Character Analysis: Tessie Hutchinson in 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson

When you select the story or poem, please make sure that you selected the story or the poem which has more opportunity for future expansion. Thanks.

English 112 Short Paper #3: Character Analysis
Due Date: Wednesday, April 30^th @ 5:30p

“You may want to judge characters according to how easily you identify with them. Yet there is little reason for you to read works that merely reinforce your prejudices. Furthermore, you may overlook the potential richness of a story if you insist that its characters fit your usual standards of behavior.” (MLM 129)

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For your third short paper, select a character from ANY of the works we have discussed in class thus far  (Any and all of the poems and stories that have been assigned, here are the short stories we have read for class: “Orientation”, “Girl”, “The Lottery”, “The Man in the Well”, “A Visit of Charity”, and “The Use of Force”.  Here is the comprehensive list of poems from those chapters: “Lying in a Hammock…”, “Woodchucks”, “We Did Not Fear the Father”, “What Work Is”, “Blackberries”, “The Mill”, “So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans”, “The Lady in the Pink Mustang”, “The Secretary Chant”, and “The Restaurant Business”, “Ex-Boyfriends”, “True Love” (Szmborska version), “True Love” (Sharon Olds version)) and write a character analysis of at least 600 words, focusing on the significance of this character, how they progress the story, and analyzing how their actions and behavior contribute to the literary work’s overall meaning/message. Make sure you are going beyond just summarizing this character’s actions in the work and primarily focus on the purpose for these actions.

For example: why would Lorraine Hansberry have made Walter Lee so frustrated throughout “A Raisin in the Sun”? Why does Walter have such a strong need to open a liquor store? What are his motivations behind opening this liquor store, and how do Walter’s actions help shape the overall meaning/message of this play? This last question is the most important: how do these character’s actions help shape the overall meaning/message of the work? This is where your greatest analysis will come from: in focusing on one element of a work, we can trace how this element (whether it is a character, a word, a symbol, the setting, etc.) helps to get us to the message/meaning.

You should do the following in your character analysis (some of these will be brief while others will take up the majority of the paper):

1. Identify this character (protagonist, antagonist, main character, minor character)
2. Briefly summarize this character’s actions throughout the work. Two to three sentences at the most. Do not get caught up in summary. This is just to give your reader an understanding for what the character does in the work.
3. Analyze this character’s behavior and actions, keeping in mind their motivations for these behaviors/actions. The word “motivation” is defined as “the act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something” (Merriam Webster). Why is the character feeling as they do? What is motivating them to act as they do? What has happened to them to make them act as they do?
4. 4.        Analyze how this character and their actions shape the literary work’s overall meaning/message. First, what IS the work’s overall message? How does this character help shape that? How do their actions teach or represent this message?

You will want to quote lines from the work and use these lines to support your analysis and observations. For example, if you state that Walter is frustrated in “A Raisin in the Sun”, you should aim to “prove” that by quoting lines in the text that support this observation. Remember: it is not enough to just “tell” your readers what your character is like; you must “show” them with lines from the text. All quoted lines should be used as SUPPORT FOR YOUR OWN OBSERVATIONS.

One thing to keep in mind though: quoting from a text is a balancing act. Make sure the bulk of your writing is your own, and make sure you are not just summarizing the literary work (aka repeating the general plot of the story/poem) but that you are interpreting the literary work (inserting your own opinion as to what it means). A good way to check this is to ask yourself: “can this portion of my essay be written by anyone who has read this literary work, or is this exclusive to my own viewpoint?”

When using outside source material, make sure you are citing using the proper MLA standards and including a Works Cited page (even if the only work you are citing is the poem or story you are writing about). Please consult the Purdue OWL for help with citation: https://owl(dot)english(dot)purdue(dot)edu/owl/resource/747/01/

The formatting for this paper is as follows: at least 600 words, double-spaced, with 12 point standard fonts (Times New Roman, Garamond, Arial, etc.), and standard 1 inch margins on all sides. Your name should be on every page. Remember to use spell check and grammar check before turning anything in. Reading aloud yourself, or having a friend (or writing tutor!) read your paper aloud is a fantastic way to catch small errors and edit for clarity.

You MAY use one of the works you have already written about in short papers 1 or 2, but make sure you are writing something new and just repeating one of your previous papers.