Student Writing Handbook Fifth+Edition

Literary Analyses / 241

•    The organization flows smoothly with the use of the part-by-part plan. [See

Chapter 8, Comparison and Contrast, for methods of organizing comparison-and-

contrast papers, and see part-by-part organization in the Glossary.]

•    Effective transitions move the reader smoothly through the paragraph and

maintain clear parallel contrasts, using such phrases as for example, while, on

the other hand, in addition, by contrast, and though.

•    Details from the story provide adequate support for the three subtopics.

•    The analysis avoids the common pitfall of retelling the story.

•    The conclusion refers to the topic sentence and identifies how the literary

element affects the work as a whole.

SAMPLE LITERARY ANALYSIS of A SYMboL

The following multi-paragraph paper analyzes the use of a single symbol in a long
novel. A complex paper discusses a complex text, and it illustrates both creativity
and understanding of one element of a highly complex novel. Compare this paper
with others in this section, not only in terms of development but also in terms of
content and structure.

Melville, the Weaver

In the course of his novel Moby Dick, Herman Melville sets out three basic parts of a complex

motif of weaving. By careful examination of each in the order in which they appear, one can

see a beautifully structured motif emerging.

The first part of this motif appears in the chapter “The Mat-Maker”:

As I kept passing and repassing the filling or woof of marline between the long yarns

of the warp, using my own hand for the shuttle, and as Queequeg, standing sideways,

ever and anon slid his heavy oaken sword between the threads... it seemed as if this

were the Loom of Time, and I myself were a shuttle.... The straight warp of neces-

sity, not to be swerved from its ultimate course;... free will still free to ply her shuttle

between given threads; and chance, though restrained in its play within the right lines of

necessity, and sideways in its motions directed by free will, though thus prescribed to by

both, chance by turns rules either and has the last featuring blow at events.

Melville leaves no question in his reader’s mind at this point. Every symbol of the larger motif

is spelled out: Necessity, the warp, is being woven with free will, the woof. Though restrained by