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The Prose Passage Essay

The Prose Passage Essay. N. Austin English 11. Working the Prompt. Deconstruct the prompt

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The Prose Passage Essay

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  1. The Prose Passage Essay N. Austin English 11

  2. Working the Prompt • Deconstruct the prompt • Prompt: In the following passage from the short story “The Dead,” James Joyce presents an insight into the character of Gabriel. Write a well-organized essay in which you discuss various aspects of Gabriel’s character that Joyce reveals to the reader and to Gabriel himself. Refer to such techniques as imagery, point of view, motif, diction, and syntax.

  3. Analyze the Prompt • Know what is expected so you can read in a more directed manner. • Be sensitive to those details that will apply. • Then you can write about all the facets that need to be addressed and adhere to the topic.

  4. DO THIS NOW • UNDERLINE • CIRCLE • BRACKET • THE ESSENTIAL TERMS AND ELEMENTS IN THE PROMPT. • In the following passage from the short story “The Dead,”James Joyce presents an insight into the character of Gabriel. Write a well-organized essay in which you discuss various aspects of Gabriel’s character that Joyce reveals to the reader and to Gabriel himself. Refer to such techniques as imagery, point of view, motif, diction, and syntax.

  5. YOU MUST KNOW: • IMAGERY – language evokes a picture of a person, thing, place, or experience (sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch) • POINT OF VIEW – who tells the story • MOTIF – a recurring subject, theme, idea, symbol, etc. • DICTION – choice of words • SYNTAX - the study of the patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words.

  6. READ AND NOTATE • Read quickly to get the gist of the passage • Reread slowly, using highlighting and making marginal notes

  7. Read and annotate “The Dead” • Look for ways Joyce reveals Gabriel’s character. • When you consult your notes, certain categories will begin to pop out at you. These will be the basis for the development of the body of your essay.

  8. Did you see?? DETAILS AND IMAGES • DEATH • DETACHMENT • INSECURITY • PASSIVITY • TIME • Study the example concept of time. • Now YOU choose another concept and defend Gabriel’s character. • IMAGERY • DICTION • STYLE • MOTIF • Study the example device/technique of imagery. • Now YOU choose another technique/device and defend what it reveals about Gabriel’s character.

  9. Now It Is Time to WRITE: • Your opening statement is the one that sets the tone of your essay. (should take 5 minutes to write) • Identify the text and its author in the first paragraph. • The opening paragraph: • Establishes the direction and tone of your essay • Gives you the guidelines for what to develop in your essay • Connects you to the reader.

  10. CHECK • Have you included author and title? _____Yes_____No • Have you addressed the character of Gabriel? ___YES___NO • Have you specifically mentioned the techniques you will refer to in your essay? ____YES ____NO EXAMPLE: A. In “The Dead” by James Joyce, the character Gabriel is revealed through diction, point of view, and imagery as he watches his wife sleep. (restates the question without anything extra)

  11. You could. . . • Poor Gabriel! Who would have thought he knew so little about himself and his life. Yet, in “The Dead,” James Joyce, through diction, point of view, and imagery, make it clear to the reader and to Gabriel that there is much to reveal about his character. (reveals the writer’s attitude toward the subject also.) • “Yes, yes: that would happen very soon.” And, yes, very soon the reader of the excerpt from Joyce’s “The Dead” gets to know the character of Gabriel. Through diction, point of view, and imagery, we are introduced to Gabriel and what he thinks of himself. (with its direct quotation, places the reader immediately into the passage.)

  12. AND D. . . • “The Dead.” How apt a title. James Joyce turns his reader into a fly on the wall as Gabriel is about to realize the many losses in his life. Death pervades the passage, from his sleeping wife to his dying aunt. (reveals a mature, confident writer who is not afraid to IMPLY the prompt’s criteria.) • EACH has: • Identified the title and the author • Stated which techniques/devices will be used • Stated the purpose of analyzing these techniques/devices (to analyze Gabriel’s character)

  13. The BODY • Should take 15-20 minutes to write • Present YOUR INTERPRETATION and THE POINTS you wish to make that are related to the PROMPT • Use specific references and details from the passage • Use “connective tissue” to establish adherence to the question • Use repetition of key ideas from opening paragraph • Use “echo words” (i.e. Synonyms, such as death/loss/passing or character/persona/personality) • Create transitions from one paragraph to the next

  14. CONCLUSION • This paragraph is optional in a brief essay such as this • It is not necessary to repeat yourself in a summary-type final paragraph • If you do write a conclusion, make a final statement and try to link your ideas to a particularly effective line or image from the passage. • However, if you do write a concluding paragraph, you should add one or two sentences at the end of the final body paragraph. Somewhere you have to write a final remark or observation.

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