You will compose an analytical essay that has at least 1000 words in length, 12 pt. font size, Times New Roman, 1″ margins all around, and presented in MLA 8 format
As we discuss the cultural and social climates that helped shape world literature in the Englightenment Period, it is important to consider how the authors shape their craft and messages. You can choose ONE from the list of prompts to present a formal, academic essay over a literary work. Use these steps as a guide:
Identify at least one or two major themes from at least one of the works we have read this semester.
A formal academic essay will need to include:
An introduction that supplies background on your topic
A thesis statement: your thesis is your main argument about the text, and your paper should be devoted to supporting that thesis. Mark your thesis statement in bold or highlight like you see in this example. 5 points will be taken off for not following MLA conventions.
A navigable organization scheme (i.e. introduction, discussion sections, conclusion); a third-person register (i.e. avoid language that relies on “I” and “you”); clearly presented examples from the primary source, secondary sources, and a discussion of these examples that ties back to your thesis. Overall, you should pay attention to particular parts of the text, such as specific scenes.
For this assignment, you will need to seek out and incorporate at least two-three scholarly sources (i.e. from a college database or academic book) that discuss the work(s) to which you choose to respond. You will need to either use quotes from the sources to bolster your own analysis or feature them as a counterargument to your claims.
Be sure to follow the specific conventions for presenting textual excerpts from poems, plays, and prose pieces. To familiarize yourself with these conventions, including citation, see the document or visit the OWL Purdue website. (Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site. Overall, this assignment calls on you to analyze elements of a primary text (e.g. themes, issues, literary devices) and to show your own understanding of the author’s work. Please remember, analysis requires critical thinking, and your writing should go beyond plot summary.
This assignment will require you to create a work cited page in MLA 8 style. Further, you will cite the work(s) that you choose to work with as well as any secondary sources you incorporate. To locate secondary sources, visit the library website to use either the library catalog or the databases (https://www.collin.edu/library/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)). I recommend JSTOR, Academic Search Complete, or ProjectMuse. Also, keep in mind that you can get help from the Writing Center for brainstorming, drafting, or revising.
Choose ONE prompt for your literary analysis
1. What are the chief elements of personal satire in Candide?
2. What are three examples of surprising discoveries in Candide? In reference to such discoveries, with what popular fiction does Voltaire’s narrative have affinities?
3. Optimism, religion, and war are chief targets of Voltaire’s satire. At the social level, what else did he satirize?
4. What are the chief characteristics of Voltaire’s style?
5. Show how Voltaire illustrates that greed is one of the main causes of evil in the world.
6. Study the similarities between Jonathan Swifts’ Gulliver’s Travels and Voltaire’s Candide in the use of satire that is developed through naivete?
7. What is the significance, if any, of the order in which Gulliver’s journeys take place? How does each adventure build on the previous one?
8. Why does Gulliver keep traveling despite his many misfortunes? Gulliver is clearly an explorer at heart, even though he is a doctor by profession. Was it appropriate for him to keep going on voyages, even though he kept leaving his family and just barely avoided death? If you were Gulliver, would you have given up traveling? If so, why and when would you have decided to stay home? Use details from the story to support your opinions.
9. In the Essay on Man, Epistle 1, Part11, section 11, the imagery suggests that Pope sees the universe as a place of democratic equality. Does it seem that Pope sees the universe as a place of democratic equality? Does Pope think that a universe is a place of unequal hierarchy? Why?
10. At the end of Essay on Man, Epistle 1, Part11, section 11, the final couplet is suggesting that the people today have developed further than those of the past. Is the nature of humanity static or changing according to Pope?
