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this paper you will analyze a work of literature from both a gender
and a literary perspective. You will identify the theme
of the piece and make an argument about how well the writer
supported that theme using the elements of literature. In other
words, you will evaluate the work based on its literary merits.
You will also evaluate the text for what it says about gender,
determining whether it's a text that advocates feminist values.
You will consider the roles that characters portray and whether they
are rewarded or punished for behaving traditionally or
non-traditionally. Does the text value equality, seek to
reinforce the patriarchal status quo, or want to overturn patriarchy
for matriarchy? Please
e-mail papers to me for grading. They should be double-spaced and should follow
standard MLA format. Please put the class name and
number and the assignment in the subject line of the e-mail. This paper should, of course, have
a clearly stated thesis statement in its first paragraph. Papers
will be given letter grades that will be converted to percentage points before the final
semester grade is calculated, and they will be evaluated on audience, grammar,
organization, presentation, spelling, and style as well as content. I do expect
that you will use and cite at least three secondary sources in this paper,
in addition to the primary text you choose. Your primary text
may be one of the works from the syllabus, or some other work of
literature that you've read recently. These papers should be about
ten pages long, although there will not be substantial deductions
for papers over or under that limit, provided they have thoroughly
analyzed the text, used the proper number of sources, and addressed
all the points on this sheet..
The essay on "Little Snow-White"
from The Madwoman in the Attic is a good model for the gender
analysis portion of the paper.
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The Gender/Literary Analysis Paper