Literature and Ourselves

Writing About Literature: Introduction

Ways to Write About Literature

Literary Response Essay

Comparison/Contrast Essay

Critical Analysis Essay

Evaluative Essay

Research Essay

Literary Response Essay

Allows reader to make connections between literary work and his impressionsRefers to literary theory known as Reader Response criticism – each reader brings his own history, outlook, and values to a workAssumes that there is no “correct”reading of a text, but that meaning is created when the reader interacts with the text

Comparison/Contrast Essay

Compares two literary works to each otherDoes not just simply list similarities and differences between the worksMakes connections and provides analysisStarts with critical reading, noting parallel themes – love and hate, innocence and experience, life, death and rebirth, progress and tradition, gender, family issues, freedom and responsibility, human nature, search for identity, etc.

Critical Analysis EssayExamines how a part or parts of a literary work connect to the whole workRequires careful analysis of work to see how these parts contribute to the meaning of the entire work – how a character influences the outcome, how a play turns on a critical scene

Often focuses on an element – structure, language, characters, sound, plot, irony, etc.Is NOT a paraphrase, but an explanation on how the work communicates its idea

Evaluative Essay

Judges a work based on criteria set by what the reader/essayist has learned, experienced, and observed

Allows reader/essayist to agree or not with the set of values expressed in the work

May allow essayist to prove a point - why conclusions in literary work are faulty or why the work is unrealistic

Research Essay

Allows reader to explore in depth a particular aspect of a work using secondary sources – books, journals, Internet sources, interviews,

etc.

May employ any of the above essay forms – literary response, comparison/contrast, critical analysis, or evaluation

Writing a Strong Argumentative Essay - Terms

Argument

Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning

Warrants

Literary Argument

Evaluating Sources

Argument

Argument – writing or speech designed to persuade or convinceBenefits of writing argumentative essays about literature –

Prepares essayist to use argument in a variety of fields – history, economics, political science, etc.

Teaches essayist to think critically – rationally and systematically – about issues which impact life

Deductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning – uses widely accepted general principles to demonstrate the truth of a more specific statement – “all men are created equal” is “self-evident truth”

General observations are used to arrive at specific conclusions All apples are fruit. All fruits grow on trees. Therefore, all apples grow on trees.

Inductive ReasoningInductive Reasoning – uses specific observations to arrive at general conclusions – the scientific methodSpecific observations result in a general conclusion After several cakes baked in the same cake pan came

out burned, Carl concluded that if he bakes a cake in that

particular cake pan it will probably come out burned

Inductive Argument

Thesis (called the claim) must be debatableCounterclaim (claim made by those who disagree with you) must be possibleClaims make judgments about what must, should, or needs to be done, about inadequacy of certain practices, or about debatable matters Because Atlanta’s traffic is nightmarish, because its

streams and rivers are increasingly polluted, and because smog often reaches hazardous levels, the municipalities around Atlanta should limit development

Warrants

Warrants – assumptions or interpretative principles that an author shares and that provides the basis for interpreting facts

Warrants show the connection between the claim (thesis) and the facts that support it

Because Atlanta’s traffic is nightmarish, because its streams and rivers are increasingly polluted, and because smog often reaches hazardous levels

Literary Argument

Because they are often interpretative in nature, articles and papers about works of literature are often argumentative

Whenever an essay deals with issues having more than one interpretation, it will be argumentative

Evaluating SourcesReliable sources of evidence must be used for the argument to be convincingIn evaluating a source, consider the credentials of the writer and the reputation of the publicationReliable sources are unbiased – willing to consider both sides of an issueBe skeptical about editorial and opinion pages, though reporting of large newspapers and newsmagazines is usually reliable