If you were absent, please go to the library as soon as you arrive at school tomorrow. Return your post-it note free Catcher and Inside Poetry. Sign out a book of essays entitled The Act of Writing.
Read the narrative essay entitled: "In the Trenches" on page 13. Write down the author, the title, the thesis (it is implied so you have to put it in your own words). Three details (paraphrases or quotations cited correctly with line numbers). Finally, write down one main literary technique. In this essay the following techniques dominated: simile, understatement, personification, motif of insanity, motif of bestiality and pathetic fallacy. Choose one. Write down the name of the technique. Write down your example and explain its effectiveness.
We read this essay aloud and discussed its merits. We predicted the thesis as we went along, looking for supportive details.
Tomorrow: YOU WILL WRITE A NARRATIVE ESSAY IMITATING THE STYLE OF ESSAYS IN THIS SECTION OF THE TEXT. YOUR TOPIC SHOULD BE SOMETHING PERSONAL AND EMOTIONAL SUCH AS A FRIGHTENING MOMENT, AN UNRESOLVED DISPUTE WITH A FRIEND OR COLLEAGUE OR FAMILY MEMBER, A TIME WHEN YOU FELT DISRESPECTED. Choose an event that you think would appeal to your readers.
Your job is to narrate the story and imply the thesis. You will have one hour to complete this task. Work on it tonight so you feel prepared. You can read other essays in that narrative section of the text. Re-read the essay we studied today. How does one scene move to the next? How well are the characters created? What details do you remember? Why? ETC
Once you have chosen your topic. Brainstorm several thesis statements that you could imply in through the use of description.
Eg: Fight with a sibling: Possible thesis statements
- Sibling rivalry must be accepted but a brother always forgives a brother.
- There is no such thing as sibling rivalry. Accepting it means accepting bullying in the home.
- Fighting with siblings is a direct result of parental mismanagement. Parents must treat siblings equally.
- Sibling rivalry occurs less often between siblings of the same gender because it is easy to compare two brothers' athletic abilities but less easy to compare the athletic skills of a sister to her brother.
- Sibling rivalry occurs for power. It is a direct reflection of society.
- Canadian families should not have more than one child.
- Only children create imaginative brothers and sisters so they can fight with them.
Are you getting the idea? You need to know what it is that you want your readers to take away when finished reading your essay. It's a little more directly created than a short story. It relies a lot on strong, descriptive details: the rat, the sounds of the artillery, the colours of the sky, mud in the mouth, the blood in the sock, praying to a God you don't even believe in etc.
