Write a five-paragraph essay on one of the topics below.

ESSAY #2—LITERARY ANALYSIS Authors who write literary analyses closely examine literary texts to understand and interpret a writer’s meaning, messages, and techniques. The literary analysis is considered a form of argument, in which the authors form interpretations by extensively breaking down a text. By analyzing the text, authors grasp an understanding of what a text says, how it works and what it means. Genre/Medium: Textual Analysis/Typed essay Purpose: The writer of a literary analysis describes the content, structure, and functions of the messages and meaning contained in the text. Format: Your five-paragraph essay must contain a concrete closed thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph and follow the MLA guidelines. You must use the text An American Marriage by Tayari Jones in addition to one outside source to support your analysis. Audience: This essay will target a scholarly audience. Therefore, your language and style should meet the intellectual needs of individuals who read on a collegiate level. Are you writing to an audience that consists of classmates and the professor who have experienced similar obstacles in life towards becoming literate scholars? As you think about your audience, write to pique the interest of your audience by considering what your readers already know and what they need to know. Stance: What attitude will you convey through your analysis? How can you see your subject through interested, curious eyes – and then step back in order to see what your observations might mean? Topics: Write a five-paragraph essay on one of the topics below. (A) In An American Marriage, the relationship between Celestial and Roy is ever-evolving; they seem to be madly in love but there are subtle cracks in their marriage, even before Roy gets arrested. Once he is in jail, Celestial’s devotion to him seems to waver more quickly than one might expect. When he is released from jail, Roy seeks out the comfort of another woman while Celestial is engaged to another man, and yet they continue to vacillate between love, anger, attraction, and resentment. Write an essay that analyzes the complicated, sometimes paradoxical, dynamic between Celestial and Roy, and the ways in which the trajectory of their relationship is an accurate portrayal of the ups and downs that come with love and marriage. (B) The title of the book An American Marriage appears to be simple and straightforward, but can be interpreted on a number of different levels. Write an essay that analyzes why you think Tayari Jones chose this title, what you think the underlying meanings are behind this title, and why it either is or is not an accurate description of the marriage between Celestial and Roy. (C) Despite her seemingly passionate love for Roy, and her deep but platonic friendship with Andre, Celestial seems surprisingly willing to spurn her marriage and fall into a romantic relationship with Andre while Roy is in prison. This relationship with Andre is tested dramatically when Roy is released from prison and sets out to win Celestial back. Write an essay that analyzes the relationship between Celestial and Andre. Do you believe that the love between them is real? Do you believe that the relationship developed because it was inevitable and meant to be, or do you think Andre manipulated Celestial’s loneliness and Roy’s inability to fight for his wife from prison? What do the events that transpire after Roy is released from prison imply about the validity of the relationship between Celestial and Andre? Rough Draft and Outline