21st Century Literature

Module 17:
Analytical Essay
Dr. Seuss famous quote says, “Reading can take you places you have never been before.” Do you agree?
What is your purpose in reading then?

You might read for the purpose of pleasure or enjoyment. You read and get caught by the exciting story, its
interesting time or place and or just for passing time. You may be looking for inspiration, guidance, or a
reflection of your own life from many different books in the world.

Reading a work of literature in English class gets special when you are tasked to write a literary analysis. To
analyze a literary text means to examine all the parts of a novel, play, short story, or a poem with its
elements and how the authors use those elements to create a certain effect. In this lesson, you will be asked
to write an analytical essay to a literary text read. What is an analytical
essay?

An Analytical essay is defined as a reaction or response to a body of work in

a critical lens. A type of essay that analyzes, examines, and interprets an event,
book, poem, play or other work of art.
There are various types of Analytical Essay: The Persuasive Analytical
Essay is a type of essay that will require you to state your position on an issue and
you should provide supporting arguments for the same with the relevant evidence.
The Analytical Expository Essay is an essay that seeks to explain an idea, issue
or theme. It communicates your explanation of a certain event, book, or art to your
reader. The Analytical History Essay is an essay that provides an analysis of a
particular event in history. Here, you are required to provide your position
regarding that event alongside relevant supporting information, and The Analytical
Comparison Essay is used to compare different ideas, books, and texts that
must provide arguments and evidence for the things that you are comparing. It also
aims to present an informed conclusion at the end of the essay.
Your analytical essay should have the following parts:
I. An Introduction
A. Hook
B. Thesis Statement
C. Proof of thesis statement

II – IV Body Paragraphs
A. Topic sentence
B. Claim 2-3 supporting details
V. Conclusion
A. Restate the thesis statement
B. General summary of the essay
C. Strong concluding sentence
An analytical essay consists of 4-5 paragraphs.
INTRODUCTION– the introductory paragraph is made up of the summary of the
original text or also known as an abstract. Here, you will introduce the author and
the summarized text that you will examine throughout the essay. A background
information about the text is important and some brief biographical informations
about the author should be included but not necessarily in the body paragraphs.
This is important so that the reader can establish a point of view about the writer’s
interpretation of the text. The thesis statement or argument that you as the
writer would like to prove, will be the last sentence in the introductory paragraph.

THESIS STATEMENT - is the central argument or the main idea of the essay and
considered as the foundation of the essay. The thesis statement in analytical essay
is reactionary, once the writer reads the original literary text,he then can establish
a solid viewpoint regarding the text. A thesis is a claim about a work of literature
that needs to be supported by evidence and arguments. It is the “heart” or
“foundation” of an essay. It answers the questions “what?” and “why?”.
To help you create your own thesis statement, here are the SAMPLE PATTERNS
FOR THESES ON LITERARY WORKS:
1. In (title of work), (author) (illustrates, shows) (aspect) (adjective).
Example: In “Barn Burning,” William Faulkner shows the characters Sardie and
Abner Snopes struggling for their identity.
2. In (title of work), (author) uses (one aspect) to (define, strengthen, illustrate) the
(element of work).
Example: In “Youth,” Joseph Conrad uses foreshadowing to strengthen the plot.
3. In (title of work), (author) uses (an important part of work) as a unifying device
for (one element), (another element), and (another element). NOTE: The number of
elements can vary from one to four.
Example: In “Youth,” Joseph Conrad uses the sea as a unifying device for setting,
structure and theme.
4. (Author) develops the character of (character’s name) in (literary work) through
what he/she does, what he/she says, what other people say to or about him/her.
Example: Langston Hughes develops the character of Semple in “Ways and
Means”...
5. In (title of work), (author) uses (literary device) to (accomplish, develop, illustrate,
strengthen) (element of work).
Example: In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe uses the symbolism of the
stranger, the clock, and the seventh room to develop the theme of death.
6. (Author) (shows, develops, illustrates) the theme of __________ in the (play, poem,
story).
Example: Flannery O’Connor illustrates the theme of the effect of the selfishness of
the grandmother upon the family in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”
7.(Author) develops his character(s) in (title of work) through his/her use of
language.
Example: John Updike develops his characters in “A & P” through his use of
figurative language.
BODY PARAGRAPHS – Each body paragraphs should consist of 1) topic sentence, that
tells the reader what the body paragraph will be about 2) analysis of some part of
the text , and 3) an evidence from the text that will support your analysis and your
thesis statement. The body paragraph is where you write your analysis of the text
and the argument you make and the evidence that you provide to support your
argument. Here, you may also insert quoted text from the original text to support
your claim and or paraphrase text that can be used to compress a lot of
informations.

CONCLUSION– in analytical essay, the conclusion usually composes of one to two

paragraphs, depending on the length and depth of the analysis made. The analyst
or writer of the essay should begin the paragraph by restating the thesis statement.
From this point, the writer should also restate the themes of the main body
thoroughly that leads the reader to a closing statement. The author’s purpose is to
convince the reader of the thesis and to satisfy with the evidence presented. The
author should not leave the reader in confusions or in questions, instead the
reader can respond by appreciating the author’s confidence with the essay or
analysis made.
In writing an analytical essay, be reminded of the following Tips:
1. Plan your work- before starting you work, carefully plan out your work by
noting what you want to write in introduction, body, and conclusion for you to
be guided where you intend to go.
2. Use Present Tense – discuss the book, the play, novel or poem using the
present tense to stir an excellent analytical essay.
3. Be Objective – do not use first person “I” in your essay. Ex. “I find Juliet
as...” instead “It appears that Juliet is...”
4. Do not use slang or colloquial language – (the language of informal speech)
5. Do not use short forms like etc., e.g., and so on. These are expressions
generally used by the writers who have nothing more to say.
6. Create a unique title – think of an original title, do not use the text’s title.
7. Remember to analyze the story – an analytical essay does not mean
retelling the story. Many students fail in writing an analytical essay, because
they retell the story instead of analyzing it. You should examine the text by
providing explanations. Your essay should inform the reader to help them
understand the subject.
Sample Literary Analysis Essay
The purpose of a literary analysis
essay is to closely examine some
aspects of a literary work. In this
essay, RHS student Moses
Martinez, analyzes the fears
feltby the characters in William
Golding’s Lord of the Flies.
 Island of Fear
As humans, we all fear something, and we deal with those fears in ways that
match our personalities. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the fears of
Jack, Ralph, and Piggy and chooses specific ways for each to deal with his fears.
Therefore, each of the three boys reacts to fear in his own unique way.
The first boy, Jack, believes that a beast truly does exist. He is afraid and
admits it; however, he deals with his fear with aggressive violence. He chooses to
hunt for the beast, arms himself with a spear, and practice killing it: “We’re
strong—we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and
beat and beat—!” (91). He also uses the fear of the beast to control and manipulate
the other children. Because they fear the beast, they are more likely to listen to
Jack and follow his orders. Furthermore, Jack fears Ralph’s power over the group
and Piggy’s rational thought. This is because he knows that both directly conflict
with his thirst for absolute power. He responds to these fears in his familiar, violent
way. He physically and verbally abuses Piggy, and he argues with Ralph and
questions his authority to such an extent that he ends up leaving the group. Jack
eventually consolidates his power by forcing the last members of Ralph’s group into
his tribe and ordering a hunt for Ralph.
Next, the boys’ leader, Ralph, has his own fears. However, he deals with
them differently than Jack does. At first he does not fear the beast; rather, he fears
that the boys will never be rescued due to the group’s inability to keep a rescue fire
lit. Ralph’s fear remains valid through most of the book, yet his efforts to convey
the urgency of the fire to the group are thwarted by Jack. At one point, Ralph
exclaims, “I’m chief...There’s no signal showing. There may be a ship out there. Are
you all off your rockers?”(108). This quote shows how he continuously tries to
stress the fire and his fear of not being rescued. Ralph also begins to fear the other
boys. After Simon dies, he realizes just what the boys are capable of doing,
especially under Jack’s influence. He tries to conquer this fear by looking to Piggy
for rationalization and for guidance as to how best lead on the island.
In conclusion, William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies exposes the reader to
three characters with different personalities and fears: Jack, Ralph, and Piggy.
Each of the boys tries to conquer his fear in a different way. Fear is a natural
emotion encountered by everyone, but each person deals with it in a way that best
fits his/her individual personality.

Here is an example of a literary work written by Nicomedes Marquez Joaquin

known as Nick Joaquin, a Filipino writer, historian and journalist. He is well
known for writing short stories and novels in English Language.
Summer Solstice
By Nick Joaquin (Summary)

The Tatarin, or otherwise known as the Tadtarin, was a three day festival that
celebrated a ritual of fertility. This was done only by women. Many men frowned
upon the extravagant dances and plays surrounding the ritual. “Summer Solstice”
is set during the three days of the St. John’s festival. Lupeng, a Filipino woman
who feels closed to her womanhood, is married to Paeng, who is no doubt loyal to
her. They have three small boys, and live a somewhat wealthy life as they have a
carriage driver named Entoy and a maid and cook named Amada.
Guido is a cousin of Paeng’s who comes back to the Philippines after studying in
Europe. The story starts when the family is enjoying the days of the St. John’s
festival until Guido makes suggestive comments to Lupeng, and even bending down
to kiss her feet. This makes her leave abruptly and have a discussion with her
husband the coming night.
Lupeng secretly found herself intrigued by the attention of Guido; she felt that he
was correct in saying that women should be ravished and men should adore them.
This causes her to participate in the last night of the festival, which is the Tatarin
ritual. Paeng goes with her and tries to drag her back once the dancing begun, but
she runs from him to the women. He tries to take her back but the women in the
crowds beat him out, leaving him helpless. As the two-return home, Paeng says he
must whip his wife because he loves her and feels that she needs to be put in her
place. To this, she shouts and says she wants to be adored, not respected and
orders him to kiss her feet.