Organizing Critical Analysis Essays

Transcription

1 Organizing Critical Analysis Essays You ve done an intro and thesis. Now it s time to learn how to do the rest because you ll be writing one of these essays sooner than you think!

2 Introduction Okay, you know this 1. Broad thematic statement GENERAL/ UNIVERSAL 2. Link from theme to selection SPECIFIC 3. Thesis Statement

3 Sample intro. Mulvaneys 1. Broad, thematic statement 2. Link theme to selection 3. Thesis The realization of one s own mortality may be the threshold between the blissful naivete of childhood and the sober understanding of adulthood. In the excerpt from Joyce Carol Oates We Were the Mulvaneys, the adult narrator, Judd Mulvaney, reflects on a moment in his childhood when death first entered his consciousness. The juxtaposed symbols of Judd s bike and his father s pickup, the moving brook and the stationary railing, as well as the contrasting sentence fragments and run-on sentences, all reveal the young Judd s astonishment and anxiety at his discovery, and the mature Judd s wistfulness in recounting this pivotal moment.

4 Need an abbreviated intro in a 3. Thesis time crunch? The realization of one s own mortality may be the threshold between the blissful naivete of childhood and the sober understanding of adulthood. In the excerpt from Joyce Carol Oates We Were the Mulvaneys, the adult narrator, In <author s> <title Judd Mulvaney, reflects on a moment in his childhood when death first entered his consciousness. the juxtaposed symbols of Judd s bike and his father s pickup, the moving brook and the stationary railing, as well as the contrasting sentence fragments and run-on sentences, all reveal the young Judd s astonishment and anxiety at his discovery, and the mature Judd s wistfulness in recounting this pivotal moment. of selection>, <thesis statement>.

5 Need an abbreviated intro in a time crunch? The realization of one s own mortality may be the threshold between the blissful naivete of childhood In the excerpt from Joyce Carol Oates We Were the Mulvaneys, the juxtaposed symbols of and the sober understanding of adulthood. In the excerpt from Joyce Carol Oates We Were the Mulvaneys, the adult narrator, Judd s Judd bike Mulvaney, and reflects on his a moment father s in his childhood when pickup, death first entered his the consciousness. moving the brook and the stationary railing, as well as the contrasting sentence fragments and run-on sentences, all reveal the young Judd s astonishment and anxiety at his discovery, and the mature Judd s wistfulness in recounting this pivotal moment. 3. Thesis juxtaposed symbols of Judd s bike and his father s pickup, the moving brook and the stationary railing, as well as the contrasting sentence fragments and run-on sentences, all reveal the young Judd s astonishment and anxiety at his discovery, and the mature Judd s wistfulness in recounting this pivotal moment.

6 Big Picture of Our Essays Introduction Body Paragraph 1 Body Paragraph 2 Body Paragraph 3? Concluding sentence or paragraph

7 Body Paragraphs Structure Topic sentence Readily and clearly conveys what you are analyzing/discussing in the paragraph Should include specifics about the author s technique Chunks usually 2 per paragraph; ideally, 3 Concrete details sentences with text evidence Commentary 2-3 sentences of your analysis; how the author/poet conveys meaning through the device Closing sentence sums up this paragraph. The best will segue to the next body paragraph.

8 Body Paragraphs Sentence by Sentence 1. Topic sentence 2. Concrete detail(s) 3. Commentary 4. Commentary 5. Concrete detail(s) 6. Commentary 7. Commentary 8. Concluding Sentence

9 Topic sentence and 1 chunk 1. Topic sentence The opening image of Judd straddling his bike establishes his innocence, and later image of the pickup truck symbolizes the contrasting world of experience in which Judd s father and brother firmly reside. The image of the bike reappears in the latter part of the passage as the pickup truck is barreling up the drive, breaking into Judd s figurative trance. The bike and the pickup truck: they are both modes of transportation, but they are quite different in terms of what they imply. Bikes carry with them the suggestion of childhood, and since childhood is often associated with innocence, the bike itself may be a symbol of Judd s innocence. Bikes may also represent a child s newfound independence, since they give children a mobility that can potentially carry them away from home. Sentences of commentary connecting DEVICE to MEANING, or the HOW to the WHAT Concrete detail

10 Conclusions You will be in a time crunch at this point, so sometimes your conclusion may just be a single sentence at the end of your final body paragraph and that s okay. 1-3 sentences that sum up your analysis. PLEASE don t just invert your introduction. So banal A tip: comment on how the passage/excerpt/poem itself ends and how that ending conveys the meaning you pinpointed in your thesis

11 Sample conclusion This passage from Oates novel is a poignant, highly symbolic vignette of a boy wrestling with mortality. From its autumnal setting to the imagery of the innocent bike and the mature pickup, Oates captures the somber realization that everyone dies, a realization that is a steep price to pay for admission into the freedom of adulthood.

12 So how should I organize body paragraphs? By tone If a work has multiple tones, this may work well, particularly since you will be writing about HOW the author conveys a certain tone which means you will be talking about devices

13 A word on attitude/tone More often than not, the tone is more complex than just a single attitude: Feels more than one way about a subject; Feels conflicting ways about a subject How is that true in the Quoyle passage? In Convergence?

14 So how should I organize body paragraphs? By device This is the most obvious and, if all you ever discuss is diction and imagery, the most pedestrian method. Works well for syntax and structure of a piece Be careful with diction, imagery, and figurative language there s a great deal of overlap between these three.

15 So how should I organize body paragraphs? Topically If a work deals with more than one theme, idea, location, etc., it may be salient to organize by theme, idea, etc. As with tone, you would discuss multiple devices within each body paragraph

16 So how should I organize body paragraphs? Shift Literary works often shift in their progress toward an end, so you could devote a paragraph to what happens pre- and post-shift. Shifts often occur in: -Tone -Speaker -Theme -Motif

17 So how should I organize body paragraphs? Structure Sometimes the sequence of the work lends itself to a body paragraph on the beginning of the excerpt, the middle, and the end. Within each body paragraph, you would discuss the various devices the author/poet employs

18 So how should I organize body paragraphs? Motif I m starting to feel redundant here, but you re starting to get the idea. If a work has recurring motifs, you could organize your essay by motif. Again, this allows you to discuss multiple devices per paragraph

19 The Bottom Line I cannot give you a universal template. What to consider: To what does the passage/poem/excerpt best lend itself? What can you identify and discuss most confidently and competently?

20 Elements of Literary Style This is not an exhaustive list of literary elements. However, it provides a more than adequate foundation for understanding how literature works. DICTION General Formal/infor mal/colloquial Word-specific Connotation Particularly intense denotation SYNTAX 1.Sentence length 2.Sentence structure Decl./inter./imp./ exclam. Ellipsis Loose/periodic Balanced Antithesis Parallel structure Rhetorical questions Arrangement of ideas Asyndeton Polysyndeton Anaphora FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (figures of speech, rhetorical devices, tropes) 1.Metaphor 2.Simile 3.Personification 4.Synecdoche 5.Metonomy 6.Irony 7.Allusion 8.Oxymoron 9.Paradox 10.Hyperbole 11.Understatement 12.Pun 13.Synaesthesia 14.Symbol 15.Apostrophe Products/Results/Outcomes of Style IMAGERY Words that represent concrete realities; that which we can see, hear, touch, tase, or smell in a text. The effect of an image often rests on the common associations we have with it. POINT OF VIEW 1.First person 2.Third person (objective, limited, omniscient) Tone: the writer/narrator/speaker s attitude toward a subject, as detected by close attention to the above elements; emotional meaning. Theme: Universal idea; central idea; intellectual meaning