Literary Analysis Essay

Summary

The video explains how to write a literary analysis essay using 'The Story of an Hour' by Kate Chopin as an example. It begins by emphasizing the importance of a hook, introduces the story and its theme, and provides a thesis statement outlining the essay’s structure. The instructor breaks down the body paragraphs, showing how to present reasons, evidence, and explanations, each related to the thesis. The importance of using quotes, MLA citations, and concluding each paragraph effectively is highlighted. The conclusion restates the main ideas. The lesson provides a clear and structured guide to writing a successful literary analysis.

Takeaways

• 📄 Start the literary essay with personal details (name, block, date) and a clear title that reflects the essay’s topic.
• 🎣 The introduction should begin with a hook, like a famous quote, that hints at the essay’s theme.
• 📚 Mention the short story’s title and author in the introduction, followed by a brief summary.
• 📝 Conclude the introduction with a thesis statement, which outlines the claim and reasons the essay will explore.
• 📌 The thesis should clearly present an opinion (claim) about the story's theme or characters, followed by reasons supporting this opinion.
• 🔍 Body paragraphs should each focus on one reason from the thesis, beginning with a clear topic sentence.
• 💬 Support each reason with evidence from the text, including direct quotes and proper in-text citations.
• 🧐 After presenting evidence, explain how the evidence supports the main reason or claim.
• 🔄 End each body paragraph with a concluding sentence that ties the evidence and reasoning back to the thesis.
• 🔗 The conclusion should restate the essay's main points and summarize the key ideas from the body paragraphs.

Q & A

What is the first step in writing a literary analysis essay according to the script?

The first step is to write your first and last name, block, and the date at the top of the page, followed by thinking of a title that reflects the topic of your essay.

What is a hook in a literary analysis essay, and what purpose does it serve?

A hook is a quote or interesting statement used at the beginning of the essay to grab the reader’s attention and foreshadow the essay's topic.

What should be included in the introduction of a literary analysis essay?

The introduction should include a hook, the title and author of the short story being analyzed, a brief summary of the story, and a thesis statement that outlines the main argument.

What are the three components of a thesis statement?

A thesis statement includes the claim (your opinion), the word 'because' to link your opinion with reasons, and three reasons that support your claim.

How should body paragraphs be structured in a literary analysis essay?

Each body paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the reason, followed by evidence from the text (with quotes), and an explanation of how the evidence supports the reason.

What is the importance of using quotations in a literary analysis essay?

Quotations provide direct evidence from the text, which is essential for supporting the claims made in the essay. These should be accompanied by MLA citations.

How does the script suggest interpreting unusual descriptions, like Mrs. Mallard's use of the word 'delicious'?

The script explains that Mrs. Mallard's use of the word 'delicious' to describe the world around her reflects her sense of freedom and new life after her husband’s death, showing her true feelings.

What is the role of the concluding sentence in each body paragraph?

The concluding sentence restates the main idea of the paragraph, summarizing how the evidence and explanation support the thesis.

What should the conclusion paragraph of a literary analysis essay include?

The conclusion should restate the main ideas and arguments that were presented in the essay, summarizing the overall analysis.

What is the format for in-text citations in a literary analysis essay?

In-text citations should include the author's last name and the page number from the text, following MLA citation format.

Outlines

00:00

📖 Introduction to Literary Analysis Essay Structure

The speaker introduces an example of a literary analysis essay and provides guidelines for students to follow when writing their own. The essentials of the essay structure are discussed, starting with basic details like name, block, and date, followed by the title. The essay will analyze Kate Chopin's short story 'The Story of an Hour.' The speaker emphasizes the need to start with a hook, provide a brief summary of the story, and include a thesis statement, which acts as a 'map' for the essay. The thesis should include the claim, reasoning, and link between them.

05:00

📝 Crafting the First Body Paragraph

The speaker explains how to construct the first body paragraph based on the thesis statement. They emphasize starting with a topic sentence that introduces the first reason supporting the thesis. In the given example, the setting reflects Mrs. Mallard’s emotions, symbolizing her progression from grief to hopefulness. Specific quotes from the story are used as evidence, followed by explanations of how these quotes demonstrate the oppressive nature of marriage and Mrs. Mallard’s emerging sense of freedom. Proper MLA citation rules are also discussed for including quotes.

🔍 Analyzing Evidence and Crafting Arguments

This paragraph elaborates on how to link evidence to the reasoning presented in the essay. The speaker focuses on the importance of choosing quotes that strongly support the thesis, explaining them, and interpreting their meaning within the context of the story. They mention how Mrs. Mallard's unexpected use of positive language after her husband’s death reveals her relief and the sense of new possibilities, linking back to the theme of oppressive marriage. A concluding sentence restates the main idea of the paragraph.

🧠 Structuring Additional Body Paragraphs and Conclusion

The speaker explains that the same format of reason, evidence, and explanation should be applied to the next two body paragraphs. Each paragraph should address a new reason that supports the thesis, backed by more textual evidence and thorough explanations. The conclusion is then a restatement of the main points already made in the essay, summarizing the key arguments and reinforcing the thesis.

Keywords

💡Literary Analysis

A literary analysis is an essay that examines and interprets a piece of literature, focusing on its themes, characters, and narrative elements. In the video, the instructor explains the structure and components of a good literary analysis essay, such as providing a hook, summarizing the work, and offering a thesis statement.

💡Hook

A hook is a compelling opening sentence or statement that grabs the reader's attention. In the video, the instructor mentions using a quote from someone famous as a hook, which sets the stage for the rest of the essay and gives a glimpse of its theme. The example provided is a quote by Sartre, used to foreshadow the essay's topic.

💡Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is a sentence in the introduction of an essay that presents the main argument or claim. It serves as a 'map' for the reader, indicating what the essay will be about. The instructor explains that a thesis statement includes a claim and three reasons that support it, helping to structure the body paragraphs.

💡Claim

A claim is the writer's main argument or opinion about the topic being analyzed. In the video, the instructor describes how the claim should express the writer's view on the theme of the literary work, such as 'The Story of an Hour expresses the oppressive nature of marriage.' This claim guides the analysis and forms the foundation for the thesis statement.

💡Body Paragraph

A body paragraph is a section of an essay that elaborates on a specific point supporting the thesis. Each body paragraph in a literary analysis essay includes a reason, evidence, and an explanation. The instructor explains that the first body paragraph should discuss the first reason presented in the thesis statement, providing evidence from the text and an explanation of how it supports the claim.

💡Evidence

Evidence refers to specific examples or quotes from the text used to support the writer's argument. In the video, the instructor emphasizes including direct quotes with proper citation to back up each reason given in the thesis. For example, Mrs. Mallard's description of the 'delicious breath of rain' serves as evidence of her hopefulness after her husband's death.

💡Explanation

An explanation is the part of the body paragraph where the writer interprets the evidence and connects it to the argument. The instructor highlights that after presenting evidence, the writer should explain how it supports their reason. For instance, the description of Mrs. Mallard's reaction to springtime illustrates her newfound freedom, which aligns with the thesis about the oppressive nature of marriage.

💡Topic Sentence

A topic sentence is the opening sentence of a body paragraph that introduces the paragraph's main idea. The instructor explains that the topic sentence should reflect the first reason from the thesis statement. In the example, the topic sentence introduces how the setting reflects Mrs. Mallard's emotional state, setting up the evidence and analysis that follow.

💡Conclusion Paragraph

The conclusion paragraph is the final section of an essay that summarizes the main points and restates the thesis in a new way. In the video, the instructor advises that the conclusion should reinforce the ideas discussed in the essay without introducing new information, effectively closing the argument.

💡MLA Citation

MLA citation is a method for citing sources in academic writing, typically used in literature and humanities. The instructor notes the importance of using proper in-text citation with the author's last name and page number when quoting evidence from the text. This ensures the evidence is appropriately attributed and the essay follows academic conventions.

Highlights

Start your literary analysis essay with your first and last name, class block, and date.

Choose a title that reflects the topic of your literary analysis.

Begin your essay with a hook, such as a famous quote, to introduce the theme.

Include the title and author of the literary work being analyzed.

Provide a brief summary of the short story or literary work before moving into analysis.

End the introduction paragraph with a thesis statement, which serves as a roadmap for the essay.

A thesis statement should include your opinion about the theme or character, connected with three reasons.

The body paragraphs should align with the reasons in the thesis statement, starting with the first reason as the topic sentence.

Include evidence from the text in each body paragraph, such as direct quotes with proper MLA citation.

Explain how the evidence supports the reason mentioned in the topic sentence.

In the first body paragraph example, the setting reflects Mrs. Mallard's emotional transformation in 'The Story of an Hour.'

Mrs. Mallard's view of springtime and new life reflects her sense of freedom after her husband's death.

Each body paragraph should end with a concluding sentence that restates the main idea of the paragraph.

The structure of each body paragraph includes reason, evidence, and explanation.

Conclude the essay by restating the main ideas discussed earlier, reinforcing the thesis and analysis.

Transcripts

hello students today I'm going to show

you an example literary analysis essay

so that you can know what to do when you

write yours so the first thing at the

top of the page you want to write your

first and last name my name what block

and the date and then you want to think

of a title that tells you something

about the topic that you're going to be

talking about so this literary analysis

is about a short story called The Story

of an Hour so let's just talk about the

uh components or the parts of a good

literary essay so the first thing you

want to do is start with a hook so this

is a quote from someone famous SRA once

wisely said hell is other people and

this is a quote that foreshadows what

the essay is going to be about and then

the next thing that this author does is

she writes uh what short story so the

title uh and the author of the short

story she's going to analyze and then

talks about the topic a view of marriage

and then this author gives a very brief

summary of what happens in the story

okay this is just a a basic summary of

the short story that the person read and

then here the last sentence of the

introduction paragraph is a thesis

statement we call this the thesis

statement okay okay um and so there are

three parts to a thesis statement this

basically tells your reader it's like a

map of your essay so it tells your

reader what you're going to be reading

okay um so the claim is the first thing

so this part highlighted in

yellow uh is your opinion about the

essay so for you this is going to be

what your opinion is about the theme of

your short story or what your opinion is

about the character

characters um so this one says Kate

chopan The Story of an Hour expresses

the oppressive nature of marriage so

it's saying the theme Here is that n the

nature of marriage is oppressive it's

bad and then we have this word because

this word because here is very important

um you need to link your opinion with

three reasons okay so because and then

this author has three reasons why and

then for your body paragraph you're

going to start with your first reason

the settings reflection of Mrs malard

and you're going to put that as the the

topic sentence of your body paragraph

Okay so the first body paragraph needs

to talk about your first reason okay and

so let's look at this um body paragraph

after hearing of her husband's death Mrs

Mard quickly progresses from grief to

hopefulness a change that chopan shows

through her description of the setting

initially Mrs Mard cried eyes but

quickly locks herself alone in her room

as she looks out the window Mrs Mard

could see in the open Square before her

house the tops of trees that were all a

quiver with the new Spring Light the

delicious breath of rain was in the air

Mrs Mard immediately notices the new

growth and life of the springtime which

reflects her own new life that is

possible after her husband's death

normally a recent Widow would not be

using words like delicious to describe

the world around them immediately after

the passing of a loved one however Mrs M

feels she has escaped the oppression of

her husband and is beginning to see a

new world a world that is hers to love

and explore while she does grieve

quickly for her late husband Mrs

mallard's view of Nature and Chan's

description of the setting reveal her

true feelings so in this body paragraph

the author is doing a couple of things

she's giving uh evidence and explaining

her evidence for this first reason so

why does she think that the setting

proves that

nature of marriage is oppressive okay so

we have a direct quote here and you'll

notice the quotation marks before and

after and then the intax citation now

you'll notice that really it should

have the last name of the author and the

page number that's the MLA

citation so this is her evidence after

she states her first reason this writer

puts her evidence it's something from

the story that she's going to then

explain how this proves this so after

her evidence she has her reasoning okay

she's saying that it's very weird that

she's using words like delicious and new

spring life because these things are

good and it's uh

unexpected uh to say things like that

after the passing of a loved one

okay and then she goes on to say but the

reason she does this is because she is

escaping oppression of her husband okay

so in this body paragraph uh she ends

with a concluding sentence that uh

restates the main idea of this paragraph

which is the true feelings that she has

of nature okay through the setting so

what we see in the body paragraph is the

reason

that's listed in the thesis statement

the

reason the

evidence and then an explanation of how

that evidence

supports the reason that she gave okay

so reason evidence and then an

explanation and that's what you're going

to do with the next two body paragraphs

it's the same thing the second reason

more evidence from the text text and an

explanation of the evidence okay

reason

evidence

explanation okay and in the conclusion

paragraph

um is uh just a restatement of the main

ideas of what was already said earlier

on in the paper and that is an example

of a literary analysis essay