Mini-Project #1:
Literary Analysis Paper

Core 101

Michael O’Rourke

 

 

 

I.          The Assignment

 

The paper should be four to five pages in length, double-spaced, and it must focus on a topic drawn from the Frankenstein.  You must begin by selecting some aspect of the text to analyze—i.e., some theme or structural element that plays an important role in the unfolding of the story.  In the interest of avoiding superficiality, select a topic that is narrow over one that is broad.  Analysis consists in determining the nature of your topic in itself and in relation to the text as a broader whole.  As with the argument analysis paper, you will make claims in this and then back them up with argument.  The arguments, though, must be textual—that is, you will be making claims about the text and then pointing to passages and other textual aspects for evidence that your claims are true. The primary goal of your analysis is to understand some aspect of the text more deeply.

 

You must get me an abstract by Tuesday, February 8.  In an e-mail, please send me a paragraph that introduces your topic, your thesis (i.e., what you plan to conclude about your topic), and several sentences describing how you plan to develop and defend your thesis.  Ten percent of your grade will depend on getting this to me.

 

 

II.        Writing Literary Analysis Papers

 

For detail on writing a literary analysis paper, visit

 

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/monsters/writing_an_essay_tips.htm

 

This is an excellent introduction to this type of paper, and is filled with details that will deepen your essay and render it more sophisticated.  I strongly encourage you to read it before you write this paper.

 

 

III.       Topics

 

For those of you who were in the class last semester, recall Tom Drake’s lecture on Grendel—that is the kind of analysis that is appropriate for this paper.  The remarks by Rick Fehrenbacher are also relevant in this connection.  Below are some sample paper topics, with brief descriptions.  The descriptions do not supply an outline of a good paper, so please do not take them to indicate the proper structure of your essay.  If you have any questions about these or about any aspect of this project, please speak with Stacey or me.

 

  • Comparison of the creature as presented in the first movie and the book.

 

  • The nature of the creature’s intellectual development, and its importance to the plot of the book.

 

  • Why is the book given the subtitle, “The Modern Prometheus”?  Compare these stories.

 

  • What is the lesson to be learned from this cautionary tale about the value of knowledge?

 

  • This book was written during the Romantic Period.  Discuss the relationship between the overarching themes of the book and the period in which it was written.

 

  • Discuss the relationship between the narrative structure of the book, including narrative voice, and the content of the story. 

 

  • How is love treated in the pages of this book?  What role does it play, and how does it bind the characters together?

 

  • Identify an overarching symbol from the story and discuss its role in the narrative.