I‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍n this second half of this semester, we have studied poetry

I‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍n this second half of this semester, we have studied poetry as well as a Western novel. In our poetics unit, we discussed the different form and experience of poetry vs prose. In our genre unit, we discussed how literature works from recognizable prototypes to create new narrative possibilities. For your final paper, you will write a thesis-driven literary analysis (like your midterm paper) of Butcher’s Crossing. This paper will focus on your expectations as a reader and the ways the novel surprised or altered these expectations. As such, you should begin taking notes on this topic as you read, writing down explicit narrative expectations you have at certain points in your reading, then looking back on them and noting how the text answered these expectations. Your paper should focus on the mechanics of one or one set of expectations. It should address four questions: What did I expect to probably happen? How did the text build this expectation? When and how did the text confront what was probable? Why did it defy my expectations? You could focus on a number ‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍of topics: a character, an event, setting, plot, or something more abstract such as how the novel built upon your expectations and understanding of an idea or theme. Using this focus, you will have several examples of sections of the text to analyze, and you should analyze how these specific parts of the novel work rather than discuss the novel as a whole. For example (using a different text) if I choose to analyze the expectation that Nao and Ruth are probably going to meet by the end of A Tale for the Time Being, I would then analyze passages that made this seem probable—how the reader learns that Nao sees herself as American, Ruth’s own Japanese background, Ruth’s obsession with finding Nao—and then analyze how the text resolved this expectation—Ruth’s arguments with Oliver make it seem more and more likely that this meeting is totally improbable—and finally discuss what was the outcome of my expectations changing by the end—how Ruth is in parallel with Nao and is not necessarily able to “save” her because she is not separate, better, or‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍ more capable than Nao.