• Identify, define, and discuss key literary terms such as genre, plot, setting, characterization, theme, point of view, tone, and style.
• Identify, define, and discuss formal and/or structural elements in a work such as foreshadowing, symbol, metaphor, rhyme, rhythm, meter, alliteration, and figurative language (e.g., personification, simile, metaphor, hyperbole) and the ways in which they contribute to the meaning of the text(s).
• Identify, define, and discuss social, political, economic, or historical contexts relevant to works studied and to examine how these influences have contributed to the creation of misogynist and, conversely, feminist attitudes which are reflected in literature.
• Translate key passages into their own words so as to understand and explain overall developments of the text.
• Articulate in writing, discussions, or oral presentations their close readings of texts using formalist and/or reader-response theory (especially focusing on gender and the experiences and values expressed in literary works).
• Compare and contrast differing challenges and responses to achieving adulthood and the ways in which the journey to adulthood is shaped by culture, socioeconomics, race, gender, sexual identity, religion, history, and other contextually situated variables.
• Identify and discuss universals, archetypes, and recurring themes in literature and to recognize the implications of various literary images of women: as ambivalent adolescent, as submissive wife, as sex object, etc.
• Learn more about themselves as readers and work towards developing positive and perceptive life-long reading habits that reflect a diverse and global perspective.
• Develop, practice, and master the ability to apply various critical theories to literature about women in discussion (with a particular emphasis on formalist, feminist, historical, biographical, and Marxist criticism).

Intended Audience

Your intended audience for your essay is an academic group of people, including students and instructors. You should assume that your audience has read the work(s) about which you are writing; therefore, you do not need to summarize the work extensively. However, you should include paraphrases and quotes that prove your view of the work.

Task–Literature Analysis Essay

Write a 3- to 5-page essay that analyzes one or both of the following novels: Naomi Alderman’s The Power.

For this assignment, you must write an argument that provides your interpretation/ analysis of the work and supports that claim with appropriate and sufficient details (evidence) from the work. Your interpretation must come from your own reading and thinking about the work—not from critical or literary analyses you have read about it (including CliffNotes and SparkNotes).

You do not need outside sources. When referring to the work(s), use only author and title. If you do use outside sources in addition to your chosen work(s), (1) use parenthetical citation in the text of your essay and (2) include at the end of the essay a Works Cited page (MLA format). Not to document sources constitutes plagiarism.

Manuscript Requirements for Written Work: MLA Format