s interest. Ways of beginning creatively include the following: 1) A startling fact or bit of information Example: Nearly two hundred citizens were arrested as witches during the Salem witch scare of 1692. Eventually nineteen were hanged, and another was pressed to death (Marks 65). 2) A snatch of dialogue between two characters Example: “It is another thing. You [Frederic Henry] cannot know about it unless you have it.” “ Well,” I said. “If I ever get it I will tell you [priest].” (Hemingway 72). With these words, the priest in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms sends the hero, Frederic, in search of the ambiguous “it” in his life. 3) A meaningful quotation (from the book you are analyzing...
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...savagery through the usage of symbolism to portray the premise that children are savages by nature and without adult guidance or supervision; their entire darker side will manifest itself in full force. The consequential regression of the boys from civilization to savagery is symbolized by the use of the conch, fire, and Piggy’s glasses. First of all, the conch shell manages to demonstrate civilization to savagery through its ability to establish order to build a civilization, lose its power and deteriorate civilization, and shatter to eliminate civilization. In the beginning, the conch is used to establish and uphold order and peace on the island, playing a key role in forming and maintaining a civilization. Ralph uses the conch and his leadership to summon the others, have meetings and delegate positions, assign power, and set rules such as: “[Giving] the conch to the next person to speak” (Golding 31). By adhering to the set of rules regarding the conch shell, the boys still maintain their civilized way of living back at home where there is the existence of government and laws to be adhered to regarding to the existence of social order. However, as time passes by, the conch begins to lose its power and significance and boys begin to succumb to savagery. When Ralph tries to convince the other boys to return to his tribe instead of joining Jack’s tribe by appealing the conch shell as a symbol of authority, Jack denies its significance by saying: “the conch doesn’t count...
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...The theme that all humans are born savages and through society are taught to be sociable, but with the loss of civilization, slowly revert back to their savage ways is used in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies to describe the primitive nature of man. Golding uses many symbols to further explain this theme including the conch, Piggy, and the Beast. The conch symbolizes the order that can be found on the Island when the boys first arrive. Golding explains the conch bring comfort to the littluns and gives them “reassurance of something purposeful being done.” In addition to the conch comforting the littluns, it also keeps the older boys sane. Ralph is found in chapter 10, “cradling the conch” to keep himself from panicking too much. Further,...
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...Symbolism in the Lord of the Flies In everyday life, different objects, places, and people symbolize various meanings. In the major motion picture and best selling novel, The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, the main character, Katniss Everdeen wears a mockingjay pin as a representation of bravery and courage. The mockingjay is an example of a symbol, which according to Random House Webster’s college dictionary is “something used for or regarded as something else.” William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, tells a story about a group of stranded boys on an island and the use of many symbolic items that affect their stay and character. Golding’s use and representation of the conch shell, Piggy’s glasses, and the Beast/Lord of Flies...
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...There was a reported plane crash somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. There were a group of boys that have survived the crash. The boys are left with no adults. We do not know what exact island the crash was on so we can not find the boys at this moment. The boys have to work together to survive the island. As the boys are at the island they find a conch shell. They used the shell to talk through it and nobody else can talk while someone has the conch shell. The boys imply the rule “rule of the conch”. Ralph blows in the conch. It runs their whole speaking system at one point in the book. The boys then have to follow whatever rules come out of the conch. Ralph and Jack both wanted their own rules on the island. All the little boys wanted to follow Jack because he was their leader. Ralph had better interest in the kid’s hearts. So they came to a decision that whoever wanted to go with Ralph, could go with Ralph and whoever wanted to go with Jack, could go with Jack. The boys had split up to kill each other. A boy named Simon has passed away on the island. He was killed by the boys hunting him. The boys had mistaken him for the beast. It was when Simon had found the dead body. He ran out of the cave and the boys did not that it was Simon. They killed Simon and then just left him there to die. The rain on the island eventually moved...
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...something bad happened. First we went to the airport to board the airplane. We boarded the plane mommy was crying like if she wasn’t going to ever see me again. I thought she was crazy. We soon took off the flight was smooth as can be it rocked me to sleep along with soothing lullaby song by my choir boys. When I woke up I was being tossed through the air like a rag doll. We had crashed on an island. The island was full of mates like Ralph, the choir, a fat kid, twins, Simon, Robert, and little’uns. I lined the choir boys up and we marched looking for other survivors. When we could look any more because of heat exhaustion we stripped but naked and went swimming to cool down. While I was doing that ralph stole leader as chief and found thee conch shell while he appointed me as leader of the hunters. Sincerely, jack Journal entry #3: Today was long frustrating day ralph was a dear mate of mine until he started to become a bossy nag. Since we had to stay the night on the island ralph made us go hunt for pigs and berries to eat because we might be here longer than a day. While we do this ralph is watching the little’uns we got fruits and...
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...Conch. A shell described as a deep cream touched with pink color throughout as their only type of actual civilization. As the conch's worth slowly fades it may have brought out savage, betrayal, and desire in all the wrong ways out of the boys. Individual vs. Society is a rough way to look at this situation being there is no adults to keep the way to live, society believes in. They're growing boys unknown of who they are to become, with the conch there to help support the holding of civilization up. The conch is a sense of civilization and order. Once the shell has shown that the boys pick a chief. "'We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They'll come when they hear us-'....'you try, Ralph. You'll call the others'" (Golding, William page16) and "But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerful, there was the conch. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees, was set apart" (page 22). Shows how the conch has appeared to...
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...neighbors? Playing soccer or hockey with your team? Reading books? Riding your bicycle? I think by now you get the idea – choose something that you already know a little something about and enjoy. The next steps is to research that topic. So let’s take the example of collecting sea shells on the beach when vacationing with your family. You can approach the research from several angles. You can research the specific types of shells that are located in a specific region. You can research the area where you found the shells. So let’s say that you found a conch shell on the beach in the Bahamas. You can start researching conch shells. The first step to research is one you already know about “Google”. Type Conch Shell in the google search engine and here are just three of the many choices: http://www.naturefoundationsxm.org/education/queen_conch/how_queen_conch_grows.htm http://www.communityconch.org/why-conchs/conch-facts/ http://www.caske2000.org/survival/conch.htm Be sure to avoid Wikipedia, as this is not a factual website. If you choose instead to write about the area where you found the shells, you can start researching the Bahamas. You can write a paper about the climate in the Bahamas, the history of the Bahamas, foods...
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...As humans we pride ourselves on being civil and intelligent beings, but what happens when that is taken away? According to William Golding author of The Lord of the Flies we become cruel and savage. A conch shell is the boys way of settling law and order, so they don't de-evolve to this state. With this shell they are ready to start a society doomed to fail because of the conch.When Piggy and Ralph find the conch shell it is empty meaning the creature inside it has passed on. The conch, which was created by death,helped lead a group of boys into a doomed society. To them death is now a symbol of power. They chose the leader based on who controlled the conch, who controlled death. When the boys are picking their leader they make a point of saying "'Let him be the chief with the trumpet thing' Ralph raised a hand for silence." (Golding,William 22). Already he showing the qualities of a leader and they are following because he has the conch, he wields death. They are following death. Not only are they following death, but they are following the person who controls it. This foreshadows the failure and loss their society will...
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...Through out the story “Hills Like White Elephants”, Ernest Hemingway shows different views on abortion by explaining different scenic views. In the story, the couple was at a train station debating on going to two different places. The one way of the crossroad displayed a brown, dry, barren type of scenery. The other way on the other hand, had a pleasant, full of life type of background. There were trees, a river, plenty of green plants and one cloud that was going by. To the average reader, they would take this information and see it just as how it was, just the scenery that the author wanted his story to take place in. In this English class and the one I have previously taken, I have learned that there is usually a reason that authors chose the scenery and the other words that they choose. In class we discussed and started explaining how things that were used in the scenery could also be used to show the different views the couple was having on abortion. When Hemingway is saying that the one side of the crossroads was a brown, dry, lifeless looking hillside it could be him showing that that is how life would be without having this child and going through with the abortion. Her life would be just very clean and not have as many things that would be going on. it was not the prettiest of views, especially not exactly what the woman wanted for herself. On the other hand, the other side of the crossroads there was another view. One could say this would be a way...
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...pivot upon which symbolic interactionism revolves around. However, it is not the behavior per se but the covert and overt aspects and the interactions that utilize these behaviors that carry the symbolisms and meanings. In the article, cockfighting is the observed behavior and through it, a whole cultural identity is revealed. Cockfighting could very much be the physical manifestation of an otherwise subdued strain of culture which glorifies men and their masculinity in the Balinese society. The interaction of the men with their cocks highlights the cock as the physical object as the center of a dynamic display of symbolic interactionism. For example, as foreshadowed by the obvious double entendre, the cocks in Bali villages are masculine symbols. Moreover, its metaphorical uses run in the lines of “hero” and “tough guy”. The big event that is cockfighting shows the importance that the society places upon these masculine concepts. Therefore, the Balinese men show utmost reverence for their cocks not only because they are pried fighters, but also because of the symbolism it carries for them. This, in turn, reflects a core principle of the theory wherein behavior is based on the meaning given to the object receiving the behavior and action. With the object being the cocks and the symbolism being their masculinity and ego, there have been practices as frequent grooming, bathing and even hand-feeding of the animals that show a reflexivity where cocks are equal to men’s ego. Furthermore...
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...Calling for Newcastle is a short story written by Julia Darling in 2004. It’s about how low self-confidence effects peoples life. Gloria is the main character. She loves her family very much, she thinks they understand and respect one and another. She doesn’t like to go out - she’s kind a isolated from other people. Her self esteem is very low, and for this she blames her weight. She describes her self as a slow moving, heavily breathing giant. This sounds like she doesn’t think very much about her self and that she doesn’t like the way she looks. Gloria doesn’t want to go to university, but manage to get a job at a call centre - she couldn’t get a job any were else, because she’s to fat. The job is a telephone job, were she has to sell house insurances for 6 pounds an hour. The call centre is described as “a square box between roundabouts, where most employees sit in cubicles, boxes in by thin screens”. There are very quite and the employees don’t really talk to each other, because they don’t know what to talk about. I don’t think any of the employees like working at the call centre, because when Gloria asks Deborah if she enjoys working there, she just says “it’s a job”. One day one of the sales man, Gareth hung himself. No one did not say anything to Gloria, she had to read about it in the local news paper. She felt very angry, because no one had informed her. Gareth symbolizes the non-verbal. People at the call centre don’t care about each other - they are people who...
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...A veil is an article of clothing or cloth hanging that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. It is especially associated with women and sacred objects. One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space. The actual sociocultural, psychological, and sociosexual functions of veils have not been studied extensively but most likely include the maintenance of social distance and the communication of social status and cultural identity.[1][2] In Islamic society, various forms of the veil have been adopted from the Arab culture in which Islam arose The first recorded instance of veiling for women is recorded in an Assyrian legal text from the 13th century BC, which restricted its use to noble women and forbade prostitutes and common women from adopting it.[citation needed] The Mycenaean Greek term a-pu-ko-wo-ko meaning "craftsman of horse veil" written in Linear B syllabic script is also attested since ca. 1300 BC.[3][4] In ancient Greek the word for veil was "καλύπτρα" (kaluptra, Ionic Greek "καλύπτρη" - kaluptrē, from the verb "καλύπτω" - kaluptō, "I cover"[5]) and is first attested in the works of Homer.[6][7] Classical Greek and Hellenistic statues sometimes depict Greek women with both their head and face covered by a veil. Caroline Galt and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones have both argued from such representations and literary references that it was commonplace for women (at least those of higher...
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...The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a touching play about the lost dreams of a southern family and their struggle to escape reality. The play is a memory play and therefore very poetic in mood, setting, and dialogue. Tom Wingfield serves as the narrator as well as a character in the play. Tom lives with his Southern belle mother, Amanda, and his painfully shy sister, Laura. According to Margaret Thornton: “William wrote to himself about himself” (1). Thus, Glass Menagerie’s plot closely mirrors actual events in the author's life. Because Williams related so well to the characters and situations, he was able to portray the play's theme through his creative use of symbolism. The Glass Menagerie reflects Williams's own life so much that it could be mistaken from his autobiography. The characters and situations of the play are much like those found in the small St. Louis apartment where Williams spent part of his life. Williams himself can be seen in the character Tom. Critic writer Andrea Peterson states: “The third Williams child, a boy named Dakin was born after the family moved from Columbus to St. Louis, Missouri, when Thomas was eight. It wasn’t long before the general malaise and unhappiness in young Thomas Lanier’s life would lead him to writing as an escape” (1). One not so obvious character is Mr. Wingfield, who is the absent father seen only by the looming picture hanging in the Wingfield's apartment...
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...ENGL 102: Literature and Composition Summer 2013 Aleta Byrd APA Format Outline Thesis: Symbolism in The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost is descriptive of a young adult's private struggle regarding which path in life to take. I. Thesis and Introduction II. Symbolism of setting a. "Morning" symbolic of beginning of life in line 11 b. "Yellow wood" symbolic of sunrise and beginning in line 1 c. "Wood" in line 18 symbolic of private/inner struggle in line 18 III. Symbolism showing longing for both paths a. "Sorry" in line 2 b. "And both that morning equally lay" in line 11 IV. Symbolism showing backup plan a. "Kept the first for another day" in line 13 V. Symbolism showing satisfaction with choice a. "Made all the difference" in line 20 VI. Conclusion Symbolism in The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost is descriptive of a young adult's private struggle regarding which path in life to take. The many symbols in the poem show a young person who is indecisive about which choice to make and the longing to choose each option in front of them. The symbolism follows the person's indecision through to decision and finally shows satisfaction with the choice made. The first display of symbolism occurs in line 1, where he utilizes the term "yellow wood" to show the earliness of day, reminding the reader of sunrise and also showing symbolically a beginning. Again in line 11, Frost uses the term "morning" to show both the time of day and also symbolize the...
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