Writing Essays About Literature

1. Writing Essays About Literature Just a few reminders…

2. First of all… • Get used to the idea that an essay is a communication device with a very specific goal • Without a clear and unshakeable foundation, you risk the total, catastrophic collapse of your argument • Structure and organization are therefore key components of any essay

3. This is why • We are going to eliminate the issue of structure and organization entirely by using the dreaded 5 paragraph method • I know, I am destroying your ability to express yourself creatively • I am also preventing you from using your own mental powers to build an organic argument • I expect you to compromise your identity in submitting to my jackbooted, Fascist tactics • I have destroyed your free, wild, creative soul

5. oh well • At least you will write an essay that allows you to create and support a clear, precise, and powerful argument because the infrastructure to support it is already in place • In other words, I am removing the concern for form from the equation so that we can focus on content • I do this after many, many years of reading essays that fail utterly in the realm of form • Believe me, we are all better off • Obviously an elegantly crafted, beautifully written essay is the goal, but let us resolve to be proficient before we worry about being fabulous. • Expend your creative indignation on a more worthy cause

6. But the journey is this… The goal is this… Think of it this way

7. And while we are on the subject… • Let’s get rid of the idea right now that there is no “one right way” to write an essay • Of course there is • The right way to write an essay is the way that communicates an idea clearly • Anything else is the wrong way. If your creativity, or your personal voice, or your identity as a writer gets in the way of that, then it needs to go. • Writing isn’t for the faint of heart.

8. You and Your Thesis Statement Your thesis statement should be simple, clear, and direct. You are not making your argument in your thesis, you are stating it. Cats make the best pets because they are funny, smart, and adventurous.

9. Your topic sentences should refer directly to the language of your thesis in order to maintain the structure and focus of the argument. Topic sentence #1: Cats make the best pets because they are funny. Topic sentence #2: Cats make the best pets because they are smart. Topic sentence #3: Cats make the best pets because they are adventurous.

10. Good clear topic sentences will keep you on track and allow you to provide specific details and explanations that support your topic sentence, thereby supporting your thesis. Cats make the best pets because they are funny.My cat has hosted Saturday Night Live 3 times. She is often asked to write jokes for major political speeches and at every party you can find the guests crowded around her laughing, even when she is in the litter box. Cats make the best pets because they are smart.My cat got a 2400 on the SATs. She was accepted into Harvard Medical School but didn’t go because she thought it “wasn’t intellectual enough.” Although she doesn’t have much occasion to use them, she can speak wolverine and zebra, as well as dog and parakeet. Cats make the best pets because they are adventurous.My cat has summited Mt. Everest 4 times, twice without oxygen. She is always trying to get me to swim with the sharks in the Great Barrier Reef, and whenever there is a flash flood warning, she stands at the window watching the rain.

11. Submitting to the discipline of a strong thesis statement and topic sentences will ensure that your argument stays on track and makes the point you want to make. This is also the best way to avoid the tar pit of PLOT SUMMARY, in which you tell me what happened without telling me why you are telling me what happened.

12. Examples of using the language of the thesis in the topic sentences In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the character of Amir proves that youhave toacknowledge the mistakes of the past,confront them, and refuse to allow them to define the future in order to find a “way to be good again.” Topic Sentence#1: The character of Amir proves that youhave toacknowledge the mistakes of the pastin order to find “a way to be good again.” Topic Sentence#2: The character of Amir proves that youhave to confront the mistakes of the pastin order to find “a way to be good again.” Topic Sentence#3: The character of Amir shows that you have torefuse to allow the mistakes of the past to define the futurein order to “find a way to be good again.”

13. Providing Support for a Topic Sentence: Amir’s inability to face the truth of his childhood betrayal of Hassan has consequences that persist until he finally finds a way to confront his failing and “to be good again.” Supporting Detail #1 For example, Amir harbors a great deal of guilt for the way he denigrated and mistreated Hassan as a child, and he would rather forget about Hassan than acknowledge what he did. Commentary This shows that Amir’s past is a defining force in his adult life. He has tried quietly to atone for his childhood self by serving his father faithfully in their new life in America, but he can never really recover until he deals openly and honestly with the choices that he made. Supporting Detail #2 In addition. Amir clearly carries with him the memory of the horrific failure to intervene in or report the brutal rape of Hassan, and he feels unworthy of love as a result of the moral weakness he displayed. Commentary This shows that his ability to grow and develop as a man is stunted by the shame and guilt he feels from his past. Until he faces his behavior and acknowledges his moral failing, instead of hiding it from himself and others, he will remain emotionally weak and damaged, as will his relationship with Soraya. Supporting Detail #3 Finally, through the realization that Rahim Khan knows what he did and loves him any way, Amir finds the strength to take responsibility and to move towards restitution by caring for Sohrab. Commentary This explains how the novel’s theme of reconciliation, or finding “a way to be good again” is an interior process that begins with self forgiveness. Amir must learn to forgive himself for his own weaknesses as an insecure child in order to become the strong, caring man he is capable of being for himself and for others. He can not reach out to rescue Sohrab until he has first rescued himself from the past.

14. Providing Support for a Topic Sentence:In order to atone for the guilt caused by his passivity in the past, Amir proactively performs acts of intentional kindness designed to improve his self-concept. Supporting Detail #1 For example, he deliberately leaves money for the family of the taxi driver without any expectation of being thanked for it. Commentary This proves that he is trying to actively re-gain the self-respect he lost when he sabotaged Hassan by both passively failing to protect him and by actively injuring him. It is a small gesture, but a highly symbolic one that reflects the way in which he banished Hassan from the love of his own father by framing him for theft. As an adult Amir knows he cannot take back what he did, but he can take small steps to try to make up for it. Supporting Detail #2 In addition, Amir agrees to travel back to Pakistan, and eventually Afghanistan, to rescue Sohrab. Commentary This shows that he is trying to atone for his abandonment of Hassan by rescuing his son. By replacing cowardice with courage in the narrative, Amir is hopeful that he will replace self-disgust with self-respect in his own understanding of himself. Supporting Detail #3 Finally and most significantly, Amir finally fights Assef in order to protect Sohrab. Commentary This explains how he has gained the strength to finally take the action he should have taken many years ago. Although he cannot ever make right what was done to Hassan, and he can not ever really hope to win the fight with Assef, he can feel the triumph of taking the moral course and the proper action. This is why his bruises feel better to him than the winning kite did so many years ago.

15. Examples of PLOT SUMMARY instead of Analysis

16. Thesis Statement (that ends up limiting your ability to do much beyond summarizing the plot):Amir consistently mocked Hassan and failed to protect him, which bothered him later in life and caused him to seek redemption by caring for Sohrab. Topic Sentence #1 When they were children, Amir was never a good friend to Hassan. Detail: Amir didn’t think Hassan was equal to him. Commentary: Hassan was a lower social class and he had a cleft lip. Amir never believed that he should have to treat him like a brother and he couldn’t understand why his father cared for him so much. He couldn’t believe it when his father got him plastic surgery. Amir was very jealous of Baba’s affection for Hassan. Detail: Amir made fun of Hassan for not being as educated as he was. Commentary: Amir would deliberately try to confuse Hassan when he read stories to him. He would use words he knew Hassan couldn’t understand. He also threw pomegranates at him and framed him for stealing. Hassan never got to fly the kite. He always had to be the kite runner. Detail: Amir did not stop Assef and his friends from raping Hassan. Commentary: Amir was too scared to get involved so he did not step in to protect Hassan or even to get someone else to stop the attack. He didn’t even tell anyone after to try to help him recover. Instead he started to be even meaner than he had been before.

17. Topic Sentence ( that limits scope of analysis by being so concrete):After Assef rapes Hassan, Amir feels so guilty that he begins to behave badly. Detail Amir refuses to do anything with Hassan anymore. Commentary The two end up growing distant because of Amir’s guilty conscience. He doesn’t want to do any of the things they used to do together even though Hassan tries to get him to. Detail Amir provokes a fight with Hassan where he tries to get Hassan to throw pomegranates at him. Commentary Amir is hoping he can get Hassan to behave badly so that he can be the victim and won’t have to feel guilty any more about his role in the rape. It doesn’t work because Hassan won’t throw anything and instead just smashes a pomegranate on his own head. Detail Amir finally hides his watch and some cash in Hassan’s room. Commentary Amir knows he can’t live with his guilt any more if he has to see Hassan any more, especially after the birthday party where he had to watch Hassan serving Assef. He frames Hassan and Ali so that Baba will fire them and it works.

18. Keep your purpose in mind: to communicate an argument CLEARLY, EFFICIENTLY, and POWERFULLY.