EnglishIIFinalEssayAssignment:

ThingsFallApartLiteraryAnalysisEssay
Assignment: After you finish reading Things Fall Apart, write (an approximately 5-paragraph)
literary analysis essay about the novel. Your essay should analyze and construct an argument
about the text, forming a thesis and providing textual evidence to craft your argument.
Option 1: Theme Analysis
Analyze the treatment of a theme in the text through an examination of the style,
structure, and content of the novel.
Option 2: Character Analysis
Analyze a significant character in the novel (or compare/contrast two characters).
Focus on this characters conflict and character development throughout the
novel. Consider why Achebe wrote this character in this way--how does this
character and their conflicts and development help reveal one of the novels
themes?
Option 3: Gender Lens Essay
To develop your argument, consider how gender shapes the narrative by
applying the gender/feminist critical lens to the text. Use the ideas, terminology,
questions, and approach to this method explained in the supplemental materials.
Option 4: Comparison Essay (CHALLENGE)
Compare/contrast two texts, Things Fall Apart and another text (may be one read
in English 2 or on your own; may be literature or another kind of media). As your
topic, use Option 1, 2, or 3, above.
Requirements:
Focus your thesis, related claims, and the body of your essay on analyzing the text
according to your chosen prompt. Your essay must be organized so that every part
contributes something to the readers understanding of the central idea.
Include a minimum of six carefully-chosen, properly-cited quotes to support the claim of
your thesis statement; use warrants to explain the significance of your evidence.
Follow a basic essay structure (introduction with thesis; body paragraphs with claims related
to thesis and supporting evidence, and analysis explaining how evidence relates to claims;
and conclusion, explaining broader significance of claims).
Use proper conventions (MLA format, spelling, grammar).
Meet the length requirement.
12 pt. Times New Roman font, double-spaced, MLA header, numbered pages
Name your file Last Name, Section, Literary Analysis Essay
Digitally highlight your essay in Google Docs according to the following key:
o Highlight your thesis in LIGHT BLUE
o Highlight each supporting claim in PINK
o Highlight each evidence sentence in YELLOW
o Highlight your analysis/discussion of the evidence in GREEN
o Highlight your transitions in ORANGE
Complete the essay outline on paper and the essay draft using Google Docs. You may use time
out of class as needed to finish. Share with akates@philasd.org when finished.
ESSAY OUTLINE DUE___________________________________________________
ROUGH DRAFT DUE_____________________________________________________
FINAL ESSAY DRAFT DUE by 11:59PM _____________________________________

LITERARYANALYSISESSAYOUTLINE
I. Introduction paragraph
Hook: The aim of the hook is to try to capture your readers interest. To bring immediate focus to your
subject, you may want to use a quotation, a provocative question, a brief anecdote, a startling statement,
or a combination of these.

Context: You also want to include background information relevant to your thesis and necessary for the
reader to understand the position you are taking. In addition, you need to include the title of the work of
literature and name of the author. Only include focused plot synopsis as it is necessary to setting up your
central claim.

Thesis: The thesis statement tells your reader what to expect: it is a restricted, precisely worded
declarative sentence that states the purpose of your essaythe point you are trying to make. It should list
or overview the three supporting claims that will be covered in the body paragraphs:
Ex.: The protagonists conflicted attitude towards his father and the changing hierarchy between
them is revealed through Diazs indirect characterization of Yunior.
II. 1st body paragraph

Supporting Claim: The purpose of the topic sentence is to relate the details of the paragraph to your
thesis statement and to tie the details of the paragraph together. Focus on one aspect of the claim made
in the thesis, but try to find a new wording so it does not become redundant.
Ex.: An examination of Yuniors actions in response to his father exposes the hierarchical
relationship between Yunior and his father.

Evidence #1: Textual evidence consists of summary, paraphrase, specific details, and direct quotations.
Use I.C.E. for all textual evidence: introduce with a signal phrase, cite using MLA, and explain below in
the warrant. Make sure to include relevant context for the quote as needed (who, what, when, where, etc.)
Ex.: For instance, in a scene at home before the family attends a party, Yuniors actions in
response to being confronted by his father expose his fathers dominant role and Yuniors
deep-rooted fear of his father. In his narration, Yunior reveals that when asked why he had eaten
before the party, he didnt dare glance at him better to stare at his belly button (Diaz 26).

Analysis/Discussion of Evidence #1: Good literary analysis essays contain an explanation of your
ideas and evidence from the text that supports those ideas. The analysis should clearly link the claim to
the evidence and explain how the claim is supported by this evidence. A possible template is: The fact
[restate evidence] shows [restate claim] because [explain why].
Ex. The fact that Yunior explains the importance of facing his father with his full attention but an
averted gaze shows the history of the power imbalance between them because Yunior has
developed a routine stance in interactions with his father to minimize conflict. It is obvious that
this is not the first time Yunior has had to face his fathers temper.
Evidence #2: Evidence #2 should use I.C.E. as well. It should build on the first piece of evidence (maybe
it comes later, chronologically; maybe it is more important or significant to drive home the point brought
up by E#1, etc.). Use transitional words to show how this piece of evidence relates to the evidence
discussed last: next, later on, more significantly, instead.
Ex.:When Papi next pulls him to his feet by [his] ear, he describes the tears that result as more
out of reflex than pain (Diaz 26).

Analysis/Discussion of Evidence #2: The 2nd discussion should also clearly link the claim to the
evidence and explain how the claim is supported by this evidence, as well as continuing to build on the
analysis begun in the analysis of evidence #1.
Ex.:The fact that the tears are described as a reflex supports the inference that Yunior is often
treated roughly by Papi. This scene shows that Yunior is submissive and his father is dominant in
their interactions, yet the fact that Yunior did in fact eat when he knew it would displease his
father suggests a crack in the foundation of this hierarchy. Yunior actually points out earlier that
he should have reminded [Mami] not to feed [him] but [he] wasnt that sort of son (Diaz 25).

Transition: Use the last sentence to drive home the claim proven by this body paragraph, link the
supporting claim to the overall thesis claim, and to set up the claim that will be made in the next
paragraph.
Ex. The reader can thus infer from Yuniors actions in this scene that Papi has more power than
Yunior, but his control is not total since even though he can still alpha Yunior face to face, he
does not maintain complete authority in his absence.
III. 2nd body paragraph
Supporting Claim

Evidence #1

Analysis/Discussion of Evidence #1

Evidence #2

Analysis/Discussion of Evidence #2

Transition
IV. 3rd body paragraph
Supporting Claim

Evidence #1

Analysis/Discussion of Evidence #1

Evidence #2

Analysis/Discussion of Evidence #2

Transition
V. Conclusion
Conclusion: Your literary analysis essay should have a concluding paragraph that gives your essay a
sense of completeness and lets your readers know that they have come to the end of your paper. Your
concluding paragraph might restate the thesis in different words, summarize the main points you have
made, or make a relevant comment about the literary work you are analyzing, but from a different
perspective.

Do not introduce a new topic or different claims in your conclusion. Use this space to give your final
thoughts on the issues raised or to look outward from the narrow topics discussed to explore big-picture
ideas (about the story and themes, about society, etc.). Leave your reader with something to think about.
Gender/FeministCriticalLens:SupplementaryMaterials
Feminist Criticism (1960s-present)
Feminist criticism is concerned with "...the ways in which literature (and other cultural
productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological
oppression of women" (Tyson). This school of theory looks at how aspects of our culture are
inherently patriarchal (male dominated) and "...this critique strives to expose the explicit and
implicit misogyny in male writing about women" (Richter 1346). This misogyny, Tyson reminds
us, can extend into diverse areas of our culture: "Perhaps the most chilling example...is found in
the world of modern medicine, where drugs prescribed for both sexes often have been tested on
male subjects only" (83).

Feminist criticism is also concerned with less obvious forms of marginalization such as the
exclusion of women writers from the traditional literary canon: "...unless the critical or historical
point of view is feminist, there is a tendency to under-represent the contribution of women
writers" (Tyson 82-83).

Common Space in Feminist Theories

Though a number of different approaches exist in feminist criticism, there exist some areas of
commonality. This list is excerpted from Tyson:
1. Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially, and
psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which they are kept so
2. In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is other: she is marginalized, defined
only by her difference from male norms and values
3. All of western (Anglo-European) civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, for
example, in the biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin and death in the world
4. While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture determines our gender
(masculine or feminine)
5. All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has as its ultimate goal
to change the world by prompting gender equality
6. Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human production and experience,
including the production and experience of literature, whether we are consciously aware
of these issues or not (91).

Feminist criticism has, in many ways, followed what some theorists call the three waves of
feminism:
1. First Wave Feminism - late 1700s-early 1900's: writers like Mary Wollstonecraft (A
Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792) highlight the inequalities between the sexes.
Activists like Susan B. Anthony and Victoria Woodhull contribute to the women's suffrage
movement, which leads to National Universal Suffrage in 1920 with the passing of the
Nineteenth Amendment

2. Second Wave Feminism - early 1960s-late 1970s: building on more equal working
conditions necessary in America during World War II, movements such as the National
Organization for Women (NOW), formed in 1966, cohere feminist political activism.
Writers like Simone de Beauvoir (Le deuxime sexe, 1972) and Elaine Showalter
 established the groundwork for the dissemination of feminist theories dove-tailed with the
American Civil Rights movement

3. Third Wave Feminism - early 1990s-present: resisting the perceived essentialist (over
generalized, over simplified) ideologies and a white, heterosexual, middle class focus of
second wave feminism, third wave feminism borrows from post-structural and
contemporary gender and race theories (see below) to expand on marginalized
populations' experiences. Writers like Alice Walker work to "...reconcile it [feminism] with
the concerns of the black community...[and] the survival and wholeness of her people,
men and women both, and for the promotion of dialog and community as well as for the
valorization of women and of all the varieties of work women perform" (Tyson 97).

Typical questions:
How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?

What are the power relationships between men and women (or characters assuming
male/female roles)?

How are male and female roles defined?

What constitutes masculinity and femininity?

How do characters embody these traits?

Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How does this change
others reactions to them?

What elements of the text can be perceived as being masculine (active, powerful) and
feminine (passive, marginalized) and how do the characters support these traditional
roles?

What sort of support (if any) is given to elements or characters who question the
masculine/feminine binary? What happens to those elements/characters?

What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or
psychologically) of patriarchy?

What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of resisting
patriarchy?

What does the work say about women's creativity?

What does the history of the work's reception by the public and by the critics tell us about
the operation of patriarchy?

What role the work play in terms of women's literary history and literary tradition?
(Tyson)
FeministTheoryAppliedtoThingsFallApart
Feminism is an evolving philosophy, and its application in literature is a relatively new area of
study. The basis of the movement, both in literature and society, is that the Western world is
fundamentally patriarchal (i.e., created by men, ruled by men, viewed through the eyes of men,
and judged by men).

In the 1960s, the feminist movement began to form a new approach to literary criticism. Of
course, women had already been writing and publishing for centuries, but the 1960s saw the
rise of a feminist literary theory. Until then, the works of female writers (or works about females)
were examined by the same standards as those by male writers (and about men). Women were
thought to be less intelligent than men, at least in part because they generally received less
formal education, and many women accepted that judgment. It was not until the feminist
movement was well under way that women began examining old texts, reevaluating the
portrayal of women in literature, and writing new works to fit the developing concept of the
modern woman.

The feminist approach is based on finding and exposing suggestions of misogyny (negative
attitudes toward women) in literature. Feminists are interested in exposing the undervaluing of
women in literature that has long been accepted as the norm by both men and women. They
have even dissected many words in Western languages that reflect a patriarchal worldview.
Arguing that the past millennia in the West have been dominated by menwhether the
politicians in power or the his- torians recording it allfeminist critics believe that Western
literature reflects a masculine bias, and, consequently, represents an inaccurate and potentially
harmful image of women. In order to repair this image and achieve balance, they insist that
works by and about women be added to the literary canon and read from a feminist perspective.

Examining the Portrayal of Gender in the Novel

1. Identify the most notable female characters in the book (e.g., Ekwefi, Ezinma, etc.
2. Consider the various social and cultural roles filled by women in the novel (e.g., nurture
the young, serve as priestess/oracle, etc.). Consider the roles filled by men.
3. Examine the book for evidence of a positive or negative attitude toward women.
4. Consider whether Things Fall Apart presents generally a positive or misogynistic
portrayal of women.
5. Analyze Okonkwos view of gender in the novel. Are his views representative of the
societys views or unique to him? How might his views on gender affect his life,
emotional state, and his relationships?
6. Does the novels portrayal of gender reflect more the society about which Achebe has
written or Achebes own attitudes and values? Why?

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