What is Literary Analysis?
It’s literary It’s an analysis It’s--An Argument! It may also involve research on and analysis of secondary sources
How is it “literary”?
2. In paragraph 4, Lorde describes the elaborate picnic her mother prepared for the trip to Washington, D.C. Why did Lorde's mother make such elaborate preparations? What do these preparations tell us about Lorde's mother?
There were probably two reasons. On the one hand, by taking a variety of food with them on the trip, the family members could save some money, for dining car food was too expensive. On the other hand, as black people, they were not allowed into railroad dining cars at that time.
5. While squinting up at monuments to freedom and past presidencies and democracy, the writer was wondering why the light and heat were both so much stronger in Washington D.C. than back home in New York City. Even the pavement on the streets was a shade lighter in color than back home. Any symbolic meaning?
Questions for Close Reading
1. What is the selection's thesis (or narrative point)? Locate the sentence(s) in which Lorde states her main idea. If she doesn't state the thesis explicitly, express it in your own words.
7. How did the writer feel after the injustice?
The writer was plunged into extreme exasperation and was going to write a letter of protest to the president of the USA. This profound experience of white domination, racial discrimination and segregation so deeply affected the writer that she felt sick to her stomach for the rest of that trip. She didn't think that it was much of a graduation present after all.
4.Why did the writer spend the whole next day after Mass squinting up at the Lincoln Memorial?
And why had Marian Anderson sung at the Lincoln Memorial after the D.A.R. refused to allow her to sas Black?
English Writing (2)
Hao Guilian, Ph.D. Yunnan Normal University Fall, 2011
In-class presentation
The outline of your essay writing:
What is the focus (studying point) of your essay?
It was Lincoln, the American President, who liberated the blacks in America, who advocated freedom for the colored and who even sacrificed his life for the emancipation of the black people. Both the writer and Marian Anderson cherished the memory of this great man.
Usually, a literary analysis will involve a discussion of a text as writing, thus literary, which means “having to do with letters”
This will involve the use of certain concepts that are very specifically associated with literature
Important literary concepts
The Basics
Plot Setting Narration/point of
view Characterization Symbol Metaphor Genre Irony/ambiguity
Other key concepts
6. How did the writer's parents and her two sisters respond to the unfair treatment afterwards?
The writer's parents wouldn't speak of the injustice, not because they had contributed to it, but because they felt they should have anticipated it and avoided it. Neither her parents nor her sisters demonstrated the rage they felt inwardly; instead, they all pretended that nothing unusual and anti-American had occurred.
How is a literary analysis an argument?
When writing a literary analysis, you will focus on specific attribute(s) of the text(s).
When discussing these attributes, you will want to make sure that you are making a specific, arguable point (thesis) about these attributes.
Here, most probably, the white light and heat and the white pavement on the streets symbolize the white domination. Actually, the writer was wondering why the white domination or racial discrimination was even stronger in Washington D.C. than back home in New York City.
How did you organize it? What standard did you have when you came to
judge it the way you did? What is your conclusion?
Read the essay together!
THE FOURTH OF JULY (By Audre Lorde)
3. Why had the writer's elder sister been prevented from going to Washington D.C. with her high school classmates?
Because she was black and all her classmates were white and they would be staying in a hotel which did not rent rooms to Negroes.
You will defend this point with reasons and evidence drawn from the text. (Much like a lawyer!)
Which is the best thesis statement?
Historical context Social, political,
economic contexts Ideology Multiple voices Various critical