The goal of a “lens analysis” essay or critical paper is not to simply compare and contrast two or three works of literature, but to put them in conversation with one another. We aren’t necessarily interested in how two or three particular stories contrast (because every story is different in a myriad of ways). We’re interested in looking at the ways the stories and their writers illuminate one another, how elements of craft and author intention are evident across multiple works of literature, and we’re interested in seeing how these elements of craft work to create different effects and create meaning in many works of literature.
Start your paper by formulating a two or three-sentence thesis statement or argument. You must then pull no less than two quotes from each story or text, passages of the story that serve as evidence to your thesis/argument.
You may choose one of the following essay topics (or another idea altogether) to address in your paper:
Character: Choose protagonists (main characters) from two or three of the stories we’ve read. What does the protagonist most want? Make an argument. Who or what is in his/her way (antagonist)? Why is this a source of conflict or tension for him/her? What is the crisis? How does the climax or ending give you more insight into the meaning of the character’s desires and the overall theme(s) of the story? How do those desires change throughout the story?
Detail & Description and Imagery: What sensory details make the world of the characters in these stories come alive? How is description working to affect meaning? What does the imagery add to the sensory in terms of emotional associations it brings to the text? Does the image recur (i.e. “the things they carried”)? If so, how does this repetition work to create meaning or enhance theme? Do you notice any objective correlatives, metaphors or examples of personification that enhance or affect meaning? Pick two different passages in each story you choose, and discuss how the writer’s choice of details and imagery helps characterize a place or a person, suggesting something that goes unstated (subtext) in the themes.
Subtext: What goes unsaid in the dialogue and how does the writer give us hints to this subtext? Choose at least two passages of description of action or dialogue from two different stories and “read between the lines.” How are character gestures, imagery and/or metaphor working to help you “read between the lines” or uncover the subtext and Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory. What do you think is the purpose of subtext? What effect does subtext have on the reader?
Point of View and Voice: How does the author’s use of style, tone, pacing, repetition and recurrent word choice (i.e. “slut” in Jamaica Kincaid’s story) create voice and thus affect the story’s meaning? Voice can also be created by establishing a structure (a pattern in repetition, POV, syllable stress, sentence length, etc.) and then disrupting that structure. Choose at least two first-person narrators (or second person if you want to use the “you” character in Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”) we’ve met this semester. What do you learn about this narrator from his or her voice? Can you identify at least two or three moments when you question the narrator’s judgement of things? Is he/she reliable? Why or why not? At what distance is he/she telling the story? How are the other characters acting as witnesses of this narrator, or helping to reveal the narrator’s flaws, shortcomings or oversights?

 
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