Analyzing Short Story Research Paper

English 12 – British Literature Short Story Research Paper

Length Your paper must be five (complete) typed pages or 1,800 words long, excluding the Works Cited page.

Subject and Scope You will analyze the short story you selected. This essay will require an analytical focus, such as tracing one or more elements of fiction (point of view, setting, irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism, for example) or themes. Your paper must also incorporate information from a minimum of three secondary sources. In researching your topic, you will examine what other writers have to say about the story and author and use examples from their works to back up your assertions. You might also consider the historical, social, or psychological context of the story. The emphasis of this paper, however, should be on establishing and proving analytical claims. You will not merely compile the background and comments of other writers in one section of your paper; rather, you will integrate information from secondary sources as it applies to related points you make in your paper. Material from secondary sources should account for no more than one‐fourth of your essay.

Paragraphing Name the author and title of your primary source (the latter should be in quotation marks) in the opening paragraph in a sentence that makes an assertion; do not simply announce, for example, that James Joyce wrote "Araby." Also, briefly discuss what the story is about, and end the paragraph with a thesis statement that indicates the focus of your analysis: what thematic aspects or literary elements are you writing about? Be careful, however, to avoid announcing your intentions. For instance, you should not use the following type of phrasing: "In this essay I will show . . . ." The thesis statement explains the main purpose of an essay. It expresses the analytical point an essay proves and, as such, cannot be a statement of fact.

Write three to five body paragraphs, each including a topic sentence that supports or backs up the thesis statement. Just as a thesis charts the direction of an entire essay, a topic sentence establishes the main idea of a paragraph or a series of related paragraphs. A topic sentence usually appears at or near the beginning of a paragraph, but it may appear elsewhere.

While a topic sentence tells the reader the main idea of a paragraph, a well‐ developed paragraph shows the reader the point the writer wants to make. One way to develop a topic sentence is to include several brief examples that support the assertion, and another possibility is to include one extended example. Either way, effectively developed paragraphs prove their points with relevant details from the story. Paragraph development consists of three steps: establishing analytical claims, clarifying assertions or ideas, and illustrating points. Use examples from the story— plot elements, narrative details, dialogue, and symbolism—to illustrate your points. It is not sufficient to state an idea; you must prove it.

You should arrange your body paragraphs in a logical sequence and make clear transitions from point to point and paragraph to paragraph. Find ways to incorporate transitional words and phrases, but do not force such phrasing.

Your essay needs a clear closing paragraph, one that brings a sense of completion to your paper without being overtly repetitious. If you have not done so elsewhere in the essay, consider addressing the thematic implications of your analysis. Think of the closing as the "so what?" section of your paper. Why does the story continue to resonate with readers? Instead of merely rehashing your thesis or topic sentences, view the closing paragraph as an opportunity to amplify their significance.

Other Considerations Use present tense in making analytical claims or discussing events that happen after the story begins. Use an appropriate point of view, preferably third person plural, and be consistent with it. Be sure to give your essay a title that provides some indication of focus or analytical purpose. Do not simply use the story title, although you may incorporate it into an original title.

Sources and Format You must use a minimum of three secondary sources, in addition to the story you analyze, and your paper must include no fewer than twelve (parenthetically referenced) excerpts from those sources, six from the story and six from research. The required secondary sources cannot include editorial sections of your textbook (biographical notes, for example). You must turn in photocopies of your short story, all articles (the entire articles) and passages from books that you ultimately cite in your paper, including those you find in library databases.

Select textual examples that help you make a point; don't force details or incorporate them for the sake of doing so. For every detail you mention, explore its relevance to your analysis; explain why you have included it in your paper. For every paraphrased or quoted passage you use, include internal citations. You will use the most recent MLA format for citing primary and secondary sources.

Your essay must include internal citations and matching Works Cited entries for all primary and secondary sources. Papers must be typed in Times New Roman, size 12 font, double spaced, with one inch margins. Your secondary sources must come from one or more of the following types of materials:  scholarly books about your author and the selected story;  reference books, such as Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Short Stories for Students (series)  literary journals, such as Studies in Short Fiction and Explicator;  and online databases accessible through the Marlboro High School library, such as LitFinder (Gale Group), MagillOnLiteraturePlus (EbscoHOST Web), or Twaynes Authors Online (Gale Group)

The LibGuide can be found at this URL: http://libguides.marlboroschools.org/britishliterature

You may not use information from public or private websites (Wikipedia, for example) or search engines (such as Google). Information posted on the web varies in quality and reliability, even more than traditional print sources, which typically undergo a more stringent screening process.

Grading Criteria Your assignment will be graded on the unity and depth of your analysis, as well as the effectiveness of setting up and integrating material from primary and secondary sources. I will also evaluate your parenthetical references and Works Cited page for correctness of information and form. The grading rubric may be accessed on the English 12 Handouts page of the teacher web site.

Due Date: Tuesday, December 18th, 2012. You must turn in the typed final paper (with MLA internal citation and Works Cited), along with photocopies of primary and secondary sources. (I will not grade the paper without these materials). Your paper must be submitted to Turn-it-In prior to submitting your hard copy in class. Your work must be turned during your regular class period. LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR CREDIT.

You may set up an appointment to meet with the instructor for individual help with your paper prior to Tuesday, December 11th, 2012. No appointments will be granted after Tuesday, November 11th. Note: You may use these questions as a spring board for establishing a thesis for your Short Story Research paper.

Study Questions to help you get the most out of the Short Story

Questions to help you analyze CHARACTERIZATION 1. Is the protagonist a round or a flat character? On what evidence do you base your answer? What about the other characters? Why are they made the way they are? 2. Evaluate the moral structure of the protagonist: a. To what degree is his/her moral stature defined by the words and actions of contrasting minor characters, or by the testimony of characters who are readily acceptable as witnesses? b. Discuss the protagonist's inclinations toward specific virtues and vices, his/her powers or handicaps with relation to those virtues and vices, and one or two important instances in which his/her moral stature is apparent. 3. Describe the psychology of the protagonist: a. What are her/his dominant traits or desires? How did these traits or desires apparently originate? Do they support or oppose one another? Explain. b. Through what modes of awareness is the protagonist most responsive to life – rational, instinctual, sensory, emotional, intuitive? Explain and illustrate. c. Discuss the way in which she/he takes hold of a situation. In what terms does she/he see her/his problems? What does she/he try to maximize or minimize, try to prove or disprove? Do her/his reactions proceed through definable phases? If so, what are they? How may one explain her/his effectiveness or inadequacy in taking hold of a situation or emergency? 4. In view of all these matters, what does the author apparently want us to think and feel about what happens to the protagonist? 5. Is the protagonist's personality worked out with probability and consistency?

Questions to help you evaluate the story's NARRATIVE MANNER 1. What is the predominant point of view in this story, and who seems to be the focal character? Illustrate by citing a very brief passage and showing how it confirms your opinion. 2. What kind of ordering of time predominates in this story? Explain.

3. At what points does the narrative significantly slow down or speed up? At what points do conspicuous jumps in time occur? Why, in each case? 4. Select several passages from this story, each reasonably brief, and use them to illustrate a discussion of the following stylistic matters: a. special qualities of diction and sentence structure; b. the use of style to individualize the speech, thought, and personality of particular characters; c. the implied presence of the narrator or "author"; his/her level of involvement; his/her personality; d. the basic vision of life which the style of the story reflects and extends. Questions that may help you understand the story's BACKGROUND 1. Summarize the facts of the author's birth, family and social position, main gifts or handicaps, education, and entry into writing. 2. Describe briefly, with dates, the more important of the author's earlier works, giving special attention to the work immediately preceding the story under study. 3. What specific circumstances led the author to write this story? To what extent did she/he depart from the sort of fiction she/he had written up to this point? What persons, events, or other autobiographical materials does this story reflect, and with what modifications? What account of her/his inspirations and problems with this story did the author provide through letters, prefaces, journals, and the like? 4. By focusing upon sample details of this story, show how this biographical information (questions 1 and 3) helps to explain the design of the work. 5. What main features of social tension or stability in his/her own times did the author treat in this story? (e. g, ideology, war, economics, technology, daily life, etc.)? Explain, using both this story and such outside sources as personal statements by the author, histories of the period, etc. 6. By focusing upon sample details of the story, show how this historical information (question 5) helps to explain the design of the story. 7. What authors, literary circles, or movements did the present author support, attack, imitate, join, or depart from? Why? 8. Show how this literary background (question 7) helps explain the design of the story.

Stephen C. Behrendt; 12/12/07 http://www.unl.edu/sbehrend/html/sbsite/StudyQuestions/ShortStoryQuestions.htm

How to Analyze Symbolism in 8 Easy Steps Introduction Humor columnist Dave Barry says that college students who major in English are likely to “say that Moby Dick is really the Republic of Ireland.” He refers to this sort of insight as a “lunatic interpretation,” or symbol hunting gone awry. But the ability to discover symbolism in a piece literature ultimately expands the scope and importance of that literature. Symbolism is the author’s way of illustrating a situation, either in the story or in the world, and understanding the symbols allows the reader to appreciate and identify with the text. And it certainly doesn’t take a lunatic to do it! Follow these 8 easy steps to analyze symbolism in literature.

1) Take notes. Keep track of objects, characters, and ideas. This is the only way to ensure you can connect the description of a lonely tree in a field on page 12 with the divorced man on the court steps on page 513.

2) Learn what a symbol is. According to most definitions, a symbol is an object/person/idea that represents another idea through association or resemblance. Consider these examples:  The U.S. flag represents freedom. This is because the United States, with its Bill of Rights, is associated with freedom, and the flag is the emblem of the country.

 The sunrise has become a symbol of rebirth or new beginning. This is a symbol of resemblance: the sunrise starts a new day and thus can represent the larger idea of new beginnings.

3) Look for detailed descriptions. When reading, pay attention to any items, locations, or people that are described with extended details. The author is using these descriptions as big neon signs! Make note of an object’s details. For example, if a flower is being described, what is the color, type, or size? Keep this list of details and look for anything else in the reading that seems to resemble the list.

4) Look for “big idea” names. These are names that may or may not be conventional names. For example, it could be something that is obviously representational, such as “Young Goodman Brown.” This name alerts readers to the fact that the character is a symbol of youth and goodness. The name can also be a bit trickier, though. Consider the character “Godfrey St. Peter” from Willa Cather’s The Professors House. It is a seemingly conventional name, but “St. Peter” could be interpreted as a symbol of the heavenly figure. In that case, the first name—pronounced “God-free”—becomes part of a highly symbolic idea.

5) Look for repetition. If the author repeats the object or idea, then there is significance to it. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses rhyme repeatedly. However, a careful reader will notice that the rhyme always accompanies some discussion of evil deeds.

6) Do research. Do not hesitate to research the list of objects, numbers, and so on that you have made. Look for historically symbolic meanings associated with the image. As mentioned before, the sunrise is symbolic of new birth. The number 13 is symbolically unlucky. Black typically symbolizes death, and red generally represents either love or passion.

7) List the characteristics. If no historical symbolism can be found, make a list of the characteristics of the item. Draw connections between those characteristics and other things in the story or in life. Consider the following example:

Item Characteristics Connection

Stapler Heavy Romantic relationship

Holds things together Keeps people together

Puts holes in things Can be hard to handle (heavy)

Can cause emotional holes 8) Draw conclusions. Look at all the details and make connections between the objects and the characters, the characters and the plot, the descriptions and the themes, and so on. Readers may draw different conclusions, and it is often that more than one conclusion is correct. The accuracy lies in the supporting details you can produce.

How to Analyze Symbolism in 8 Easy Steps http://www.enotes.com/topics/how-analyze-symbolism

SETTING Setting refers to the location of a story or novel in terms of place, time, social environment, and physical environment. Place: the geographical location of the story - a country or a city, a large city or a small village, indoors or outdoors, or both. Time: the period in history, the season of the year, the day of the month, and/or the hour of the day in which the events of the story occur. Social environment: the location of characters and events in a particular society and/or a particular social class (lower, middle, or upper class). Physical environment: the details of the location in which the story takes place. These physical details often indicate the emotional state of the characters or the relationship between characters. _ What is the setting of the story? _ Where and when does the action take place? _ How does the setting affect characters in the story? _ Does their environment give them freedom, satisfaction, or enjoyment, or does their environment make them feel trapped, dissatisfied, or unhappy? Why? _ Be able to describe the social forces and institutions that shape the characters and their lives: political, social, economic, philosophic, religious, educational, etc. _ Determine to what extent, if at all, the characters are influenced by nature.

POINT OF VIEW Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told. The author creates a narrator to tell the story. It is through the narrator's perspective (through the narrator's eyes and mind) that readers learn what is happening in a story. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the narrator of a story is the author. Remember that the point of view and the narrator are tools created and used by the author in order to tell a story in a certain way. The narrator of a story does not necessarily express the author's opinions. _ What point of view does the story use? Is the story told from a first-person perspective, in which the narrator is one of the characters in the story, and refers to himself or herself as "I"? Or is the story told from a third-person perspective, in which the narrator is not one of the characters in the story or may not participate in the events of the story? _ Is it consistent in its use of this point of view? If shifts are made, are they justified? _ What are the advantages of the chosen point of view? Does it furnish any clues as to the purpose of the story? _ Is the narrator reliable or unreliable? Does he/she have a limited knowledge or understanding of characters and events in the story? Does the narrator know almost everything about one character or every character, including inner thoughts? _ Look for a first person narrator, an omniscient narrator (one who knows all and tells all), a "central observer," who seems to be looking over a main character's shoulder and seeing more than the character possibly can. _ Decide whether the narrator assists the story or needlessly confuses it. _ Does the author use point of view primarily to reveal or conceal? Does he ever unfairly withhold important information known to the focal character?

IMAGERY Imagery refers to the collection of images in a work of fiction: the mental pictures created by the author's words. Writers use concrete images to go beyond physical description in order to express feelings and states of mind. Most images are created through words that appeal to the reader's five senses. For example, a pink flower may appeal to the reader's sense of sight or smell and bring forth pleasant associations with springtime or a holiday memory. The colour green suggests youth and life; white, purity. _ What scenes, moments, descriptive passages, phrases, or words stand out in your reading of the story? _ Did a particular image make you feel happy, or frightened, or disturbed, or angry? Why? _ Which of your five senses did this image appeal to? · What do you associate with this image, and why? What do you think the author wants you to feel about a certain image? _ How do you think your reactions to the imagery in the story contribute to the overall meaning of the story?

TONE Tone refers to the author's attitude or position toward the action, characters, narrator, subject, and even readers of the story. To determine the tone of a story, the reader must examine the language the author uses and decide what effect the author's choice of words has. _ What is the author's attitude toward actions or events? _ Is the story humorous or tragic or frightening? Does the author want you to laugh or cry, to feel happy or sad, to experience anger or fear? _ What is the author's attitude toward characters or the narrator? Does the author like or dislike, trust or mistrust the characters or the narrator? Is the author sympathetic toward, admiring of, hostile toward, critical of, or sentimental about one or more of the characters or the narrator? _ What is the author's attitude towards the subject matter? How does the author feel about an idea or concept? Is the author sarcastic about, indifferent to, bitter about, curious about, thrilled by, critical of, outraged about, shocked by, frightened about, scornful of, sentimental about, or sad about a subject such as love, death, marriage, family, government, social class, money, religion, or war?·

IRONY Irony refers to the unexpected difference or lack of agreement between appearance and truth or between expectation and reality. Irony is apparent when an author uses language to create a deliberate contrast between appearance (what seems to be true) and truth (what is true), or between expectation (what was hoped for) and reality (what actually happens). Often readers know or understand something that a character in a story does not. _ Is the situation ironic? Is what happens in the story different from what you or what characters hoped for or expected (for example, when a character expects that a certain action will result in victory when in fact that action results in defeat)? _ Do characters have ironic thoughts? Does a character believe something that is actually different from the truth (for example, when Character A believes that Character B is a good person, but the truth is that Character B is evil, so that Character A's trust in Character B results in disaster)? _ Do characters say things that are ironic? Does a character say something that, either intentionally or unintentionally, means the opposite of what it seems to say (for example, when Character A says to Character B, "I understand you now" and Character B interprets that to mean, "I believe you, I trust you" and acts accordingly; but Character A really means, "I understand now that you are a deceitful person and I don't trust you anymore")?

THEME A theme is a truth that a story reveals. A theme is rarely directly stated by the author. Instead, the reader must discover the theme by questioning and examining the meaning from details in the story. Usually themes deal with general areas of human experience, for example: the nature of humanity or society, the relationship of human beings to the environment, or the question of moral responsibility. _ What was the author's purpose in writing the story? _ Does the story have a theme? What is it? Is it implicit or explicit? _ Is there more than one theme? Does the theme support or oppose popular notions of life? Does the theme offer a new insight into human experience or does it support an old (traditional) one? _ What lesson or message does the author want the reader to understand from the story? ANALYZING SHORT STORIES/NOVELS http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/tipsheets/reading-and-analyzing/analyze-short-stories- novels(30).pdf

ANALYZING SHORT STORIES/NOVELS http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/tipsheets/reading-and-analyzing/analyze-short-stories- novels(30).pdf

Analyzing Short Story Research Paper http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RLUk38Z7KQ

English 1302—Short Story Research Paper http://www.lee.edu/~jhamby/pdf/1302/research.pdf

How to Analyze Symbolism in 8 Easy Steps http://www.enotes.com/topics/how-analyze-symbolism

Stephen C. Behrendt; 12/12/07 http://www.unl.edu/sbehrend/html/sbsite/StudyQuestions/ShortStoryQuestions.htm