1. Step 1: Understand Question
Analytical Essay
Step 1: Understand Question
In Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, the narrators have points of view different from those of their parents. Write an essay analyzing how these differences in points of view create tension in both stories. Remember to use details from both texts to support your ideas.

2. Step 2: Highlight section in text that will support your answer
Skim through both stories and highlight direct sections that will support your explanation. In this case, highlight sections that show tension.

3. Step 3: Begin writing
Remember, since you have to analyze two stories, organize your writing so that you have one or two paragraphs for each story.
Begin by restating the question.
Dedicate one or two paragraphs analyzing the tension in Confetti Girl.
Dedicate one or two paragraphs analyzing the tension in Tortilla Sun.
Dedicate the last paragraph to a conclusion connecting the two stories.

4. Restate Question
In both Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, the narrators both disagree with their parents’ points of view, ultimately causing tension in the family.
*Notice both stories are italicized. Make sure to properly punctuate titles; they will be properly punctuated on the test so just copy the titles correctly.

5. Expanation: how quote supports topic
For example, in Confetti Girl, the main character disagrees with her father’s intense interest in education since she feels he places more importance on his teaching career and love of reading and vocabulary than on her. In fact, when she tries to dismiss her novel and doesn’t reveal its title, her dad offers her his copy and leaves the dinner table to find it, “He leaves the table to scan the bookshelves, and all of a sudden, I care about the tough beef, the mushy potatoes, and the cold beans. Why should I eat when my own father has abandoned his food?” (paragraph 26). This quote proves her dissatisfaction since she is making an effort to have dinner as a family, regardless of the poor food choices her father has provided, yet her father is not; instead, he rushes to retrieve the novel she’s not interested in to ensure she does her homework. This makes her feel unimportant: she thinks her father should make an effort to want to stay at the dinner table and discuss something important to her, rather than his own interests.
Intro. to quote
Quote
Expanation: how quote supports topic

6. Futhermore, in the same paragraph, she actually states feeling neglected, “Nothing’s more important than his books and vocabulary words. He might say I matter, but when he goes on a scavenger hunt for a book, I realize that I really don’t.” The narrator disagrees with her father leaving the table, leaving her, to search for the book she’s clearly not interested in; it makes her feel second best and the tension between the father and his daughter, the narrator, grows.
Red: Introduce Quote
Green: Quote (properly punctuated)
Purple: Explanation of how quote supports topic

7. Likewise, in Tortilla Sun, the narrator disagrees with her mother’s decision to go to Costa Rica to finish her research and leave her with her grandmother for the summer. She feels her mom is abandoning her with someone she doesn’t know that well, “’New Mexico is worlds away from California. And what am I going to do for two whole months with someone I haven’t seen since I was six? That was half my life ago. She’s a stranger!’ I felt a sudden urge to bolt for the front door and run” (paragraph 24). This dialogue emphasizes the tension building between the narrator and her mom due to their conflicting views about what would be best for the narrator: her mom feels she’ll gain new experiences and perspective from being with her grandmother, while the narrator feels abandoned, as if her mom is leaving her with a stranger to pursue her own ventures, her research.
Red: Introduce Quote
Green: Quote (properly punctuated)
Purple: Explanation of how quote supports topic

8. In fact, when her mother tells her it will be a great opportunity, the narrator argues, “Opportunity? For me? Or for you?” (paragraph 34). This once again shows the narrator’s conflict with her mother, even implying how she thinks her mother is selfish thinking more about her interests and opportunities than her own daughter. Finally, the tension between their disagreement is most evident when the narrator describes her utter hopelessness over her mother’s decision, “I stormed off to my room and threw myself onto my bed. I ached inside. Like the feeling you get watching a lost balloon float far into the sky until it becomes an invisible nothing (paragraph 35). This quote really emphasizes the narrator’s disappointed, helpless feelings; it shows just how unimportant she feels compared to her mother’s research, as if her feelings and future mean nothing.
Red: Introduce Quote
Green: Quote (properly punctuated)
Purple: Explanation of how quote supports topic

9. Summary (with transition)
Conclusion
Summary (with transition)
All in all, in both stories the tension builds because the narrators (the children) feel their parents aren’t taking enough of an interest in them. This is further emphasized by the fact that they only live with one parent and feel they have lost the other, evident by the memories of the narrator’s mother in Confetti Girl, and the baseball belonging to the narrator’s father in Tortilla Sun. In both stories the parents make decisions the narrators disagree with since they feel abandoned or unimportant, ultimately creating major tension.
Connection

10. Read over / check for conventions
Spelling
Punctuation
Properly punctuated quotes
Cohesiveness / coherence
Organization