Critical Literary Analysis Essay: Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz (1958
Requirements
Length: 4-6 pages (full 4 pages minimum);1200-1700 words.
Format: typed; double-spaced; 12-point (black) font; 1-inch margins; approx. creative title; pagination (Fernandez); double space heading in upper left corner (in body of paper).
Sources: two sources required (one source will be Survival in Auschwitz); I recommend a chapter from Cheryl’s After Poland as a second source. The paper includes a Works Cited, which means you must quote from two sources—Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and one additional, related source—in your paper. Each time you quote or paraphrase follow with an in-text parenthetical citation. See OWL Purdue for in-text and Works Cited (MLA) format. Proper in-text citations boost your grade.
Citations: The paper includes a Works Cited, which means you must quote from two sources—Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and one additional, related source—in your paper. Each time you quote or paraphrase follow with an in-text parenthetical citation. See OWL Purdue for in-text and Works Cited (MLA) format. Proper in-text citations boost your grade. Sample MLA Paper. Alphabetized Works Cited (of sources referenced parenthetically in-text) with hanging indent.
Utilize span of the entire book. Your paper will use several examples and quotes from throughout Survival in Auschwitz. Include analysis, discussion, interpretation, and quotes from throughout the book so I can tell you’ve read the entire work and carefully considered the whole of Levi’s narrative. Be a careful and considerate reader in examining all of the author’s text. Write for a reader who does not know and hasn’t read the book.
Second source: You will use one source in addition to Survival in Auschwitz to support and build on your thesis. The quotes you choose for analysis should illustrate your knowledge of Levi’s entire book, so it is wise to choose quotes from each area of the book—beginning chapters, middle chapters, and end chapters. Chapter titles are in quotes. For example, Levi writes in “Our Nights” of his dream, still warm when he wakes. Book titles are in italics. I recommend assigned essays from After Poland by Cheryl Chaffin as a second source.
Quotations: Quotes help to support your thesis and, particularly at this point, should show your ability to smoothly integrate text and your own analysis/interpretation of it. It is good to include one quote–take a representative sampling of quotes from across the book–in each body paragraph. The paper, however, is not a just summary of facts about Levi’s book. Instead, it shows an original insight (launched through your thesis and built into each essay topic below) into Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and the arguments and philosophical issues it explores.
PROMPT:
Explore Levi’s approach in telling his personal story and the larger story of the Lager. How does his background as a chemist contribute to his tone? How does Levi utilize logic (methods of reasoning) in exploring the experience of life and death in the Lager. Does his use of rational thinking eliminate from his account an emotional response (pathos) to his situation? Explain your response. In examining Levi’s use of logic, you may want to explore the following styles of argument: definition, cause/effect, fact/reason, moral/ethical.
Main source : Link to book!
https://www.you-books.com/book/P-Levi/Survival-in-Auschwitz