The Assignment: Critical essay Due Date: Tomorrow Confidence Level: Low Situation: CRITICAL You’ve sat through (and even paid attention to) your professor’s lectures about critical analysis essays. You’ve read all the assigned readings. You’ve even taken the initiative to dig up a few online resources about critical essays. The Problem: Even though you have a decent …
Some semesters can seem like the perfect storm—reading unfamiliar material, advanced writing, and seemingly not enough time to do it all. Before you start feeling like you’re drowning, learn how to take charge of your essay and be the captain of your own ship. Although it might feel like you’re trying to pilot a boat …
In this week’s edition of LEWD (Literary Entertainment Weekly Digest), we’ll get the behind-the-scenes look at the lives of the hottest The Scarlet Letter characters. Connect with the characters you love and the ones you love to hate. See what Hester, Pearl, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale are really like behind the novel’s ink. Get the down-low …
Do you ever get so connected to a character that it almost physically hurts when the character gets killed off? For me, it happens all the time when I watch Game of Thrones. You don’t have to watch an HBO series to get this reaction—characters in books can lead to the same feelings. Whether on screen …
Do you take everything you see or read at face value, or do you think about it on a deeper level? Or think about it this way: if you were in The Hunger Games, would you be an inhabitant of The Capitol—carefree and enjoying the “entertainment” of the Games—or more critical of the government and …
You know those classes that seem to drag on forever? The clock on the wall mocks you by moving slower. The breeze sweeps in through an open window and calls to you. These are examples of personification—the clock mocking and the breeze calling. I know you might not be looking forward to your essay on …
“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” This clever quote from Romeo and Juliet sums up the drama in Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. But if you’re struggling to find a topic for your Romeo and Juliet essay, you might feel the following quote sums up your own …
Ever watch an episode of CSI (or maybe binge-watched an entire season … or two)? If you have (or have watched just about any other TV crime drama), then you’ve seen a group of detectives investigating a crime. You’ve seen them trying to figure out if they’ve identified the correct perpetrator. They look at the …
As if writing a more standard essay were not enough, your instructor slaps you with this: a compare and contrast essay. What makes it worse is that it’s about poetry—as if you know how to compare and contrast poems already. How does she expect you to completely decipher and explain not just one poem but …
Ever heard the adage “don’t compare apples to oranges?” We all know what it means: comparing the two doesn’t make practical sense because they are very different. But have you ever stopped and thought about how you might literally compare apples and oranges? Let’s make a quick list. Similarities Both are fruits. Both have seeds. …
The words “literary analysis” drop from your instructor’s mouth, and you freeze in terror. The Great Gatsby is one of those books that resonates throughout the ages–that’s why you’re reading it and writing about it for your class–but you certainly don’t feel comfortable enough with the novel to write a literary analysis. Well, don’t sweat …
While thumbing through the chapters of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, you may wonder why you’re reading it in the first place. On the surface, it’s hard to relate to–it is written about the Puritans in Colonial America, after all. Not exactly in tune with your life, right? It’s time to take out your …
Unlike most of the other literature you’ve read for class, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan is short and pretty easy to breeze through. But now you have to do a literary analysis on it–and suddenly its short length seems like more of a burden than a blessing. Fortunately, there are several different literary devices you …
Despite what your grade-school teacher might have told you, poetry isn’t all hearts and flowers, especially not when you have to analyze a poem in an essay. When you delve into the realm of poetry, you’re much more likely to stumble into madness and decay, especially if you are reading Edgar Allen Poe or Charles …
Ah, the infamous James Joyce, bane of millions of high school and college students, and now it’s your turn to face the coming-of-age trial: writing a literary analysis of Araby by James Joyce. You might be thinking “I didn’t sign up for this.” You might not be an English major or really interested in literature …
Why does that word – analysis – strike fear into the hearts of so many college students, and just what the heck is a literary analysis, anyway? Analysis is typically the last skill your brain learns, and most students don’t encounter this term until college. But never fear – I’m here to help you conquer …
What is a literary analysis, and what is it good for? Please don’t reply, “Absolutely nothing, say it again y’all!” You might think that a literary analysis isn’t good for anything, but it actually helps sharpen your writing skills and your critical thinking abilities. If you can write a stunning literary analysis, you have a …
And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy. The officer, surrounded by these noises, was moved and a little embarrassed. He turned away to …
You vacantly nod your head as your teacher keeps repeating the words, “It won’t be that hard. It’s just a book report,” but inside, you’re quaking. When was the last time you wrote a book report? Do you even remember how to write a book report? You look around at your peers who don’t seem …
Have you been studying Othello in class so long that you’re on a first name basis with the title character? Do you feel even though you’ve spent so much time studying the play in class you’re still unsure of the play’s major themes? Do you need to write a paper analyzing a theme, such as …
I had a chance to sit down with Natalie H. who has been an editor for Kibin since June 2013. We talked about what makes a literary analysis essay tick and what makes it ick, and I asked her about her all-time writing pet peeves. Here’s what Natalie had to say. What is a literary analysis essay? …