Critical Analyses

Critical: "Exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation." It "may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly                 and truly in order to judge it fairly. . . ."

Analysis:   "Separation of a whole into its component parts—an examination."  
                   (American Heritage College Dictionary. 3^rd.ed.)

Sample Titles and Theses

Contradictions in "The Tell-Tale Heart"

Although the first-person narrator assures his listeners he is sane, the reader knows that he is quite mad because of the contradictions between what he tells us and what he actually does.

                                                          Irony in "Godfather Death"                                                           

In “Godfather Death,” situational, verbal, and cosmic irony help to develop the central message that greed leads
to destruction.

Character in "A & P"

Sammy, the central character in John Updike's short story "A & P," is a dynamic character who by the end of the story has learned to think of others, has stood up for what he believes, and has learned to accept the consequences of his actions; in other words, he has taken a major step toward growing up.

Point of View in "A Rose for Emily"

The narrator in "A Rose for Emily" represents the views and attitudes of the people of Jefferson, and thus the changing
attitudes of the common people toward the old Southern aristocracy.

Character Reversal in “The Five-Forty-Eight”

In “The Five-Forty-Eight,” John Cheever reverses the normal expectations and sympathies of the reader by presenting
a protagonist who lacks all the characteristics of a hero and an antagonist who has them.