1. Building a thread

2. A thread makes your essay a ‘cohesive whole’
It maintains an idea and line of argument
Detail is important, but a big picture idea is also helpful in creating an essay that flows
Critical thinking
Sophistication
A thread makes your essay a ‘cohesive whole’

3. In an essay about: power,men/women, loss/gain, choices, ambition
Feminist thread
Example: The idea that gender, and the cultural constructs and connotations of what it means to be a woman or a man, corrals characters into a particular way of thinking and being.
This would emerge throughout the essay and connect all of your ideas
In an essay about: power,men/women, loss/gain, choices, ambition

4. In an essay about the theatre world, narcissism, fear, ego
Your thread could be theatre and film as mirroring society
The idea that the values that this group of “displaced personalities” display can be likened to the roles of men and women in society in the 1950s
Displacement in a post war world where roles have been shaken up
There exists a particular kind of anxiety about individuals’ places in the world
In an essay about the theatre world, narcissism, fear, ego

5. What would these threads look like in an essay plan about choices?
Character driven paragraphs:
Margo despite the fact that she is a ‘true star’ is prepared to let it go in order to become a ‘true’ woman. In lots of ways society says that this is what she must do because of her age… Does she have a choice?
Eve ( Phoebe, Miss Caswell) – they are all playing a particular ‘part’ in their rise to stardom. Consider the kinds choices do they make and how do these choices define them as people?
The men - comparative paragraph. What sorts of things help them to make decisions and how do their choice define them? Consider all of the material you have and compare their choices to the choices that the women make. 
What would these threads look like in an essay plan about choices?

6. Mothers – Karen & Birdie (and an acceptance of irrelevance)
Predators – Eve, Miss Caswell, Phoebe ( the fear of irrelevance)
The hysteric/ paranoiac – Margo (she is caught between two worlds – fear and acceptance)
The Puppeteers – men – playwrights, directors, producers, (are they in control or do they just believe they are because the culture empowers them to feel that way?)
Mankiewicz and Addison are both in turn, critics of the society and the theatre world.
How would a thread emerge in an essay plan about the world of the theatre or the roles of men and women?