Short Story Literary Analysis Assignment | Homework Help Websites

Assignment Description

You will choose either the short story “Dog Heaven” or “The Swimmer” and write an analysis of the story. You must have a thesis statement in the form of an argument that represents your interpretation of the story and include textual evidence from the story to support your argument. When writing, focus on the TELL, SHOW, SHARE method. First, TELL the reader what your argument (claim) is, your thesis or topic sentences. Then, SHOW the reader your evidence. Evidence begins with text from the story. Finally, SHARE and explain what it means. Share something significant about your findings. Explain the “So what? Who cares? Why does it matter?” aspect of the section you are writing about. What does it mean? What is the point?

Be careful not to simply summarize the story. Your job is to interpret the story to find a deeper meaning, that is make the implicit explicit, within the text and illuminate it for the audience. You are looking for the gaps. What is left unstated in the story? What is missing? You have to look beyond the obvious and discover what the motivating reasons for actions or choices in the story are.

Questions for consideration when analyzing:

• What motivates the main character? What are the real reasons behind his or her actions or choices?
• Why does the character act the way they do?
• Why does the character make the choices they make?
• Is the character telling the truth or lying to himself and others? Why?
• What is missing from the story? What are the gaps?
• What things are significant? Why are they significant? Do they symbolize or represent something?
• What is the author trying to say through the short story narrative about life, human nature, or society?
• What is the conflict in the story (there may be more than one), and how does that conflict reflect a deeper understanding of life, human nature, or society? (Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Himself, Man vs. Society, Man vs. another conflict of importance)
• Consider the larger context (other critics’ opinions, biography, history, social, political, and religious). What meaning can you gain from understanding the biography of the author or the history surrounding him or her? What about the social or political context it was written in?