Explication of a Short Story: The fourth option for a 750-word mini-essay is an analysis of one of the stories you read for class this week, so either of the stories assigned in the course calendar or one of the stories collected here on Blackboard under Course Materials. Explication (see page 66 and the subsequent example essay in Reading and Writing about Literature) is a type of analytical writing in the humanities in which we suggest how or why a text uses various tools to achieve certain overall effects. In terms of short stories, these tools, or elements, include plot, character, point of view, setting, theme, symbolism, and style, as your textbook explains in Chapter Five. Though it is unlikely you can address all of these components in a short explication essay like this one, focus on one or a few and show how they work together and to what end. Explication often focuses on a close reading of a short but significant passage (like a paragraph) and shows how it contributes to the work as a whole. Ask yourself what is happening here? How specifically is the work’s theme being represented in the choice of words, plotting, imagery, characters, setting? What significance do those representational choices have? In your explication, you may give a brief summary of the story’s overall plot, but keep the summary brief and do not go into details. Assume your audience is familiar with the story, so keep the details for your explication, which, beyond a mere summary, will present an analysis of the work that makes implicit elements in the story more obvious. A thesis statement in an explication will often involve the text’s overall theme and how the writer uses one or more elements of fiction to create a particular effect, something you feel or experience when you read. For example, “Chopin opens with a quick mention of Mrs. Mallard’s ‘heart trouble,’ (99) which both sets up the surprise ending and subtly suggests the state of her character’s marriage.” Be sure to support your ideas with plenty of specific references to the primary text, as paraphrase, summary, or, when necessary, quotes. Use MLA style to document your sources, both in your text when you refer to borrowed ideas and in a list of Works Cited at the end. Call on the UAA Writing Center for help conceptualizing, drafting, revising, and/or editing this essay and watch the end results improve as your learning deepens. Within two weeks of the submission deadline, the editor of the UAA Journal of the Humanities may contact authors of exemplary and noteworthy submissions regarding publication of their work. By submitting this paper, you agree: (1) that you are submitting your paper to be used and stored as part of the SafeAssign™ services in accordance with the Blackboard Privacy Policy; (2) that your institution may use your paper in accordance with your institution’s policies; and (3) that your use of SafeAssign will be without recourse against Blackboard Inc. and its affiliates. Chosen book – Trifles by Susan Glaspell
Related Completed Projects
Write about why you chose it, how it relates to your own personal or familiar experience, and whether the arguments the authors are making are pervasive for you or not. Please note that the book is based a large volume of research conducted over many years. While your individual experience matters, it does not disprove the research that is presented.
Discuss The Importance of Intellectual property.
Critique one journal article that has reported an empirical research study in applied cognitive psychology.
Analyze Community Health Needs