English 1

Critical Analysis Paper

For your final paper, you will write a Literary Analysis Paper.  You will select one episode of the Limited Series Docudrama When They See Us on Netflix and using the sociological and biographical lenses discussed in class, you will the episode, establish a thesis, and analyze how the episode proves your thesis.  Please include plot, setting, characterization, and the tone found in the episode. You can include other sources, but your main source must be the episode from the docudrama.  This paper will be 7 pages, MLA formatted, with a readable font. 

 

For this type of paper, you want to ask certain questions:

1. Choose the biographical and sociological lenses for this paper.

2. Identify the episode and character(s) that you want to analyze in your paper.

3. Think of the characters, tone, setting, rhythm, imagery, etc. as devices or tools that help ensure that the reader "gets" the meaning that the writer intended him or her to learn.

4. Ask yourself, why did the producer choose to use these devices, in these particular ways?  Is there a type of structure in the episode, imagery, or narrative form helps the reader understand the format of telling the story?  What is the theme found in the story?

Remember, tell us how & why—don’t just summarize!