Literary analysis of the short story called “Hermie”

Description

These are the professor’s instructions. The story I chose is called “Hermie”. The two literary devices I would like you to focus on the analysis for this essay will be Anthropomorphism and/or Irony or “Magical Realism” Essay #2 For this essay, you are asked to write a 4-5 page literary analysis of one of the stories from I’m With The Bears. Your essay should respond to one of the following questions: 1. What can your story show us that the science cannot? What are the limitations of communicating the science? 2. What does your story do to and for readers? How does it move readers on the denial to alarmed scale? 3. Given that the IPCC states we have less than 10 years cut greenhouse gas emissions in half, how does your story help accomplish this goal? Your goal is to craft a response to one of these questions by analyzing specific literary devices. To write this essay, you’ll need to choose one question from the list above and choose one or two (no more) literary devices to focus your analysis. · Character · Theme · Setting · Symbolism · Point of View · Analogy · Anthropomorphism · Juxtaposition · Irony · Humor · Magical Realism (“Hermie”) · The Epistolary Form · Metaphor · Etc. Your essay should begin with an introduction that includes a hook, the author’s full name and the full title of the story (in quotation marks), a succinct summary of the story, and your thesis. Your thesis should indicate which question you are responding to as well as state the literary devices you’re analyzing in your story. For example, if you are writing about “Zoogoing,” your thesis might look like this: Millet enables readers to contemplate the possibility of their own extinction by juxtaposing T with the endangered animals in captivity. Notice how the key words in bold indicate that this thesis is responding to the second question and the literary device is being analyzed. Here’s another example of a thesis for “Hermie”: Rich uses anthropomorphism and magical realism to emphasize how humans have caused species migration. Again, notice how the key words in bold indicate that this thesis is responding to the first question and which literary devices are being analyzed. You should have four body paragraphs. Your body paragraphs should contain a topic sentence, context leading up to your quotations, two quotations with lead-ins, and lots of analysis. Your analysis should be grounded in close-reading a literary device from the story. In other words, you want your body paragraphs to analyze how the text makes meaning, how the text accomplishes one of the three questions. Your body paragraphs should build off of one another and culminate in a conclusion that directly answers your chosen question. While this is not a research paper, your analysis and close reading can draw from the knowledge you’ve gained from our Knowledge Carnivals, your research, and The Uninhabitable Earth to examine the larger context of the story. You can also conduct additional research to support your assertions. For example, if you’re writing about “The Siskiyou, July 1989,” you might do a character analysis of Tyrone, and then compare his form of activism to the activism happening today. If you are focusing on “Hermie,” you might write about anthropomorphism and climate refugees/species migration. Or if you are analyzing “Sacred Space,” you might choose to do a setting analysis and examine how the conservation movement in America displaced many indigenous peoples or how droughts are impacting the Sierras. You need not summarize your entire essay in your conclusion. Instead, your conclusion must respond to the question you’ve chosen and connect the question and your story to the state of the planet today. As you’re writing, remember the goals of Climate Fiction: 1. Climate Fiction enables people to see possible worlds and imagine how people will act in those worlds. It can be hard to imagine what our world will look like and how people will behave in a warming world. Climate Fiction depicts those possibilities and provides insights into the human psyche on a warming planet. 2. Climate Fiction enables one to see how the science of warming resonates with the public. Since Climate Fiction is often based on climate models, readers’ reactions to the stories can help scientists, policymakers, and authors discover what matters most to the public. 3. Climate Fiction enables authors and writers to be advocates. Many Cli-Fi stories serve as a call to action to inspire readers to take measures to prevent the world from turning into what the authors depict in their writing. A useful way to start this essay is to choose a story that resonates with you the most and find at least eight quotations from the story that stand out to you and seem significant. Criteria: • A specific and focused topic and thesis statement (do a lot with a little) • Cohesive and developed body paragraphs (topic sentence, explanation, and context, lead-in, quotation, analysis, lead-in, quotation, analysis, transition) • Analysis of the story (analysis is not summary) • Connection to what’s happening today and your response to the big cli-fi questions • Use of active voice and concise writing