INTRODUCTIONS A standard introduction to a literary analysis paper will have three parts: 1.Lead/HOOK 2.Background Information 3.Thesis

THE LEAD (a.k.a. Hook) The lead is a sentence (or sentences) that draws your audience into the paper. It can be a broad statement, a fact or statistic, a quote by a recognizable person, or a number of other options. The lead should be related to the topic of your paper and should immediately reveal the sophistication level of your analysis.

LEADS TO AVOID Because of their overuse, there are some leads that you should try to avoid. –The Webster: “Webster defines [theme word] as…” –The Cosmos: “For billions of years…” AKA “Since the beginning of time…” –The Reading Rainbow: “Have you ever…?”

Example #1—Valley of Ashes In the 1920s, a new wave of industry was sweeping across America. The US emerged from WWI as the largest economy in the world, and available natural resources like coal and oil meant that products could be produced in huge quantities at a low cost.

Example #2—Starting with a Quote “I just can’t wait to get out of this place.”

BETTER Example #2 Provide CONTEXT for the quote With just one day left before the weekend, every student in the room seemed to be thinking to her/himself, “I just can’t wait to get out of this place.”

BACKGROUND The context is the information that your audience will need to understand your analysis. It usually includes: 1.Identification of the author 2.Title of the text, and 3.The situation being discussed.

BACKGROUND CLUES Remember… Putting your paper in context does not require a lot of background synopsis; it should merely include the setup information to prepare your audience for your argument. Also: all your contextual information should be ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, down to the punctuation and capitalization. Don’t leave anything out! Your argument will not be effective if your audience is left with unanswered questions related to the original text that are significant to understanding.

Example: In the 1920s, a new wave of industry was sweeping across America. The US emerged from WWI as the largest economy in the world, and available natural resources like coal and oil meant that products could be produced in huge quantities at a low cost. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his novel The Great Gatsby, recognized this aspect of society, and created an industrial wasteland known as the Valley of Ashes. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, travels through this place on the way to a party in NYC.

THESIS Everyone knows the thesis is important. It provides a roadmap for the rest of the paper, and sums up the entire argument of the analysis in one statement. Your thesis statement directs all of the ideas, quote selection, and commentary in your essay. Therefore, a muddled or imprecise thesis statement will lead to an essay that lacks clarity and/or meaning.

ASSEMBLING THE PARTS When you have begun with an effective lead, offered all the necessary context correctly, and included your insightful thesis statement, you have assembled all the parts of a complete introduction.

All together now… In the 1920s, a new wave of industry was sweeping across America. The US emerged from WWI as the largest economy in the world, and available natural resources like coal and oil meant that products could be produced in huge quantities at a low cost. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his novel The Great Gatsby, recognized this aspect of society, and created an industrial wasteland known as the Valley of Ashes. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, travels through this place on the way to a party in NYC. Close examination of the diction and imagery used to describe Nick’s first glimpse of the Valley of Ashes reveals his opinion of the place: It is a morbid lifeless wasteland—a blemish between the light-filled lively cities that surround it.

There is always at least one house in any neighborhood that positively strains to steal your attention away from all the others, even using underhanded, petty tactics to outperform all other residents in the simplest Christmas display. In the neighborhood of West Egg on Long Island, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes exactly such a house: that of the title character in his novel The Great Gatsby. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, tours the house with his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her lover Jay Gatsby, the owner. Carraway takes the reader on a journey through Gatsby’s mansion, detailing with incredulity the opulence and wealth amassed by Gatsby, and describing his ridiculous obsession with impressing Daisy, a married woman. The diction and imagery used in the passage all contribute to Carraway’s impression of Gatsby’s huge displays of wealth. Carraway recognizes Gatsby’s delusions of grandeur, as well as his obsessive attempts to impress Buchanan.

The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of life in high-class New York in the 1920s through the eyes of Nick Carraway, an honest man from the Midwest who is trying to become successful. During his stay in the East, he meets Jay Gatsby, who recently gained his fabulous fortune and is now trying to win back his past love, Daisy. He throws all his efforts into trying to impress Daisy. In this passage, Fitzgerald’s usage of colorful imagery, surprised tone, and condescending diction illustrate that Nick feels that Gatsby has gone overboard in trying to impress Daisy and cannot handle her reaction.