For this paper, you will select two of our eight course texts from different units (and not including the text covered in paper 1). Then you will write a comparative analysis of the novels, focusing on a specific literary element or theme. The paper should be 6 to 8 pages and should balance support from scholarly sources and from your own close reading of the text. See below for three options for paper format.
Traditional Analysis Option
By the time this paper is due in the second-to-last class meeting of the semester, we will have read eight novels. You will select a theme or topic to connect these readings, which can include aspects we’ve covered in class or others that have not been covered. Using a combination of secondary research about that theme or topic as well as your close readings of excerpts from the texts, you will analyze some connection or distinction between two of the texts.
Your essay will cover the way your chosen theme/topic has been represented in these two texts, considering what techniques or devices are used to present it. It is essential that you use specific examples from your close reading to support the way the text reflects the connection you have selected. Be sure that discussion of the textual examples is analysis rather than summary or explanation of what’s happening in the novel.
You should also incorporate at least four scholarly secondary sources (critical essays, reviews, theoretical essays or books, etc.) into your paper. These sources do not need to explicitly reference the course texts you’re discussing; they should also provide larger support for the theme/topic or its place in young adult literature. Your coverage of this theme/topic can draw on, but should not exclusively use, class discussion.
All ideas and close analysis must be supported with references to the primary texts in the form of quotation or paraphrase. As a whole, the essay should balance your analysis with support from the text in a way where the analysis is fully supported, but your voice is maintained throughout. In short, use the text for support and not as a crutch.
Content (60%)
Literary Analysis: Analysis of Theme/Topic, Analysis of Course Texts, Use of secondary research/sources
Style (40%)
Cohesiveness of entire essay
Engaging style/voice
Clear mechanics and conventions
Logistics
Length: 6-8 pages of text, not including Works Cited page
Sources: at least four scholarly sources, cited in MLA format
Format: standard essay in MLA format, use double spaced 12-point Times New Roman and 1” margins, etc.
This is what should be discussed and is what this paper should be about:
I am going to be doing the traditional option. I want to use the books The Hate You Give and Black Flamingo. Both of these books have characters who go through a time of facing pressure from so many people outside of themselves. Throughout both of these books the characters are able to figure out what to do that is in the best interest of themselves. Basically the main theme I want to discuss is the power of overcoming external pressures and coming into your own head and doing what is best for you.
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