citations - Citing multiple quotes from a single novel

I'm writing an analytical essay (for school) about a novel. I need to cite some quotes (for support), that comes from that novel.

I know that the MLA style citation goes as follows:

"Quote goes here" (Author Pg#)

However, do I still have to write the author's name in the citation if my essay is obviously analyzing only one work of text? I just want to quote and cite something that the narrator said from the book that I'm analyzing.

So how would it go? It feels kind of weird to write the author names after each quote... when I'm obviously taking quotes out of the same book.

What is proper? What should I do?

Answer

MLA says that you only need the author's name if the author isn't clear from the context. So you can refer to the author in the sentence, and say:

Sherwood says to "quote like this". (72)

If you're only using one source, the context makes it pretty clear which work you're referring to, so I'd use page number only throughout the essay.

But, as always, you probably want to double check with the person who'll be marking your work, in case they have idiosyncratic preferences.