New Criticism, Structuralism, and Deconstruction

Short Essay 1: New Criticism, Structuralism, and Deconstruction

For your first essay, you are going to choose one of the three initial literary theories we have covered in this class (New Criticism, Structuralism, or Deconstruction) and apply that theory to Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “Tell Tale Heart” in order to generate an innovative and interesting reading or interpretation of the text. Your goals are two-fold. The first goal is to demonstrate that you understand your chosen literary theory well enough to apply it. The second goal is to develop an innovative and interesting take on the short story using your particular literary theory. There are a couple of moving parts here, so let’s break them down

Goal one, again, is to demonstrate that you understand your chosen literary theory. You will not do this by explaining the theory in your paper. Instead, you will do this by using the important terms and ideas from that theory as key components to your essay. So, for instance, if you are applying New Criticism, you might use terms like irony and paradox. You will likely look for points of tension (or irony or paradox or ambiguity) in Poe’s story while also developing an overall explanation that demonstrates the unity within the story. To be clear, you do not need to use every term discussed in Parker. Indeed, I would rather see you use 1-3 terms in an accurate and complex manner rather than see 5-6 different terms just jammed into place.

Goal two, again, is to develop an innovative and interesting take on the short story using your particular theory. There are two parts here. The first is an innovative and interesting take. As I’m sure you realize, terms like “innovative” and “interesting” are highly subjective, but that said, let me do my best to describe what I mean. Basically, by “innovative” and “interesting” I mean that you should develop an idea that is not obvious. If a reader could see your argument just from skimming Poe, then your idea is probably obvious: an example of this would be “Poe’s short story encourages us all to be good to one another.” This is obvious: again, anyone skimming the short story could see this idea. To me, an innovative and interesting idea is one that would require the reader to read Poe closely, is an idea that would surprise the reader. To be clear, you do not need to surprise me to get a good grade; you instead need to show, in this particular area, that you’ve really examined the text (or the relevant elements of the text that are important to your chosen theory) to develop your idea.

Last, you need to use your particular theory to develop your idea/take. By this, I mean your idea/take needs to be true to your theory; you should not argue for something that your theory would not hold (though, theory is flexible, so there is room for maneuver here). To give some examples, a New Critic would likely not argue that Poe intends for us to derive a social message about outsiders from her work (New Critics generally avoid questions of history or culture, and as they generally ascribe to the Intentional Fallacy, would like not discuss what “Poe intends”), nor would a Deconstructionist argue that John represents a clear symbol of outsiders (Deconstructionists generally argue that language is slippery, with words or symbols rarely ever holding one single clear idea). In other words, I would like you to attempt to make an argument that not only uses the tenants of your theory but also holds true to the tenants of that theory

My plan is that we will be engaging in discussions related to the above questions during our weekly meetings, meaning you should get an idea of possible ideas you can pursue from those discussions. I’m also more than happy to read drafts and talk about ideas during office hours

Here are a few more requirements:

• Recommended word count: 600-900 words.
  • I expect you to be able to judge the proper length of your paper.
  • There is, however, a hard cap of 1000 words, which includes the Works Cited page. Anything over this length by even one word will be penalized.
• MLA citation and formatting are required.
  • You will need to use Poe and likely Parker and must cite both appropriately.
  • You are not required to use other outside sources, but must cite them if you do.
  • A Works Cited page is required.
  • More information on MLA formatting can be found here: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/24/

Finally, here are a few additional tips:

• Do clearly state your thesis in your introduction. It should be clear to the reader on the first page what your thesis will be.
• Do assume your reader is familiar with your theory. Do not explain your theory; just apply it.
• However, do not assume your reader is familiar with Poe’s short story. Do provide brief summaries of whatever parts of Poe you are using.
• Do use quotes and summaries to support your claims.
  • This is particularly important to remember for Deconstruction. Even though Deconstruction allows for multiple meanings, you must still show each meaning really does exist in the text by providing evidence.
• Do explain how you interpret your quotes and summaries. Do not assume that your reader will understand what your quotes or summaries mean, or that your readers will interpret your summaries and quotes in the same manner you do.
• Do limit your paper to just 1-2 main arguments. Do not attempt to write a five paragraph essay with three thinly developed arguments. It is very difficult it 600-900 words to come up with three really good arguments. Limit yourself to 1-2.
• Do come up with a title more creative than “Paper 1.”
• Do not spend a lot of time on summary of the text you’re reviewing. While some summary is necessary, keep it to a minimum.
• Do not assume that the reader already knows the thesis of your essay. Remember, all of these essays have multiple theses.

And finally…

• Do not use this as a check-list. This is meant to be a guide, not a series of rules. Good, successful essays can bend or even break some of these rules. Use them as guidelines, not as hard-and-fast requirements you have to meet.