Dr. Travis Rozier
ENGL 203
14 June 2021
: Marital Conflict in âA Red Girlâs Reasoningâ
In writing âA Red Girlâs Reasoning,â Johnson explores through Christie McDonald, a mixed-race young woman like herself. Like Christie, Johnson was both a part of and yet separate from Canadian middle-class society in the early 1900s because of her Indian heritage. Christie, unlike Johnson, marries a young white man named Charlie McDonald. In Charlie, though, Christie does not find mooring for her liminality.
At the beginning of âA Red Girlâs Reasoning,â Charlie is introduced to the reader in conversation with his father-in-law while waiting for Christie to appear. When Jimmy Robinson tells Charlie that he does not understand Indigenous people or their cultures , who has lived over twenty years in native lands, Charlie balks at this assessment: âBut Iâm just as fond of themâ and âI get on with them too, now, donât I?â are his cries in response (Johnson 1). This incident highlights Charlieâs insistence on always being correct, regardless of whether or not he is actually right or not. It also foreshadows how his insistence at always being right will later create marital conflict with his new bride.
He also becomes jealous; at the thought, instigated by Mrs. Stuart, that Joe does not love Christie nearly as much as she deserves, he confronts his brother about the matter. âIâve never asked you yet what you thought of her, Joe,â he ponders with his brother (4). Unsatisfied with his brotherâs answer of âIâm glad she loves you,â Charlie tells Joe that âIf she hated you, youâd get out. If she loved you Iâd you get outâ (4). This scene, while seemingly a minor incident in the text, becomes alarming when coupled with Charlieâs discussion with Jimmy Robinson. Like everyone else in Ottawa, he perceives her as âa potent charm to acquire popularityâ (3).
At the party, when confronted by numerous individuals as to the nature of her father and motherâs marriage, Christie admits that they were not married by a priest. Horrified by this lack of propriety and despite her clarification that âthe marriage was performed by Indian rites,â guests like Captain Logan and Mrs. Stuart immediately begin to gossip at hints of impropriety in Christie and Charlieâs marriage itself (Johnson 6). âPoor old Charlie has always thought so much of honorable birth,â Captain Logan says, perhaps the most damning indictment of Charlieâs character in the short story (6). Charlie, who was not made privy to this information before his marriage, is beyond angry by this news. What he is angry about is not the information being withheld from him, though; instead, he is angry with Christie at ruining her, and therefore his, reputation.
Immediately after the disastrous party, Charlies skulks off by himself before returning home to confront Christie. At the sight of her, he cries âYou have disgraced me; and, moreover, you have disgraced yourself and both your parentsâ (Johnson 7). When Christie throws in his face the fact that he âwho [has] studied my race and their laws for yearsâ accuses her of bastardry, Charlie is affronted: âYour father was a fool not to insist upon the law, and so was the priestâ (6-7). Despite studying and understanding Indian culture for years and marrying an Indian woman, Charlie insists that Christieâs parents âlive in more civilized timesâ and should therefore have had a Christian wedding with a priest in order to authorize their marriage (8). Ultimately, however, Christie wears down Charlieâs ignorant arguments until he cries âthe trouble is they wonât keep their mouths shutâ (8). Even in this moment of intense argument with Christie over a subject that ultimately proves the end of their marriage, Charlie cannot stop prioritizing the opinions of those in white Ottawan society. Because of her announcement, Charlie has been made a fool in front of his friends, colleagues, and the city writ-large, and his anger at this prompts him to announce âGod knowsâ when Christie asks whether it would have made a difference when deciding to marry her (8).
He alienates Christie from white society by castigating her for her parentsâ lack of âproprietyâ (by a white manâs standard) and refusing to recognize the validity of her peopleâs customs. Christie occupies a liminal space between being white and being Indigenous that cannot support Charlieâs racist attempts to capitalize on her beauty and appeal to society as the new ârageâ for his own social gain. Through Christie, Pauline Johnson explores the fraught nature of being an Indian in a white manâs world, while through Charlie, Johnson exposes how white society commodifies the lives and cultures of Indigenous people during the early twentieth century.
Works Cited
Attribution:
Bowling, Hannah Elizabeth. âShort Story: âBlood for Bloodâ: Marital Conflict in âA Red Girlâs Reasoning.ââ In Surface and Subtext: Literature, Research, Writing . 3rd ed. Edited by Claire Carly-Miles, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Christie Anders, Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt, R. Paul Cooper, and Matt McKinney. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License .
Rozier, Travis, and R. Paul Cooper. âShort Story: Sample Analysis of a Short Story.â In Surface and Subtext: Literature, Research, Writing . 3rd ed. Edited by Claire Carly-Miles, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Christie Anders, Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt, R. Paul Cooper, and Matt McKinney. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License .
3.7--Sample Analysis of a Short Story Copyright © 2024 by Travis Rozier and R. Paul Cooper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
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Published on January 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.
Literary analysis means closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.
A literary analysis essay is not a rhetorical analysis , nor is it just a summary of the plot or a book review. Instead, it is a type of argumentative essay where you need to analyze elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create effects and convey ideas.
Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and c ome up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. As you write, follow the standard structure of an academic essay :
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Step 1: reading the text and identifying literary devices, step 2: coming up with a thesis, step 3: writing a title and introduction, step 4: writing the body of the essay, step 5: writing a conclusion, other interesting articles.
The first step is to carefully read the text(s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writingâthese are things you can dig into in your analysis.
Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyze the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices âtextual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects. If you’re comparing and contrasting multiple texts, you can also look for connections between different texts.
To get started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you can focus on. As you analyze each aspect of the text, try to think about how they all relate to each other. You can use highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and quotes.
Consider what style of language the author uses. Are the sentences short and simple or more complex and poetic?
What word choices stand out as interesting or unusual? Are words used figuratively to mean something other than their literal definition? Figurative language includes things like metaphor (e.g. âher eyes were oceansâ) and simile (e.g. âher eyes were like oceansâ).
Also keep an eye out for imagery in the textârecurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface.
Ask yourself:
Is it a first-person narrator (“I”) who is personally involved in the story, or a third-person narrator who tells us about the characters from a distance?
Consider the narratorâs perspective . Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.
The tone of the text is also worth considering. Is the story intended to be comic, tragic, or something else? Are usually serious topics treated as funny, or vice versa ? Is the story realistic or fantastical (or somewhere in between)?
Consider how the text is structured, and how the structure relates to the story being told.
Think about why the author chose to divide the different parts of the text in the way they did.
There are also less formal structural elements to take into account. Does the story unfold in chronological order, or does it jump back and forth in time? Does it begin in medias res âin the middle of the action? Does the plot advance towards a clearly defined climax?
With poetry, consider how the rhyme and meter shape your understanding of the text and your impression of the tone. Try reading the poem aloud to get a sense of this.
In a play, you might consider how relationships between characters are built up through different scenes, and how the setting relates to the action. Watch out for dramatic irony , where the audience knows some detail that the characters don’t, creating a double meaning in their words, thoughts, or actions.
Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. Itâs the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text.
If youâre given a prompt for your essay, your thesis must answer or relate to the prompt. For example:
Is Franz Kafkaâs âBefore the Lawâ a religious parable?
Your thesis statement should be an answer to this questionânot a simple yes or no, but a statement of why this is or isnât the case:
Franz Kafkaâs âBefore the Lawâ is not a religious parable, but a story about bureaucratic alienation.
Sometimes youâll be given freedom to choose your own topic; in this case, youâll have to come up with an original thesis. Consider what stood out to you in the text; ask yourself questions about the elements that interested you, and consider how you might answer them.
Your thesis should be something arguableâthat is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It must be complex enough to develop through evidence and arguments across the course of your essay.
Say you’re analyzing the novel Frankenstein . You could start by asking yourself:
Your initial answer might be a surface-level description:
The character Frankenstein is portrayed negatively in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .
However, this statement is too simple to be an interesting thesis. After reading the text and analyzing its narrative voice and structure, you can develop the answer into a more nuanced and arguable thesis statement:
Mary Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creatureâs narrative Frankenstein begins to resembleâeven in his own tellingâthe thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.
Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process , so it doesn’t need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyze the text.
To support your thesis statement, your essay will build an argument using textual evidence âspecific parts of the text that demonstrate your point. This evidence is quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to explain your argument to the reader.
It can be useful to comb through the text in search of relevant quotations before you start writing. You might not end up using everything you find, and you may have to return to the text for more evidence as you write, but collecting textual evidence from the beginning will help you to structure your arguments and assess whether theyâre convincing.
To start your literary analysis paper, youâll need two things: a good title, and an introduction.
Your title should clearly indicate what your analysis will focus on. It usually contains the name of the author and text(s) you’re analyzing. Keep it as concise and engaging as possible.
A common approach to the title is to use a relevant quote from the text, followed by a colon and then the rest of your title.
If you struggle to come up with a good title at first, donât worryâthis will be easier once youâve begun writing the essay and have a better sense of your arguments.
âFearful symmetryâ : The violence of creation in William Blakeâs âThe Tygerâ
The essay introduction provides a quick overview of where your argument is going. It should include your thesis statement and a summary of the essay’s structure.
A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.
Then you can end with a brief indication of whatâs coming up in the main body of the essay. This is called signposting. It will be more elaborate in longer essays, but in a short five-paragraph essay structure, it shouldnât be more than one sentence.
Mary Shelleyâs Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creatureâs narrative Frankenstein begins to resembleâeven in his own tellingâthe thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creatureâs perception of him, and finally discusses the third volumeâs narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.
Some students prefer to write the introduction later in the process, and itâs not a bad idea. After all, youâll have a clearer idea of the overall shape of your arguments once youâve begun writing them!
If you do write the introduction first, you should still return to it later to make sure it lines up with what you ended up writing, and edit as necessary.
The body of your essay is everything between the introduction and conclusion. It contains your arguments and the textual evidence that supports them.
A typical structure for a high school literary analysis essay consists of five paragraphs : the three paragraphs of the body, plus the introduction and conclusion.
Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic. In the five-paragraph model, try to divide your argument into three main areas of analysis, all linked to your thesis. Donât try to include everything you can think of to say about the textâonly analysis that drives your argument.
In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical momentsâa turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.
Robertâs first encounter with Gil-Martin suggests something of his sinister power. Robert feels âa sort of invisible power that drew me towards him.â He identifies the moment of their meeting as âthe beginning of a series of adventures which has puzzled myself, and will puzzle the world when I am no more in itâ (p. 89). Gil-Martinâs âinvisible powerâ seems to be at work even at this distance from the moment described; before continuing the story, Robert feels compelled to anticipate at length what readers will make of his narrative after his approaching death. With this interjection, Hogg emphasizes the fatal influence Gil-Martin exercises from his first appearance.
To keep your points focused, itâs important to use a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph.
A good topic sentence allows a reader to see at a glance what the paragraph is about. It can introduce a new line of argument and connect or contrast it with the previous paragraph. Transition words like âhoweverâ or âmoreoverâ are useful for creating smooth transitions:
⊠The storyâs focus, therefore, is not upon the divine revelation that may be waiting beyond the door, but upon the mundane process of aging undergone by the man as he waits.
Nevertheless, the âradianceâ that appears to stream from the door is typically treated as religious symbolism.
This topic sentence signals that the paragraph will address the question of religious symbolism, while the linking word âneverthelessâ points out a contrast with the previous paragraphâs conclusion.
A key part of literary analysis is backing up your arguments with relevant evidence from the text. This involves introducing quotes from the text and explaining their significance to your point.
Itâs important to contextualize quotes and explain why youâre using them; they should be properly introduced and analyzed, not treated as self-explanatory:
It isnât always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when youâre discussing the author’s language, but sometimes youâll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that canât be captured in a short quote.
In these cases, itâs more appropriate to paraphrase or summarize parts of the textâthat is, to describe the relevant part in your own words:
The conclusion of your analysis shouldnât introduce any new quotations or arguments. Instead, itâs about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader.
A good way to approach this is to briefly summarize your key arguments, and then stress the conclusion theyâve led you to, highlighting the new perspective your thesis provides on the text as a whole:
If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
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By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novelâs three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumesâfirst in the creatureâs accusatory voice, and then in his own voiceâincreasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankensteinâs narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from othersâ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelleyâs unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.
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Friends, it’s true: the end of the decade approaches. It’s been a difficult, anxiety-provoking, morally compromised decade, but at least it’s been populated by some damn fine literature. We’ll take our silver linings where we can.
So, as is our hallowed duty as a literary and culture websiteâthough with full awareness of the potentially fruitless and endlessly contestable nature of the taskâin the coming weeks, we’ll be taking a look at the best and most important (these being not always the same) books of the decade that was. We will do this, of course, by means of a variety of lists. We began with the best debut novels , the best short story collections , the best poetry collections , and the best memoirs of the decade , and we have now reached the fifth list in our series: the best essay collections published in English between 2010 and 2019.
The following books were chosen after much debate (and several rounds of voting) by the Literary Hub staff. Tears were spilled, feelings were hurt, books were re-read. And as you’ll shortly see, we had a hard time choosing just tenâso we’ve also included a list of dissenting opinions, and an even longer list of also-rans. As ever, free to add any of your own favorites that we’ve missed in the comments below.
Oliver sacks, the mind’s eye (2010).
Toward the end of his life, maybe suspecting or sensing that it was coming to a close, Dr. Oliver Sacks tended to focus his efforts on sweeping intellectual projects like On the Move (a memoir), The River of Consciousness (a hybrid intellectual history), and Hallucinations (a book-length meditation on, what else, hallucinations). But in 2010, he gave us one more classic in the style that first made him famous, a form he revolutionized and brought into the contemporary literary canon: the medical case study as essay. In The Mindâs Eye , Sacks focuses on vision, expanding the notion to embrace not only how we see the world, but also how we map that world onto our brains when our eyes are closed and weâre communing with the deeper recesses of consciousness. Relaying histories of patients and public figures, as well as his own history of ocular cancer (the condition that would eventually spread and contribute to his death), Sacks uses vision as a lens through which to see all of what makes us human, what binds us together, and what keeps us painfully apart. The essays that make up this collection are quintessential Sacks: sensitive, searching, with an expertise that conveys scientific information and experimentation in terms we can not only comprehend, but which also expand how we see life carrying on around us. The case studies of âStereo Sue,â of the concert pianist Lillian Kalir, and of Howard, the mystery novelist who can no longer read, are highlights of the collection, but each essay is a kind of gem, mined and polished by one of the great storytellers of our era. âDwyer Murphy, CrimeReads Managing Editor
The American essay was having a moment at the beginning of the decade, and Pulphead was smack in the middle. Without any hard data, I can tell you that this collection of John Jeremiah Sullivanâs magazine featuresâpublished primarily in GQ , but also in The Paris Review , and Harperâs âwas the only full book of essays most of my literary friends had read since Slouching Towards Bethlehem , and probably one of the only full books of essays they had even heard of.
Well, we all picked a good one. Every essay in Pulphead is brilliant and entertaining, and illuminates some small corner of the American experienceâeven if itâs just one house, with Sullivan and an aging writer inside (âMr. Lytleâ is in fact a standout in a collection with no filler; fittingly, it won a National Magazine Award and a Pushcart Prize). But what are they about? Oh, Axl Rose, Christian Rock festivals, living around the filming of One Tree Hill , the Tea Party movement, Michael Jackson, Bunny Wailer, the influence of animals, and by god, the Miz (of Real World/Road Rules Challenge fame).
But as Dan Kois has pointed out , what connects these essays, apart from their general tone and excellence, is âtheir author’s essential curiosity about the world, his eye for the perfect detail, and his great good humor in revealing both his subjects’ and his own foibles.â They are also extremely well written, drawing much from fictional techniques and sentence craft, their literary pleasures so acute and remarkable that James Wood began his review of the collection in The New Yorker with a quiz: âAre the following sentences the beginnings of essays or of short stories?â (It was not a hard quiz, considering the context.)
Itâs hard not to feel, reading this collection, like someone reached into your brain, took out the half-baked stuff you talk about with your friends, researched it, lived it, and represented it to you smarter and better and more thoroughly than you ever could. So read it in awe if you must, but read it. âEmily Temple, Senior Editor
Such is the sentence-level virtuosity of Aleksandar Hemonâthe Bosnian-American writer, essayist, and criticâthat throughout his career he has frequently been compared to the granddaddy of borrowed language prose stylists: Vladimir Nabokov. While it is, of course, objectively remarkable that anyone could write so beautifully in a language they learned in their twenties, what I admire most about Hemonâs work is the way in which he infuses every essay and story and novel with both a deep humanity and a controlled (but never subdued) fury. He can also be damn funny. Hemon grew up in Sarajevo and left in 1992 to study in Chicago, where he almost immediately found himself stranded, forced to watch from afar as his beloved home city was subjected to a relentless four-year bombardment, the longest siege of a capital in the history of modern warfare. This extraordinary memoir-in-essays is many things: itâs a love letter to both the family that raised him and the family he built in exile; itâs a rich, joyous, and complex portrait of a place the 90s made synonymous with war and devastation; and itâs an elegy for the wrenching loss of precious things. Thereâs an essay about coming of age in Sarajevo and another about why he canât bring himself to leave Chicago. There are stories about relationships forged and maintained on the soccer pitch or over the chessboard, and stories about neighbors and mentors turned monstrous by ethnic prejudice. As a chorus they sing with insight, wry humor, and unimaginable sorrow. I am not exaggerating when I say that the collectionâs devastating final piece, âThe Aquariumââwhich details his infant daughter’s brain tumor and the agonizing months which led up to her deathâremains the most painful essay I have ever read. âDan Sheehan, Book Marks Editor
Of every essay in my relentlessly earmarked copy of Braiding Sweetgrass , Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s gorgeously rendered argument for why and how we should keep going, there’s one that especially hits home: her account of professor-turned-forester Franz Dolp. When Dolp, several decades ago, revisited the farm that he had once shared with his ex-wife, he found a scene of destruction: The farm’s new owners had razed the land where he had tried to build a life. “I sat among the stumps and the swirling red dust and I cried,” he wrote in his journal.
So many in my generation (and younger) feel this kind of helplessnessâand considerable rageâat finding ourselves newly adult in a world where those in power seem determined to abandon or destroy everything that human bodies have always needed to survive: air, water, land. Asking any single book to speak to this helplessness feels unfair, somehow; yet, Braiding Sweetgrass does, by weaving descriptions of indigenous tradition with the environmental sciences in order to show what survival has looked like over the course of many millennia. Kimmerer’s essays describe her personal experience as a Potawotami woman, plant ecologist, and teacher alongside stories of the many ways that humans have lived in relationship to other species. Whether describing Dolpâs workâhe left the stumps for a life of forest restoration on the Oregon coastâor the work of others in maple sugar harvesting, creating black ash baskets, or planting a Three Sisters garden of corn, beans, and squash, she brings hope. “In ripe ears and swelling fruit, they counsel us that all gifts are multiplied in relationship,â she writes of the Three Sisters, which all sustain one another as they grow. âThis is how the world keeps going.â âCorinne Segal, Senior Editor
In a world where we are so often reduced to one essential self, Hilton Alsâ breathtaking book of critical essays, White Girls , which meditates on the ways he and other subjects read, project and absorb parts of white femininity, is a radically liberating book. Itâs one of the only works of critical thinking that doesnât ask the reader, its author or anyone he writes about to stoop before the doorframe of complete legibility before entering. Something he also permitted the subjects and readers of his first book, the glorious book-length essay, The Women , a series of riffs and psychological portraits of Dorothy Dean, Owen Dodson, and the authorâs own mother, among others. One of the shifts of that book, uncommon at the time, was how it acknowledges the way we inhabit bodies made up of variously gendered influences. To read White Girls now is to experience the utter freedom of this gift and to marvel at Alsâ tremendous versatility and intelligence.
He is easily the most diversely talented American critic alive. He can write into genres like pop music and film where being part of an audience is a fantasy happening in the dark. Heâs also wired enough to know how the art world builds reputations on the nod of rich white patrons, a significant collision in a time when Jean-Michel Basquiat is Americaâs most expensive modern artist. Alsâ swerving and always moving grip on performance means heâs especially good on describing the effect of art which is volatile and unstable and built on the mingling of made-up concepts and the hard fact of their effect on behavior, such as race. Writing on Flannery OâConnor for instance he alone puts a finger on her âuneasy and unavoidable union between black and white, the sacred and the profane, the shit and the stars.â From Eminem to Richard Pryor, AndrĂ© Leon Talley to Michael Jackson, Als enters the life and work of numerous artists here who turn the fascinations of race and with whiteness into fury and song and describes the complexity of their beauty like his life depended upon it. There are also brief memoirs here that will stop your heart. This is an essential work to understanding American culture. âJohn Freeman, Executive Editor
We move through the world as if we can protect ourselves from its myriad dangers, exercising what little agency we have in an effort to keep at bay those fears that gather at the edges of any given life: of loss, illness, disaster, death. It is these fearsâamplified by the birth of her first childâthat Eula Biss confronts in her essential 2014 essay collection, On Immunity . As any great essayist does, Biss moves outward in concentric circles from her own very private view of the world to reveal wider truths, discovering as she does a culture consumed by anxiety at the pervasive toxicity of contemporary life. As Biss interrogates this cultureâof privilege, of whitenessâshe interrogates herself, questioning the flimsy ways in which we arm ourselves with science or superstition against the impurities of daily existence.
Five years on from its publication, it is dismaying that On Immunity feels as urgent (and necessary) a defense of basic science as ever. Vaccination, we learn, is derived from vacca âfor cowâafter the 17th-century discovery that a small application of cowpox was often enough to inoculate against the scourge of smallpox, an etymological digression that belies modern conspiratorial fears of Big Pharma and its vaccination agenda. But Biss never scolds or belittles the fears of others, and in her generosity and openness pulls off a neat (and important) trick: insofar as we are of the very world we fear, she seems to be suggesting, we ourselves are impure, have always been so, permeable, vulnerable, yet so much stronger than we think. âJonny Diamond, Editor-in-ChiefÂ
When Rebecca Solnit’s essay, “Men Explain Things to Me,” was published in 2008, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon unlike almost any other in recent memory, assigning language to a behavior that almost every woman has witnessedâmansplainingâand, in the course of identifying that behavior, spurring a movement, online and offline, to share the ways in which patriarchal arrogance has intersected all our lives. (It would also come to be the titular essay in her collection published in 2014.) The Mother of All Questions follows up on that work and takes it further in order to examine the nature of self-expressionâwho is afforded it and denied it, what institutions have been put in place to limit it, and what happens when it is employed by women. Solnit has a singular gift for describing and decoding the misogynistic dynamics that govern the world so universally that they can seem invisible and the gendered violence that is so common as to seem unremarkable; this naming is powerful, and it opens space for sharing the stories that shape our lives.
The Mother of All Questions, comprised of essays written between 2014 and 2016, in many ways armed us with some of the tools necessary to survive the gaslighting of the Trump years, in which many of usâand especially womenâhave continued to hear from those in power that the things we see and hear do not exist and never existed. Solnit also acknowledges that labels like “woman,” and other gendered labels, are identities that are fluid in reality; in reviewing the book for The New Yorker , Moira Donegan suggested that, “One useful working definition of a woman might be ‘someone who experiences misogyny.'” Whichever words we use, Solnit writes in the introduction to the book that “when words break through unspeakability, what was tolerated by a society sometimes becomes intolerable.” This storytelling work has always been vital; it continues to be vital, and in this book, it is brilliantly done. âCorinne Segal, Senior Editor
The newly minted MacArthur fellow Valeria Luiselliâs four-part (but really six-part) essay Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions was inspired by her time spent volunteering at the federal immigration court in New York City, working as an interpreter for undocumented, unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Written concurrently with her novel Lost Children Archive  (a fictional exploration of the same topic), Luiselliâs essay offers a fascinating conceit, the fashioning of an argument from the questions on the government intake form given to these children to process their arrivals. (Aside from the fact that this essay is a heartbreaking masterpiece, this is such a good  conceitâtransforming a cold, reproducible administrative document into highly personal literature.) Luiselli interweaves a grounded discussion of the questionnaire with a narrative of the road trip Luiselli takes with her husband and family, across America, while they (both Mexican citizens) wait for their own Green Card applications to be processed. It is on this trip when Luiselli reflects on the thousands of migrant children mysteriously traveling across the border by themselves. But the real point of the essay is to actually delve into the real stories of some of these children, which are agonizing, as well as to gravely, clearly expose what literally happens, procedural, when they do arriveâfrom forms to courts, as theyâre swallowed by a bureaucratic vortex. Amid all of this, Luiselli also takes on more, exploring the larger contextual relationship between the United States of America and Mexico (as well as other countries in Central America, more broadly) as it has evolved to our current, adverse moment. Tell Me How It Ends is so small, but it is so passionate and vigorous: it desperately accomplishes in its less-than-100-pages-of-prose what centuries and miles and endless records of federal bureaucracy have never been able, and have never cared, to do: reverse the dehumanization of Latin American immigrants that occurs once they set foot in this country. âOlivia Rutigliano, CrimeReads Editorial Fellow
In the essay “Meet Justin Bieber!” in Feel Free , Zadie Smith writes that her interest in Justin Bieber is not an interest in the interiority of the singer himself, but in “the idea of the love object”. This essayâin which Smith imagines a meeting between Bieber and the late philosopher Martin Buber (“Bieber and Buber are alternative spellings of the same German surname,” she explains in one of many winning footnotes. “Who am I to ignore these hints from the universe?”). Smith allows that this premise is a bit premise -y: “I know, I know.” Still, the resulting essay is a very funny, very smart, and un-tricky exploration of individuality and true âmeeting,â with a dash of late capitalism thrown in for good measure. The melding of high and low culture is the bread and butter of pretty much every prestige publication on the internet these days (and certainly of the Twitter feeds of all âpublic intellectualsâ), but the essays in Smithâs collection donât feel familiarâperhaps because hers is, as weâve long known, an uncommon skill. Though I believe Smith could probably write compellingly about anything, she chooses her subjects wisely. She writes with as much electricity about Brexit as the aforementioned Beliebersâand each essay is utterly engrossing. âShe contains multitudes, but her point is we all do,â writes Hermione Hoby in her review of the collection in The New Republic . âAt the same time, we are, in our endless difference, nobody but ourselves.â âJessie Gaynor, Social Media Editor
Tressie McMillan Cottom is an academic who has transcended the ivory tower to become the sort of public intellectual who can easily appear on radio or television talk shows to discuss race, gender, and capitalism. Her collection of essays reflects this duality, blending scholarly work with memoir to create a collection on the black female experience in postmodern America thatâs âintersectional analysis with a side of pop culture.â The essays range from an analysis of sexual violence, to populist politics, to social media, but in centering her own experiences throughout, the collection becomes something unlike other pieces of criticism of contemporary culture. In explaining the title, she reflects on what an editor had said about her work: âI was too readable to be academic, too deep to be popular, too country black to be literary, and too naĂŻve to show the rigor of my thinking in the complexity of my prose. I had wanted to create something meaningful that sounded not only like me, but like all of me. It was too thick.â One of the most powerful essays in the book is âDying to be Competentâ which begins with her unpacking the idiocy of LinkedIn (and the myth of meritocracy) and ends with a description of her miscarriage, the mishandling of black womanâs pain, and a condemnation of healthcare bureaucracy. A finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction, Thick confirms McMillan Cottom as one of our most fearless public intellectuals and one of the most vital. âEmily Firetog, Deputy Editor
The following books were just barely nudged out of the top ten, but we (or at least one of us) couldnât let them pass without comment.
In The Possessed Elif Batuman indulges her love of Russian literature and the result is hilarious and remarkable. Each essay of the collection chronicles some adventure or other that she had while in graduate school for Comparative Literature and each is more unpredictable than the next. Thereâs the time a âwell-known 20th-centuryistâ gave a graduate student the finger; and the time when Batuman ended up living in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for a summer; and the time that she convinced herself Tolstoy was murdered and spent the length of the Tolstoy Conference in Yasnaya Polyana considering clues and motives. Rich in historic detail about Russian authors and literature and thoughtfully constructed, each essay is an amalgam of critical analysis, cultural criticism, and serious contemplation of big ideas like that of identity, intellectual legacy, and authorship. With wit and a serpentine-like shape to her narratives, Batuman adopts a form reminiscent of a Socratic discourse, setting up questions at the beginning of her essays and then following digressions that more or less entreat the reader to synthesize the answer for herself. The digressions are always amusing and arguably the backbone of the collection, relaying absurd anecdotes with foreign scholars or awkward, surreal encounters with Eastern European strangers. Central also to the collection are Batumanâs intellectual asides where she entertains a theoryâlike the âproblem of the personâ: the inability to ever wholly capture oneâs characterâthat ultimately layer the bookâs themes. âYou are certainly my most entertaining student,â a professor said to Batuman. But she is also curious and enthusiastic and reflective and so knowledgeable that she might even convince you (she has me!) that you too love Russian literature as much as she does. âEleni Theodoropoulos, Editorial Fellow
Roxane Gayâs now-classic essay collection is a book that will make you laugh, think, cry, and then wonder, how can cultural criticism be this fun? My favorite essays in the book include Gayâs musings on competitive Scrabble, her stranded-in-academia dispatches, and her joyous film and television criticism, but given the breadth of topics Roxane Gay can discuss in an entertaining manner, thereâs something for everyone in this one. This book is accessible because feminism itself should be accessible â Roxane Gay is as likely to draw inspiration from YA novels, or middle-brow shows about friendship, as she is to introduce concepts from the academic world, and if thereâs anyone I trust to bridge the gap between high culture, low culture, and pop culture, itâs the Goddess of Twitter. I used to host a book club dedicated to radical reads, and this was one of the first picks for the club; a week after the book club met, I spied a few of the attendees meeting in the cafĂ© of the bookstore, and found out that they had bonded so much over discussing Bad Feminist that they couldnât wait for the next meeting of the book club to keep discussing politics and intersectionality, and that, in a nutshell, is the power of Roxane. âMolly Odintz, CrimeReads Associate Editor
Generally, I find stories about the trials and tribulations of child-having to be of limited appealâuseful, maybe, insofar as they offer validation that other people have also endured the bizarre realities of living with a tiny human, but otherwise liable to drift into the musings of parents thrilled at the simple fact of their own fecundity, as if they were the first ones to figure the process out (or not). But Little Labors is not simply an essay collection about motherhood, perhaps because Galchen initially âdidnât want to write aboutâ her new babyâmostly, she writes, âbecause I had never been interested in babies, or mothers; in fact, those subjects had seemed perfectly not interesting to me.â Like many new mothers, though, Galchen soon discovered her babyâwhich she refers to sometimes as âthe pumaââto be a preoccupying thought, demanding to be written about. Galchenâs interest isnât just in her own progeny, but in babies in literature (âLiterature has more dogs than babies, and also more abortionsâ), The Pillow Book , the eleventh-century collection of musings by Sei ShĆnagon, and writers who are mothers. There are sections that made me laugh out loud, like when Galchen continually finds herself in an elevator with a neighbor who never fails to remark on the pumaâs size. There are also deeper, darker musings, like the realization that the baby means âthat itâs not permissible to die. There are days when this does not feel good.â It is a slim collection that I happened to read at the perfect time, and it remains one of my favorites of the decade. âEmily Firetog, Deputy Editor
On social media as in his writing, British art critic Charlie Fox rejects lucidity for allusion and doesnât quite answer the Twitter textboxâs persistent question: âWhatâs happening?â These days, itâs hard to tell. This Young Monster (2017), Foxâs first book,was published a few months after Donald Trumpâs election, and at one point Fox takes a swipe at a man he judges âdirect from a nightmare and just a repulsive fucking goon.â Fox doesnât linger on politics, though, since most of the monsters he looks at âembody otherness and make it into art, ripping any conventional idea of beauty to shreds and replacing it with something weird and troubling of their own invention.â
If clichĂ©s are loathed because they conform to what philosopher Georges Bataille called âthe common measure,â then monsters are rebellious non-sequiturs, comedic or horrific derailments from a classical ideal. Perverts in the most literal sense, monsters have gone astray from some âproperâ course. The bookâs nine chapters, which are about a specific monster or type of monster, are full of callbacks to familiar and lesser-known media. Fox cites visual art, film, songs, and books with the screwy buoyancy of a savant. Take one of his essays, âSpook House,â framed as a stage play with two principal characters, Klaus (âan intoxicated young skinhead vampireâ) and Hermione (âa teen sorceress with green skin and jet-black hairâ who looks more like The Wicked Witch than her namesake). The chorus is a troupe of trick-or-treaters. Using the filmmaker Cameron Jamie as a starting point, the rest is free association on gothic decadence and Detroit and L.A. as cities of the dead. All the while, Klaus quotes from Artforum , Dazed & Confused , and Time Out. Itâs a technical feat that makes fictionalized dialogue a conveyor belt for cultural criticism.
In Foxâs imagination, David Bowie and the Hydra coexist alongside Peter Pan, Dennis Hopper, and the maenads. Foxâs book reaches for the monsterâs mask, not really to peel it off but to feel and smell the rubber schnoz, to know how itâs made before making sure itâs still snugly set. With a stylistic blend of arthouse suavity and B-movie chic, This Young Monster considers how monsters in culture are made. Arenât the scariest things made in post-production? Isnât the creature just duplicity, like a looping choir or a dubbed scream? âAaron Robertson, Assistant Editor
Elena Passarelloâs collection of essays Animals Strike Curious Poses picks out infamous animals and grants them the voice, narrative, and history they deserve. Not only is a collection like this relevant during the sixth extinction but it is an ambitious historical and anthropological undertaking, which Passarello has tackled with thorough research and a playful tone that rather than compromise her subject, complicates and humanizes it. Passarelloâs intention is to investigate the role of animals across the span of human civilization and in doing so, to construct a timeline of humanity as told through peopleâs interactions with said animals. âOf all the images that make our world, animal images are particularly buried inside us,â Passarello writes in her first essay, to introduce us to the object of the book and also to the oldest of her chosen characters: Yuka, a 39,000-year-old mummified woolly mammoth discovered in the Siberian permafrost in 2010. It was an occasion so remarkable and so unfathomable given the span of human civilization that Passarello says of Yuka: âSince language is epically younger than both thought and experience, âwoolly mammothâ means, to a human brain, something more like time.â The essay ends with a character placing a hand on a cave drawing of a woolly mammoth, accompanied by a phrase which encapsulates the authorâs vision for the book: âAnd he becomes the mammoth so he can envision the mammoth.â In Passarelloâs hands the imagined boundaries between the animal, natural, and human world disintegrate and what emerges is a cohesive if baffling integrated history of life. With the accuracy and tenacity of a journalist and the spirit of a storyteller, Elena Passarello has assembled a modern bestiary worthy of contemplation and awe. âEleni Theodoropoulos, Editorial Fellow
EsmĂ© Weijun Wangâs collection of essays is a kaleidoscopic look at mental health and the lives affected by the schizophrenias. Each essay takes on a different aspect of the topic, but youâll want to read them together for a holistic perspective. EsmĂ© Weijun Wang generously begins The Collected Schizophrenias by acknowledging the stereotype, âSchizophrenia terrifies. It is the archetypal disorder of lunacy.â From there, she walks us through the technical language, breaks down the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ( DSM-5 )âs clinical definition. And then she gets very personal, telling us about how she came to her own diagnosis and the way itâs touched her daily life (her relationships, her ideas about motherhood). EsmĂ© Weijun Wang is uniquely situated to write about this topic. As a former lab researcher at Stanford, she turns a precise, analytical eye to her experience while simultaneously unfolding everything with great patience for her reader. Throughout, she brilliantly dissects the language around mental health. (On saying âa person living with bipolar disorderâ instead of using âbipolarâ as the sole subject: ââŠwe are not our diseases. We are instead individuals with disorders and malfunctions. Our conditions lie over us like smallpox blankets; we are one thing and the illness is another.â) She pinpoints the ways she arms herself against anticipated reactions to the schizophrenias: high fashion, having attended an Ivy League institution. In a particularly piercing essay, she traces mental illness back through her family tree. She also places her story within more mainstream cultural contexts, calling on groundbreaking exposĂ©s about the dangerous of institutionalization and depictions of mental illness in television and film (like the infamous Slender Man case, in which two young girls stab their best friend because an invented Internet figure told them to). At once intimate and far-reaching, The Collected Schizophrenias is an informative and important (and letâs not forget artful) work. Iâve never read a collection quite so beautifully-written and laid-bare as this. âKatie Yee, Book Marks Assistant Editor
When Ross Gay began writing what would become The Book of Delights, he envisioned it as a project of daily essays, each focused on a moment or point of delight in his day. This plan quickly disintegrated; on day four, he skipped his self-imposed assignment and decided to “in honor and love, delight in blowing it off.” (Clearly, “blowing it off” is a relative term here, as he still produced the book.) Ross Gay is a generous teacher of how to live, and this moment of reveling in self-compassion is one lesson among many in The Book of Delights , which wanders from moments of connection with strangers to a shade of “red I don’t think I actually have words for,” a text from a friend reading “I love you breadfruit,” and “the sun like a guiding hand on my back, saying everything is possible. Everything .”
Gay does not linger on any one subject for long, creating the sense that delight is a product not of extenuating circumstances, but of our attention; his attunement to the possibilities of a single day, and awareness of all the small moments that produce delight, are a model for life amid the warring factions of the attention economy. These small moments range from the physicalâhugging a stranger, transplanting fig cuttingsâto the spiritual and philosophical, giving the impression of sitting beside Gay in his garden as he thinks out loud in real time. Itâs a privilege to listen. âCorinne Segal, Senior Editor
A selection of other books that we seriously considered for both listsâjust to be extra about it (and because decisions are hard).
Terry Castle, The Professor and Other Writings (2010) · Joyce Carol Oates, In Rough Country (2010) · Geoff Dyer, Otherwise Known as the Human Condition (2011) · Christopher Hitchens, Arguably (2011) ·  Roberto Bolaño, tr. Natasha Wimmer, Between Parentheses (2011) · Dubravka Ugresic, tr. David Williams, Karaoke Culture (2011) · Tom Bissell, Magic Hours (2012) · Kevin Young, The Grey Album (2012) · William H. Gass, Life Sentences: Literary Judgments and Accounts (2012) · Mary Ruefle, Madness, Rack, and Honey (2012) · Herta MĂŒller, tr. Geoffrey Mulligan, Cristina and Her Double (2013) · Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams (2014) · Meghan Daum, The Unspeakable (2014) · Daphne Merkin, The Fame Lunches (2014) · Charles D’Ambrosio, Loitering (2015) · Wendy Walters, Multiply/Divide (2015) · Colm TĂłibĂn, On Elizabeth Bishop (2015) ·  Renee Gladman, Calamities (2016) · Jesmyn Ward, ed. The Fire This Time (2016) · Lindy West, Shrill (2016) · Mary Oliver, Upstream (2016) · Emily Witt, Future Sex (2016) · Olivia Laing, The Lonely City (2016) · Mark Greif, Against Everything (2016) · Durga Chew-Bose, Too Much and Not the Mood (2017) · Sarah Gerard, Sunshine State (2017) · Jim Harrison, A Really Big Lunch (2017) · J.M. Coetzee, Late Essays: 2006-2017 (2017) · Melissa Febos, Abandon Me (2017) · Louise GlĂŒck, American Originality (2017) · Joan Didion, South and West (2017) · Tom McCarthy, Typewriters, Bombs, Jellyfish (2017) · Hanif Abdurraqib, They Can’t Kill Us Until they Kill Us (2017) · Ta-Nehisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power (2017) ·  Samantha Irby, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life (2017) · Alexander Chee, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel (2018) · Alice Bolin, Dead Girls (2018) · Marilynne Robinson, What Are We Doing Here? (2018) · Lorrie Moore, See What Can Be Done (2018) · Maggie O’Farrell, I Am I Am I Am (2018) · Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race (2018) · Rachel Cusk, Coventry (2019) · Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror (2019) · Emily Bernard, Black is the Body (2019) · Toni Morrison, The Source of Self-Regard (2019) · Margaret Renkl, Late Migrations (2019) ·  Rachel Munroe, Savage Appetites (2019) · Robert A. Caro, Working (2019) · Arundhati Roy, My Seditious Heart (2019).
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Plot is what happens in a story, but action itself doesn’t constitute plot. Plot is created by the manner in which the writer arranges and organizes particular actions in a meaningful way. It’s useful to think of plot as a chain reaction, where a sequence of events causes other events to happen.
When reading a work of fiction, keep in mind that the author has selected one line of action from the countless possibilities of action available to her. Trying to understand why the author chose a particular line of action over another leads to a better understanding of how plot is working in a story
This does not mean that events happen in chronological order; the author may present a line of action that happens after the story’s conclusion, or she may present the reader with a line of action that is still to be determined. Authors can’t present all the details related to an action, so certain details are brought to the forefront, while others are omitted.
The author imbues the story with meaning by a selection of detail. The cause-and-effect connection between one event and another should be logical and believable, because the reader will lose interest if the relation between events don’t seem significant. As Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren wrote in Understanding Fiction , fiction is interpretive: “Every story must indicate some basis for the relation among its parts, for the story itself is a particular writer’s way of saying how you can make sense of human experience.”
If a sequence of events is merely reflexive, then plot hasn’t come into play. Plot occurs when the writer examines human reactions to situations that are always changing. How does love, longing, regret and ambition play out in a story? It depends on the character the writer has created.
Because plot depends on character, plot is what the character does. Plot also fluctuates, so that something is settled or thrown off balance in the end, or both. Traditionally, a story begins with some kind of description that then leads to a complication. The complication leads up to a crisis point where something must change. This is the penultimate part of the story, before the climax, or the most heightened moment of a story.
In some stories, the climax is followed by a denouement, or resolution of the climax. Making events significant in plot begins with establishing a strong logic that connects the events. Insofar as plot reveals some kind of human value or some idea about the meaning of experience, plot is related to theme.
Character can’t be separated from action, since we come to understand a character by what she does. In stories, characters drive the plot. The plot depends on the characters' situations and how they respond to it. The actions that occur in the plot are only believable if the character is believable. For most traditional fiction, characters are divided into the following categories:
Because character is so important to plot and fiction, it’s important for the writer to understand her characters as much as possible. Though the writer should know everything there is to know about her character, she should present her knowledge of the characters indirectly, through dialogue and action. Still, sometimes a summary of a character’s traits needs to be given. For example, for characters who play the supporting cast in a story, direct description of the character’s traits keeps the story from slowing down.
Beginning and intermediate level writers frequently settle for creating types, rather than highly individualized, credible characters. Be wary of creating a character who is a Loser With A Good Heart, The Working Class Man Who Is Trapped By Tough Guy Attitudes, The Lonely Old Lady With A Dog, etc. At the same time, keep in mind that all good characters are, in a sense, types.
Often, in creative writing workshops from beginning to advanced levels, the instructor asks, “Whose story is this?” This is because character is the most important aspect of fiction. In an intermediate level workshop, it would be more useful to introduce a story in which it is more difficult to pick out the main character from the line-up. It provides an opportunity for intermediate level fiction writers to really explore character and the factors that determine what is at stake, and for whom.
Conflict depends on character, because readers are interested in the outcomes of people’s lives, but may be less interested in what’s at stake for a corporation, a bank, or an organization. Characters in conflict with one another make up fiction. Hypothetically, a character can come into conflict with an external force, like poverty, or a fire. But there is simply more opportunity to explore the depth and profundity in relationships between people, because people are so complex that conflict between characters often gets blurred with a character’s conflict with herself
The short story, as in all literary forms, including poetry and creative nonfiction, depends on the parts of the poem or story or essay making some kind of sense as a whole. The best example in fiction is character. The various aspects of a character should add up to some kind of meaningful, larger understanding of the character. If the various aspects of a character don’t add up, the character isn’t believable. This doesn’t mean that your characters have to be sensible. Your characters may have no common sense at all, but we have to understand the character and why she is that way. The character’s motives and actions have to add up, however conflicted, marginalized or irrational they may be.
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Fiction is a significant part of literature. It helps readers to immerse in an imaginative world full of exciting events. There are many books written in this style, and this means that people adore reading fiction. However, at the university, college, or high school you are asked not just to read a story. Your task is to analyze, examine, compare, and contrast. It is true that preparing fiction essays requires lots of time because you need to reread the text several times. Depending on the subject of your paper, the structure will differ.
It is no wonder that lots of students do not have time to read the original text and then analyze it to prepare a critical article. That is why writing services like ours are ready to help you with any task. We understand that examining fictional books is challenging, but you cannot fail the course. That is why you can easily ask our experts to make the task for you. Ordering at our BlaBlaWriting is quick, affordable, and beneficial!
This has always been my fear, the fear of what is going to happen next? Am I going to blend in or will I become the odd? I knew from the beginning that it would never be easy and I would hate it, nevertheless, I took a shot at it …
A state of disillusion. After the first World War, Americans found it difficult to buy into the american dream because of how horrific the event was handled. Disillusionment is everywhere, but a prominent example of disillusionment is in the memory play, The Glass Menagerie. A memory play is a play …
First, I will talk about the major theme, which is Paulâs obsession with money. This theme also ties into all the other themes that I will bring up. Each theme plays an important role in the others. Smaller subthemes are Paulâs hopes and dreams in that he wishes to be …
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Culture did impact the main characters in some way, but it wasnât in major way. What truly played a big part in the characters lives was perseverance, trauma, and guilt. Amir witnessed his best friend Hassan get sexaully assaulted by Assef, the neighborhood bully. Amir just sat there and he …
The themes of O’ Brother Where Art Thou? and Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, are very tantamount to one another, both have strong leaders, Odysseus, and Ulysses (Everett), that take on relentless journeys and face tough situations. These two sources have various interpretations of events that occurred, due to the …
In both the following novels, All the Lights We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, and The Things They Carried by Tim OâBrien, imagery and tone is used to help reveal the stories that help portray how war took over numerous individualsâ lives regardless of whether they were fighting in the …
Motivational speaker Simon Sinek says, âIt is better to disappoint people with the truth than to appease them with a lie.â This quote is saying it’s better to tell people the truth. Rather than it is to tell them a lie, to make them feel better. Just like in the …
1945 was a difficult time for America. There were so many people still recovering from World War II, and now the Vietnam War was starting. The Things They Carried told a story of how the war changed a person, in this case, it was Tim O’Brien. It showed the struggle …
Itâs often said that Science Fiction is the literature of change. When a culture is undergoing a lot of changes due to scientific advances and technological, and developments expects to undergo more, itâs hardly surprising if stories about these changes become popular as a way of expressing peopleâs feelings (optimistic …
The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, a fictional novel written by John Boyne in 2006, is about the life of a boy named Bruno during World War Two. Similarly, The Book Thief, directed by Brian Percival in 2014, is about the life of a girl also during World War Two. …
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Literary Analysis Essay
Literary Analysis Essay Writing
Last updated on: May 21, 2023
By: Cordon J.
Reviewed By: Rylee W.
Published on: Dec 3, 2019
A literary analysis essay specifically examines and evaluates a piece of literature or a literary work. It also understands and explains the links between the small parts to their whole information.
It is important for students to understand the meaning and the true essence of literature to write a literary essay.
One of the most difficult assignments for students is writing a literary analysis essay. It can be hard to come up with an original idea or find enough material to write about. You might think you need years of experience in order to create a good paper, but that's not true.
This blog post will show you how easy it can be when you follow the steps given here.Writing such an essay involves the breakdown of a book into small parts and understanding each part separately. It seems easy, right?
Trust us, it is not as hard as good book reports but it may also not be extremely easy. You will have to take into account different approaches and explain them in relation with the chosen literary work.
It is a common high school and college assignment and you can learn everything in this blog.
Continue reading for some useful tips with an example to write a literary analysis essay that will be on point. You can also explore our detailed article on writing an analytical essay .
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A literary analysis essay is an important kind of essay that focuses on the detailed analysis of the work of literature.
The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to explain why the author has used a specific theme for his work. Or examine the characters, themes, literary devices , figurative language, and settings in the story.
This type of essay encourages students to think about how the book or the short story has been written. And why the author has created this work.
The method used in the literary analysis essay differs from other types of essays. It primarily focuses on the type of work and literature that is being analyzed.
Mostly, you will be going to break down the work into various parts. In order to develop a better understanding of the idea being discussed, each part will be discussed separately.
The essay should explain the choices of the author and point of view along with your answers and personal analysis.
So how to start a literary analysis essay? The answer to this question is quite simple.
The following sections are required to write an effective literary analysis essay. By following the guidelines given in the following sections, you will be able to craft a winning literary analysis essay.
The aim of the introduction is to establish a context for readers. You have to give a brief on the background of the selected topic.
It should contain the name of the author of the literary work along with its title. The introduction should be effective enough to grab the readerâs attention.
In the body section, you have to retell the story that the writer has narrated. It is a good idea to create a summary as it is one of the important tips of literary analysis.
Other than that, you are required to develop ideas and disclose the observed information related to the issue. The ideal length of the body section is around 1000 words.
To write the body section, your observation should be based on evidence and your own style of writing.
It would be great if the body of your essay is divided into three paragraphs. Make a strong argument with facts related to the thesis statement in all of the paragraphs in the body section.
Start writing each paragraph with a topic sentence and use transition words when moving to the next paragraph.
Summarize the important points of your literary analysis essay in this section. It is important to compose a short and strong conclusion to help you make a final impression of your essay.
Pay attention that this section does not contain any new information. It should provide a sense of completion by restating the main idea with a short description of your arguments. End the conclusion with your supporting details.
You have to explain why the book is important. Also, elaborate on the means that the authors used to convey her/his opinion regarding the issue.
For further understanding, here is a downloadable literary analysis essay outline. This outline will help you structure and format your essay properly and earn an A easily.
DOWNLOADABLE LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY OUTLINE (PDF)
Examples are great to understand any concept, especially if it is related to writing. Below are some great literary analysis essay examples that showcase how this type of essay is written.
A ROSE FOR EMILY LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY
THE GREAT GATSBY LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY
If you do not have experience in writing essays, this will be a very chaotic process for you. In that case, it is very important for you to conduct good research on the topic before writing.
There are two important points that you should keep in mind when writing a literary analysis essay.
First, remember that it is very important to select a topic in which you are interested. Choose something that really inspires you. This will help you to catch the attention of a reader.
The selected topic should reflect the main idea of writing. In addition to that, it should also express your point of view as well.
Another important thing is to draft a good outline for your literary analysis essay. It will help you to define a central point and division of this into parts for further discussion.
Literary analysis essays are mostly based on artistic works like books, movies, paintings, and other forms of art. However, generally, students choose novels and books to write their literary essays.
Some cool, fresh, and good topics and ideas are listed below:
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What should a literary analysis essay include.
A good literary analysis essay must include a proper and in-depth explanation of your ideas. They must be backed with examples and evidence from the text. Textual evidence includes summaries, paraphrased text, original work details, and direct quotes.
Here are the 4 essential parts of a literary analysis essay;
No literary work is explained properly without discussing and explaining these 4 things.
Start your literary analysis essay with the name of the work and the title. Hook your readers by introducing the main ideas that you will discuss in your essay and engage them from the start.
In a literary analysis essay, you study the text closely, understand and interpret its meanings. And try to find out the reasons behind why the author has used certain symbols, themes, and objects in the work.
It encourages the students to think beyond their existing knowledge, experiences, and belief and build empathy. This helps in improving the writing skills also.
Interpretation is the fundamental and important feature of a literary analysis essay. The essay is based on how well the writer explains and interprets the work.
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Cordon. is a published author and writing specialist. He has worked in the publishing industry for many years, providing writing services and digital content. His own writing career began with a focus on literature and linguistics, which he continues to pursue. Cordon is an engaging and professional individual, always looking to help others achieve their goals.
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What is the ap lit prose essay, how will ap scores affect my college chances.
AP Literature and Composition (AP Lit), not to be confused with AP English Language and Composition (AP Lang), teaches students how to develop the ability to critically read and analyze literary texts. These texts include poetry, prose, and drama. Analysis is an essential component of this course and critical for the educational development of all students when it comes to college preparation. In this course, you can expect to see an added difficulty of texts and concepts, similar to the material one would see in a college literature course.
While not as popular as AP Lang, over 380,136 students took the class in 2019. However, the course is significantly more challenging, with only 49.7% of students receiving a score of three or higher on the exam. A staggeringly low 6.2% of students received a five on the exam.Â
The AP Lit exam is similar to the AP Lang exam in format, but covers different subject areas. The first section is multiple-choice questions based on five short passages. There are 55 questions to be answered in 1 hour. The passages will include at least two prose fiction passages and two poetry passages and will account for 45% of your total score. All possible answer choices can be found within the text, so you donât need to come into the exam with prior knowledge of the passages to understand the work.Â
The second section contains three free-response essays to be finished in under two hours. This section accounts for 55% of the final score and includes three essay questions: the poetry analysis essay, the prose analysis essay, and the thematic analysis essay. Typically, a five-paragraph format will suffice for this type of writing. These essays are scored holistically from one to six points.
Today we will take a look at the AP Lit prose essay and discuss tips and tricks to master this section of the exam. We will also provide an example of a well-written essay for review. Â
The AP Lit prose essay is the second of the three essays included in the free-response section of the AP Lit exam, lasting around 40 minutes in total. A prose passage of approximately 500 to 700 words and a prompt will be given to guide your analytical essay. Worth about 18% of your total grade, the essay will be graded out of six points depending on the quality of your thesis (0-1 points), evidence and commentary (0-4 points), and sophistication (0-1 points).Â
While this exam seems extremely overwhelming, considering there are a total of three free-response essays to complete, with proper time management and practiced skills, this essay is manageable and straightforward. In order to enhance the time management aspect of the test to the best of your ability, it is essential to understand the following six key concepts.
Since the prose essay is testing your ability to analyze literature and construct an evidence-based argument, the most important thing you can do is make sure you understand the passage. That being said, you only have about 40 minutes for the whole essay so you canât spend too much time reading the passage. Allot yourself 5-7 minutes to read the prompt and the passage and then another 3-5 minutes to plan your response.
As you read through the prompt and text, highlight, circle, and markup anything that stands out to you. Specifically, try to find lines in the passage that could bolster your argument since you will need to include in-text citations from the passage in your essay. Even if you donât know exactly what your argument might be, itâs still helpful to have a variety of quotes to use depending on what direction you take your essay, so take note of whatever strikes you as important. Taking the time to annotate as you read will save you a lot of time later on because you wonât need to reread the passage to find examples when you are in the middle of writing.Â
Once you have a good grasp on the passage and a solid array of quotes to choose from, you should develop a rough outline of your essay. The prompt will provide 4-5 bullets that remind you of what to include in your essay, so you can use these to structure your outline. Start with a thesis, come up with 2-3 concrete claims to support your thesis, back up each claim with 1-2 pieces of evidence from the text, and write a brief explanation of how the evidence supports the claim.
Having a strong thesis can help you stay focused and avoid tangents while writing. By deciding the relevant information you want to hit upon in your essay up front, you can prevent wasting precious time later on. Clear theses are also important for the reader because they direct their focus to your essential arguments.Â
In other words, itâs important to make the introduction brief and compact so your thesis statement shines through. The introduction should include details from the passage, like the author and title, but donât waste too much time with extraneous details. Get to the heart of your essay as quick as possible.Â
One of the requirements AP Lit readers are looking for is your use of evidence. In order to satisfy this aspect of the rubric, you should make sure each body paragraph has at least 1-2 pieces of evidence, directly from the text, that relate to the claim that paragraph is making. Since the prose essay tests your ability to recognize and analyze literary elements and techniques, itâs often better to include smaller quotes. For example, when writing about the authorâs use of imagery or diction you might pick out specific words and quote each word separately rather than quoting a large block of text. Smaller quotes clarify exactly what stood out to you so your reader can better understand what are you saying.
Including smaller quotes also allows you to include more evidence in your essay. Be careful thoughâhaving more quotes is not necessarily better! You will showcase your strength as a writer not by the number of quotes you manage to jam into a paragraph, but by the relevance of the quotes to your argument and explanation you provide. If the details donât connect, they are merely just strings of details.
As the previous tip explained, citing phrases and words from the passage wonât get you anywhere if you donât provide an explanation as to how your examples support the claim you are making. After each new piece of evidence is introduced, you should have a sentence or two that explains the significance of this quote to the piece as a whole.
This part of the paragraph is the âSo what?â Youâve already stated the point you are trying to get across in the topic sentence and shared the examples from the text, so now show the reader why or how this quote demonstrates an effective use of a literary technique by the author. Sometimes students can get bogged down by the discussion and lose sight of the point they are trying to make. If this happens to you while writing, take a step back and ask yourself âWhy did I include this quote? What does it contribute to the piece as a whole?â Write down your answer and you will be good to go.Â
While the critical part of the essay is to provide a substantive, organized, and clear argument throughout the body paragraphs, a conclusion provides a satisfying ending to the essay and the last opportunity to drive home your argument. If you run out of time for a conclusion because of extra time spent in the preceding paragraphs, do not worry, as that is not fatal to your score.Â
Without repeating your thesis statement word for word, find a way to return to the thesis statement by summing up your main points. This recap reinforces the arguments stated in the previous paragraphs, while all of the preceding paragraphs successfully proved the thesis statement.
Though you will undoubtedly be pressed for time, itâs still important your essay is well-written with correct punctuating and spelling. Many students are able to write a strong thesis and include good evidence and commentary, but the final point on the rubric is for sophistication. This criteria is more holistic than the former ones which means you should have elevated thoughts and writingâno grammatical errors. While a lack of grammatical mistakes alone wonât earn you the sophistication point, it will leave the reader with a more favorable impression of you.Â
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[1] In this passage from a 1912 novel, the narrator wistfully details his childhood crush on a girl violinist. Through a motif of the allure of musical instruments, and abundant sensory details that summon a vivid image of the event of their meeting, the reader can infer that the narrator was utterly enraptured by his obsession in the moment, and upon later reflection cannot help but feel a combination of amusement and a resummoning of the momentâs passion.Â
[2] The overwhelming abundance of hyper-specific sensory details reveals to the reader that meeting his crush must have been an intensely powerful experience to create such a vivid memory. The narrator can picture the âhalf-dim churchâ, can hear the âclear wailâ of the girlâs violin, can see âher eyes almost closingâ, can smell a âfaint but distinct fragrance.â Clearly, this moment of discovery was very impactful on the boy, because even later he can remember the experience in minute detail. However, these details may also not be entirely faithful to the original experience; they all possess a somewhat mysterious quality that shows how the narrator may be employing hyperbole to accentuate the girlâs allure. The church is âhalf-dimâ, the eyes âalmost closingâ â all the details are held within an ethereal state of halfway, which also serves to emphasize that this is all told through memory. The first paragraph also introduces the central conciet of music. The narrator was drawn to the âtones she called forthâ from her violin and wanted desperately to play her âaccompaniment.â This serves the double role of sensory imagery (with the added effect of music being a powerful aural image) and metaphor, as the accompaniment stands in for the narratorâs true desire to be coupled with his newfound crush. The musical juxtaposition between the âheaving tremor of the organâ and the âclear wailâ of her violin serves to further accentuate how the narrator percieved the girl as above all other things, as high as an angel. Clearly, the memory of his meeting his crush is a powerful one that left an indelible impact on the narrator.Â
[3] Upon reflecting on this memory and the period of obsession that followed, the narrator cannot help but feel amused at the lengths to which his younger self would go; this is communicated to the reader with some playful irony and bemused yet earnest tone. The narrator claims to have made his âfirst and last attempts at poetryâ in devotion to his crush, and jokes that he did not know to be âashamedâ at the quality of his poetry. This playful tone pokes fun at his childhood self for being an inexperienced poet, yet also acknowledges the very real passion that the poetry stemmed from. The narrator goes on to mention his âsuccessfulâ endeavor to conceal his crush from his friends and the girl; this holds an ironic tone because the narrator immediately admits that his attempts to hide it were ill-fated and all parties were very aware of his feelings. The narrator also recalls his younger self jumping to hyperbolic extremes when imagining what he would do if betrayed by his love, calling her a âheartless jadeâ to ironically play along with the memory. Despite all this irony, the narrator does also truly comprehend the depths of his past selfâs infatuation and finds it moving. The narrator begins the second paragraph with a sentence that moves urgently, emphasizing the myriad ways the boy was obsessed. He also remarks, somewhat wistfully, that the experience of having this crush âmoved [him] to a degree which now [he] can hardly think of as possible.â Clearly, upon reflection the narrator feels a combination of amusement at the silliness of his former self and wistful respect for the emotion that the crush stirred within him.Â
[4] In this passage, the narrator has a multifaceted emotional response while remembering an experience that was very impactful on him. The meaning of the work is that when we look back on our memories (especially those of intense passion), added perspective can modify or augment how those experiences make us feel
More essay examples, score sheets, and commentaries can be found at College Board .
While AP Scores help to boost your weighted GPA, or give you the option to get college credit, AP Scores donât have a strong effect on your admissions chances . However, colleges can still see your self-reported scores, so you might not want to automatically send scores to colleges if they are lower than a 3. That being said, admissions officers care far more about your grade in an AP class than your score on the exam.
Home â Essay Samples â Literature â Literary Genres â Fiction
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Fiction is an integral part of literature, a kind of art of the word that describes reality in artistic images. It is a collection of written and printed works of certain people, eras, and humanity. In its narrowest sense, fiction refers to written prose narratives, and often specifically to novels, as well as novellas and short stories.
Epos, lyrics, drama, novel, story
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A list of twenty-five of the greatest free nonfiction essays from contemporary and classic authors that you can read online.
Alison Doherty is a writing teacher and part time assistant professor living in Brooklyn, New York. She has an MFA from The New School in writing for children and teenagers. She loves writing about books on the Internet, listening to audiobooks on the subway, and reading anything with a twisty plot or a happily ever after.
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I love reading books of nonfiction essays and memoirs , but sometimes have a hard time committing to a whole book. This is especially true if I don’t know the author. But reading nonfiction essays online is a quick way to learn which authors you like. Also, reading nonfiction essays can help you learn more about different topics and experiences.
Besides essays on Book Riot,  I love looking for essays on The New Yorker , The Atlantic , The Rumpus , and Electric Literature . But there are great nonfiction essays available for free all over the Internet. From contemporary to classic writers and personal essays to researched onesâhere are 25 of my favorite nonfiction essays you can read today.
The author of We Should All Be Feminists  writes a short essay explaining the danger of believing men and woman are equal only under certain conditions.
A 96-year-old woman discusses her shifting attitude towards death from her childhood in the 1920s when death was a taboo subject, to World War 2 until the present day.
There are many moving and important essays by James Baldwin . This one uses the lens of religion to explore the Black American experience and sexuality. Baldwin describes his move from being a teenage preacher to not believing in god. Then he recounts his meeting with the prominent Nation of Islam member Elijah Muhammad.
Biss uses the story of a white woman giving birth to a Black baby that was mistakenly implanted during a fertility treatment to explore racial identities and segregation in society as a whole and in her own interracial family.
A comprehensive deep dive into the world of high school football in a small West Texas town.
Coates examines the lingering and continuing affects of slavery on American society and makes a compelling case for the descendants of slaves being offered reparations from the government.
This is one of the most iconic nonfiction essays about writing. Didion describes the reasons she became a writer, her process, and her journey to doing what she loves professionally.
With knowledge of his own death, the famous film critic ponders questions of mortality while also giving readers a pep talk for how to embrace life fully.
In this personal essay, Engles celebrates the close relationship she had with her mother and laments losing her Korean fluency.
As she’s writing an important script, Ephron imagines her life as a newly wealthy woman when she finds out an uncle left her an inheritance. But she doesn’t know exactly what that inheritance is.
Ford describes the experience of getting to know her father after he’s been in prison for almost all of her life. Bridging the distance in their knowledge of technology becomes a significantâand at times humorousâstep in rebuilding their relationship.
There’s a reason Gay named her bestselling essay collection after this story. It’s a witty, sharp, and relatable look at what it means to call yourself a feminist.
Jamison discusses her job as a medical actor helping to train medical students to improve their empathy and uses this frame to tell the story of one winter in college when she had an abortion and heart surgery.
One woman describes her history with difficult fitting room experiences culminating in one catastrophe that will change the way she hopes to identify herself through clothes.
LaMarche examines her changing feelings about her own differently sized breasts.
A journalist looks back at her own biased reporting on a news story about the sexual assault and murder of a trans man in 1993. Minkowitz examines how ideas of gender and sexuality have changed since she reported the story, along with how her own lesbian identity influenced her opinions about the crime.
In this famous essay, Orwell bemoans how politics have corrupted the English language by making it more vague, confusing, and boring.
The famously funny personal essay author , writes about a distinctly unfunny topic of tobacco addiction and his own journey as a smoker. It is (predictably) hilarious.
Smith explores the difference between pleasure and joy by closely examining moments of both, including eating a delicious egg sandwich, taking drugs at a concert, and falling in love.
Tan tells the story of how her mother’s way of speaking English as an immigrant from China changed the way people viewed her intelligence.
The prolific nonfiction essay and fiction writer  travels to the Maine Lobster Festival to write a piece for Gourmet Magazine. With his signature footnotes, Wallace turns this experience into a deep exploration on what constitutes consciousness.
Washuta looks at her own contemporary Native American identity through the lens of stereotypical depictions from 1990s films.
E.B. White didn’t just write books like Charlotte’s Web and The Elements of Style . He also was a brilliant essayist. This nature essay explores the theme of fatherhood against the backdrop of a lake within the forests of Maine.
The inventor of “new journalism” writes about the creation of an American idea by telling the story of Thomas Jefferson snubbing a European Ambassador.
In this nonfiction essay, Wolf describes a moth dying on her window pane. She uses the story as a way to ruminate on the lager theme of the meaning of life and death.
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March 30, 2024
AP Lit Prose Essay Examples – The College Boardâs Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is one of the most enriching experiences that high school students can have. It exposes you to literature that most people donât encounter until college , and it helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will enhance the quality of your life, both inside and outside of school. The AP Lit Exam reflects the rigor of the course. The exam uses consistent question types, weighting, and scoring parameters each year . This means that, as you prepare for the exam, you can look at previous questions, responses, score criteria, and scorer commentary to help you practice until your essays are perfect.
In AP Literature, you read books, short stories, and poetry, and you learn how to commit the complex act of literary analysis . But what does that mean? Well, âto analyzeâ literally means breaking a larger idea into smaller and smaller pieces until the pieces are small enough that they can help us to understand the larger idea. When weâre performing literary analysis, weâre breaking down a piece of literature into smaller and smaller pieces until we can use those pieces to better understand the piece of literature itself.
So, for example, letâs say youâre presented with a passage from a short story to analyze. The AP Lit Exam will ask you to write an essay with an essay with a clear, defensible thesis statement that makes an argument about the story, based on some literary elements in the short story. After reading the passage, you might talk about how foreshadowing, allusion, and dialogue work together to demonstrate something essential in the text. Then, youâll use examples of each of those three literary elements (that you pull directly from the passage) to build your argument. Youâll finish the essay with a conclusion that uses clear reasoning to tell your reader why your argument makes sense.
But whatâs the point of all of this? Why do they ask you to write these essays?
Well, the essay is, once again, testing your ability to conduct literary analysis. However, the thing that youâre also doing behind that literary analysis is a complex process of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning takes a series of points of evidence and draws a larger conclusion. Deductive reasoning departs from the point of a broader premise and draws a singular conclusion. In an analytical essay like this one, youâre using small pieces of evidence to draw a larger conclusion (your thesis statement) and then youâre taking your thesis statement as a larger premise from which you derive your ultimate conclusion.
So, the exam scorers are looking at your ability to craft a strong thesis statement (a singular sentence that makes an argument), use evidence and reasoning to support that argument, and then to write the essay well. This is something they call âsophistication,â but theyâre looking for well-organized thoughts carried through clear, complete sentences.
This entire process is something you can and will use throughout your life. Law, engineering, medicineâwhatever pursuit, you name itâutilizes these forms of reasoning to run experiments, build cases, and persuade audiences. The process of this kind of clear, analytical thinking can be honed, developed, and made easier through repetition.
Because the AP Literature Exam maintains continuity across the years, you can pull old exam copies, read the passages, and write responses. A good AP Lit teacher is going to have you do this time and time again in class until you have the formula down. But, itâs also something you can do on your own, if youâre interested in further developing your skills.
Letâs take a look at some examples of questions, answers and scorer responses that will help you to get a better idea of how to craft your own AP Literature exam essays.
In the exam in 2023, students were asked to read a poem by Alice Cary titled âAutumn,â which was published in 1874. In it, the speaker contemplates the start of autumn. Then, students are asked to craft a well-written essay which uses literary techniques to convey the speakerâs complex response to the changing seasons.
The following is an essay that received a perfect 6 on the exam. There are grammar and usage errors throughout the essay, which is important to note: even though the writer makes some mistakes, the structure and form of their argument was strong enough to merit a 6. This is what your scorers will be looking for when they read your essay.
Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speakerâs unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn, which conveys Caryâs idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.
Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speakerâs warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumnâs coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who âfrom her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud.â Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to âslipâ and âstray through stubble fields.â Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer, conveying the speakerâs reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored.
Summer, âshe lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hourâ, is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves/ The juxtaposition between Summerâs character and the setting provides insight into the positivity of changeâthe yellow leavesâby its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices, âold tunesâ. âShe lies on pillowsâ creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain âold tunes.â According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.
Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Caryâs idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. âShorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowdâ, syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilightâs âclipâ and the subject, âthe days,â are cut off from each other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramatizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications for the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fallâemphasizing the Speakerâs perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience.
She says âthe proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earthâs chilly bosom, witched with frostâ. Implying pride and defeat, and the word âwitched,â the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speakerâs perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.
The topic of this poem, Fallâa season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscapeâis juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and blossoming change. However, they resent that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speakerâs perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.
When it comes to scoring well, there are some rather formulaic things that the judges are searching for. You might think that itâs important to âstand outâ or âbe creativeâ in your writing. However, aside from concerns about âsophistication,â which essentially means you know how to organize thoughts into sentences and you can use language that isnât entirely elementary, you should really focus on sticking to a form. This will show the scorers that you know how to follow that inductive/deductive reasoning process that we mentioned earlier, and it will help to present your ideas in the most clear, coherent way possible to someone who is reading and scoring hundreds of essays.
So, how did this essay succeed? And how can you do the same thing?
On the exam, you can either get one point or zero points for your thesis statement. The scorers said, âThe essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis located in the introductory paragraph,â which you can read as the first sentence in the essay. This is important to note: you donât need a flowery hook to seduce your reader; you can just start this brief essay with some strong, simple, declarative sentencesâor go right into your thesis.
What makes a good thesis? A good thesis statement does the following things:
If youâre sitting here scratching your head wondering how you come up with a thesis statement off the top of your head, let me give you one piece of advice: donât.
The AP Lit scoring criteria gives you only one point for the thesis for a reason: theyâre just looking for the presence of a defensible claim that can be proven by evidence in the rest of the essay.
While the thesis is given one point, the form and content of the essay can receive anywhere from zero to four points. This is where you should place the bulk of your focus.
My best advice goes like this:
It will seem a little counterintuitive: like youâre writing your essay from the inside out. But this is a fundamental skill that will help you in college and beyond. Donât come up with an argument out of thin air and then try to find evidence to support your claim. Look for the evidence that exists and then ask yourself what it all means. This will also keep you from feeling stuck or blocked at the beginning of the essay. If you prepare for the exam by reviewing the literary devices that you learned in the course and practice locating them in a text, you can quickly and efficiently read a literary passage and choose two or three literary devices that you can analyze.
Once youâve located two or three literary devices at work in the given passage, use scratch paper to draw up a quick outline. Give each literary device a major bullet point. Then, briefly point to the quotes/evidence youâll use in the essay. Finally, start to think about what the literary device and evidence are doing together. Try to answer the question: what meaning does this bring to the passage?
A sample outline for one paragraph of the above essay might look like this:
Romantic imagery
Portrayal of summer
Contrast with Autumn
Recognition of change in a positive light
Speaker recognizes: she canât prevent what is to come; wishes to embrace natural passage of time
By the time the writer gets to the end of the outline for their paragraph, they can easily start to draw conclusions about the paragraph based on the evidence they have pulled out. You can see how that thinking might develop over the course of the outline.
Then, the speaker would take the conclusions theyâve drawn and write a âmini claimâ that will start each paragraph. The final bullet point of this outline isnât the same as the mini claim that comes at the top of the second paragraph of the essay, however, it is the conclusion of the paragraph. You would do well to use the concluding thoughts from your outline as the mini claim to start your body paragraph. This will make your paragraphs clear, concise, and help you to construct a coherent argument.
Repeat this process for the other one or two literary devices that youâve chosen to analyze, and then: take a step back.
Once you quickly sketch out your outline, take a moment to âstand backâ and see what youâve drafted. Youâll be able to see that, among your two or three literary devices, you can draw some commonality. You might be able to say, as the writer did here, that romantic and hyperbolic imagery âillustrate the speakerâs unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn,â ultimately illuminating the poetâs idea âthat change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.â
This is an original argument built on the evidence accumulated by the student. It directly answers the prompt by discussing literary techniques that âconvey the speakerâs complex response to the changing seasons.â Remember to go back to the prompt and see what direction they want you to head with your thesis, and craft an argument that directly speaks to that prompt.
Then, move ahead to finish your body paragraphs and conclusion.
In this essay, the writer examines the use of two literary devices that are supported by multiple pieces of evidence. The first is âromantic imageryâ and the second is âhyperbolic imagery.â The writer dedicates one paragraph to each idea. You should do this, too.
This is why itâs important to choose just two or three literary devices. You really donât have time to dig into more. Plus, more ideas will simply cloud the essay and confuse your reader.
Using your outline, start each body paragraph with a âmini claimâ that makes an argument about what it is youâll be saying in your paragraph. Lay out your pieces of evidence, then provide commentary for why your evidence proves your point about that literary device.
Move onto the next literary device, rinse, and repeat.
Finally, youâll want to end this brief essay with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, briefly touches on your most important points from each body paragraph, and includes a development of the argument that you laid out in the essay.
In this particular example essay, the writer concludes by saying, âUtilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speakerâs perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.â This is a direct restatement of the thesis. At this point, youâll have reached the end of your essay. Great work!
A final note on scoring criteria: there is one point awarded to what the scoring criteria calls âsophistication.â This is evidenced by the sophistication of thought and providing a nuanced literary analysis, which weâve already covered in the steps above.
There are some things to avoid, however:
Remember to develop your argument with nuance and complexity and to write in a style that is academic but appropriate for the task at hand.
If you want more practice or to check out other exams from the past, go to the College Boardâs website .
After earning a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, Brittany spent five years as a full-time lecturer in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa. Additionally, sheâs held previous roles as a researcher, full-time daily journalist, and book editor. Brittanyâs work has been featured in The Iowa Review, The Hopkins Review, and the Pittsburgh City Paper, among others, and she was also a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee.
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17 book review examples to help you write the perfect review.
Itâs an exciting time to be a book reviewer. Once confined to print newspapers and journals, reviews now dot many corridors of the Internet â forever helping others discover their next great read. That said, every book reviewer will face a familiar panic: how can you do justice to a great book in just a thousand words?
As you know, the best way to learn how to do something is by immersing yourself in it. Luckily, the Internet (i.e. Goodreads and other review sites , in particular) has made book reviews more accessible than ever â which means that there are a lot of book reviews examples out there for you to view!
In this post, we compiled 17 prototypical book review examples in multiple genres to help you figure out how to write the perfect review . If you want to jump straight to the examples, you can skip the next section. Otherwise, letâs first check out what makes up a good review.
Are you interested in becoming a book reviewer? We recommend you check out Reedsy Discovery , where you can earn money for writing reviews â and are guaranteed people will read your reviews! To register as a book reviewer, sign up here.
Pro-tip : But wait! How are you sure if you should become a book reviewer in the first place? If you're on the fence, or curious about your match with a book reviewing career, take our quick quiz:
Find out the answer. Takes 30 seconds!
Like all works of art, no two book reviews will be identical. But fear not: there are a few guidelines for any aspiring book reviewer to follow. Most book reviews, for instance, are less than 1,500 words long, with the sweet spot hitting somewhere around the 1,000-word mark. (However, this may vary depending on the platform on which youâre writing, as weâll see later.)
In addition, all reviews share some universal elements, as shown in our book review templates . These include:
If these are the basic ingredients that make up a book review, itâs the tone and style with which the book reviewer writes that brings the extra panache. This will differ from platform to platform, of course. A book review on Goodreads, for instance, will be much more informal and personal than a book review on Kirkus Reviews, as it is catering to a different audience. However, at the end of the day, the goal of all book reviews is to give the audience the tools to determine whether or not theyâd like to read the book themselves.
Keeping that in mind, letâs proceed to some book review examples to put all of this in action.
Find out here, once and for all. Takes 30 seconds!
Since story is king in the world of fiction, it probably wonât come as any surprise to learn that a book review for a novel will concentrate on how well the story was told .
That said, book reviews in all genres follow the same basic formula that we discussed earlier. In these examples, youâll be able to see how book reviewers on different platforms expertly intertwine the plot summary and their personal opinions of the book to produce a clear, informative, and concise review.
Note: Some of the book review examples run very long. If a book review is truncated in this post, weâve indicated by including a [âŠ] at the end, but you can always read the entire review if you click on the link provided.
Kirkus Reviews reviews Ralph Ellisonâs The Invisible Man :
An extremely powerful story of a young Southern Negro, from his late high school days through three years of college to his life in Harlem.
His early training prepared him for a life of humility before white men, but through injustices- large and small, he came to realize that he was an "invisible man". People saw in him only a reflection of their preconceived ideas of what he was, denied his individuality, and ultimately did not see him at all. This theme, which has implications far beyond the obvious racial parallel, is skillfully handled. The incidents of the story are wholly absorbing. The boy's dismissal from college because of an innocent mistake, his shocked reaction to the anonymity of the North and to Harlem, his nightmare experiences on a one-day job in a paint factory and in the hospital, his lightning success as the Harlem leader of a communistic organization known as the Brotherhood, his involvement in black versus white and black versus black clashes and his disillusion and understanding of his invisibility- all climax naturally in scenes of violence and riot, followed by a retreat which is both literal and figurative. Parts of this experience may have been told before, but never with such freshness, intensity and power.
This is Ellison's first novel, but he has complete control of his story and his style. Watch it.
Lyndsey reviews George Orwellâs 1984 on Goodreads:
YOU. ARE. THE. DEAD. Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected. Or in Newspeak "Double Plus Good." Let me preface this with an apology. If I sound stunningly inarticulate at times in this review, I can't help it. My mind is completely fried.
This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings, with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully developed language called Newspeak, or rather more of the anti-language, whose purpose is to limit speech and understanding instead of to enhance and expand it. The world-building is so fully fleshed out and spine-tinglingly terrifying that it's almost as if George travelled to such a place, escaped from it, and then just wrote it all down.
I read Fahrenheit 451 over ten years ago in my early teens. At the time, I remember really wanting to read 1984, although I never managed to get my hands on it. I'm almost glad I didn't. Though I would not have admitted it at the time, it would have gone over my head. Or at the very least, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it fully. [âŠ]
The New York Times reviews Lisa Hallidayâs Asymmetry :
Three-quarters of the way through Lisa Hallidayâs debut novel, âAsymmetry,â a British foreign correspondent named Alistair is spending Christmas on a compound outside of Baghdad. His fellow revelers include cameramen, defense contractors, United Nations employees and aid workers. Someoneâs mother has FedExed a HoneyBaked ham from Maine; people are smoking by the swimming pool. It is 2003, just days after Saddam Husseinâs capture, and though the mood is optimistic, Alistair is worrying aloud about the ethics of his chosen profession, wondering if reporting on violence doesnât indirectly abet violence and questioning why heâd rather be in a combat zone than reading a picture book to his son. But every time he returns to London, he begins to âspin out.â He canât go home. âYou observe what people do with their freedom â what they donât do â and itâs impossible not to judge them for it,â he says.
The line, embedded unceremoniously in the middle of a page-long paragraph, doubles, like so many others in âAsymmetry,â as literary criticism. Hallidayâs novel is so strange and startlingly smart that its mere existence seems like commentary on the state of fiction. One finishes âAsymmetryâ for the first or second (or like this reader, third) time and is left wondering what other writers are not doing with their freedom â and, like Alistair, judging them for it.
Despite its title, âAsymmetryâ comprises two seemingly unrelated sections of equal length, appended by a slim and quietly shocking coda. Hallidayâs prose is clean and lean, almost reportorial in the style of W. G. Sebald, and like the murmurings of a shy person at a cocktail party, often comic only in single clauses. Itâs a first novel that reads like the work of an author who has published many books over many years. [âŠ]
Emily W. Thompson reviews Michael Doane's The Crossing on Reedsy Discovery :
In Doaneâs debut novel, a young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery with surprising results.
An unnamed protagonist (The Narrator) is dealing with heartbreak. His love, determined to see the world, sets out for Portland, Oregon. But heâs a small-town boy who hasnât traveled much. So, the Narrator mourns her loss and hides from life, throwing himself into rehabbing an old motorcycle. Until one day, he takes a leap; he packs his bike and a few belongings and heads out to find the Girl.
Following in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and William Least Heat-Moon, Doane offers a coming of age story about a man finding himself on the backroads of America. Doaneâs a gifted writer with fluid prose and insightful observations, using The Narratorâs personal interactions to illuminate the diversity of the United States.
The Narrator initially sticks to the highways, trying to make it to the West Coast as quickly as possible. But a hitchhiker named Duke convinces him to get off the beaten path and enjoy the ride. âThereâs not a place thatâs like any other,â [39] Dukes contends, and The Narrator realizes heâs right. Suddenly, the trip is about the journey, not just the destination. The Narrator ditches his truck and traverses the deserts and mountains on his bike. He destroys his phone, cutting off ties with his past and living only in the moment.
As he crosses the country, The Narrator connects with several unique personalities whose experiences and views deeply impact his own. Duke, the complicated cowboy and drifter, who opens The Narratorâs eyes to a larger world. Zooey, the waitress in Colorado who opens his heart and reminds him that love can be found in this big world. And Rosie, The Narratorâs sweet landlady in Portland, who helps piece him back together both physically and emotionally.
This supporting cast of characters is excellent. Duke, in particular, is wonderfully nuanced and complicated. Heâs a throwback to another time, a man without a cell phone who reads Sartre and sleeps under the stars. Yet heâs also a grifter with a âlove âem and leave âemâ attitude that harms those around him. Itâs fascinating to watch The Narrator wrestle with Dukeâs behavior, trying to determine which to model and which to discard.
Doane creates a relatable protagonist in The Narrator, whose personal growth doesnât erase his faults. His willingness to hit the road with few resources is admirable, and heâs prescient enough to recognize the jealousy of those who cannot or will not take the leap. His encounters with new foods, places, and people broaden his horizons. Yet his immaturity and selfishness persist. He tells Rosie sheâs been a good mother to him but chooses to ignore the continuing concern from his own parents as he effectively disappears from his old life.
Despite his flaws, itâs a pleasure to accompany The Narrator on his physical and emotional journey. The unexpected ending is a fitting denouement to an epic and memorable road trip.
The Book Smugglers review Anissa Grayâs The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls :
I am still dipping my toes into the literally fiction pool, finding what works for me and what doesnât. Books like The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray are definitely my cup of tea.
Althea and Proctor Cochran had been pillars of their economically disadvantaged community for years â with their local restaurant/small market and their charity drives. Until they are found guilty of fraud for stealing and keeping most of the money they raised and sent to jail. Now disgraced, their entire family is suffering the consequences, specially their twin teenage daughters Baby Vi and Kim.  To complicate matters even more: Kim was actually the one to call the police on her parents after yet another fight with her mother. [âŠ]
The Book Hookup reviews Angie Thomasâ The Hate U Give :
â„ Quick Thoughts and Rating: 5 stars! I canât imagine how challenging it would be to tackle the voice of a movement like Black Lives Matter, but I do know that Thomas did it with a finesse only a talented author like herself possibly could. With an unapologetically realistic delivery packed with emotion, The Hate U Give is a crucially important portrayal of the difficulties minorities face in our country every single day. I have no doubt that this book will be met with resistance by some (possibly many) and slapped with a âcontroversialâ label, but if youâve ever wondered what it was like to walk in a POCâs shoes, then I feel like this is an unflinchingly honest place to start.
In Angie Thomasâs debut novel, Starr Carter bursts on to the YA scene with both heart-wrecking and heartwarming sincerity. This author is definitely one to watch.
â„ Review: The hype around this book has been unquestionable and, admittedly, that made me both eager to get my hands on it and terrified to read it. I mean, what if I was to be the one person that didnât love it as much as others? (That seems silly now because of how truly mesmerizing THUG was in the most heartbreakingly realistic way.) However, with the relevancy of its summary in regards to the unjust predicaments POC currently face in the US, I knew this one was a must-read, so I was ready to set my fears aside and dive in. That said, I had an altogether more personal, ulterior motive for wanting to read this book. [âŠ]
The New York Times reviews Melissa Albertâs The Hazel Wood :
Alice Crewe (a last name sheâs chosen for herself) is a fairy tale legacy: the granddaughter of Althea Proserpine, author of a collection of dark-as-night fairy tales called âTales From the Hinterland.â The book has a cult following, and though Alice has never met her grandmother, sheâs learned a little about her through internet research. She hasnât read the stories, because her mother, Ella Proserpine, forbids it.
Alice and Ella have moved from place to place in an attempt to avoid the âbad luckâ that seems to follow them. Weird things have happened. As a child, Alice was kidnapped by a man who took her on a road trip to find her grandmother; he was stopped by the police before they did so. When at 17 she sees that man again, unchanged despite the years, Alice panics. Then Ella goes missing, and Alice turns to Ellery Finch, a schoolmate whoâs an Althea Proserpine superfan, for help in tracking down her mother. Not only has Finch read every fairy tale in the collection, but handily, he remembers them, sharing them with Alice as they journey to the mysterious Hazel Wood, the estate of her now-dead grandmother, where they hope to find Ella.
âThe Hazel Woodâ starts out strange and gets stranger, in the best way possible. (The fairy stories Finch relays, which Albert includes as their own chapters, are as creepy and evocative as youâd hope.) Albert seamlessly combines contemporary realism with fantasy, blurring the edges in a way that highlights that place where stories and real life convene, where magic contains truth and the world as it appears is false, where just about anything can happen, particularly in the pages of a very good book. Itâs a captivating debut. [âŠ]
James reviews Margaret Wise Brownâs Goodnight, Moon on Goodreads:
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is one of the books that followers of my blog voted as a must-read for our Children's Book August 2018 Readathon. Come check it out and join the next few weeks!
This picture book was such a delight. I hadn't remembered reading it when I was a child, but it might have been read to me... either way, it was like a whole new experience! It's always so difficult to convince a child to fall asleep at night. I don't have kids, but I do have a 5-month-old puppy who whines for 5 minutes every night when he goes in his cage/crate (hopefully he'll be fully housebroken soon so he can roam around when he wants). I can only imagine! I babysat a lot as a teenager and I have tons of younger cousins, nieces, and nephews, so I've been through it before, too. This was a believable experience, and it really helps show kids how to relax and just let go when it's time to sleep.
The bunny's are adorable. The rhymes are exquisite. I found it pretty fun, but possibly a little dated given many of those things aren't normal routines anymore. But the lessons to take from it are still powerful. Loved it! I want to sample some more books by this fine author and her illustrators.
Publishers Weekly reviews Elizabeth Lillyâs Geraldine :
This funny, thoroughly accomplished debut opens with two words: âIâm moving.â Theyâre spoken by the title character while she swoons across her familyâs ottoman, and because Geraldine is a giraffe, her full-on melancholy mode is quite a spectacle. But while Geraldine may be a drama queen (even her mother says so), it wonât take readers long to warm up to her. The move takes Geraldine from Giraffe City, where everyone is like her, to a new school, where everyone else is human. Suddenly, the former extrovert becomes âThat Giraffe Girl,â and all she wants to do is hide, which is pretty much impossible. âEven my voice tries to hide,â she says, in the bookâs most poignant moment. âItâs gotten quiet and whispery.â Then she meets Cassie, who, though human, is also an outlier (âIâm that girl who wears glasses and likes MATH and always organizes her foodâ), and things begin to look up.
Lillyâs watercolor-and-ink drawings are as vividly comic and emotionally astute as her writing; just when readers think there are no more ways for Geraldine to contort her long neck, this highly promising talent comes up with something new.
Karlyn P reviews Nora Robertsâ Dark Witch , a paranormal romance novel , on Goodreads:
4 stars. Great world-building, weak romance, but still worth the read.
I hesitate to describe this book as a 'romance' novel simply because the book spent little time actually exploring the romance between Iona and Boyle. Sure, there IS a romance in this novel. Sprinkled throughout the book are a few scenes where Iona and Boyle meet, chat, wink at each, flirt some more, sleep together, have a misunderstanding, make up, and then profess their undying love. Very formulaic stuff, and all woven around the more important parts of this book.
The meat of this book is far more focused on the story of the Dark witch and her magically-gifted descendants living in Ireland. Despite being weak on the romance, I really enjoyed it. I think the book is probably better for it, because the romance itself was pretty lackluster stuff.
I absolutely plan to stick with this series as I enjoyed the world building, loved the Ireland setting, and was intrigued by all of the secondary characters. However, If you read Nora Roberts strictly for the romance scenes, this one might disappoint. But if you enjoy a solid background story with some dark magic and prophesies, you might enjoy it as much as I did.
I listened to this one on audio, and felt the narration was excellent.
Emily May reviews R.F. Kuangâs The Poppy Wars , an epic fantasy novel , on Goodreads:
âBut I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.â
Holy hell, what did I just read??
✠A fantasy military school
✠A rich world based on modern Chinese history
✠Shamans and gods
✠Detailed characterization leading to unforgettable characters
✠Adorable, opium-smoking mentors
That's a basic list, but this book is all of that and SO MUCH MORE. I know 100% that The Poppy War will be one of my best reads of 2018.
Isn't it just so great when you find one of those books that completely drags you in, makes you fall in love with the characters, and demands that you sit on the edge of your seat for every horrific, nail-biting moment of it? This is one of those books for me. And I must issue a serious content warning: this book explores some very dark themes. Proceed with caution (or not at all) if you are particularly sensitive to scenes of war, drug use and addiction, genocide, racism, sexism, ableism, self-harm, torture, and rape (off-page but extremely horrific).
Because, despite the fairly innocuous first 200 pages, the title speaks the truth: this is a book about war. All of its horrors and atrocities. It is not sugar-coated, and it is often graphic. The "poppy" aspect refers to opium, which is a big part of this book. It is a fantasy, but the book draws inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking.
Crime Fiction Lover reviews Jessica Barryâs Freefall , a crime novel:
In some crime novels, the wrongdoing hits you between the eyes from page one. With others itâs a more subtle process, and thatâs OK too. So where does Freefall fit into the sliding scale?
In truth, itâs not clear. This is a novel with a thrilling concept at its core. A woman survives plane crash, then runs for her life. However, it is the subtleties at play that will draw you in like a spider beckoning to an unwitting fly.
Like the heroine in Sharon Boltonâs Dead Woman Walking, Allison is lucky to be alive. She was the only passenger in a private plane, belonging to her fiancĂ©, Ben, who was piloting the expensive aircraft, when it came down in woodlands in the Colorado Rockies. Ally is also the only survivor, but rather than sitting back and waiting for rescue, she is soon pulling together items that may help her survive a little longer â first aid kit, energy bars, warm clothes, trainers â before fleeing the scene. If youâre hearing the faint sound of alarm bells ringing, get used to it. Thereâs much, much more to learn about Ally before this tale is over.
Kirkus Reviews reviews Ernest Clineâs Ready Player One , a science-fiction novel :
Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Clineâs first novel is old wine in new bottles.
The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and itâs free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three.
Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzivalâs great strength is that he has absorbed all Hallidayâs obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Clineâs narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wadeâs trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more â80s games and movies to gain the other keys; itâs clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate âepic throwdownâ fail to stir the blood.
Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.
Nonfiction books are generally written to inform readers about a certain topic. As such, the focus of a nonfiction book review will be on the clarity and effectiveness of this communication . In carrying this out, a book review may analyze the authorâs source materials and assess the thesis in order to determine whether or not the book meets expectations.
Again, weâve included abbreviated versions of long reviews here, so feel free to click on the link to read the entire piece!
The Washington Post reviews David Grannâs Killers of the Flower Moon :
The arc of David Grannâs career reminds one of a software whiz-kid or a latest-thing talk-show host â certainly not an investigative reporter, even if he is one of the best in the business. The newly released movie of his first book, âThe Lost City of Z,â is generating all kinds of Oscar talk, and now comes the release of his second book, âKillers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,â the film rights to which have already been sold for $5 million in what one industry journal called the âbiggest and wildest book rights auction in memory.â
Grann deserves the attention. Heâs canny about the stories he chases, heâs willing to go anywhere to chase them, and heâs a maestro in his ability to parcel out information at just the right clip: a hint here, a shading of meaning there, a smartly paced buildup of multiple possibilities followed by an inevitable reversal of readerly expectations or, in some cases, by a thrilling and dislocating pull of the entire narrative rug.
All of these strengths are on display in âKillers of the Flower Moon.â Around the turn of the 20th century, oil was discovered underneath Osage lands in the Oklahoma Territory, lands that were soon to become part of the state of Oklahoma. Through foresight and legal maneuvering, the Osage found a way to permanently attach that oil to themselves and shield it from the prying hands of white interlopers; this mechanism was known as âheadrights,â which forbade the outright sale of oil rights and granted each full member of the tribe â and, supposedly, no one else â a share in the proceeds from any lease arrangement. For a while, the fail-safes did their job, and the Osage got rich â diamond-ring and chauffeured-car and imported-French-fashion rich â following which quite a large group of white men started to work like devils to separate the Osage from their money. And soon enough, and predictably enough, this work involved murder. Here in Jazz Age Americaâs most isolated of locales, dozens or even hundreds of Osage in possession of great fortunes â and of the potential for even greater fortunes in the future â were dispatched by poison, by gunshot and by dynamite. [âŠ]
Stacked Books reviews Malcolm Gladwellâs Outliers :
Iâve heard a lot of great things about Malcolm Gladwellâs writing. Friends and co-workers tell me that his subjects are interesting and his writing style is easy to follow without talking down to the reader. I wasnât disappointed with Outliers. In it, Gladwell tackles the subject of success â how people obtain it and what contributes to extraordinary success as opposed to everyday success.
The thesis â that our success depends much more on circumstances out of our control than any effort we put forth â isnât exactly revolutionary. Most of us know it to be true. However, I donât think Iâm lying when I say that most of us also believe that we if we just try that much harder and develop our talent that much further, it will be enough to become wildly successful, despite bad or just mediocre beginnings. Not so, says Gladwell.
Most of the evidence Gladwell gives us is anecdotal, which is my favorite kind to read. I canât really speak to how scientifically valid it is, but it sure makes for engrossing listening. For example, did you know that successful hockey players are almost all born in January, February, or March? Kids born during these months are older than the others kids when they start playing in the youth leagues, which means theyâre already better at the game (because theyâre bigger). Thus, they get more play time, which means their skill increases at a faster rate, and it compounds as time goes by. Within a few years, theyâre much, much better than the kids born just a few months later in the year. Basically, these kidsâ birthdates are a huge factor in their success as adults â and itâs nothing they can do anything about. If anyone could make hockey interesting to a Texan who only grudgingly admits the sport even exists, itâs Gladwell. [âŠ]
Quill and Quire reviews Rick Prashawâs Soar, Adam, Soar :
Ten years ago, I read a book called Almost Perfect. The young-adult novel by Brian Katcher won some awards and was held up as a powerful, nuanced portrayal of a young trans person. But the reality did not live up to the bookâs billing. Instead, it turned out to be a one-dimensional and highly fetishized portrait of a trans personâs life, one that was nevertheless repeatedly dubbed ârealisticâ and âaffectingâ by non-transgender readers possessing only a vague, mass-market understanding of trans experiences.
In the intervening decade, trans narratives have emerged further into the literary spotlight, but those authored by trans people ourselves â and by trans men in particular â have seemed to fall under the shadow of cisgender sensationalized imaginings. Two current Canadian releases â Soar, Adam, Soar and This One Looks Like a Boy â provide a pointed object lesson into why trans-authored work about transgender experiences remains critical.
To be fair, Soar, Adam, Soar isnât just a story about a trans man. Itâs also a story about epilepsy, the medical establishment, and coming of age as seen through a grieving fatherâs eyes. Adam, Prashawâs trans son, died unexpectedly at age 22. Woven through the elder Prashawâs narrative are excerpts from Adamâs social media posts, giving us glimpses into the young manâs interior life as he traverses his late teens and early 20s. [âŠ]
Book Geeks reviews Elizabeth Gilbertâs Eat, Pray, Love :
WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5
SUBJECT: 4/5
CANDIDNESS: 4.5/5
RELEVANCE: 3.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5
âEat Pray Loveâ is so popular that it is almost impossible to not read it. Having felt ashamed many times on my not having read this book, I quietly ordered the book (before I saw the movie) from amazon.in and sat down to read it. I donât remember what I expected it to be â maybe more like a chick lit thing but it turned out quite different. The book is a real story and is a short journal from the time when its writer went travelling to three different countries in pursuit of three different things â Italy (Pleasure), India (Spirituality), Bali (Balance) and this is what corresponds to the bookâs name â EAT (in Italy), PRAY (in India) and LOVE (in Bali, Indonesia). These are also the three Is â ITALY, INDIA, INDONESIA.
Though she had everything a middle-aged American woman can aspire for â MONEY, CAREER, FRIENDS, HUSBAND; Elizabeth was not happy in her life, she wasnât happy in her marriage. Having suffered a terrible divorce and terrible breakup soon after, Elizabeth was shattered. She didnât know where to go and what to do â all she knew was that she wanted to run away. So she set out on a weird adventure â she will go to three countries in a year and see if she can find out what she was looking for in life. This book is about that life changing journey that she takes for one whole year. [âŠ]
Emily May reviews Michelle Obamaâs Becoming on Goodreads:
Look, I'm not a happy crier. I might cry at songs about leaving and missing someone; I might cry at books where things don't work out; I might cry at movies where someone dies. I've just never really understood why people get all choked up over happy, inspirational things. But Michelle Obama's kindness and empathy changed that. This book had me in tears for all the right reasons.
This is not really a book about politics, though political experiences obviously do come into it. It's a shame that some will dismiss this book because of a difference in political opinion, when it is really about a woman's life. About growing up poor and black on the South Side of Chicago; about getting married and struggling to maintain that marriage; about motherhood; about being thrown into an amazing and terrifying position.
I hate words like "inspirational" because they've become so overdone and cheesy, but I just have to say it-- Michelle Obama is an inspiration. I had the privilege of seeing her speak at The Forum in Inglewood, and she is one of the warmest, funniest, smartest, down-to-earth people I have ever seen in this world.
And yes, I know we present what we want the world to see, but I truly do think it's genuine. I think she is someone who really cares about people - especially kids - and wants to give them better lives and opportunities.
She's obviously intelligent, but she also doesn't gussy up her words. She talks straight, with an openness and honesty rarely seen. She's been one of the most powerful women in the world, she's been a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, she's had her own successful career, and yet she has remained throughout that same girl - Michelle Robinson - from a working class family in Chicago.
I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't benefit from reading this book.
Hopefully, this post has given you a better idea of how to write a book review. You might be wondering how to put all of this knowledge into action now! Many book reviewers start out by setting up a book blog. If you donât have time to research the intricacies of HTML, check out Reedsy Discovery â where you can read indie books for free and review them without going through the hassle of creating a blog. To register as a book reviewer , go here .
And if youâd like to see even more book review examples, simply go to this directory of book review blogs and click on any one of them to see a wealth of good book reviews. Beyond that, it's up to you to pick up a book and pen â and start reviewing!
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In contemporary publishing, novels fixated on the past rather than the present have garnered the most attention and prestige.
The 68th National Book Awards at Cipriani Wall Street, 2017.
On Friday, the judges of the National Book Awards will announce the long list for this yearâs prize for fiction. On Monday, the Booker Prize jury will winnow their own long list down to just six finalists. And while betting on literary prizes is something of a foolâs game, odds are both lists will cover quite a lot of historical ground. The likely honorees include Percival Everettâs James , set in the antebellum South; Tommy Orangeâs Wandering Stars , which spans 150 years, beginning in the 1860s; Taffy Brodesser-Aknerâs Long Island Compromise , split between 1980, World War II, and the present; and Claire Messudâs This Strange Eventful History , whose multigenerational plot runs from 1940 to 2010. Two different prizes, with two different juries, with two lists of books thatâIâd wagerâwill have a lot in common.
Thatâs because, over the last several decades, a quiet revolution has taken place in American fiction: The novels recognized by major literary prizes have largely abandoned the present in favor of the past. Contemporary fiction has never been less contemporary.
If we look back to the middle of the 20th century, we can see that the kinds of books that were short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize or the National Book Award then were mostly about contemporary life: J.D. Salingerâs Catcher in the Rye , Ralph Ellisonâs Invisible Man , and a host of others by the likes of Saul Bellow, John Cheever, and John Updike. And these arenât outliers. Between 1950 and 1980, about half of the novels short-listed for these and the National Book Critics Circle Award were set in the present, narrating âthe way we live nowâ in all its complexity.
Fast-forward to the present, and the past has taken over. A historical novel has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 12 out of the last 15 years, and historical fiction has made up 70 percent of all novels short-listed for these three major American prizes since the turn of the 21st century. Today, writers like Colson Whitehead, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Louise Erdrich, and Hernan Diaz are less interested in the way we live now than the way we were .
But this generation of prize-winning novelists is different from their forebears in another major wayâ theyâre a lot less white . American literatureâs overwhelming turn toward the historical past has both motivated, and been motivated by, the increasing recognition of Black, Asian American, Latinx, and Indigenous writers in the literary field. Over the past five decades, writers of color have been celebrated, prized, and canonized almost exclusively for the writing of historical fiction: narratives of war, immigration, colonialism, and enslavement that span generations and honor previously disregarded histories. Of the top 10 most-taught novels by writers of color published after 1945, eight are works of historical fiction. Of the 54 novels by writers of color to be short-listed for a major American prize between 1980 and 2010, all but four are works of historical fiction.
Richard Jean So has recently argued that racial disparities in 20th-century publishing constituted a kind of âcultural redlining,â wherein writers of color were largely unrepresented. While the literary canon of the early 21st century is markedly more inclusive, a different sort of redlining still exists: not the outright refusal of literary institutions to enfranchise writers of color, but a selective elevation that enfranchises those writers only in a single sector of the literary field. Though the pantheon of American literature may be more racially and ethnically diverse than it has ever been, the criteria that consecrate minority writers have never been more homogeneous. How did the definition of literary excellence become so narrow?
Beginning in the 1980s, a number of key literary institutions transformed in ways that either expressly or implicitly promoted historical fiction as contemporary literatureâs most prestigious and politically important genre. These included creative writing programs, literary agents, and the funding organizations, like the National Endowment of the Arts, that encouraged authors to write fictionalized versions of their family histories; major literary awards that prized historical fiction above all other genres and concentrated that prestige in a handful of historical settings; literary scholars who placed the work of historical recovery at the very heart of their method; and university English departments that recalibrated syllabi toward fictions of the past. These transformations impacted the careers of 20th-century writers like Toni Morrison, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Julia Alvarez, and they shaped those of 21st-century writers like Colson Whitehead, Julie Otsuka, Jesmyn Ward, and Tommy Orange.
In many ways, Morrison stands as the chief figure of this shift in literary taste. By virtually any measure, the authorâs 1987 masterpiece, Beloved , is the single most canonized work of contemporary American fiction. Beloved is among the most-taught novels in university courses and the contemporary novel most cited by scholars. Morrisonâs haunting book on American slavery stands out from the contemporary literary canon even as it typifies that canonâs thematic and aesthetic preoccupations. The novel takes place during a crucial moment in the nationâs past, documenting the horrors of history with a startling closeness and tracing their resonances across several generations. In the decades since its publication, Beloved has proved a model for a diverse group of writers interested in narrating the past, as well as a touchstone for teachers and scholars invested in recovering that past.
When Beloved became a finalist for the National Book Award in the late 1980s, Morrison was one of only a handful of Black novelists to be short-listed for the prize in the decades since Ralph Ellisonâs Invisible Man won it in the early 1950s. Whereas Invisible Man opens with the protagonist being expelled from college, following him as he is employed to paint the world âOptic White,â Beloved closes with Morrisonâs own young protagonist, Denver, at the precipice of college admission, so that she might write a different story with the ink her mother, Sethe, was forced to make. While the tale the invisible man tells is his own, its setting the contemporary world in which he lives, Denverâs narrative is one of (what Morrison calls) rememory , of grappling with the world that came before her.
Though neither Morrison nor Beloved inaugurated a shift in literary value single-handedly, novel and novelist alike came to exemplify it for a generation of readers, teachers, scholars, and writers that followed. One way of understanding the cultural history of the last five decades is as the story of how American literature moved from Ellison to Morrison to where we are nowâof how, in other words, the past came to supplant the present in contemporary American fiction.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Fredric Jameson argued that one of the many failings of contemporary historical fiction was its âomnivorousâŠhistoricism,â its ârandom cannibalization of all the styles of the past.â More than 20 years later, Jameson doubled down on that claim in an essay titled âThe Historical Novel Today, or, Is It Still Possible?â He lamented that âthe historical novel seems doomed to make arbitrary selections from the great menu of the past, so many differing and colorful segments or periods catering to the historicist taste, and all nowâŠmore or less equal in value.â Yet this critique fails to register just how selectiveâone might even say discerningâwriters and readers have been when it comes to their appetites for history.
Though the historical settings of contemporary American fiction are as diverse as the authors who create them, a significant portion of this work falls within a highly specific constellation of historical subgenres: contemporary narratives of slavery, Holocaust fiction and the World War II novel, the multigenerational family saga, narratives of immigration, and the novel of recent history .
Testifying to the prominence of these individual subgenres, many notable novels in the last decade have fallen under the rubric of not one, but two or more of them. Ruth Ozekiâs A Tale for the Time Being , for example, chronicles the history of Japanese airmen during World War II, as well as the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Yaa Gyasiâs Homegoing is a multigenerational novel that narrates two halves of a family tree divided by enslavement, but reunited by way of immigration two centuries later. Margaret Wilkerson Sextonâs A Kind of Freedom is a World War II novel, a multigenerational family saga, and a novel of recent history that follows three generations of a Black family living in New Orleans from the 1940s, through the 1980s, to the period just after Hurricane Katrina.
Though it may seem odd to categorize works as various as Colson Whiteheadâs The Underground Railroad , Min Jin Leeâs Pachinko , and Jesmyn Wardâs Salvage the Bones under the single heading of historical fiction, this broader approach enables us to recognize the larger literary ecosystem that allows those diverse forms to flourish: Taken together, they represent a sea change in conceptions of literary prestige, and a shift in value from narratives of the way we live now to chronicles in whichâto borrow from Morrisonâânothing ever dies.â
This transformation of the American literary field has been, in many ways, a salutary one. It has led to a dazzling wealth of historical narratives, fostered the careers of a new generation of American writers, and contributed to the formation of a literary canon that is markedly more inclusive than it has ever been. More important still, it has helped to reshape American historical consciousness. As historians such as Hayden White have recognized for at least half a century, our understanding of the historical past is inseparable from the structure of the stories we tell about it. The long-refuted assumption that âthe difference between âhistoryâ and âfictionâ resides in the fact that the historian âfindsâ his stories, whereas the fiction writer âinventsâ his,â White argues, overlooks both the historianâs commitment to narrative tropes and the historical novelistâs commitment to factual research.
As the writers just mentioned have demonstrated well, fiction is a powerful tool for producing historical knowledge. Historical fiction shapes our collective memory, personifies key events and periods, reveals the deeper roots of contemporary crises, unsettles neat chronologies, challenges the historical record, exposes its lies and lacunae, recovers disregarded stories, and conjures others to stand in for those that have been lost entirely. Indeed, by stimulating a critical encounter with the past, historical fiction, at its best, turns its reader into a kind of time traveler.
We are living in a golden age of historical fiction, but also a period in which the understanding it promotes is being increasingly policed. The culture and canon wars of the 1980s and 1990s not only helped to bring about American literatureâs focus on the past; they also offered a kind of prologue to todayâs cultural politics, where ferocious debates over which books are taught, and how, have not only resurfaced but intensified. The political proxy wars that once focused largely on university English departments have now spread to new and alarming fronts, from the public library to the high school classroom. Many of the novels discussed hereâMorrisonâs in particularâhave already been targeted by right-wing pundits, banned by local school boards, and outlawed by state legislators. I have little doubt that more will follow.
Chris Lehmann
Elie Mystal
Fred Stafford
At the same time, the sustained assault on narratives of history also emphasizes the limits of what those narratives can accomplish on their own. It may be comforting to imagine that these efforts to stymie literary culture and sanitize the historical record will someday be judged harshly by history . But that way of thinking only highlights how thoroughly historical fictionâs backward glance has come to frame contemporary politics. Understanding the past is a necessary but ultimately insufficient condition for effecting change in the present.
Over the last five decades, a number of literary institutions have inadvertently encouraged the belief that history can act as the central staging ground for issues of contemporary injustice and inequality. The Pulitzer Prize and its peers have elevated novels about the 1920s that offer comparisons with todayâs ultra-rich, and stories of the â60s that allude to todayâs over-policed, but neither address the present with the unflinching gaze our moment requires. Given fictionâs extraordinary capacity to resuscitate the past, these institutions have at times mistaken historical recovery for a form of historical redress.
Thirty years ago, Toni Morrison argued in Playing in the Dark that the American literary canon had assisted in âthe construction of a history and a context for whites by positing history-lessness and context-lessness for blacks.â In the decades since then, a generation of Black, Asian American, Latinx, and Indigenous writers has marshaled historical fiction as a means of rectifying this disparity, and a range of cultural organizations have consecrated those writers for doing so.
It is certainly not lost on historical novelistsâor their readersâthat historical fiction is always to some extent about the time in which it is written rather than set. Yet in recent years, writers have worked to highlight the limits of the easy analogy between past and present, as well as how it has become an expectation placed upon minoritized writers in particular. Take the narrator of Nguyenâs The Sympathizer , for example, whose stories of the Vietnam War and its aftermath are the product of interrogation and forced confession. As Nguyen writes in the opening lines of the novel, âI wonder if what I have should even be called talent. After all, a talent is something you use, not something that uses you. The talent you cannot not use, the talent that possesses youâthat is a hazard, I must confess.â
Or consider Cora, the protagonist of Whiteheadâs The Underground Railroad , who escapes enslavement only to find that the sole employment available to her is playing an enslaved woman in a white-owned museum. As that novel makes clear, when the only job in town is historical reenactment, representing the past can seem more like a trap than a means of getting free. As this yearâs prize lists will surely attest, in the world of American literature, the past isnât deadâit isnât even past.
Whatâs at stake this November is the future of our democracy. Yet Nation readers know the fight for justice, equity, and peace doesnât stop in November. Change doesnât happen overnight. We need sustained, fearless journalism to advocate for bold ideas, expose corruption, defend our democracy, secure our bodily rights, promote peace, and protect the environment.
This month, weâre calling on you to give a monthly donation to support The Nation âs independent journalism. If youâve read this far, I know you value our journalism that speaks truth to power in a way corporate-owned media never can. The most effective way to support The Nation is by becoming a monthly donor; this will provide us with a reliable funding base.
In the coming months, our writers will be working to bring you what you need to knowâfrom John Nichols on the election, Elie Mystal on justice and injustice, Chris Lehmann âs reporting from inside the beltway, Joan Walsh with insightful political analysis, Jeet Heer âs crackling wit, and Amy Littlefield on the front lines of the fight for abortion access. For as little as $10 a month, you can empower our dedicated writers, editors, and fact checkers to report deeply on the most critical issues of our day.
Set up a monthly recurring donation today and join the committed community of readers who make our journalism possible for the long haul. For nearly 160 years, The Nation has stood for truth and justiceâcan you help us thrive for 160 more?
Onwards, Katrina vanden Heuvel Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation
Alexander Manshel is an associate professor of English at McGill University.
A conversation with Melinda Cooper about the recent history of neoliberalism and her new book Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance.
Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Kate Yoon
John Washingtonâs compelling new book lays out the case for abolishing the hellish idea of the border.
Books & the Arts / Jake Romm
A conversation with Alexis Pauline Gumbs, one of the world's foremost experts on the Black feminist writer, on her biography Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde...
Books & the Arts / Marian Jones
At one of the oldest biennials on the planet, a glimpse of a more global idea of art history is on view.
Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, she represented New York's 12th congressional district from 1969 to 1983.
OppArt / Sylvia HernĂĄndez
The fast-food giant is poised to move the entertainment world further to the right.
Ben Schwartz
Trying to outflank the gop on china is a mistake , the case for public nuclear power, documenting the first year without âroe v. wadeâ, the abortion fight that shows just how broken our healthcare system is, kamala harris doesnât need to backtrack on fracking, editor's picks.
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Essay Samples on Fiction. Essay Examples. Essay Topics. Critical Analysis of Emotions That Build Historical Fiction Literature. Indeed, historical fiction has long been battled by critics between being purely fictitious and a transformational stimulation of the past, ever since Sir Walter Scott's 'Waverley' in 1814 - the first recorded novel on ...
355 essay samples found. Fiction refers to literature created from the imagination, not based on fact. Essays on fiction might explore various genres, the elements of storytelling, or the ways fiction can reflect or challenge societal norms. Other topics might include the analysis of narrative techniques, the history and evolution of fiction ...
However, fiction may also encompass comic books, and many animated cartoons, stop motions, anime, manga, films, video games, radio programs, television programs (comedies and dramas), etc. Write your best essay on Fiction - just find, explore and download any essay for free! Examples đ Topics đ Titles by Samplius.com.
Opening Scene in Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the formal, aesthetic, and narrative elements of this scene to make an argument about the significance of the movie as a whole. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts. 188 writers online.
This page titled 7.22: Sample Student Fiction Essays is shared under a CC BY-NC license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Heather Ringo & Athena Kashyap (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative) .
Assignment Description: For this essay, you will choose a short story and write an analysis that offers an interpretation of the text. You should identify some debatable aspect of the text and argue for your interpretation using your analysis of the story supported by textual evidence. Content: The essay should have a clear argumentative thesis ...
Table of contents. Step 1: Reading the text and identifying literary devices. Step 2: Coming up with a thesis. Step 3: Writing a title and introduction. Step 4: Writing the body of the essay. Step 5: Writing a conclusion. Other interesting articles.
Page ID. Heather Ringo & Athena Kashyap. City College of San Francisco via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative. Table of contents. Example 1: Poetry. Example 2: Fiction. Example 3: Poetry. Attribution. The following examples are essays where student writers focused on close-reading a literary work.
Whether you are a seasoned writer or just starting out, coming up with interesting fiction essay topics can sometimes be a challenge. To help spark your creativity, here are 124 fiction essay topic ideas and examples to inspire your next writing project: A futuristic world where humans have colonized Mars; A haunted house with a dark secret
Browse essays about Fiction and find inspiration. Learn by example and become a better writer with Kibin's suite of essay help services. > Fiction Essay Examples. 50 total results. staff pick. graded. words. page « 1; 2 » Company. About Us ... Fiction Essay Examples. 50 total results. staff pick. graded.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass (2013) Of every essay in my relentlessly earmarked copy of Braiding Sweetgrass, Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer's gorgeously rendered argument for why and how we should keep going, there's one that especially hits home: her account of professor-turned-forester Franz Dolp.When Dolp, several decades ago, revisited the farm that he had once shared with his ex ...
The distinction between beginning and intermediate writing is provided for both students and instructors, and numerous sources are listed for more information about fiction tools and how to use them. A sample assignment sheet is also provided for instructors. This resource covers the basics of plot, character, theme, conflict, and point-of-view.
Analyzing Short Fiction Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin. Pages: 5 Words: 1753. Desiree's Baby is an 1892 story by Kate Chopin that examines how the Aubigny family falls apart due to assumptions and misunderstandings. In the story, Desiree, an orphan whose parentage is unknown and whom the Valmonde family lovingly raises, marries Armand Aubigny, a ...
Fiction Essay Samples & Examples. Fiction is a significant part of literature. It helps readers to immerse in an imaginative world full of exciting events. There are many books written in this style, and this means that people adore reading fiction. However, at the university, college, or high school you are asked not just to read a story.
Analysis of Treasure Island. AuthorThe book, Treasure Island, was authored by Robert Stevenson, who was born on 13th of November, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland (Daiches, n.p.). Stevenson is a writerâŠ. Book Cognitive Psychology Fiction Linguistics Symbolism Teamwork. View full sample.
Literary analysis essays are mostly based on artistic works like books, movies, paintings, and other forms of art. However, generally, students choose novels and books to write their literary essays. Some cool, fresh, and good topics and ideas are listed below: Role of the Three Witches in flaming Macbeth's ambition.
Here are Nine Must-have Tips and Tricks to Get a Good Score on the Prose Essay: Carefully read, review, and underline key instructions in the prompt.; Briefly outline what you want to cover in your essay.; Be sure to have a clear thesis that includes the terms mentioned in the instructions, literary devices, tone, and meaning.; Include the author's name and title in your introduction.
Essays on Fiction . Essay examples. Essay topics. General Overview. 160 essay samples found. Sort & filter. 1 Seabiscuit: an American Legend . 1 page / 677 words . Introduction Seabiscuit, an undersized and overlooked thoroughbred racehorse, emerged as an unlikely hero during the Great Depression, capturing the hearts and imaginations of ...
Besides essays on Book Riot, I love looking for essays on The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Rumpus, and Electric Literature. But there are great nonfiction essays available for free all over the Internet. From contemporary to classic writers and personal essays to researched onesâhere are 25 of my favorite nonfiction essays you can read today.
Fifth: Give each literary device its own body paragraph. In this essay, the writer examines the use of two literary devices that are supported by multiple pieces of evidence. The first is "romantic imagery" and the second is "hyperbolic imagery.". The writer dedicates one paragraph to each idea. You should do this, too.
Nonfiction, by contrast, refers to factual stories about real people, places, and events. In works of nonfiction, authors relay accurate, verifiable information. These insights, experiences, or explanations are grounded in reality and are used to educate, persuade, or document true events and occurrences. The word nonfiction essentially means ...
Examples of genre fiction book reviews Karlyn P reviews Nora Roberts' Dark Witch, a paranormal romance novel, on Goodreads: 4 stars. Great world-building, weak romance, but still worth the read. I hesitate to describe this book as a 'romance' novel simply because the book spent little time actually exploring the romance between Iona and Boyle ...
Fast-forward to the present, and the past has taken over. A historical novel has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 12 out of the last 15 years, and historical fiction has made up 70 percent of ...
Concrete examples of leadership are critical to a successful MBA essay. Don't just say you have leadership skillsâ prove it with real stories from your career.