HOW TO WRITE ABOUT LITERATURE

Step one  Make your claim in one sentence, including the author and book title.  QUESTION: What important lesson does Buck learn from the man with the club?  In Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, Buck is savagely beaten by a man with a club. The beating teaches Buck about primitive law and savagery— the idea that one must kill or be killed.

Step two  Use a passage from the text – quotation or paraphrase - to illustrate your point. Document appropriately.  Until Buck’s capture, he had enjoyed a life of leisure and civilization on Judge Miller’s ranch. Once captured, the man with the red sweater beats Buck with a club, thereby introducing him to “the reign of primitive law” (12).

Step three  Explain the passage, telling how it illustrates your point.  In contrast to Buck’s former life of civilization, the primitive law insists that the strongest will win. Buck quickly realizes that in order to survive, he must be the strongest and fiercest.

Step four  Using a proper transition or connection, identify another passage – perhaps quoting only part of a sentence (use ellipses if necessary); document appropriately.  The lesson is reiterated every time a new dog is brought in. “Again and again, as he looked at each brutal performance, the lesson was driven home to Buck; a man with a club was a lawgiver, a master to be obeyed, though not necessarily conciliated” (13).

Step five  Make the connection between the passages and your theme/thesis. Conclude; don’t just stop.  As Buck is reminded of the lesson by every beating, so he is reminded in the wild every time he has to fight. Whether he’s defending his territory, food, or his very life, his mind always returns to the man with the club and the lesson of primitive law.

Step six  Conclude your answer- restating your initial claim.  In order for Buck to truly survive in the wilds of the Klondike, it becomes imperative that he learn the lesson of primitive law. As nature is savage and unforgiving, so must Buck be in order to survive it. The man with a club teaches him how to survive.