Introduction

Conclusion

The Content, Though?

Are Mr. Mattson's recommendations the only way to write a literary analysis essay?

Nope.

Should my thesis always be based on the meaning of the work (the theme statement)?

Must my supportive points always be different types of support? Like irony, archetypes, symbolism, etc.?

What Other Ways Are There?

Should my thesis always be based on the meaning of the work (the theme statement)?

Mr. Mattson believes this is one of the best ways, but it's not the only way. You should though talk about the meaning of the work sometimes in your essay.

You could base your thesis on an interpretive problem or controversey in the text.

Examples

Big Brother plants Julia in Winston's life in order to use his feelings for Julia to torture him and to make Winston into what Big Brother wants.

To fully understand Shakespeare's Hamlet, one must understand that Hamlet has strong romantic feelings for Ophelia, his own mother, and for Horatio. 

Base your thesis on something more like the focus of the text.

Hamlet is not so much about the issues of life or death or action vs inaction. Instead, it is about social classes and how these artificial divisions make life more complicated and tragic than it should be. {note the addition of a theme statement}

Orwell's 1984 depicts not just a dystopian society. The novel depicts a hell. Winston is literally in his own personal hell from the start. Read this essay for an example.

If I go either of these routes, should I avoid talking about the theme?

• Of course not. 
• The theme statement or meaning of the work is and should be a part of the whole essay.
• It can often be a part of the So What / Who Cares

Add Theme-Based So What / Who Cares

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is an example of proto-feminism, but Austen herself can't fully shake her own internalized misogyny. 

Add Theme-Based So What / Who Cares

Golding's Lord of the Flies may be an allegory for the ID, EGO, and SUPEREGO, but, more importantly, it is a comment on toxic masculinity. 

What are Other Ways of Organizing an Essay?

Mr Mattson's method of having three types of support is good advice but not always and there are other ways. 

SP1

Hamlet - dramatic irony, archetypes and subversions, juxtapositions 

SP2

Ophelia - dramatic irony, archetypes and subversions, juxtapositions

SP3

Horatio - dramatic irony, archetypes and subversions, juxtapositions

What are Other Ways of Organizing an Essay?

SP1

What most people think 1984 is about and why that is incomplete.

SP2

Evidence that the Inner Party is demonicly supernatural

SP3

What Orwell's point would be in doing this

What are Other Ways of Organizing an Essay?

SP1

Research about Jane Austen's beliefs beyond P & P

SP3

Evidence from P & P that Austen harbors misogyny 

SP2

Acknowledgment that Austen is a proto-feminist in the novel and elsewhere. 

SP4

How this idea changes one's interpretation of the novel