Objectives: This assignment will prepare you produce an analytically sound close

Objectives: This assignment will prepare you produce an analytically sound close reading with attention through annotation. The primary aim of this assignment is to practice a method of close reading that will allow you to construct the foundations of an arguable, well-supported thesis.
Directions: Zora Neale Hurston’s short story, “The Gilded Six-Bits” probes the allure of modernity. How does Missie May and Joe’s relationship change after finding out the gold piece is a gilded coin? How does Hurston describe their intersections at the beginning of the short story versus after Joe catches Missie May with Mister Otis D. Slemmons? Annotate the short story with attention to how their relationship and the setting is described before and after the introduction of Otis Slemmons.
Step One (20 min): Read through your selection at least two times before you begin annotating. After reading, ask yourself, “what do I notice?” Avoid jumping to analysis! Spend at least 15-20 minutes simply making observations. You may not even need all of the things you observe for your written analysis.
Questions to consider:
What is interesting? What is strange? What is revealing?
Use of a literary device such as metaphor, personification, simile, allusion, etc.?
Do certain sounds, words, images, repeat?
Are there words I need to define, terms I need to look up, or references I should research?
Make as many observations as you can, but no less than four (4).
Step Two (30 min): Write a 250-500 word (approx. 1-2 pages double spaced but I will be noting word count) close reading response that synthesizes some of the themes, patterns, anomalies, confusions, and more that you made note of in your annotations and observations.
You should not worry about crafting a thesis or developing an argument. Instead, your response should indicate your process of reading, what you noticed and why, and what you think your observations mean. How do you think things are connected? Does the metaphor you noticed illuminate something special about the speaker or event. Does the rhyme scheme produce a certain feeling or affect? How? Why?
Step Three: Upload your close reading with proper MLA heading and citation to Blackboard before leaving class.