Literary Thoery on The Laughing Man

Posted: January 6th, 2014

For this paper, you will put a literary theory into practice as you interpret a short story. Choose one of the following short stories as the object of your analysis:

J. D. Salinger, The Laughing Man
H. E. Bates, A Month by the Lake
Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths

Pick a theory that you feel will serve as a helpful framework for an analysis and interpretation of the short story that you have selected. You can choose any one of the following theoretical approaches:

structuralism, post-structuralism (or deconstruction), psychoanalysis, Marxism, feminism, reader-response theory, cultural studies, new historicism, queer theory, race theory, postcolonial theory.

You will need to have a clear and specific idea about the theoretical approach that you wish to take. Select some term, concept, question, issue, or approach that is suited to or derived from the school of theory that you have chosen.