Materi ini tentang dibaca pada saat mendapatkan mata kuliah Exploring Fiction
I. INTRODUCTION: the first
paragraph in your essay. It begins creatively in order to catch your reader’s
interest, provides essential background about the literary work, and prepares
the reader for your major thesis. The introduction must include the author
and title of the work as well as an explanation of the theme to be
discussed. Other essential background may include setting, an
introduction of main characters, etc. The major thesis goes in this
paragraph usually at the end. Because the major thesis sometimes sounds tacked
on, make special attempts to link it to the sentence that precedes it by
building on a key word or idea.
A) Creative Opening/Hook:
the beginning sentences of the introduction that catch the reader’s interest.
Ways of beginning creatively include the following:
1) A startling fact or bit of
information
Example: Nearly two hundred citizens were
arrested as witches during the Salem witch scare of 1692. Eventually nineteen
were hanged, and another was pressed to death (Marks 65).
2) A snatch of dialogue between
two characters
Example: “It is another thing. You [Frederic
Henry] cannot know about it unless you
have it.”
“ Well,” I said. “If I ever get it I
will tell you [priest].” (Hemingway 72).
With these words, the priest in
Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms sends
the hero, Frederic, in search of the
ambiguous “it” in his life.
3) A meaningful quotation (from
the book you are analyzing or another source)
ü Example:
“To be, or not to
be, that is the question” {3.1.57}. This familiar statement expresses the young
prince’s moral dilemma in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, Prince of
Denmark.
4) A universal idea
ü Example:
The terrifying
scenes a soldier experiences on the front probably follow him throughout his
life—if he manages to survive the war.
5) A rich, vivid description of
the setting
ü Example:
Sleepy Maycomb, like
other Southern towns, suffers considerably
during the Great Depression. Poverty reaches from the privileged
families, like the Finches, to the
Negroes and “white trash” Ewells, who live on the outskirts of town. Harper Lee paints a vivid picture of
life in this humid Alabama town where tempers and bigotry explode into
conflict.
B) Thesis: a statement
that provides the subject and overall opinion of your essay. For a literary
analysis your major thesis must
(1) relate to the theme of the work
and
(2) suggest how this theme is revealed
by the author. A good thesis may also suggest
the organization of the paper.
Example: Through Paul’s experience behind the
lines, at a Russian prisoner of war camp, and especially under bombardment in
the trenches, Erich Maria Remarque realistically shows how war dehumanizes a
man.Sometimes a thesis becomes too cumbersome to fit into one sentence. In such
cases, you may express the major thesis as two sentences.
Example: In a Tale of Two Cities, Charles
Dickens shows the process by which a wasted life can be redeemed. Sidney
Carton, through his love for Lucie Manette, is transformed from a hopeless,
bitter man into a hero whose life and death have meaning.
II. BODY PARAGRAPHS
A) Body: the support paragraphs of your essay.
These paragraphs contain supporting Example: (concrete detail) and
analysis/explanation (commentary) for your topic sentences. Each paragraph in
the body includes (1) a topic sentence, (2) textual evidence (a.k.a. quotes
from your reading) and commentary (a.k.a. explanation), and (3) a concluding
sentence. In its simplest form, each body paragraph is organized as follows:
1. topic sentence
2. lead-in to textual evidence 1
3. textual evidence 1
4. commentary
5. transition and lead-in to textual
evidence 2
6. textual evidence 2
7. commentary
8. concluding or clincher sentence
1) Topic Sentence: the first
sentence of a body or support paragraph. It identifies one aspect of the major
thesis and states a primary reason why the major thesis is true.
ü Example:
When he first
appears in the novel, Sidney Carton is a loveless outcast who sees little worth
in himself or in others.
2) Textual Evidence:
a specific example from the work used to provide evidence for your topic
sentence. Textual evidence can be a combination of paraphrase and direct
quotation from the work.
ü Example:
When Carlton and
Darnay first meet at the tavern, Carlton tells him, “I care for no man on this
earth, and no man cares for me” (Dickens 105).
3) Commentary: your
explanation and interpretation of the textual evidence.
Commentary tells the reader what the
author of the text means or how the textual evidence proves the topic sentence.
Commentary may include interpretation, analysis, argument, insight, and/or
reflection. (Helpful hint: In your body paragraph, you should have twice
as much commentary as textual evidence. In other words, for every sentence of
textual evidence, you should have at least two sentences of commentary.)
ü Example:
Carton makes this
statement as if he were excusing his rude behavior to Darnay. Carton, however,
is only pretending to be polite, perhaps to amuse himself. With this seemingly
off-the-cuff remark, Carton reveals a deeper cynicism and his emotional
isolation.
4) Transitions: words or
phrases that connect or “hook” one idea to the next, both between and within
paragraphs. Transition devices include using connecting words as well as
repeating key words or using synonyms.
ü Examples:
Finally, in the climax… Another example: … Later in the story…
In contrast to this behavior… Not only…but also… Furthermore…
5) Lead-In: phrase or sentence
that prepares the reader for textual evidence by introducing the speaker,
setting, and/or situation.
ü Example:
Later, however, when
the confident Sidney Carton returns alone to his home, his alienation and
unhappiness become apparent: “Climbing into a high chamber in a well of houses,
he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its pillow was wet
with wasted tears” (Dickens 211).
6) Clincher/Concluding Sentence: last sentence of the body paragraph.
It concludes the paragraph by tying the textual evidence and commentary back to
the thesis.
ü Example:
Thus, before Carton
experiences love, he is able to convince himself that the world has no meaning.
III. CONCLUSION: last paragraph in your essay. This
paragraph should begin by echoing your major thesis without repeating the words
exactly. Then, the conclusion should broaden from the thesis statements to
answer the “so what?” question your reader may have after reading your essay.
The conclusion should do one or more of the following:
1) Reflect on how your essay topic
relates to the book as a whole
2) Evaluate how successful the author
is in achieving his or her goal or message
3) Give a personal statement about
the topic
4) Make predictions
5) Connect back to your creative
opening
6) Give your opinion of the novel’s
value or significance
HOW TO CITE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE WITHIN
YOUR PAPER
PRIMARY SOURCE: The literary work (novel, play, story,
poem) to be discussed in an essay.
ü Example:
: Steinbeck’s Of
Mice and Men
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-tale
Heart”
**For most literary analysis papers,
you will be using ONLY PRIMARY SOURCES
SECONDARY SOURCE: Any source (other than the primary
source) referred to in the essay. Secondary sources can include critical
analyses, biographies of the author, reviews, history books, encyclopedias etc.
When citing primary or secondary
sources, follow MLA style for parenthetical documentation and “Works Cited”
page.
WORKS CITED: a separate page listing all the
works cited in an essay. It simplifies documentation because it permits you to
make only brief references to those works in the test (parenthetical documentation).
A “Works Cited” page differs from a “Bibliography” in that the latter includes
sources researched but not actually cited in the paper. All the entries on a
“Works Cited” page are double spaced.
PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION: a brief parenthetical reference
placed where a pause would naturally occur to avoid disrupting the flow of your
writing (usually at the end of a sentence, before the period). Most often you
will use the author’s last name and page number clearly referring to a source
listed on the “Works Cited” page:
ü Example:
Hemingway’s writing
declined in his later career (Shien 789).
If you cite the author
in the text of your paper, give only the page number in parentheses:
ü Example:
According to Francis
Guerin, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn reflects “those same
nightmarish shadows that even in our own time threaten to obscure the American
Dream” (49). If two works by the same author appear in your “Works Cited,” add
the title or a shortened version of it to distinguish your sources:
ü Example:
“He wouldn’t rest
until he had run a mile or more” (Dickens, A Tale 78).
BLOCK QUOTATION: quotations that are set off from
the rest of the paper. Indent one-inch from the left margin only and double
space. Do not use quotation marks unless they appear in the original.
1) For a prose quotation of more than
4 typed lines, start the quotation after a colon and indent each line of the
quotation 10 spaces, placing the citation after the end punctuation.
ü Example:
Based on rumors and gossip, the children
of Maycomb speculate about Boo Radley’s appearance: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall,
judging form his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch,
that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could
never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his
face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled
most of the time. (Lee 13)
2) For any prose dialogue involving 2
or more speakers, start the quotation (dialogue) after a colon and have each
line of dialogue as its own paragraph (a 10-space indentation), placing the
citation information after the end punctuation.
ü Example:
During the trial scene, Bob Ewell immediately
shows his disrespect for both the court and his family: “Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?” was
the next question. “Well, if I ain’t I can’t do nothing about it now, her ma’s
dead,” was the answer. (Lee 172)
Sample Essay
Course:
Exploring Fiction
4th
Close Reading of “A Rose for Emily”
In
“A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner has come up with some important efforts in
order to make the story more exciting and provide the readers clues proposing
their assumption and general comprehension of the story. As a result, it can be
found that every element in “A Rose for Emily” interacts with every other
element to serve particular purpose so that the readers are able to prepare for
the climax as well as exploring them the central theme of the story. The main
character, Emily, has been changed in the characterization. It may be related
to the effect of the death of her father.
Details
about the changing of Emily’s character indicate Emily’s introvert lack of
adjustment to life. Emily-a muted and mysterious figure- attempts to exert power over the death by
denying the fact of death itself. Her bizarre relationship to the dead bodies
of the men she has loved is revealed first when her father dies. She hides her
dead father then hides Homer’s body in the upstairs bedroom. In order to hold
her interest to the dead body, she even has the heart to kill someone whom she
has been falling in love with. This kind of disorder appears in the climax of
the story. William Faulkner as the author plays his emotion through Emily’s
figure for the climax. In the story, Emily kills Homer when he returns to the
home after being gone for a certain time. She wants to make sure that Homer was
to never leave her again, after her father has obliterated any chances of her
finding a man. The narrator tells as if
Emily knew that Homer would leave her. It appears in the quotation bellow.
“Then
we said “She will persuade yet,” because Homer himself had remarked-he liked
men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’Club-that
he was not a marrying man.” (part IV, paragraph 3)
From
the quotation above, it can be inferred that Homer prefers to have freedom in
his life and pours it into the party with men, so both narrator and Emily see
that that Homer is a kind of bisexual man although it is still just a rumor.
Therefore, Miss. Emily is being faced with the fact that Homer would never
marry her –not a marrying man- bought
the wedding gear and killed him so that he would never leave her. Her high
possessiveness can be supported by the fact that Emily keeps Homer’s remains in
her bed and sleeps next to them.
We
believe that Emily had convinced herself that Homer would eventually ask her to
marry him, even though Homer “was not a marrying man.” Although we are not
absolutely certain if she bought the toilet set and men’s clothes before she
bought the rat poison, it would make sense that she had come to believe that Homer
was going to propose. She purchased the items before Homer made it clear that
they would not be married. It would be nice if we assume that Emily was angry
that Homer had turned her down. Her resulting action –poisoning Homer and
placing his remains in her upstairs bedroom- was a last effort to cling to the
man she loved: a twisted act of a romance conceived in her diseased mind.
Sample Essay with Primary Sources
only
The Symbolism of the Conch
For centuries philosophers have
debated the question of whether man is innately evil. William Golding poses
this question in his realistic novel Lord of the Flies. Set on a tropical
island during World War II, the novel begins when schoolboys from Great Britain
are being flown to safety and their plane is shot down. No adults survive, and
the boys are left to govern themselves and get rescued. William Golding uses
symbolism in the form of the conch to represents the concept of society. The
boys’ evolving relationship with the conch illustrates Golding’s theme that
humans, when removed form the pressures of civilized authority, will become
evil.
In the beginning, the boys view the
conch as an important symbol that unites them and gives them the power to deal
with their difficult situation. When the conch is first found and blown, it
brings everyone together: “Ralph found his breath and blew a series of short
blasts. Piggy exclaimed, ‘There’s one!’” (Golding 16). Here Piggy observes one boy
emerging from the jungle but soon boys conform all around. Each comes for his own
reason: some for plain curiosity, other for the prospect of rescue. They all
form the first assembly thanks to the conch. The first job of this assembly is
to unite even further and choose a leader or chief. Once again the conch plays
an important part. It is Ralph who is chosen to be chief, and the main reason
for this is because he holds the conch. When it is put to a vote, the boys
exclaim, “Him with the shell. Ralph! Ralph! Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing”
(Golding 21). Because Ralph possesses the conch, a symbol of power and
authority, he is chosen chief. Thus, at first the conch is an important object
bringing civilizing influences to the boys as they work together to make the
best of a bad situation.
Gradually, however, the conch becomes
less important to the boys, signifying their gradual turn to evil. When the
boys first start a fire on top of the mountain, Piggy holds the conch and
attempts to speak. But Jack rebukes him by saying, “The conch doesn’t count on
top of the mountain, so you shut up” (Golding 39). Boys like Jack begin to
place limitations on the conch and lose respect for it and one another. Then
one day at an assembly, Jack places even less importance on the conch excluding
more of the boys and thus diminishing the democratic order and authority that
the conch provides. He says, “We don’t need the conch any more. We know who
ought to say thins…It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and
leave deciding things to the rest of us” (Golding 92). Jack’s assertion here
clearly connects the demise of the conch to a change in the social order. Jack
is slowly becoming a power-hungry dictator, and we wee the orderly influence of
the conch replaced by man’s evil impulses.
In the end, the conch loses
significance to all but Piggy, and most of the boys turn into evil savages.
Piggy tells Ralph to call an assembly, and Ralph only laughs. Finally, after
Piggy’ glasses are stolen, he tells Ralph, “Blow the conch, blow as loud as you
can.” The forest reechoed; and birds lifted, crying out of the treetops, as on
that first morning ages ago” (Golding 154). Piggy believes that the authority
of the conch will once again bring the boys together, but only four boys meet
in this assembly. The rest have joined Jack’s savage tribe. The goal of their
last assemble is to get Piggy’s glasses back form Jack. Therefore, the assembly
moves to Castle Rock where Roger, the torturer and executioner of Jack’s group,
rolls a boulder off the mountain and puts an end to the conch and its one true
supporter:
The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow
form chin to knee; the conch
exploded into a thousand white
fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy,
saying nothing, with no time for even
a grunt, traveled through the air
sideways form the rock, turning over
as he went…Piggy fell forty feet and
landed on his back across the square
red rock in the sea. His head opened
and stuff came out and turned red.
(Golding 164-165)
It is fitting here that the
destruction of the conch accompanies the boys’ first intentional act of murder
on the island. Thus their final descent into evil is complete. Now, with the authority
of the conch destroyed, Jack’s group is given license to become total savages. The
next day, they would hut Ralph to kill him, thus leaving behind the civilizing influences
of the conch forever.
Golding uses the conch shell to show
the slow slide of the boys into savagery, thereby exemplifying the theme that
humans have the capability to turn evil. At first, the conch brings everyone
together; then, as its power erodes, the group breaks into two. Finally, the
destruction of the conch signals the plunge into total savagery. By following the
role of the conch in the story, we see how Golding uses it to unify the central
events of the story around his theme of inevitable evil. Golding is an artist,
not a philosopher, but through his art he answers the question debated for centuries
by philosophers: Is man innately evil? According to Lord of the Flies, he is.
Works Cited
Golding, William. Lord of
the Flies. New York: The Putnam Publishing Group, 1954.
**This guide has been adapted from “A
Guide to Writing the Literary Analysis Essay” at: http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/pusdrbhs/academics/english/curriculum/literaryguide.pdf
