The Literary Analysis Paragraph. A McParagraph Model

Transcription

1 The Literary Paragraph A McParagraph Model

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5 A good paragraph is a like a good hamburger Topic Evidence/Support Sentence Topic Evidence/Support Evidence/Support Sentence Topic Evidence/Support Evidence/Support Evidence/Support Sentence okay good best

6 From Burger to Paragraph Topic

7 Topic Sentence Topic Gives the main idea of the paragraph In literary analysis, includes the element or device In a complete essay, ties back to the thesis statement.

8 Context Topic Sets up background for your quotation: who? to whom? when? where? what is happening? Tells reader what they need to know to understand the quotation

9 Quotation Topic The actual words from the text Make it as brief as you can by cutting out the fluff! Limit yourself to a few words or short phrases, if possible Incorporate/blend into your own

10 Citation Topic Cite according to MLA format: quote quote (4). novel: page (#) poem: line (#) essay: paragraph (par. #) play: Act.Scene.Lines ( )

11 Topic Interpret/summarize/ paraphrase what the quotation means or what the author is saying or doing Try using Here to start your : Here the author indicates/shows/ demonstrates

12 Topic Connect the quotation to the literary device to your topic (and your thesis statement) What is the writer s effect/purpose? Use words like effect, because, and in order to

13 Sentence Topic Refers back to the topic (and/ or thesis statement) Include the name of the rhetorical device or literary element Connect to overall theme/purpose

14 Paragraph TOTALS Topic ONE literary/rhetorical device TWO pieces of evidence from the text EIGHT s minimum

15 In her book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Maxine Hong Kingston uses revisioned retellings of traditional Chinese folktales and stories to challenge the common belief that daughters are inferior to sons in traditional Chinese culture. In White Tigers, Kingston highlights the prevailing opinions about daughters that she heard from adults growing up using dialogue: Feeding girls is feeding cowbirds, and There s no profit in raising girls. Better to raise geese than girls (54). Kingston explains how she recognized as a young girl that her culture valued boys over girls through the words of the adults around her. She uses the words of her parents and other adults in her life to help the reader imagine what it would have been like to hear such idioms and sayings through one s entire life and the impact this could have had on a young woman. Interestingly, Kingston contrasts this with examples of her memories of the stories her mother would tell her about warrior women in Chinese history: I remembered that as a child I had followed my mother about the house, the two of us singing about how Fa Mu Lan fought gloriously and returned alive from war to settle in the village She said I would grow up a wife and a slave, but she taught me the song of the warrior woman, Fa Mu Lan (24). Kingston points out the contrast between the stories she learned from her mother and what she had been told about her worth or power as a woman, ultimately concluding, I would have to grow up a warrior woman (24). Kingston further explores the tension between these two ideas through her retelling of Fa Mu Lan s tale with herself as the protagonist and her anecdotes about how she rebelled against the idea of her inferiority. Ultimately, Kingston provides no clear answers but paints a rich picture of a young Chinese-American woman s struggle with finding her identity, worth, and power in two cultures which devalued her voice and agency. Topic Sentence C-Q-C E A C-Q-C E A Sentence

16 In her book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Maxine Hong Kingston uses revisioned retellings of traditional Chinese folktales and stories to challenge the common belief that daughters are inferior to sons in traditional Chinese culture. In White Tigers, Kingston highlights the prevailing opinions about daughters that she heard from adults growing up using dialogue: Feeding girls is feeding cowbirds, and There s no profit in raising girls. Better to raise geese than girls (54). Kingston explains how she recognized as a young girl that her culture valued boys over girls through the words of the adults around her. She uses the words of her parents and other adults in her life to help the reader imagine what it would have been like to hear such idioms and sayings through one s entire life and the impact this could have had on a young woman. Interestingly, Kingston contrasts this with examples of her memories of the stories her mother would tell her about warrior women in Chinese history: I remembered that as a child I had followed my mother about the house, the two of us singing about how Fa Mu Lan fought gloriously and returned alive from war to settle in the village She said I would grow up a wife and a slave, but she taught me the song of the warrior woman, Fa Mu Lan (24). Kingston points out the contrast between the stories she learned from her mother and what she had been told about her worth or power as a woman, ultimately concluding, I would have to grow up a warrior woman (24). Kingston further explores the tension between these two ideas through her retelling of Fa Mu Lan s tale with herself as the protagonist and her anecdotes about how she rebelled against the idea of her inferiority. Ultimately, Kingston provides no clear answers but paints a rich picture of a young Chinese-American woman s struggle with finding her identity, worth, and power in two cultures which devalued her voice and agency. Topic Sentence C-Q-C E A C-Q-C E A Sentence

17 Write your paragraph for Plato s Allegory of the Cave PROMPT Describe the effect/ purpose of Plato s use of the imagery of "chains" and a "cave" to describe the state of the unenlightened in the "Allegory of the Cave". PARAGRAPH FORMAT