“The zoo story”

Your assignment is to analyze ONE particular aspect of the play (theme, symbol, character, imagery, narration, setting, etc.) in light of textual evidence. Your paper should be an analytical argument based on a specific thesis. It should be 5-7 pages in length, double-spaced & typed in Times New Roman 12 point font, with 1 inch margins, be titled, proofread and spellchecked, and all evidence must be properly cited according to MLA documentation rules. Works Cited page in alphabetical order is also required. The goal of this assignment is to give you experience writing persuasively about literature, using others’ work to support your own perspectives, and documenting that use. Any paper that fails to meet these requirements will not be read.

Your analysis should have a thesis. You should stake out a position in relation to ONE aspect of Albee’s or Satrapi’s work, and develop/support that position with textual evidence. Given this aspect of the assignment, it will be important for you to formulate your thesis carefully. For instance, you will definitely want to propose a thesis that requires outside research to substantiate your claim. I suggest that you generate a thesis that is complex and sophisticated, yet explorable and viable within the confines of the text, i.e. one that prompts you to think about new connections and complexities in the text.

To enhance your critical thinking, and writing skills, you will have a number of steps to take to move you along, clarify your project, and ultimately help create the strongest analytical essay possible. The steps include drafting, revising and revising still more, peer feedback, and working with the Writing Center.

You are expected to do close reading by suspending personal judgment and examining all relevant passages in the text in order to uncover and discover as much information as you can from it. In close reading for this assignment, you must ask not just “what does this passage say?” but also “how does it say it?” and even “what does it not say?” Close reading takes us deeper into the passage, below its surface to the deeper structures of its language, syntax and imagery, and then out again to its connections with the whole text as well as other texts, events, and ideas.