Literary Analysis Paper over Life of Pi

Your final assignment for this unit is to write a literary analysis paper over one of the following:

• Select at least one of the guiding questions discussed in this unit over Life of Pi and discuss how it is used in the novel.
• Select at least one of the characteristics of postmodernist literature as seen in Life of Pi and discuss how it is used in the novel.
• Your paper must be a minimum of three pages (750 words) but no more than four pages (1000 words) in length.
• Your paper will be graded on the rubric posted at the bottom of this page. You will be graded on the quality of your introduction and thesis statement, the development and organization of your body paragraphs, the quality of your literary analysis, your writing style and voice, and your use of grammar and other mechanics, including proper MLA format, in-text citations, and a Works Cited page.
• You must cite the text of Life of Pi in your paper using in-text citations.
• You must follow MLA formatting as explained on the Purdue OWL website.
• Your paper is due one week after the end of the unit. You must type it up as a Microsoft Word document, Times New Roman, 12-point font, with one-inch margins all around. You will e-mail the paper to me as an attachment to my e-mail address: mmatheny60@gmail.com.

Guiding Questions:

• What is meant by the term postmodern?
• What are the characteristics of postmodernist literature?
• How is Life of Pi a postmodernist novel?
• What do we learn about human nature through Life of Pi and other readings in this unit?
• How does Life of Pi discuss faith?
• How does Life of Pi challenge or prove something to be true?

Characteristics of Postmodernist Literature:

In Lesson 1, the following characteristics of postmodernist literature were introduced: 

1. Metafiction: Postmodernist literature often functions as a work of metafiction. This means that at times the literature calls attention to itself as a work of fiction, rather than pretending to be real. 
2. Author as character: In postmodernist literature, authors may place themselves as a character in their own novels. This is another aspect of metafiction. This technique  distorts reality by intentionally blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction. 
3. Irony and parody: Postmodernist literature calls attention to itself by making itself the object of its own irony and parody.
4. Questioning values: Postmodernist literature questions everything--religion, truth, ideals, values, morals, etc.
5. Unreliable narrators: Narrators in postmodernist literature are frequently unreliable. This means that you cannot always trust what the narrator of the story is telling you.
6. Narrative shifts: In a postmodernist novel, the story can be told from many different perspectives.
7. Distortion of time: In a postmodernist novel, the element of time can be distorted, so that the reader is never quite certain of what event is happening at what time.
8. Distortion of reality: Reality is often distorted in a postmodernist novel through elements of magic or surrealism (Adapted from "General Introduction to the Postmodern"). 

The specific characteristics of postmodernist literature that we discussed from Life of Pi are the following:

• Author as a character
• Questioning of values
• Unreliable narrators
• Narrative shifts
• Distortion of time
• Distortion of reality

Literary Analysis Rubric:

Literary Analysis Rubric

Grade	Intro Paragraph/Thesis	Body Paragraphs/Organization	Literary Analysis	Language Style/Voice	Mechanics
A (Excellent) 50-40 points	Engaging opening introduces the essay’s general topic and inspires thinking about that topic; logically proceeds to thesis; thesis is an easily identifiable, well-phrased argument that assesses the text and addresses a specific idea to be analyzed and proven in the essay; the idea offered in the thesis reflects sound critical, analytical thinking; title and author of work are appropriately referenced.	Each topic sentence clearly connects to the thesis and offers an identifiable, well-phrased idea to be proven in the paragraph; concrete details are well-chosen and incorporated; paragraphs are well-organized to create a coherent, carefully developed and supported argument; transitions between ideas are logical and each idea builds on the preceding; writer maintains focus and control of argument so that the point of each paragraph is always clear.	Writing reflects a critical, analytical understanding of the text; through clear reasoning, writer draws sophisticated, insightful inferences from concrete details to support the connected ideas of the TS and thesis; inferences are developed so that all claims and points made are well-supported and persuasive; analysis focuses on elements of the text, demonstrating writer’s ability to interpret the function of literary devices in the service of thematic meaning; appropriate balance of quotes & writer's analysis; writer is clearly engaged with and moved by his/her thinking process.	Writing is academic in tone, demonstrating a clear sense of purpose and audience; writer's voice is evident -- confident and sophisticated; vocabulary and phrasing are academically appropriate, persuasive, and sophisticated without being pretentious.	Essay includes a variety of sentences marked by varying opening words and structure; effective syntax and grammar demonstrate a mastery of writing conventions and serve the author’s purpose; consistent adherence to MLA guidelines; accurate Work Cited page; absence of misspellings, punctuation errors.
B (Good) 30-39 points	Generally engaging opening; areas to be strengthened may include: presentation of general topic; development of transition between general opening and specific thesis statement; thesis statement is phrased as an argument but may be strengthened through clarification of the main idea being offered.	Each topic sentence generally connects to the thesis but in one or more TS  the main idea may need to be clarified; concrete details are generally well-chosen though some may be irrelevant or insufficient as evidence to effectively support the thesis and/or TS; paragraphs are generally well-organized, although some transitions may be awkward and there may be gaps in the development of ideas; focus and control of argument may need improvement because the point of a paragraph may not always be clear.	Writing generally reflects a critical, analytical understanding of the text but is uneven; inferences demonstrate interpretive ability but could be developed further to better explain significance of detail and support thesis and/or TS; some claims may be vague, generalized, or lacking in support; analysis could be stronger through elements that create thematic meaning; some imbalance of quotes and writer's analysis.	Writing is generally academic in tone; writer’s voice may not be consistently persuasive but is discernible; writing demonstrates an awareness of the purpose to persuade; vocabulary in some places may be simplistic or ineffective.	Essay’s sentences generally effective but may lack appropriate variety (some repeated opening words and structure); syntax and grammar may be awkward in places (but not distracting); a few misspellings (but not distracting); consistent adherence to MLA guidelines; accurate Work Cited page
C (Satisfactory) 20-29 points	Opening is functional but too brief and/or simplistic, essay’s topic is apparent but needs to be developed to engage the reader; abrupt transition from first sentences to thesis statement; paragraph may be incoherent, jumping from one point to the next without developing a smooth progression of ideas; thesis may be too general, vague, or imprecisely phrased; thesis may not directly address the prompt (though still an argument that assesses the text).	Topic sentences are present but more than one is weak in the following areas: main idea not discernible; a fact about the text is summarized; unclear connection to thesis.  Concrete details are present but weak because they provide insufficient evidence to support thesis statement and/or are irrelevant because they do not support an insightful inference.  Lack of coherent organization of ideas within individual paragraphs or from one paragraph to the next; abrupt transitions impede smooth flow of ideas; essay lacks consistent focus and control of argument; paragraph(s) may lack clear point(s); content of paragraphs does not consistently support or connect with thesis and/or thesis statement.	Writing demonstrates basic comprehension of the text but not a critical, analytical understanding of it, as reflected by one or more of the following: lack of focused, developed idea guiding essay; interpretive analysis inconsistent or unsubstantiated; frequent summary of plot details that retell the story; writer restates the content of cited concrete details rather than draws significant inferences about sub-textual meaning; little or no analysis of how the text creates meaning.  Writing marked and weakened by frequent generalizations, unsupported claims, assumptions, vague statements.	Writing tends to be mechanical in tone; writer’s voice is not discernible in the essay; writing demonstrates inconsistent awareness of the purpose to persuade; vocabulary tends to be simplistic, marked by instances of informal or imprecise diction.	Essay sentences lack variety (frequently repeated opening words and sentence structure); awkward syntax and grammar confuse writer’s point and distract reader; misspellings, contractions, fragments, referring to “you” diminish academic nature of the writing and distract reader; inconsistent adherence to MLA guidelines (but does not compromise integrity of essay); Work Cited page may contain inaccuracies (but does not compromise the integrity of essay).
D (Marginal) 10-19 points	Opening is ineffective, poorly organized, and undeveloped (inappropriately brief); thesis may summarize plot point rather than present argument about text; thesis may not address the prompt at all; author and/or title of text may not be referenced properly (i.e. only author's last name, title incorrectly formatted).	Topic sentences absent or consistently lack focused ideas, either offering general, irrelevant comments or stating facts about the text; there is no discernible argument or point guiding essay; concrete details are absent or ineffective/ insufficient; consistent lack of coherent organization of ideas within paragraphs and from one paragraph to the next;  points of paragraphs are unclear	Writing demonstrates some awareness of text details but not a critical, analytical understanding of the text; points made are vague and unsubstantiated; essay lacks focus; no literary analysis present	Writing is mechanical in tone; writer’s voice is not discernible in essay; writing demonstrates no awareness of purpose to persuade; vocabulary is simplistic and/or inappropriate.	Frequent syntax, grammar, misspelling errors that distract the reader; lack of adherence to MLA guidelines undermines integrity of essay; inaccurate Work Cited page compromises integrity of essay
F (Unacceptable) Less than 10 points	Fails to fulfill the requirements of the assignment.	Fails to fulfill the requirements of the assignment.	Fails to fulfill the requirements of the assignment.	Fails to fulfill the requirements of the assignment.	No adherence to MLA guidelines (missing citations, lack of proper format); No Work Cited page.

Literary Analysis Rubric adapted from Minnesota State University Argumentative Essay Rubric. (Mankato, MN) https://www.mnsu.edu/cetl/programs/argumentative_essay_rubric.docx