Interpretation Paper Assignment

Write a two-page essay (minimum) in which you explain exactly how and why the character Mrs. Peters seems to change her mind and her idea of what is moral over the course of Glaspells play. Two-part title: This title must have a colon in it and must contain the name of the play (“Trifles” in quote marks) somewhere in it since the play is what your essay is about. It should be centered. Make one side of the title name the author and the name of the play. Make the other side hint at your thesis statement. Four-step introduction paragraph: You follow the title of your paper with a four-step introduction paragraph (see the Formatting Checklist in the key information area for a clear example). It must contain at least one time the full name of the author (Susan Glaspell) and the title of her literary work (“Trifles”)—this is usually in the second sentence (or step) of the paragraph since that is the topic orientation step. Everywhere in your paper always place the title “Trifles” in quote marks. Thesis: Your answer to the question of why Mrs. Peters changed her mind should be your thesis statement that you italicize in the third step of your first paragraph. Note these pointers: Your thesis statement needs to be a literary critical thesis which means it needs to say something about the literature at hand not life in general. The name “Mrs. Peters” needs to appear in your thesis statement.Your thesis statement should also contain some (not all) of these kinds of words: moral view morality law and ethics right and wrong letter of the law spirit of the law.To get you thinking about your essay and your thesis consider these questions: Why do you think Glaspell has Mrs. Peters changing her view of what is right and wrong throughout the course of the play? What larger purpose or moral or lesson or theme is Glaspell (not Mrs. Peters) implicitly communicating through the shifting views and judgments Mrs. Peters holds at various points in the story? Narratives are more than a retelling of events (chronologies); they are moral devices for conveying moral meanings. Put simply: What do you think is the moral of this story as developed through the development of the thinking and actions of Mrs. Peters as a main character in the short story? Your one-sentence answer to this is your thesis statement. Your entire paper is your developed and elaborated answer to it.Feel free to use the following exact wording for your thesis statement (and fill in the rest with something that looks below the surface of material reasons for the change and instead asserts something more substantive about the moral reasons the author Susan Glaspell has Mrs. Peters shift her views about what is right and wrong): Throughout the course of the play Glaspell has Mrs. Peters shifts in her view of what is moral and immoral as she ….Here is an example of one students excellent thesis. It does what the assignment asks it to as it provides a focused unique angle on the drama that has substance to it: In this drama Susan Glaspell uses Mrs. Peters to take the reader through a journey where law and morality diverge as we watch her act of defiance against feminine oppression. Your thesis statement needs to be a literary critical thesis which means it needs to say something about the literature at hand not life in general. The name “Mrs. Peters” needs to appear in your thesis statement. Your thesis statement should also contain some (not all) of these kinds of words: moral view morality law and ethics right and wrong letter of the law spirit of the law. To get you thinking about your essay and your thesis consider these questions: Why do you think Glaspell has Mrs. Peters changing her view of what is right and wrong throughout the course of the play? What larger purpose or moral or lesson or theme is Glaspell (not Mrs. Peters) implicitly communicating through the shifting views and judgments Mrs. Peters holds at various points in the story? Narratives are more than a retelling of events (chronologies); they are moral devices for conveying moral meanings. Put simply: What do you think is the moral of this story as developed through the development of the thinking and actions of Mrs. Peters as a main character in the short story? Your one-sentence answer to this is your thesis statement. Your entire paper is your developed and elaborated answer to it. Feel free to use the following exact wording for your thesis statement (and fill in the rest with something that looks below the surface of material reasons for the change and instead asserts something more substantive about the moral reasons the author Susan Glaspell has Mrs. Peters shift her views about what is right and wrong): Throughout the course of the play Glaspell has Mrs. Peters shifts in her view of what is moral and immoral as she …. Here is an example of one students excellent thesis. It does what the assignment asks it to as it provides a focused unique angle on the drama that has substance to it: In this drama Susan Glaspell uses Mrs. Peters to take the reader through a journey where law and morality diverge as we watch her act of defiance against feminine oppression. Quote and paraphrase several times: Lift quotes from lines in the play as you develop your points in the subsequent paragraphs. For each quote include a page number in parentheses–and of course you need to then cite the work in perfect MLA style in your Works Cited. The first time you quote a source in a paragraph include the author (Glaspell 352). The next times you can just give the page numbers (351) unless you have quoted another author and the sources could be confused by the reader. Avoid simply retelling the story to me: You cant retell it better than Glaspell can you? I look for this flaw especially in your topic sentences. If they have a “and then this happened” aspect to it you are retelling a story instead of developing your thesis on Mrs. Peters changing views of what is moral or immoral. The purpose of the paper is NOT to retell the story. It is for you to undertake a literary analysis. That is it is for you to use the process of describing snippets of the play analyzing them (taking apart what you have just described) and then interpreting (making deeper sense of) what you have analyzed about how Glaspell created this story with a moral in it. This analysis and interpretation should relate repeatedly to your thesis about Mrs. Peterss changing view of what is moral or immoral. The PowerPoint Lecture for Module 3 describes how to do good interpretive writing. Topic sentences: Be sure each paragraph starts with a clear topic sentence that is NOT a chronological topic sentence about what happens next in the story. It should be an assertion about some part of your thesis statement that develops and expands on the thesis step.Every topic sentence must contain at least one keyword or phrase from your thesis statement. A good sign you are interpreting this literature and not simply describing it is if you are repeating or paraphrasing parts of your thesis in various ways throughout the essay especially in the topic sentences. Be sure each paragraph starts with a clear topic sentence that is NOT a chronological topic sentence about what happens next in the story. It should be an assertion about some part of your thesis statement that develops and expands on the thesis step. Every topic sentence must contain at least one keyword or phrase from your thesis statement. A good sign you are interpreting this literature and not simply describing it is if you are repeating or paraphrasing parts of your thesis in various ways throughout the essay especially in the topic sentences. Use the author’s name (Glaspell) throughout the essay. Good literary analysts are keenly aware in writing that what they are analyzing is a piece of literature written by a human–so in your essay show me that awareness by using Susan Glaspells (the authors) name throughout your essay. Use only her last name after first time you use it in your paper.Example: Here Glaspell has Mrs. Peters talking about …..Using her name keeps you from falling into the trap of merely retelling the story so that you keep focused on unpacking how Glaspell as the author uses with purpose every incident and quote and scene in the play. You are looking past the story itself and into how Glaspell constructs the story and to what ends she constructs it that way.The possessive form for Mrs. Peters is like this (even if it looks funny): Mrs. Peters’s shifting views … Use only her last name after first time you use it in your paper. Example: Here Glaspell has Mrs. Peters talking about ….. Using her name keeps you from falling into the trap of merely retelling the story so that you keep focused on unpacking how Glaspell as the author uses with purpose every incident and quote and scene in the play. You are looking past the story itself and into how Glaspell constructs the story and to what ends she constructs it that way. The possessive form for Mrs. Peters is like this (even if it looks funny): Mrs. Peters’s shifting views … Quote at least THREE TIMES in your paper from a scholarly (peer-reviewed) source (or sources) you find on EbscoHost: The formatting checklist in the syllabus gives you step by step instructions for getting on EbscoHosts Academic Search Premier. I dont accept any source not found on EbscoHost since I want scholarly sources for these quotes. Include that source in your Works Cited in perfect MLA style (the Formatting Checklist tells you how to let EbscoHost format it for you). The source you find on EbscoHost for the quotes should be someone who is writing about Susan Glaspell or “Trifles” or literary criticism in general. In the body of your essay those quotes should flow in the middle of your paragraphs. This means no quotes are allowed in the first-sentence position of a paragraph–the introduction paragraph is an exception as an attention step. A quote means you put quote marks ” ” around the exact words you have lifted from the scholarly article you have found and read. EbscoHost: This database of databases of journal articles is available in our library website. See lecture four and also the Formatting Checklist (posted in the Syllabus tab) on how to access EbscoHost. Be sure to list the source in your Works Cited at the end of the paper. To make sure it is “scholarly” or “peer-reviewed” make sure it includes an abstract at the beginning and a long Works Cited or reference list at the end. MLA style: Work on MLA style by skimming through the Humanities section of this website: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ ‘