1. Literary Essays: Thesis Development
ENG3U

2. 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

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

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

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

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

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

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. 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?

16. 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?

17. 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

18. 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”?).

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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)

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

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

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

25. 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 …

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

27. 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

28. 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”?).

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

30. 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.

31. 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”)

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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)

35. 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