Part B of the exam is a course-content essay.
You need to choose a thesis from the list and write a formal, literary essay that discusses both pieces (Othello, L of Flies, short stories or the novel you read in January). You will be given a list of the titles and the authors.
To get a good mark on this section, it is a smart idea if you can quote from the stories. If you cannot quote, be sure to paraphrase as you must provide evidence for each opinion and you must explain how the evidence proves your thesis.
To Prepare:
Study your literary must-haves list. Study all the works we read. Know the names of the characters, the themes, symbols, conflicts, motifs. Re-read the literary paragraphs you have read, your notes, re-read synopses on-line, etc.
You must study for this section. It is worth 50% of the exam.
Tomorrow's topic: We do not see what is really there. We see what we want to see. Without a firm grasp of reality, one cannot make reasonable, humane decisions. Chaos reigns.
Introduction: 5 sentences (75 to 100 words)
Hook: Excellent wretch or damned whore? A fun-filled island or a place of death.
Thesis: We do not see what is really there. We see what we want to see. Without a firm grasp of reality, one cannot make reasonable, humane decisions. Chaos reigns.
First Body Summary: In Othello, by William Shakespeare, Iago convinces the moor that Desdemona is an adulterer and as a result, Othello can no longer conceive of her goodness and chaos results.
Second Body Summary: (based on your understanding of the book read)
Repeat the thesis in an emotional way: Outrageously, perception is guided by belief. Until we are able to see the truth, lies and deceptions evade reality.
IT WILL BE A FOUR PARAGRAPH ESSAY.
THE INTRODUCTION:HOOK, THESIS, FIRST BODY SUMMARY PLUS AUTHOR AND TITLE, SECOND BODY SUMMARY PLUS AUTHOR AND TITLE, REPEAT THESIS
FIRST BODY PARA. IS ALL ABOUT ONE story, play or novel Length: 300 words
THESIS
FIRST OPINION
FIRST EVIDENCE (QUOTE OR PARAPHRASE)
FIRST EXPLANATION
TRANSITION
REPEAT
TRANSITION
REPEAT
CONCLUDE
TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE TO THE NEXT BOOK
SECOND BODY PARA (300 words)
(SAME AS THE FIRST BUT YOU DISCUSS A DIFFERENT BOOK)
CONCLUSION: 50 words
THESIS
FIRST BODY SUMMARY
SECOND BODY SUMMARY
END WITH A HOOK OR REPEAT THE THESIS EMOTIONALLY
STYLE:
- persuasive tone
- formal diction (Use vocab. list. signifies, elucidates, illustrates, portrays, depicts)
- literary must-haves
- sentence length (short, medium, and long sentences)
- Vary how the sentences begin
- have good transitions
- use the #3 style for incorporating quotes
- Use synonyms for nouns (The ignorant general, the suspicious moor, the insolent aunt,
- don't use THIS< THAT< HE< SHE Use persuasive nouns, synonyms, explanations)
- use brackets, dashes, semi-colons, colons
Sample Student In-class Essays
It is not easy to maintain an imaginative, colourful society.
Society, according to the stories, we studied, is often a violent, or
uncommunicative wasteland. The adult world has little to offer its
children. The story, “The Fall of a City”, by Alden Nowlan has a
kid being parented by two drab, unimaginative adults who corrupt his
mind and destroy his ambition for the future. “Want to Play
House?”, by Leon Rooke, has two nameless children, representing all
children, acting out the horrible lives of their parents as if it is
just a game—they think violence is a way of life. “First Date”,
by Debra Nikkel, has a young man discovering the truth about society
and how it can be very incommunicative and “fake” while on a date
with a girl. Without good role models for our children, we have no
future.
“The Fall of a City”, by Alden Nowlan has an ambitious child at
the prime of his childhood being overruled by his unimaginative,
ridiculing aunt and uncle. When Teddy plays with his
mini-civilization in the attic, he is on top of the world; he
literally and figuratively is better than his guardians because he
values and uses his imagination, but when his aunt calls him “down”
to dinner, the interruption ruins his thoughts. The aunt’s
appearance with a stooped posture and red, swollen hands implies
that she is a stereotypical housewife trying to get all the
day-to-day work done and she wants Teddy to be the same. She cannot
imagine a different future for herself or for Teddy. When Teddy
stares at his uncle at the table, the rain pelts gloomily like white
marbles in the gray sky behind him and he relates the face of his
uncle to that of Duke Zailkla, the tyrant of his civilization. Teddy
understands that his imagination is important but is too young to put
this understanding into words. Teddy’s uncle is also the tyrant in
Teddy’s real life, especially when he laughs at Teddy for playing
with “paper dolls”. Teddy’s ambition and imagination is being
corrupted by his aunt and uncle so that he becomes like them. They
are the only vision of the adult world presented in the story.
Teddy’s imagination, which is the key to his future in society, is
now reformed. Ruined. His aunt and uncle, being stereotypical
guardians, have nothing but boredom to offer for his future—they
are making society incommunicative and unimaginative. Parents greatly
affect a child’s outlook.
In the story, “Want to Play House?,” two children are attempting
to act out the lives of their parents as if violence and abuse are a
mere game, a way of life. The narrator is telling “you” what to
do, and when she instructs the little boy to come in and not worry
about kissing, it shows just how unaffectionate adults can be, and
how kids pick up behaviours easily, accept as normal what they
see—miscommunication between their parents offer nothing but future
harm for the children. Again, the little girl instructs the boy to
“do whatever you want. Strangle me if you want.” It is compelling
the boy to take on a violent activity as part of the game. The future
for this boy may bring harm to others because the example his parents
set assure him violence is “okay”. It is especially violent when
the little girl instructs the boy to take the butcher’s knife and
chase her with it. What kind of world is it where children grow up
thinking society accepts harmful people? This violent attribute could
have only been influenced by the parents. Children are impressionable
and when they see their parents do something, they think it is okay.
Society, to these children, is portrayed as violent through the
parents’ examples. The “game” of playing house becomes more and
more abusive and strange resulting in planning a murder of the mother
in order to show just how far we as a society have come in our
acceptance of family violence. The wasteland is evident in this story
as these two innocents live in such a corrupt environment they think
it normal to imitate it. Another story that questions society’s
corruption and complacency is “First Date”.
“First Date”, by Debra Nikkel, is about an average man
discovering how shallow people can be. He makes this discovery while
on a first date with a woman who represents the fake and superficial
values that some people accept. When she tells the narrator that her
thoughts on politics is how her work schedule is decided, she is
unknowingly revealing her lack of depth. She also says that she
goes to the tanning salon to soul search which implies two things.
She, herself is fake, represented by her fake tan. Also, how
traditional values of soul-searching have, in present day, been
overrun by material and superficial tasks. Nikkel’s hilarious
depiction of Daphne allows the reader to laugh his/her way to the
conclusion that we do indeed live in a desolate and unmeaningful
wasteland—nothing much of value to inspire our children. We must
set a better example. Paco, the Mexican waiter with blonde hair, is a
prime example of how people think they can succeed through a
superficial altering of one’s appearance. With society thinking
that blonde hair and sun tanning is the way to find one’s soul, the
narrator is flabbergasted. He can no longer tolerate this plastic
society. He must question his own motivation for the date—he is in
fact there to prove his masculinity to his friends who cannot
understand his heartbreak for a previous girlfriend. He leaves the
restaurant but at the end of the story the reader is not sure if he
will be able to withstand the pressure to become plastic and
superficial. Society is still an incommunicative wasteland at the end
of “First Date.”
During the reading of all the short stories, the world is not
portrayed as an ideal location for our children to grow up in.
Society in these stories is unaffectionate, incommunicative and
violent. “The Fall of a City” shows how children can be corrupted
and forced into thinking society is boring and incommunicative; Alden
Nowlan was right, losing one’s imagination is “The Fall of a
City.” “Want to Play House?” portrays society as being
accepting of violence—through bad examples set for children, they
have nothing but harm and depression to look forward to. “First
Date” forces children to think you can be more successful through
superficiality, which is the complete antidote of how one should
succeed. Children are the future, but there will be no future when we
allow them to become corrupt. We cannot allow what we think is
normal to affect the ever-growing minds of children, for, they will
only turn out like us—the violent, unimaginative, fearful adults.
