Literary Essays: Thesis Development ENG3U

Note There are many types of essays (e.g. personal, expository, comparison, persuasive, literary, …) Each type of essay has a different thesis structure. The structure we will learn today is for a literary essay

Theme Practice Which of the following are not themes of the movie Titanic? Love Jack and Rose The boat Pride Classism Leonardo DiCaprio

Theme Practice Which of the following are not themes of the movie Titanic? Love Jack and Rose The boat Pride Classism Leonardo DiCaprio

Theme Practice Which of the following are not themes of the movie Transformers? Robots in disguise The role of technology in war Optimus Prime Cool cars Government conspiracy

Theme Practice Which of the following are not themes of the movie Transformers? Robots in disguise The role of technology in war Optimus Prime Cool cars Government conspiracy

The purpose of a literary essay is to analyze the author’s choices and what we can learn from them It takes a lot of thought and planning to write a literary essay! The following examples are from William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies (last year’s ENG3U novel)

Steps Identify themes Identify points of interest Make connections Ask yourself guiding questions Determine the purpose of the connections Create your thesis

Step 1: Brainstorm 8 themes Individualism vs. community Order vs. chaos Friendship Responsibility Loss of innocence The nature of evil Dystopia Dehumanization

Step 1: Find Thematic Connections Individualism vs. community Order vs. chaos Friendship Responsibility Loss of innocence The nature of evil Dystopia Dehumanization

Step 2: Brainstorm 5-8 unique, interesting features of your novel Things that can make good points of interest: Symbolic items Unique uses of setting Something unique in society (e.g. fashion, government style, divisions between groups of people) Things that are not unique points of interest: Characters “Their experiences”  too generic “The plot” Feelings

Step 2: Brainstorm 5-8 unique, interesting features of your novel The pig’s head The different dances around the fire Sacrifices: pig & human The dead parachutist Items of power: the conch and Piggy’s glasses Jack’s war paint Castle Rock The monster & the living jungle

Step 3: Find Connections Make connections between your themes and points of interest

Step 3: Find Connections Choose your strongest theme: Which points of interest does it connect to? Order vs. Chaos could connect to: The pig’s head The different dances around the fire Sacrifices: pig & human The dead parachutist Items of power: the conch and Piggy’s glasses Jack’s war paint Castle Rock The monster & the living jungle

Step 4: Ask Yourself Questions Write 3-4 questions that you would need to ask yourself to fully understand the connections you’ve made. What causes characters to abandon order? Could any characters have stopped the boys’ descent into chaos? Why don’t the boys recognize that their dances have dangerous effects?

Choose your best question Which question will best allow you to analyze the connection between your theme and point of interest? Why don’t the boys recognize that their dances have dangerous effects?

Answer your question Why don’t the boys recognize that their dances have dangerous effects? Begins as an innocent game; blurs the line between what’s real and what isn’t Motivated by fear; thinking only about survival instead of reason Desperate for inclusion in the hunters’ popular clique Therefore: if they think only about what’s best for themselves, they can fail to see the evil in their actions

Step 5: Create your thesis Basic Structure (Author) uses (point of interest) to show the theme of (theme). Better Structure (Analysis!) (Author) uses (point of interest) to show (theme + “so what”?).

Step 5: Write your thesis (basic) Theme: order vs. chaos Point of interest: dances Thesis In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the boys’ increasingly realistic dances to show the theme of order vs. chaos.

Step 5: Write your thesis (basic) Theme: order vs. chaos Point of interest: dances Connection: self-interest leads to dangerous results Thesis In his dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the boys’ increasingly realistic dances to illustrate the dangerous way that self-interest can lead to chaos within society.

Example William Golding uses the beast to show the theme of fear of the unknown. (good) In his dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the boys’ increasingly realistic dances to illustrate the dangerous way that self-interest can lead to chaos within society. (better) William Golding uses the conflicts about basic survival needs at camp to teach that working as a community is preferable to individualism. (better)

Try it together! Groups of 3 Story: “The Shivering Tree”

Step 1: Themes List 4 themes from “The Shivering Tree” Find connections between the themes

Step 2: Points of Interest Identify 5 unique features of “The Shivering Tree”

Examples Themes The danger of vanity Friendship Sacrifice Revenge … Points of Interest Shape shifting Juggling Magic Origin story structure Timeless, human-less setting Animal characters …

Step 3: Make Connections Choose your best theme Find connections between your theme and your points of interest

Step 4: Ask Yourself Questions Create analysis questions to help you find the importance of the connection between your theme and points of interest Choose your best question and answer it

Step 5: Write Your Thesis Basic Structure (Author) uses (point of interest) to show the theme of (theme). Better Structure (Analysis) (Author) uses (point of interest) to show (theme + “so what”?).

Example: Good In “The Shivering Tree”, John McLeod uses the origin of natural phenomena to show the theme of vanity.

Example: Better In “The Shivering Tree”, John McLeod uses the origin of natural phenomena to show the theme of vanity. So what?  Our actions have consequences; bad things happen to the characters who are too vain natural phenomena as a metaphor for the negative consequences of vanity.

The Hunger Games Make a list of 5-8 themes List 5-8 points of interest: STOP! Get checked! Make connections between themes & points of interest Write 2-3 questions that can help you explain the connection between themes & points of interest Answer your best question Write your thesis (Author) uses (P.O.I) to show (theme + “so what”)

Next Steps Assignment (details tomorrow) Plan essay for The Hunger Games Thesis planning (done!) 3 sources for possible works cited (details tomorrow) Introduction paragraph (details tomorrow) Due Wednesday, November 27

Homework Finish thesis planning Bring your computer to do research Questions  Answer questions  Write thesis Bring your computer to do research Bring The Hunger Games tomorrow

Introduction 3-4 sentences Brief plot summary (+ name and author of book) Thesis statement (from your thesis planning sheet) Blueprint (the three topics you would discuss in your body paragraphs if you were writing the whole essay)

Works Cited Find 3 sources (book, encyclopedia article, website) that have some connection to the ideas in your thesis statement You DO NOT have to actually read them; just find something that seems relevant Works cited page will include those 3 sources + an entry for The Hunger Games Class website has a link to MLA formatting website (Purdue OWL) to review your structure