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Literary Analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea
EXAMPLE USING DANIEL WALLACE’S NOVEL BIG FISH Topic of Paragraph: The changing relationship between child and parent
Quotation: “So in a way it was true: as I grew, he shrank. And by this logic one day I would become a giant, and Edward would become nothing, invisible in the world” (Wallace 123).
This a thought provoking passage about our main character contemplating his father (Edward). But to truly analyze it, you must also interpret and explain the quotation, telling us why it matters to the point you are trying to make. You must explain what the quote means to you, and how you want the reader to understand it. Then you must explain the reasoning behind your ideas. See below for an example…
As William watches his father grow old, and as William himself grows up, he begins to see his father in a new way. Specifically, William gains an adult’s understanding of his father’s life. For the first time, he appreciates the fact that while his own life seems filled with possibilities, his father’s life is actually confined by the choices he has made in the past. As we read, we imagine the father’s process of “becom[ing] nothing, invisible to the world” (Wallace 123). This is the process of aging and, ultimately, dying, death being the time in which all our lives’ possibilities are over.
However, just getting quotations into your paragraphs isn’t enough. You must integrate the quotation with your idea so that the relationship between your idea and text is totally is clear. For example…
At some point in a child’s life, he grows to adulthood and can understand his parents with an adults perception of the world. As the child moves into young adulthood, his life is fills up with promise and ideas for the future. On the contrary, his parents lives are, on many levels, completed. Choices about partners, professions, and life paths are chosen while the child still has many options. The character of William comes to realize this very fact over the course of Big Fish, and he explicitly states it in moments such as this: “it was true: as I grew, he shrank. And by this logic one day I would become a giant, and Edward would become nothing, invisible in the world” (Wallace 123). As William watches his father grow old, and as William himself grows up, he begins to see his father in a new way. Specifically, William gains an adult’s understanding of his father’s life. For the first time, he appreciates the fact that while his own life seems filled with possibilities, his father’s life is actually confined by the choices he has made in the past. As we read, we imagine the father’s process of “becom[ing] nothing, invisible to the world” (Wallace 123). This is the process of aging and—ultimately—dying, death being the time in which all our lives’ possibilities are over. While the child may feel excited about the possibilities of his own life, such recognition must also create feelings of sadness toward the parent, as well as guilt.

 
2nd Literary Analysis Prompt 1: The Lover
Duras’ short novel, The Lover, paints a picture of a French family stranded in a foreign land, trapped by dire economic circumstances. The book is, without a doubt, a grim look at this family’s attempts to survive and, for the most part, failure to do so very well.
Though each family member plays an important role for our protagonist, the mother holds particular power. The mother’s inexplicable love for the elder son obviously makes the protagonist jealous, thereby highlighting the affection she never receives. It’s also the mother’s disapproval of her affair with the Chinese lover that gives the protagonist such grief. In this essay, reflect on the relationship between this woman, and this girl—a girl entering into womanhood. Specifically, what different approaches to being a woman in the 20th century does each character represent?
Here’s some specific food for thought: In what ways does the mother represent a conventional approach to life, to gender roles, and family? In what ways does the girl represent a rebellious, subversive one? Do you think that the book esteems one of these women as “the right” way for a woman to be? Additionally, in what ways does the protagonist respect and love her mother’s way of life? And in what ways does she still find it necessary to break from being a “conventional” woman? Do you think the mother’s cold conventionality, or lack of love for her daughter, cause the love affair with the Chinese man in some way? If not, then what compelled the girl to behave in such an “inappropriate” way for a young French colonial girl? Ultimately, what type of “womanhood” does this girl claim for herself, in this coming of age story? Consider the aspects of race, gender, age, and class that we’ve discussed during our time with this novel.
2nd Literary Analysis Prompt 2: Waiting for the Barbarians
Late in Waiting for the Barbarians, the Magistrate complains that “Empire has created the time of history,” yet “Empire dooms itself to live in history and plot against history” (131). Explore the many meanings of history in this novel, including the magistrate’s pet interest in unearthing ruins nearby. Additionally, consider the “history” that the Third Bureau invents about the barbarians and what they intend to do in regards to the empire. How is ability to write history, or to the story of what happened here on the frontier, especially important to this book?

Here are some things to consider: What exactly is the problem of history, as the Magistrate sees it? Do his actions and his narrative (i.e. the text you are reading: his history) counteract or merely recapitulate the Empire’s history? In what ways is he running against the enterprise of imperialism? In what ways does he support it—either knowingly, or unknowingly? And how does his changing relationship with the barbarian girl help to signify his position in relation to the Empire and the history it intends to create.
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2nd Literary Analysis Prompt 3: Wide Sargasso Sea
Throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, the concept of madness is often the lynchpin of the plot. Initially, Antoinette’s mother (given the eerily similar name Annette) is driven to madness shortly after her daughter is sent off to study in a convent. Though the events surrounding the mother occur off screen, we learn that she is forcibly kept in a little cottage until her death. Later, when Daniel Cosway writes to Rochester, he informs Rochester that Antoinette’s father was also insane, remarking “There is madness in that family. Old Cosway die raving like his father before him.” From this moment forward, the question of whether Antoinette will also fall into madness plagues Rochester deeply.

In the end of the story, we see Antoinette transformed into Bertha Mason, the mad woman in the attic from the novel Jane Eyre. However, is Antoinette truly mad? Was her mother? Or is it, in fact, Rochester who is out of touch with reality? Do his suspicions about Antoinette’s past drive him into a paranoid madness? Analyze one or more of these characters and their relationships, describing the process by which they become “insane.” Next, how do these characters use the idea of madness for their own ends? In what ways do they use it to intimidate others or control their situation? And lastly, how does the idea of madness relate to the rest of the book? Do you see it connecting to the idea of magic, as represented by Christophine and her obeah? Or do you see it connected to the many dichotomies of the book: male vs. female? England vs. the West Indies? Civilization vs. wilderness? Apply your analysis of madness to the book as a whole.

 

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