The Body Paragraphs

Purpose of the Body Paragraphs: Provide support for the thesis. Clearly state WHY you feel the way you do. Provide text evidence – use wherever you can to VALIDATE your point. Explain how the text evidence connects to the thesis. Use details from the text. Details consist of scenes, symbols, characters, or anything else from the text that implies something deeper TOWARD your meaning. The STRONGER the details, the STRONGER your point!

Thesis: In Earnest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, the human condition is examined through Santiago’s journey. Santiago exemplifies the heart of a man who is on his final stage of the human condition. He says, “A man can be defeated but not destroyed” (Hemingway 103). This shows how he is entering his final stage of the human experience. He is tired, beaten, and battered, and he feels the pressure of death coming. Through his battle with the fish, he shows that he will not give up though.

Thesis: In Earnest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, the human condition is examined through Santiago’s journey. Santiago is entering his final stage of the life cycle; he is growing old. Many people tend to feel useless or obsolete when this happens because they feel as if society is changing and passing them by. Hemingway states this when he writes, “…and many of the fishermen made fun of the old man and he was not angry” (Hemingway 11). Santiago is treated like an outcast by the other fishermen; he is past his prime in their eyes. When the old man “…was not angry” though, it shows that he has enough character to move on. He is not upset by their taunts. He battles this stage of the human condition with his pride and overall character. He says, “Man can be defeated but not destroyed” (Hemingway 103) to show that although he physically may be inferior and his talents and skills may be slipping, he still shows the mental will to battle and fight for what he holds dear. Through this stage of the journey, Santiago shows a willingness to fight against the inevitable.

Avoid Plot Summary Holden Caulfield traveled around New York City after he leaves Pencey Prep. First he hits on an older woman, Ernest Morrow’s mother. After this, he checks into a hotel that is very sketchy. Because he’s not tired, Holden then goes out to a bar to have drinks. Eventually Holden starts to take every opportunity to go to bars and hang out with older women. This all comes to a head when he talks to Carl Luce. They talk about sex; Carl tells Holden he needs to see a psychoanalyst. Holden then goes to see Phoebe.

How (and why) to use Text Evidence: First of all why…. Text evidence is necessary to PROVE your claim, or theory. You are free to interpret literature however you want. By using text evidence, it shows why and how you think the way you do. It adds VALIDITY to your argument. This also provides details from the novel to help argue your point. Now to the how… *You cannot just jam a quote into your writing as its own sentence… In the novel, Holden says, “Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 214). Quote introduction Punctuation Citation