Successful college writing, Eighth edition - Kathleen T. McWhorter 2020

Reading and writing about literature
Academic and business applications

✵ 24 Reading and Writing about Literature

✵ 25 Essay Examinations and Portfolios

✵ 26 Multimedia Presentations and Business Writing

CHAPTER 24Reading and Writing about Literature

In this chapter you will learn to

✵ develop a general approach to reading literature

✵ understand the language of literature

✵ analyze short stories

✵ analyze poetry

✵ write a literary analysis

Writing Quick Start

ANALYZE

Suppose your American literature instructor asks you to read carefully “The Bean Eaters,” a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks (1917—2000). Brooks was a major American writer of poetry as well as fiction and nonfiction prose. She was the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for poetry (for Annie Allen, 1949). “The Bean Eaters” was originally published in 1960, in a collection of poems of the same title.

WRITE

After reading “The Bean Eaters,” how would you describe the life of the elderly couple shown in the photo on this page? (Note that the couple in the photo is not the couple described in the poem.) Using information about the life of the elderly couple presented in “The Bean Eaters,” as well as your own experience with elderly people, write a paragraph describing what you think the couple’s relationship might be like. How does Brooks’s description of one elderly couple help you understand other elderly people like the man and woman in the photo?

CONNECT

This writing task requires you to analyze and respond to a piece of literature. In this chapter you will learn skills to enable you to evaluate and write in response to literature.

The first half of this chapter offers a general approach to reading and understanding literature. The second half focuses on the characteristics of literary analysis and provides a Guided Writing Assignment. Although literature can take many forms — including poetry, short stories, biography, autobiography, drama, essays, and novels — this chapter concentrates on two literary genres: short stories and poetry.

READING

The Bean Eaters

Gwendolyn Brooks

They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair.

Dinner is a casual affair.

Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood,

Tin flatware.

Two who are Mostly Good.

Two who have lived their day,

But keep on putting on their clothes

And putting things away.

And remembering . . .

Remembering, with twinklings and twinges,

As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that

is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths,

tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.

Both “The Bean Eaters” and the paragraph you wrote in the Writing Quick Start paint a picture of an elderly couple. Through carefully selected details, the poem describes the couple’s daily activities, memories of the past, and current economic situation (“They eat beans mostly,” “Plain chipware,” and “rented back room” reveal that the couple is poor). The poem also suggests that routine is important to the couple (“But keep on putting on their clothes / And putting things away”) and that their memories of the past are both good (“twinklings”) and bad (“twinges”).

“The Bean Eaters” suggests an answer to a question many students ask: “Why should I read or write about literature?” This poem, like all other literature, is about the experiences people share. Literature often deals with large issues: What is worthwhile? What is moral? What is beautiful? When you read and write about literature, you gain insights into many aspects of human experience and thereby enrich your own life.

LITERATURE

IN COLLEGE AND THE WORKPLACE

✵ Your art history professor asks you to read Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls (a novel set during the Spanish Civil War) and to write a paper discussing its meaning in conjunction with Picasso’s Guernica, a painting that vividly portrays a scene from that war.

✵ In a film class, you watch Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Your instructor asks you to read excerpts from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and write a paper evaluating how successfully the film portrays Juliet.

✵ You work at a local public library. Your supervisor has asked you to read several children’s books that she is considering featuring during story hour and to write an evaluation of each.

A General Approach to Reading Literature

Textbooks focus primarily on presenting factual information, but works of literature are concerned with interpreting ideas, experiences, and events. Literature uses facts, description, and details to convey larger meanings.

The following general guidelines will help you read literary works effectively:

1. Preview the work before reading it. Be ready to respond to the work; don’t make up your mind about it before you study the work in earnest. Read background information about the author and the work and study the title. Read the first few and last few paragraphs of a short story, and quickly skim the pages in between to notice the setting, the names of the characters, and the amount of dialogue. Read poems through once to get an initial impression.

For more on previewing, see Chapter 2.

2. Read to establish the literal meaning first. During the first reading of a work, establish its literal meaning. Who is doing what, when, and where? Identify the general subject, specific topic, and main character. What is happening? Describe the basic plot, action, or sequence of events. Establish where and during what time period the action occurs.

3. Reread slowly and carefully to study the language. Works of literature use language in unique and creative ways, requiring you to read them slowly. Interact with the work by jotting down your reactions as you read. Include hunches, insights, feelings, and questions. Highlight or underline key words, phrases, or actions that seem important or that you want to reconsider later. Mark interesting uses of language, such as striking phrases or descriptions, as well as sections that hint at the deeper meaning of the work. Note that literature often bends the rules of grammar and usage. Writers of literature may use sentence fragments, ungrammatical dialogue, or unusual punctuation to create a particular effect. When you encounter such instances, remember that most writers bend the rules for a purpose. Ask yourself what that purpose is.

4. Reread once again to identify themes and patterns and piece together your interpretation. Study your annotations to identify the conflict and discover how the ideas in the work link together to suggest a theme. Themes are large or universal topics that are important to nearly everyone. For example, the theme of a poem or short story might be that independence is a crucial component of true happiness or that growing up involves a loss of innocence. Think of the theme as the main point a poem or short story makes. To understand the work’s theme, consider why the writer wrote the work and what message, view, or lesson about human experience the writer is trying to communicate. (For more about themes, see the section “Analyze Short Stories.”

5. Write one or more paragraphs identifying the conflict and how it gets resolved, and stating what you think is the main theme. Concluding your study of a work of literature with your own statement will help you move from comprehension of the work to your own interpretation and analysis of its significance.

Literary works are complex; you should not expect to understand a poem or short story immediately. You will need to reread parts or the entire work several times; its meanings will often come clear only gradually.

Understand the Language of Literature

For more on figures of speech, see Chapter 9 and Chapter 12.

Many writers, especially writers of literary works, use figures of speech to describe people, places, or objects and to communicate ideas. Figurative language is language used in a nonliteral way; it makes sense imaginatively or creatively but not literally. Three common figures of speech — similes, metaphors, and personification — make comparisons. Writers often use another literary device, symbols, to suggest larger themes. In addition, some writers use irony to convey the incongruities of life.

Similes, Metaphors, and Personification

Similes and metaphors are comparisons between two unlike things that have at least one common trait. A simile uses the word like or as to make a comparison, whereas a metaphor states or implies that one thing is another thing. If you say, “My father’s mustache is a house painter’s brush,” your metaphor compares two dissimilar things — a mustache and a paintbrush — that share a common trait: straight bristles. If you say, “Martha’s hair looks like she just walked through a wind tunnel,” your simile creates a more vivid image of Martha’s hair than if you simply stated, “Martha’s hair is messy.” Here are some additional examples from literary works:

SIMILE

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

— Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

METAPHOR

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden

When writers use personification, they attribute human characteristics to objects or ideas, as in this Emily Dickinson poem in which the poet likens death and immortality to passengers in a carriage: “Because I could not stop for Death — / He kindly stopped for me — / The carriage held but just Ourselves — / and Immortality.” Like similes and metaphors, personification often creates a strong visual image.

Symbols

A symbol suggests more than its literal meaning. The sun breaking through the clouds, for instance, might suggest hope; the color white often suggests innocence and purity (or mourning in many Asian cultures). Because the writer does not directly state the abstract idea that a symbol represents, a symbol may suggest more than one meaning. A white handkerchief, for example, might symbolize retreat in one context but good manners in another. Some literary critics believe the white whale in Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick symbolizes evil, whereas others see the whale as representing the forces of nature.

To recognize symbols in a literary work, look for objects that are given a particular or unusual emphasis. The object may be mentioned often, may be suggested in the title, or may appear at the beginning or end of the work. Also be on the lookout for familiar symbols, such as flowers, doves, and colors.

Irony

Irony is literary language or a literary style in which actions, events, or words are contrary to what readers expect. For example, a prizefighter cowering at the sight of a spider is ironic because you expect prizefighters to be brave, a fire station burning down is ironic because you expect that a firehouse would be protected against fires, and a student saying that she is glad she failed an important exam is ironic because you expect the student to be upset that she failed the exam.

EXERCISE 24.1

FIGURES OF SPEECH IN EVERYDAY LANGUAGE

Working with another student, make a list of common metaphors and similes; examples of personification; and symbols you have heard or seen in everyday life, in films or television programs, or in works of literature.

Analyze Short Stories

A short story is a brief fictional narrative. Short stories are shorter than novels, and their scope is much more limited. For example, a short story may focus on one event in a person’s life, whereas a novel may chronicle the events in the lives of an entire family. Like a novel, a short story makes a point about some aspect of the human experience.

When analyzing short stories, pay particular attention to five key elements:

1. Setting

2. Characters

3. Point of view

4. Plot

5. Theme

A worksheet later in the chapter will help you analyze short stories in terms of these five elements.

Read “The Story of an Hour” before continuing with this section of the chapter. The sections that follow will explain these five key elements and how each of them works in this short story.

READING: SHORT STORY

The Story of an Hour

Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin (1850—1904), a nineteenth-century American writer, is best known for her novel The Awakening (1899), which outraged early literary critics with its portrayal of a woman in search of sexual and professional independence. As you read the following short story, originally published in Vogue magazine in 1894, look for, highlight, and annotate the five primary elements of short stories discussed in this chapter.

1Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.

2It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of “killed.” He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.

3She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.

4There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.

5She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

6There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.

7She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.

8She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.

9There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know, it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.

10Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will — as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.

11When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “Free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.

12She did not stop to ask if it were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.

13She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.

14There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.

15And yet she had loved him — sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being.

16“Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering.

17Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door — you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.”

18“Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.

19Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. 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.

20She arose at length and opened the door to her sister’s importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister’s waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.

21Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his gripsack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.

22But Richards was too late.

23When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease — of joy that kills.

Setting

The setting of a short story is the time, place, and circumstance in which the story occurs. The setting provides the framework and atmosphere in which the plot develops and characters interact. For example, Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” is set in nineteenth-century London in December. When analyzing setting, consider other events that might have occurred in that place and time and how those events might affect the story.

The setting of “The Story of an Hour” is the Mallards’ home, and the events take place during the course of one hour. The place and time are unclear, but the events seem to be taking place in the past, before women commonly worked outside the home or could divorce easily.

Characters

The characters are the actors in the story. They reveal themselves through dialogue, actions, appearance, thoughts, and feelings. Drawing a character map (Figure 24.1) can help you understand the relationships among characters. On a blank piece of paper, write the main character’s name inside a circle. Then add other characters’ names, connecting them with lines to the main character. On the connecting lines, briefly describe the relationships between characters and the events or other factors (such as emotions) that affect their relationship.

FIGURE 24.1 Sample Character Map for “The Story of an Hour”

The illustration shows four ovals representing the characters as follows. “Narrator,” “Missus Mallard,” “Brently Mallard,” and “Josephine.” Annotations on lines connecting the ovals read: "The narrator describes events and has knowledge of Missus Mallard’s thoughts and feelings." "Josephine, Missus Mallard’s sister, and Richards, Missus Mallard’s husband’s friend, break the news of Brently Mallard’s death and console Missus Mallard." "The husband’s appearance causes Missus Mallard’s death."

The narrator, the person who tells the story, may also comment on or reveal information about the characters. The narrator is not necessarily the author of the story. The narrator can be one of the characters in the story or an onlooker who observes but does not participate in the action. Think critically about what the narrator reveals about the personalities, needs, and motives of the characters and whether the narrator’s opinions may be colored by his or her perceptions and biases.

“The Story of an Hour” is centered on one principal character, Louise Mallard; Brently Mallard, a secondary character, is her husband, whose reported death and reappearance are the focus of Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. The narrator describes but does not participate in the action.

Point of View

The point of view is the perspective from which the story is told. There are two common points of view: first person and third person.

✵ In the first-person (I, we) point of view, the narrator tells the story as he or she sees or experiences it (“I saw the crowd gather at the cemetery”). A first-person narrator may be one of the characters or someone observing but not participating in the story.

✵ In the third-person (he, she, they) point of view, the narrator tells the story as if someone else is experiencing it (“Laura saw the crowd gather at the cemetery”). Third-person narrators fall into three categories:

1. The narrator reports only the actions that can be observed from the outside but does not know or report the characters’ thoughts.

2. The narrator enters the minds of one or more (but not all) characters and writes about their thoughts and motives.

3. The omniscient, or all-knowing, third-person narrator is aware of and reports on the thoughts and actions of all characters in the story.

To identify the point of view, consider who is narrating the story and what the narrator knows about the characters’ actions, thoughts, and motives. “The Story of an Hour” is told by an omniscient narrator who is not directly involved in the story. The narrator is knowledgeable about Mrs. Mallard’s actions and feelings, and seems to report them sympathetically. Rather than present her as an uncaring or even cruel woman actively planning her life after her husband’s death, the narrator establishes her as helpless and acted upon. Mrs. Mallard perceives that something “was approaching to possess her,” powerless to “beat it back with her will” (para. 10).

Plot

The plot is the basic story line — that is, the sequence of events and actions through which the story’s meaning is expressed. (See Figure 24.2.) The plot often centers on a conflict — a problem or clash between opposing forces — and the resolution of the conflict. Once the scene is set and the characters are introduced (the exposition), a problem or conflict arises. Suspense and tension build as the conflict unfolds (rising action) and the characters wrestle with the problem. The events come to a climax, or turning point. Finally, the conflict is resolved and the story concludes (falling action and resolution). For stories with complicated plots that flash backward and forward in time, creating a time line, a chronological listing of events, may be helpful.

FIGURE 24.2 The Plot Structure of a Story

The triangle shows the labels “Climax” at the top vertex, “Exposition” at the left vertex, and “Resolution” at the right vertex. The left side is labeled “Rising action” and the right side is labeled “Falling action.”

The plot of “The Story of an Hour” is straightforward: Mrs. Mallard is told that her husband was killed in a railroad accident and then discovers that he is still alive. The important part of the story occurs in Mrs. Mallard’s mind and bodily responses, as she grasps the meaning of her husband’s death and looks ahead to life without him.

Theme

The theme of a story is its central or dominant idea — the main point the author makes about the human experience. (Recall that themes are large or universal topics that are important to nearly everyone.) Readers do not always agree about a story’s theme. Therefore, in analyzing a short story, you must give evidence to support your interpretation of the theme. The following suggestions will help you uncover clues:

1. Study the title. What meanings does it suggest?

2. Analyze the main characters. Do the characters change? If so, how, and in response to what?

3. Look for broad statements about the conflict. What do the characters and narrator say about the conflict or their lives?

4. Look for symbols, figures of speech, and meaningful names (Young Goodman Brown, for example).

Once you uncover a theme, try expressing it in a sentence rather than as a single word or brief phrase. For example, saying that a story’s theme is “dishonesty” or “parent-child relationships” does not reveal the story’s full meaning. When expressed as a sentence, however, a story’s theme becomes clear: “Dishonesty sometimes pays” or “Parent-child relationships are often struggles for power and control.”

One possible theme of “The Story of an Hour” is that independence is key to human happiness: When Mrs. Mallard learns that she is free of her husband, she becomes elated and looks forward to the years of freedom ahead of her. She dies when she realizes that her newfound freedom was illusory; her husband is alive. Another possible theme is that things are not always as they seem: Mrs. Mallard foresees an independent life ahead of her but is forced to realize that she is not free after all.

EXERCISE 24.2

IDENTIFYING THE ELEMENTS OF A TV PROGRAM

Working in groups of two or three, choose a television situation comedy and watch one episode, either together or separately. After viewing the program, identify each of the following elements: setting, characters, point of view, and plot. Then consider whether you think the episode has a theme.

Use the worksheet below to guide your analysis of the short story “Love in L.A.”

Worksheet for Analyzing Short Stories

Author:

Title:

Year of Publication:

Publisher:

Medium:

Setting: Time

1. In what time period (century or decade) does the story take place?

2. What major events (wars, revolutions, famines, political or cultural movements) occurred during that time, and what bearing might they have on the story?

Setting: Place

1. In what geographic area does the story take place? (Try to identify the country and the city or town, as well as whether the area is an urban or rural one.)

2. Where does the action occur? (For example, does it occur on a battlefield, in a living room, or on a city street?)

3. Why is the place important? (Why couldn’t the story occur elsewhere?)

Characters

1. Who are the main characters in the story?

2. What are the distinguishing qualities and characteristics of each character?

3. Why do you like or dislike each character?

4. How and why do characters change (or not change) as the story progresses?

Point of View

1. Is the narrator a character in the story or strictly an observer?

2. Is the narrator knowledgeable about the motives, feelings, and behavior of any or all of the characters?

3. Does the narrator affect what happens in the story? If so, how? What role does the narrator play?

Plot

1. What series of events occurs? Summarize the action.

2. What is the conflict? Why does it occur? How does it build to a climax?

3. How is the conflict resolved?

4. Is the resolution, or outcome, satisfying? Why or why not?

Theme

1. What is the theme? What broad statement about life or the human experience does the story suggest?

2. What evidence from the story supports your interpretation of the theme?

READING: SHORT STORY

Love in L.A.

Dagoberto Gilb

Dagoberto Gilb (b. 1950) was born in Los Angeles to an undocumented mother from Mexico and a father who moved to Los Angeles from Kentucky as a child. After high school, Gilb worked full time while attending community college. Later, he attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned a BA and MA. He worked in construction until 1992. His first book of stories, The Magic of Blood (from which “Love in L.A.” is taken), was published in 1993. Gilb has won several literary awards, including the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award, for his fiction, which focuses on the Latino experience in America. He is currently the director of CentroVictoria, a center for Mexican American literature and culture in Houston.

1Jake slouched in a clot of near-motionless traffic, in the peculiar gray of concrete, smog, and early morning beneath the overpass of the Hollywood Freeway on Alvarado Street. He didn’t really mind because he knew how much worse it could be trying to make a left onto the onramp. He certainly didn’t do that every day of his life, and he’d assure anyone who’d ask that he never would either. A steady occupation had its advantages and he couldn’t deny thinking about that too. He needed an FM radio in something better than this ’58 Buick he drove. It would have crushed velvet interior with electric controls for the L.A. summer, a nice warm heater and defroster for the winter drives at the beach, a cruise control for those longer trips, mellow speakers front and rear of course, windows that hum closed, snuffing out that nasty exterior noise of freeways. The fact was that he’d probably have to change his whole style. Exotic colognes, plush, dark nightclubs, maitais and daiquiris, necklaced ladies in satin gowns, misty and sexy like in a tequila ad. Jake could imagine lots of possibilities when he let himself, but none that ended up with him pressed onto a stalled freeway.

2Jake was thinking about this freedom of his so much that when he glimpsed its green light he just went ahead and stared bye bye to the steadily employed. When he turned his head the same direction his windshield faced, it was maybe one second too late. He pounced the brake pedal and steered the front wheels away from the tiny brakelights but the smack was unavoidable. Just one second sooner and it would only have been close. One second more and he’d be crawling up the Toyota’s trunk. As it was, it seemed like only a harmless smack, much less solid than the one against his back bumper.

3Jake considered driving past the Toyota but was afraid the traffic ahead would make it too difficult. As he pulled up against the curb a few carlengths ahead, it occurred to him that the traffic might have helped him get away, too. He slammed the car door twice to make sure it was closed fully and to give himself another second more, then toured front and rear of his Buick for damage on or near the bumpers. Not an impressionable scratch even in the chrome. He perked up. Though the car’s beauty was secondary to its ability to start and move, the body and paint were clean except for a few minor dings. This stood out as one of his few clearcut accomplishments over the years.

4Before he spoke to the driver of the Toyota, whose looks he could see might present him with an added complication, he signaled to the driver of the car that hit him, still in his car and stopped behind the Toyota, and waved his hands and shook his head to let the man know there was no problem as far as he was concerned. The driver waved back and started his engine.

5“It didn’t even scratch my paint,” Jake told her in that way of his. “So how you doin’? Any damage to the car? I’m kinda hoping so, just so it takes a little more time and we can talk some. Or else you can give me your phone number now and I won’t have to lay my regular b.s. on you to get it later.”

6He took her smile as a good sign and relaxed. He inhaled her scent like it was clean air and straightened out his less-than-new but not unhip clothes.

7“You’ve got Florida plates. You look like you must be Cuban.”

8“My parents are from Venezuela.”

9“My name’s Jake.” He held out his hand.

10“Mariana.”

11They shook hands like she’d never done it before in her life.

12“I really am sorry about hitting you like that.” He sounded genuine. He fondled the wide dimple near the cracked taillight. “It’s amazing how easy it is to put a dent in these new cars. They’re so soft they might replace waterbeds soon.” Jake was confused about how to proceed with this. So much seemed so unlikely, but there was always possibility. “So maybe we should go out to breakfast somewhere and talk it over.”

13“I don’t eat breakfast.”

14“Some coffee then.”

15“Thanks, but I really can’t.”

16“You’re not married, are you? Not that that would matter that much to me. I’m an openminded kinda guy.”

17She was smiling. “I have to get to work.”

18“That sounds boring.”

19“I better get your driver’s license,” she said.

20Jake nodded, disappointed. “One little problem,” he said. “I didn’t bring it. I just forgot it this morning. I’m a musician,” he exaggerated greatly, “and, well, I dunno, I left my wallet in the pants I was wearing last night. If you have some paper and a pen I’ll give you my address and all that.”

21He followed her to the glove compartment side of her car.

22“What if we don’t report it to the insurance companies? I’ll just get it fixed for you.”

23“I don’t think my dad would let me do that.”

24“Your dad? It’s not your car?”

25“He bought it for me. And I live at home.”

26“Right.” She was slipping away from him. He went back around to the back of her new Toyota and looked over the damage again. There was the trunk lid, the bumper, a rear panel, a taillight.

27“You do have insurance?” she asked, suspicious, as she came around the back of the car.

28“Oh yeah,” he lied.

29“I guess you better write the name of that down too.”

30He made up a last name and address and wrote down the name of an insurance company an old girlfriend once belonged to. He considered giving a real phone number but went against that idea and made one up.

31“I act too,” he lied to enhance the effect more. “Been in a couple of movies.”

32She smiled like a fan.

33“So how about your phone number?” He was rebounding maturely.

34She gave it to him.

35“Mariana, you are beautiful,” he said in his most sincere voice.

36“Call me,” she said timidly.

37Jake beamed. “We’ll see you, Mariana,” he said holding out his hand. Her hand felt so warm and soft he felt like he’d been kissed.

38Back in his car he took a moment or two to feel both proud and sad about his performance. Then he watched the rear view mirror as Mariana pulled up behind him. She was writing down the license plate numbers on his Buick, ones that he’d taken off a junk because the ones that belonged to his had expired so long ago. He turned the ignition key and revved the big engine and clicked into drive. His sense of freedom swelled as he drove into the now moving street traffic, though he couldn’t stop the thought about that FM stereo radio and crushed velvet interior and the new car smell that would even make it better.

Analyze Poetry

Poetry is written in lines and stanzas instead of in sentences and paragraphs. Because of the genre’s unique format, poets often express ideas in compact and concise language, and reading and analyzing a short poem may take as much time and effort as analyzing an essay or a short story. To grasp the meaning of a poem, pay attention to the sound and meaning of individual words and consider how the words work together to convey meaning. The worksheet (pp. 681—82) can serve as a guide as you analyze poetry.

Use the following general guidelines to read and analyze poetry effectively:

1. Read the poem through once, using the poem’s punctuation as a guide. Try to get a general sense of what the poem is about. If you come across an unfamiliar word or a confusing reference, keep reading. Although poetry is written in lines, each line may not make sense by itself. Meaning often flows from line to line, and a single sentence can be composed of several lines. Use the poem’s punctuation to guide you. If there is no punctuation at the end of a line, read the line with a slight pause at the end and with an emphasis on the last word. Think about how the poet breaks lines to achieve a certain effect.

2. Read the poem several more times, annotating as you read. The meaning of the poem will become clearer with each successive reading. At first you may understand some parts but not others. If you find certain sections of the poem difficult or confusing, read these sections aloud several times. You might try copying them, word for word. Look up the meanings of any unfamiliar words in a dictionary.

o As you read, highlight striking elements (figures of speech, symbols, revealing character descriptions, striking dialogue, and the like) and record your reactions. (A sample annotated passage appears in Figure 24.3.) Pay particular attention to the following:

o The speaker and tone. Try to understand the speaker’s viewpoint or feelings. How would you describe the speaker’s personality? (Hint: Analyzing the vocabulary might help.) Also consider the speaker’s tone: Is it serious, challenging, sad, frustrated, joyful? To determine the tone, read the poem aloud. Your emphasis on certain words or the rise and fall of your voice may provide clues to the tone; you may “hear” the poet’s anger, despondency, or elation.

o To whom the poem is addressed. Is it written to a person, the reader, an object? Consider the possibility that the poet may be writing to work out a personal problem or express strong emotions.

o Allusions. Look up unfamiliar allusions, or references, to people, objects, or events outside the poem. If you see Oedipus mentioned in a poem, for example, you may need to use a dictionary or encyclopedia to learn that he was a figure in Greek mythology who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. Your knowledge of Oedipus would then help you interpret the poem.

For more on connotations, see Chapters 3 and 9; for more on descriptive language, see Chapter 12.

o The language of the poem. Consider the connotations, or shades of meaning, of words in the poem. Study the poem’s use of descriptive language, similes, metaphors, personification, and symbols.

o The poem’s theme. What does the title of the poem mean? What can it tell you about the poem’s theme? Does the poem’s overall meaning involve a feeling, a person, a memory, or an argument? Paraphrase the poem; express it in your own words and connect it to your own experience. Then link your ideas together to discover the poem’s overall meaning. Ask yourself: What is the poet trying to tell me? What is the theme?

3. Write a response. Copying passages from the poem and responding to those passages in writing can help you explore your reaction to the poem and grasp its meaning. Choose quotations from the poem that convey a main point or opinion, reveal a character’s motives, or say something important about the plot or theme. Describe your reaction to each quotation, interpreting, disagreeing with, or questioning it. Comment on the language of the quotation and relate it to other quotations or elements in the work. Here is a sample response to Frost’s “Two Look at Two”:

FIGURE 24.3 A Sample Annotated Passage from “Two Look at Two”

"The passage reads, ""Love and forgetting might have carried them A little further up the mountain side With night so near, but not much further up. They must have halted soon in any case With thoughts of the path back, how rough it was With rock and washout, and unsafe in darkness; When they were halted by a tumbled wall With barbed-wire binding. They stood facing this, Spending what onward impulse they still had In one last look the way they must not go."" In the above passage, the annotations show that “but not much further up” implies limitations of humans. The phrase, “thoughts of the path back” is marked with the annotation “road of life? difficulty of life.” The term “tumbled wall” separates man and nature. The annotation also questions “Why is it tumbled?” The term “barbed-wire” implies sharp, penetrating. The phrase “they must not go” implies that they are prohibited from crossing."

Worksheet for Analyzing Poetry

Poet:

Poem:

Year of Publication:

Source:

Medium:

Speaker, Tone, and Addressee

1. Who is the speaker? What do you know about him or her? What tone does the speaker use? To whom is he or she speaking?

2. What emotional atmosphere or mood does the poet create? Do you sense, for example, a mood of foreboding, excitement, or contentment?

3. Does the poem express emotion? If so, for what purpose?

4. How does the poem make you feel — shocked, saddened, angered, annoyed, happy? Write a sentence or two describing your reaction.

Allusions

1. Does the poem make references to people, events, or other works of art or literature?

2. How do these allusions affect the tone or meaning of the poem?

Language

1. How does the poet use language to create an effect? Does the poet use similes, metaphors, personification, or symbols?

2. Does the poem rhyme? If so, does the rhyme affect the meaning? (For example, does the poet use rhyme to emphasize key words or phrases?)

Theme

1. What is the meaning of the poem’s title?

2. What is the theme of the poem?

READING: POEM

Two Look at Two

Robert Frost

Robert Frost (1874—1963) is a major American poet whose work often focuses on familiar objects, natural scenes, and the character of New England. In his early life Frost was a farmer and teacher; later he became a poet in residence at Amherst College and taught at Dartmouth, Yale, and Harvard. Frost was awarded Pulitzer Prizes for four collections of poems: New Hampshire (1923), from which “Two Look at Two” is taken; Collected Poems (1930); A Further Range (1936); and A Witness Tree (1942). As you read the selection, use the questions in the preceding worksheet to think critically about the poem.

Love and forgetting might have carried them

A little further up the mountain side

With night so near, but not much further up.

They must have halted soon in any case

With thoughts of the path back, how rough it was

With rock and washout, and unsafe in darkness;

When they were halted by a tumbled wall

With barbed-wire binding. They stood facing this,

Spending what onward impulse they still had

In one last look the way they must not go,

On up the failing path, where, if a stone

Or earthslide moved at night, it moved itself;

No footstep moved it. “This is all,” they sighed,

“Good-night to woods.” But not so; there was more.

A doe from round a spruce stood looking at them

Across the wall, as near the wall as they.

She saw them in their field, they her in hers.

The difficulty of seeing what stood still,

Like some up-ended boulder split in two,

Was in her clouded eyes: they saw no fear there.

She seemed to think that two thus they were safe.

Then, as if they were something that, though strange,

She could not trouble her mind with too long,

She sighed and passed unscared along the wall.

“This, then, is all. What more is there to ask?”

But no, not yet. A snort to bid them wait.

A buck from round the spruce stood looking at them

Across the wall, as near the wall as they.

This was an antlered buck of lusty nostril,

Not the same doe come back into her place.

He viewed them quizzically with jerks of head,

As if to ask, “Why don’t you make some motion?

Or give some sign of life? Because you can’t.

I doubt if you’re as living as you look.”

Thus till he had them almost feeling dared

To stretch a proffering hand — and a spell-breaking.

Then he too passed unscared along the wall.

Two had seen two, whichever side you spoke from.

“This must be all.” It was all. Still they stood,

A great wave from it going over them,

As if the earth in one unlooked-for favor

Had made them certain earth returned their love.

The poem takes place on a mountainside path, near dusk. A couple walking along the path finds a tumbled wall. Looking beyond the wall, the couple encounters first a doe and then a buck. The doe and buck stare at the human couple and vice versa; hence the title “Two Look at Two.” The action is described by a third-person narrator who can read the thoughts of the humans. The speaker creates an objective tone by reporting events as they occur.

In “Two Look at Two,” Frost considers the relationship between humans and nature. The wall is symbolic of the separation between them. Beyond the wall the couple looks at “the way they must not go” (line 10). Although humans and nature are separate, they are also equal and in balance. These qualities are suggested by the title as well as by the actions of both couples as they observe each other in a nonthreatening way. The third-person point of view contributes to this balance in that the poem’s narrator is an outside observer rather than a participant. One possible theme of the poem, therefore, is the balance and equality between humans and nature.

As you read the following poem, use the guidelines and worksheet for reading a poem to help you analyze its elements and discover its meaning.

READING: POEM

Famous

Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye (b. 1952) is an American poet and songwriter and the author of books for children and young adults. The daughter of an American mother and a Palestinian father, she has lived in both America and Jerusalem, and much of her work reflects the cultural differences that she has experienced throughout her life. Nye is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Different Ways to Pray (1980); Hugging the Jukebox (1982), which won the Voertman Poetry Prize; and Words under the Word: Selected Poems (1995), in which “Famous” appeared. Her most recent work is The Tiny Journalist (2019).

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,

which knew it would inherit the earth

before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds

watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom

is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,

more famous than the dress shoe,

which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it

and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men

who smile while crossing streets,

sticky children in grocery lines,

famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,

or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,

but because it never forgot what it could do.

PREWRITING DRAFTING REVISING EDITING & PROOFREADING

A Guided Writing Assignment*

LITERARY ANALYSIS

A literary analysis essay, sometimes called literary criticism or a critique, analyzes and interprets one or more aspects of a literary work. As with other types of essays, writing a literary analysis involves generating ideas through prewriting, developing a thesis, collecting supporting evidence, organizing and drafting, analyzing and revising, and editing and proofreading.

Keep in mind that a literary analysis does not merely summarize the work, but rather analyzes and interprets it. In a literary analysis, you take a position on some aspect of the work and support your position with evidence. In other words, you assume the role of a literary critic, in the same way that a film critic argues for his or her judgment of a film rather than simply reporting its plot.

A literary analysis has the following characteristics:

✵ It makes a point about one or more elements of a literary work.

✵ It includes and accurately documents evidence from the work. (It may also include evidence from outside sources.)

✵ It assumes that the audience is somewhat familiar with the work but not as familiar as the writer of the analysis.

✵ It has a serious tone and is written in the present tense.

Your Essay Assignment

Write a literary analysis of a poem or short story, focusing on one element of the work. You may analyze a work of your own choosing, a work your instructor assigns, or one of the works reprinted in this chapter.

✵ Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Bean Eaters”

✵ Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”

✵ Dagoberto Gilb, “Love in L.A.”

✵ Robert Frost, “Two Look at Two”

✵ Naomi Shihab Nye, “Famous”

✵ * The writing process is recursive; that is, you may find yourself revising as you draft or prewriting as you revise. This is especially true when writing on a computer. Your writing process may also differ from project to project and from that of your classmates.

PREWRITING

1 Read and analyze your writing assignment carefully.

Ask yourself these questions about your writing situation:

✵ What is my purpose for writing? To explain one element of the work? To argue for my interpretation?

✵ What are my instructor’s expectations? What will he or she be looking for?

✵ Given my and my instructor’s goals for the assignment, how much should I assume that my readers already know about the author, genre, or literary work?

✵ Am I allowed to do research to find out what others have said about the work or to find background information about the author?

✵ How will I use additional patterns of development within my literary analysis? For example, you will likely use illustration to cite examples to support your analysis. In addition, you might compare or contrast two main characters or analyze a plot by discussing causes and effects.

2 Explore the work of literature and generate ideas.

Try one or more of the following suggestions to devise a focus and generate ideas:

✵ Highlight and annotate the work. Focus on striking details, such as figures of speech, symbolic images, actions and reactions of characters, repetition, and so on.

✵ Freewrite. Explore your reaction to the work or use a word or image from the work as a jumping off point.

✵ Discuss the literary work with classmates. Move from general meaning to a more specific paragraph-by-paragraph or line-by-line examination. Then discuss your interpretation of the work’s theme.

✵ Write a summary. Doing so may lead you to raise and answer questions about the work.

✵ Draw a time line or a character map. For stories with plots that flash back or forward in time, a time line can help you envision the sequence of events. A character map can help you understand characters’ relationships.

3 Conduct background research.

If your instructor allows it, you may develop an interesting focus by putting the work into context.

✵ Read about the author’s background. Look for connections between the work and the author’s life. For example, writing an interpretation of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” might be easier if you understand the author’s own impoverished childhood.

✵ Explore the historical context. Research the historical, social, economic, and political context of the work. Understanding conditions of the poor in nineteenth-century England might help you understand Dickens’s portrayal of the Cratchit family.

✵ Discover parallel works or situations. Compare the work to a film or television show or to your own experience to develop insight.

✵ Apply theories you have learned about in other classes. Theories from your psychology class may help you understand Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to the news of her husband’s death in “The Story of an Hour.”

4 Evaluate your ideas and choose an approach to your literary analysis.

Here are several possible approaches you might choose to take in a literary analysis:

✵ Evaluate symbolism. Discuss how the author’s use of images and symbols creates a particular mood and contributes to the overall meaning of the work.

✵ Analyze conflicts. Focus on their causes, effects, or both.

✵ Evaluate characterization and interpret relationships. Discuss how characters are presented; analyze how their true nature is revealed or how they change in response to circumstances.

✵ Explore themes. Discover an important point or theme the work conveys, and back up your ideas with examples from the work.

DRAFTING

5 Draft your thesis statement.

Your thesis should

✵ include the author’s name and the work’s title

✵ indicate the element of the work you will analyze (its theme, characters, or use of symbols, for example)

✵ state the main point you will make about that element

Notice how the writers include all three elements in these two example thesis statements:

"Example 1 reads, “Flannery O’Connor’s short story 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find' uses color to depict various moods throughout the story."" In the above example, ""Flannery O'Connor"" is labeled the author. ""A Good Man Is Hard to Find"" is labeled the title. The word ""color"" is labeled element or symbol. The phrase “uses color to depict various moods throughout the story"" is labeled the main point. Example 2 reads, “In Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles, the female characters are treated condescendingly by the males, and yet the women’s interest in so-called trivial matters leads them to interpret the 'trivial' pieces of evidence that solve the murder mystery.” In the above example, ""Susan Glaspell"" is labeled the author. ""Trifles"" is labeled the title, ""so-called trivial matters"" is labeled element or symbol. ""The female characters are treated condescendingly by the males, and yet the women's interest in so-called trivial matters leads them to interpret the 'trivial' pieces of evidence that solve the murder mystery"" is labeled the main point." "The flowchart is organized under two columns, Questions and Revision strategies. Question 1: Highlight your thesis statement. Does it identify the work, the one aspect of it you are analyzing, and the main point of your analysis? If yes, proceed to Question 2. If no, use these revision strategies: Revise your thesis so that all of these items are included. Ask a classmate to read your thesis and convey his or her understanding of your main point. Question 2: Place a tick mark by the evidence from the literary work that supports your thesis. Is all of your evidence relevant to your thesis? Is there enough evidence? If yes, proceed to Question 3. If no, use this revision strategy: Delete examples that do not support your thesis or that might be confusing to readers. Add relevant quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. Explain how the examples support your point. "Question 3: [Bracket] each quotation from the work. Do you cite each quotation so readers can locate it in the work of literature? If yes, proceed to Question 4. If no, use these revision strategies: Include paragraph, page, or line numbers for each quotation. Include a works-cited entry for the edition of the work you used. Question 4: . Review your assignment. Does your essay achieve your and your instructor’s goals? If yes, proceed to Question 5. If no, use these revision strategies: Add information about the author, plot, characters, or other elements as needed. Make sure you go beyond summary to interpret and analyze the work of literature. Question 5: Circle each verb. Have you used the present tense appropriately? If yes, proceed to Question 6. If no, use these revision strategies: Use the present tense to discuss the writing of the story or events within it. Use the past tense to discuss events that occurred before the action of the story begins. Question 6: Place a cross next to words that reveal your feelings or judgments about the work. Does your tone suggest a serious, objective view of the work? If yes, proceed to Question 7. If no, use these revision strategies: Tone down or eliminate any overly critical or enthusiastic statements. Avoid slang or overly casual language. Question 7: Review each body paragraph. Does each have a clear topic sentence? Does each focus on one main point or idea? If yes, proceed to Question 8. If no, use these revision strategies: Be sure each paragraph has a clear topic sentence that supports your thesis statement. Combine closely related paragraphs or split paragraphs that cover two or more main points or ideas.

Working Together. In groups of two or three students, take turns presenting your thesis statements and main supporting evidence. As group members listen, have them note the element you will analyze and your main point. They should be able to restate your main point in their own words; if they can’t, your main point may not be clear. Brainstorm as a group to

✵ clarify your thesis

✵ add a missing element

✵ identify evidence or insights the writer may have overlooked

6 Choose a method of organization.

One of these methods of organization may work well in a literary analysis:

✵ Use least-to-most order to highlight one or more important reasons or causes.

✵ Use chronological order to explore events as they occur in the work of literature or the process by which an author makes events or connections clear.

✵ Use point-by-point or subject-by-subject order to compare or contrast characters or works of literature.

7 Draft your literary analysis.

Use the following guidelines to keep your essay on track:

✵ The introduction should name the author and title, present your thesis, and suggest why your analysis is useful or important. Try to engage readers’ interest by including a meaningful quotation or a comment on the universality of a character or theme, for example.

✵ Each body paragraph should include a topic sentence that states your main point, a point that supports your thesis and enough evidence to support your main point. Include quotations or paraphrases from the work of literature as support, identified by page numbers (for a short story) or line numbers (for a poem). Include a works-cited entry at the end of your paper indicating the edition of the work you used. Use plot summary only where necessary to make the analysis clear. Write in the “literary present” tense (see step 9 below), except when discussing events that occur before the story or poem begins.

✵ The conclusion should reaffirm your thesis and give the essay a sense of closure. You may want to tie your conclusion to your introduction or offer a final word on your main point.

REVISING

8 Evaluate your draft, and revise as necessary.

Use Figure 24.4, “Flowchart for Revising a Literary Analysis Essay,” to help you discover the strengths and weaknesses of your draft. You might also ask a classmate to review your draft using the questions in the flowchart.

FIGURE 24.4 Flowchart for Revising a Literary Analysis Essay

Question 8: Reread your introduction and conclusion. Does the introduction suggest the importance of your thesis and engage your readers’ interest? Does your conclusion lend closure? If no, use these revision strategies: Ask yourself why your audience would be interested in your thesis, and incorporate the answer in your introduction. End by referring back to your introduction or showing why the work of literature is relevant or important. Use the guidelines in Chapter 7.

EDITING & PROOFREADING

9 Edit and proofread your essay.

Refer to Chapter 9 for help with

✵ editing sentences to avoid wordiness, make your verb choices strong and active, and make your sentences clear, varied, and parallel

✵ editing words for tone and diction, connotation, and concrete and specific language

Pay particular attention to the following:

1. Use the literary present tense. Even though the poem or short story was written in the past, as a general rule write about the events in it and the author’s writing of it as if they were happening in the present. An exception to this rule occurs when you are referring to a time earlier than that in which the narrator speaks, in which case a switch to the past tense is appropriate.

"Example 1 reads, Keats in “Ode on a Grecian Urn” referred to the urn as a “silent form” (line 44). In the above example, ""referred"" is replaced by ""refers."" Example 2 reads, ""In 'Two Look at Two,' it is not clear why the couple decided to walk up the mountainside path."" A comment below reads, ""The couple made the decision before the action in the poem began."""

2. Punctuate quotations correctly. Direct quotations from a literary work, whether spoken or written, must be placed in quotation marks. Omitted material should be marked by an ellipsis (. . .). The lines of a poem when they are run together in an essay are separated by a slash (/).

The example reads "In 'Two Look at Two,' Frost concludes that the earth in one unlooked-for favor slash Had made them certain earth returned their love (lines 41-42)." Quotation marks are added between that and the to indicate the start of the quotation

o Periods and commas appear within quotation marks. Question marks and exclamation points precede or follow quotation marks, depending on the meaning of the sentence. In the example below, the question mark goes inside the closing quotation marks because it is part of Frost’s poem (line 32). Notice, too, that double and single quotation marks are required for a quotation within a quotation. (See Chapter 23 for more on incorporating quotations into your writing.)

The example reads, "The buck seems 'to ask, open single quotes "Why don’t you make some motion"'? (line 32)." In the above example, the question mark is moved and placed after the word “motion” before both sets of closing quotes.

STUDENTS WRITE

The Short, Happy Life of Louise Mallard

Irina Dudnik

Title: Captures author’s main point — that Louise Mallard’s happiness only lasted for one hour

Irina Dudnik wrote this literary analysis for her first-year writing class. As you read the essay, notice her thesis. How does she use quotations from the story to support her claim? How does she weave those quotations into her essay?

"Paragraph 1 reads, ""'There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know, it was too subtle and elusive to name' (671)."" The corresponding annotation reads, Introduction: Begins with a quotation that suggests main point, identifies page. The above lines of the paragraph are highlighted. The paragraph continues, ""So writes the narrator about Louise Mallard, the main character in her short story 'The Story of an Hour.' Set toward the end of the nineteenth century, the story follows Missus Mallard’s reaction to the news of her husband’s death, which develops from grief to a state of suspended emotion to a sense of utter freedom."" The corresponding annotated text reads, ""Identifies setting and shows relevance."" The paragraph continues ""Chopin’s tale delivers a powerful message about the repression that women like Missus Mallard suffered under the cultural institution of marriage built on male dominance. What makes this message so powerful is the fact that Louise Mallard’s sense of freedom isn’t immediate or simple, but once it develops, there’s no going back.” The corresponding annotation reads, “Thesis: Thesis focuses on Missus Mallard’s developing sense of liberation.” In the above paragraph, “What makes this message so powerful is the fact that Louise Mallard’s sense of freedom isn’t immediate or simple, but once it develops, there’s no going back” is underlined. Paragraph 2 reads, “When her sister breaks the news that her husband is dead, Missus Mallard bursts into 'a storm of grief' (3), weeping in her sister’s arms, and then retreats to her room.” The corresponding annotation reads, “Organization: Uses chronological organization, following Missus Mallard’s developing response.” In the above paragraph, “'a storm of grief'” (671)” is highlighted. The paragraph continues, ""Ironically, it is here in her room, in an armchair facing an open window, that Missus Mallard develops her sense of freedom. It is first revealed in the contrast between the way she sits down, 'pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul' (671), and in the freshness she sees through the open window, in which “the tops of trees . . . were all aquiver with the new spring life (671), the open window symbolizing a means of escape and a pathway to a fresh life. Chopin takes care that the first signals of Missus Mallard’s repression come through her senses, so that readers can learn with Missus Mallard just how deeply she has internalized the effects of marriage."" The corresponding annotation reads, ""Interpretation: Explains meaning of quotations and symbolism."" In the above paragraph, “pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul (671),” and “the tops of trees . . . were all aquiver with the new spring life (671)” are blue highlighted and “open window symbolizing a means of escape and a pathway to a fresh life. Chopin takes care that the first signals of Missus Mallard’s repression come through her senses, so that readers can learn with Missus Mallard just how deeply she has internalized the effects of marriage” is yellow highlighted. Paragraph 3 reads, ""Like Missus Mallard, readers only become aware of the character’s newfound sense of freedom gradually. They share her experience as she"", paragraph continues on next page. In the above paragraph, “Like Missus Mallard, readers only become aware of the character’s newfound sense of freedom gradually” is underlined. The corresponding annotation reads, Paragraph: Topic sentence makes point of paragraph clear."

"Paragraph 3 continues, ""stares out the window with eyes that reflect 'a suspension of intelligent thought' (671). This 'subtle and elusive' feeling doesn’t come in words or accusations. It comes through her senses, 'the sounds, the scents, the color' (672) showing that her confinement is so penetrating that it has mapped itself onto the way she experiences the world around her."" In the above paragraph, “a suspension of intelligent thought,” “subtle and elusive,” and “the sounds, the scents, the color” are highlighted blue. The corresponding annotation reads, ""Evidence: Quotations support point topic sentence makes."" Paragraph 4 reads, ""The fact that readers can’t name the feeling Louise Mallard has until she can name it herself effectively conveys how deep her sense of captivity has been. At last, Missus Mallard names how she feels — 'free, free free!' (672) — and she (and her readers) begin to see more than just an open window. She can envision the freedom that window represents, the 'years to come that would belong to her absolutely' (672). And Chopin emphasizes Missus Mallard’s bodily feeling of freedom just as much as her mental understanding: 'Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously . . . her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body' (672). The fact that it takes a while to name her freedom, and to recognize the sensations in her body as relief and joy, shows that the kind of repression Missus Mallard felt in her marriage worked on a deep, psychological level. In the above paragraph, “free, free free!,” “years to come that would belong to her absolutely,” and “'Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously . . . her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body' (672)"" are highlighted blue and “The fact that it takes a while to name her freedom, and to recognize the sensations in her body as relief and joy, shows that the kind of repression Missus Mallard felt in her marriage worked on a deep, psychological level” is highlighted yellow. The corresponding annotation reads, ""Interpretation: Explains meaning of quotations, how they support thesis (yellow highlighting)."" The corresponding annotation to the start of paragraph 5 reads, ""Transitions: Uses transitional words and phrases to show that she is moving to another reason."" Paragraph 5 reads, ""But this is not the only reason that this kind of confinement is so difficult to identify. By showing readers how Missus Mallard grapples with her husband’s death, Chopin shows them not only how much harm has been caused by lack of self-determination but also that the harm can coexist with affection, kindness, and even love. The story makes clear that Mister Mallard was no monster: His 'face . . . had never looked save with love upon her' (672). Here, Chopin challenges the notion that physical or verbal harm are the only kinds that can cause suffering or that oppression has to be inflicted on purpose. Mister Mallard loved his wife, and she had at times even loved him, but here she is whispering, 'Free! Body and soul free!' (672), and readers know that her happiness is not a matter of love (or the lack of it). Her happiness at the end of the story is about life’s possibilities and how rich they can feel to a person who can now make decisions for herself: 'What could love . . . count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being?' (672). By leading readers away from the"" continued on next page. In the above paragraph, “But,” “Here,” and “but here” are underlined. The annotated text reads, ""Possible Answers, Analyzing the Writer’s Technique 1. Yes, Dudnik uses quotations from the story effectively to support her claim. Examples of showing Louise Mallard’s growing sense of freedom: 'the tops of trees . . . were all aquiver with the new spring life' (para. 2); the 'sounds, the scents, the colors' she sees through the window (3); the realization that she is free comes to her physically — 'Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously . . .' (4)."""

"Paragraph 5 continues, ""picture of her husband as a cruel tyrant, Chopin helps them understand that relationships not only need to be free of violence but also need to be built on mutual independence."" The corresponding annotation reads, “All the examples in the first 4 paragraphs work together to show Louise Mallard’s growing awareness of and appreciation for her newfound freedom.” Paragraph 6 reads, “ When Missus Mallard is given even an hour-long understanding of what living for herself feels like, she can’t survive a return to dependency: Brently Mallard, whose death was misreported, walks in the front door, and his wife collapses, dead. After watching Missus Mallard come to understand just what her husband’s absence means, readers can now understand what her husband’s presence means. The power of this story is in the way it uncovers the complicated relationship between repression and love and the way this understanding is felt in the body. Chopin’s brilliant story sheds light on the underbelly of marital bliss, but more importantly, it implores her readers to recognize and reject repression, in whatever form it takes, before it is too late.” The corresponding annotation reads, ""Conclusion: Shows how dramatic ending relates to thesis, title of essay. The corresponding annotation reads, 2. Introduction: Grabs readers’ attention with a quotation, provides a very brief plot summary to set the scene, and concludes with her thesis. The introduction could provide more background on marriage in the late nineteenth century to support her claim about male domination of the institution of marriage. Conclusion: Provides a brief summary of the conclusion of the story and relates this conclusion to what she has shown in the previous paragraphs. Her conclusion perhaps overstates the repression of marriage ('underbelly of marital bliss') but does a good job of showing readers how the story is relevant today. 3. Paragraph 5 is particularly well developed, but all the paragraphs do a good job of supporting the claim in the thesis by drawing on evidence from the story.” The text under the “work cited” reads, “Chopin, Kate. 'The Story of an Hour.' Successful College Writing , eighth ed., by Kathleen McWhorter, Bedford forward slash Saint Martin’s, 2021, p p. 671 to 73.” The corresponding annotation reads, ""Works cited: Cites edition of story used."""

Analyzing the Writer’s Technique

1. Thesis Does Dudnik provide sufficient evidence to support her thesis? Choose one example Dudnik offers and evaluate its effectiveness.

2. Introduction and Conclusion Evaluate Dudnik’s introduction and conclusion. In what ways could they be improved?

3. Development Which paragraphs are particularly well developed? Which, if any, need further development?

Responding to the Essay

1. Discussion How does Dudnik’s interpretation of “The Story of an Hour” compare with yours?

2. Journal Dudnik discusses the issue of marriage and repression as it existed in the nineteenth century. Write a journal entry exploring whether and how this issue has changed in the time that has elapsed since then.