Literary Essay

The purpose of a literary essay is to analyze some piece of fiction or non-fiction writing.


Writing is a lengthy and complicated process. A fiction writer uses a whole variety of linguistic instruments, including imagery, setting, character, plot, and others to create an interesting book, poem, or story. Thus, you will have to pay particular attention to the elements of writing in your brilliant literary essay.


In your thesis statement, you will inform your readers of the main idea of your work. Speaking of literary essay writing, a thesis statement will be the last sentence of the introduction, and it will specify the element of the story to be analyzed and its meaning in the selected story, novel, or poem. Do not make a summary. Analyze and critique.

For instance, you may be particularly interested in studying the problem of gender discrimination. This being said, your thesis may look like, "In Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour", the main character illustrates the intricacies of gender discrimination in family relationships in the 19th century." However, the proposed thesis is a result of surface reading and observation. It lacks an analytical component. It would be better if the thesis statement were designed in the following way, "In Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour", the recurrent flashbacks in the female protagonist signify the lack of freedom and a profoundly limited capacity of women to change their lives." The second thesis is much better, since it focuses on a specific element of the story and includes an analysis of its deeper meaning. You may also want to develop an argumentative thesis. Then you will have to use rich evidence to defend it.


A brilliant literary essay does not summarize the story. Rather, a top-notch literary essay writer analyzes and critiques the story. Literary essays are written with a belief that the audience is familiar with the plot of the selected story and simply needs a deeper analysis of its specific points.

Thus, you will have to format and structure your literary essay according to your professor's specific requirements. In addition, as you are analyzing the plot, the order of your discussion will need to be chronological. Explain each point you make and refer to evidence from the story itself. You can structure your literary essay around the aspects of the story, which support your thesis. For example, you may want to consider three different instances when the female protagonist experiences flashbacks and the way they contribute to the problem of gender discrimination in the story. Do not forget to use rich examples from the text. Do not make bold claims. Support and prove their truthfulness. Use direct quotes and paraphrases. Include page numbers, where needed. Your task is to convince the reader that you have understood the story in depth and can produce an awesome analysis of its main literary features. Every time you use a direct quotation, it must be followed by a detailed explanation of its meaning and the way it relates to your thesis. Otherwise, your readers may fail to develop a complete understanding of your topic.


You cannot write a literary essay from a first-person perspective. Use only third-person pronouns.

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