This assignment sequence is designed to emphasize your ability to identify and analyze formal elements of a literary
text. To do this, we will adopt the approach of the literary theory Formalism. This will serve as the guide for “how” to
analyze whatever you identify. Your goal is to analyze a set of formal patterns (tropes) within a single text. You will
argue how and why these tropes are significant towards understanding the text in a new or different way.
This goal is very broad, which suggests a number of potential directions to take in your analysis of the text that you
choose. Ultimately, your goal is to present an original, refined, and specific argument that allows your reader to say,
“Oh! I didn’t see that or notice that when I first read the text. I could now re-read that story in a new or different way.”
WHAT YOU’LL DO
The following steps will unlock on Blackboard over the next few weeks. For the Trope Analysis assignment sequence, you will:
1. Select one text from the Trope Analysis assignment sequence
2. Gather specific Evidence from the text—a recurring trope that stands out to you
3. Develop a Thesis, arguing for the effects of the pattern(s) that you identified and the Evidence you gathered
4. Outline and organize your argument
5. Compose a 2 to 3.5 page First Draft Trope Analysis Essay
6. Share your ideas in Peer Review
7. Receive feedback from your readers, including myself
8. Revise your First Draft extensively, in response to this feedback
9. Submit a 2.5 to 3.5 page Final Draft of your Trope Analysis Essay
Each of these steps is absolutely necessary to ensure a complex, original, and successful Final Draft.
WHAT TO FOCUS ON
There is no single “correct” answer to look for in a single text. Only a genuine, authentic, and prolonged engagement
with the text will reveal patterns that stand out to you. Though you are only analyzing one text, reading each assigned
text will give you the necessary practice in this type of analysis to craft a strong, unique, achievable Thesis.
To form a clear, specific Thesis, closely read for common threads between tropes such as:
Patterns of Speech – Setting Descriptions – Figurative Language – Plot Structure and Organization –
Recurring Words or Phrases – Point of View – Narration Style
You are not trying to solve the entire text, but to refine a specific, common thread. You will argue why the tropes you’ve
identified are significant – for example, popular approaches are to argue how the tropes either enhance, detract from,
develop, or contradict the overall theme of the text.
MAJOR GRADED COMPONENTS OF THE SEQUENCE
Outline (10 points) – First Draft (25 points) – Peer Review (5 points) In-class Conference or Sample Evaluations (5 points) – Final Draft (55 points)
All of the above components total 100 points. These are not individual grades, but major parts of the total sequence.
Once every major component is graded, you will have your final grade for the Trope Ana
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