Exploring Theme Through Major Characters

For this paper, the following prompt refers to Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them.

You will write a thesis-driven paper that provides textual evidence supporting your claims. Your paper will analyze the major characters of the play and explain how they express one or more themes.

First of all, think of the characters in the play not as fictional human beings, but as sketches of real people. What do the major characters want or desire? How do they respond to other characters and the appearance of challenges in the plot throughout the course of the narrative? You’ve seen in short stories that characters are an accumulation of all their actions and all of their statements. You know how to track characters. An important aspect to consider is that characters respond to other characters just as we do, based on our own personality, background, and our role (sometimes as we imagine it) in any given situation. The writer expresses theme most often through the many choices made by these major characters. Their actions and outcomes express theme in the story, and intensify our understanding of these characters (or people).

Note: at least 2/3 of your paper should be about analyzing the characters. Also, themes sometimes relate to historical/cultural context, often connecting to broader social issues that exist in the world such as poverty, greed, war, corruption, wealth, etc. Don’t get too abstract on this topic; always be guided by evidence.

Form

Your paper should avoid using informal speech, slang, or use of questions, all generally not used in academic writing. Write in complete sentences, not fragments, and emphasize the integration of your quotes with your own sentences. This means “setting up” the situation of the quotation, identifying the narrator or other speaker of the quote, and explaining the quote’s connection to your ideas and analysis.

• Write 6-7 pages using MLA style as specified by the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab). If the paper is less than 6 full pp., it will lose points.
• Write your analysis assuming the reader is not familiar with the texts, therefore provide enough background information to make your claims understandable.
• Use 2-4 citations per page. All quotations must be cited.