In one paragraph of literary analysis of ~250-300 words, you will use your preparatory work from forum post 3 about the short story “Obasan” to produce a clear, focused paragraph of literary analysis that makes a claim about one of the themes of “Obasan” and supports it with evidence from the story.
Paragraph Assignment: Show how Joy Kogawa uses one of imagery, characterization, narrative point of view, or setting to develop her theme in “Obasan.”
Paragraph Components:
Your response should consist of:
• A TOPIC SENTENCE CLAIM:
o Your TOPIC SENTENCE CLAIM is the first sentence of your paragraph. In this sentence, you should
• identify the theme (a short statement that gives your interpretation of what you think is Kogawa’s perspective on one of the topics her story addresses)
• identify one narrative strategy/literary device that helps you understand this issue.
• choose from imagery, characterization, setting, or narrative point of view
• since this is just one paragraph, you should only choose one narrative strategy/literary device.
• SUPPORT for your claim: Every sentence in your paragraph should help to convince your reader that your interpretative understanding of the image is sound and is based on careful understanding of the story.
o your support should be based on specific ANALYSIS of quotations that show the narrative strategy/literary device that you choose. Explain how this strategy helps Kogawa make her theme clear. To do this, make specific reference to the details of the passage.
• A CONCLUDING SENTENCE that restates your point