Writing Critical / Analytical Response to Literary Texts

1. From planning to proof-reading Writing Critical / Analytical Response to Literary Texts

2. Why? • On Part A of the diploma exam, you will be required to write a Critical /Analytical Response to Literary Texts. You will be asked the same question as in the Personal Response, but instead of responding to a provided piece of literature, you will have to think of a piece of literature you studied in your Grade 12 ELA course which would be appropriate to use. • Knowing how to write an essay like this really does have applications beyond a high school ELA course. If you pursue post-secondary schooling, you will find these skills will help you write university/college papers. • Even if you do not choose to pursue post-secondary schooling, the ability to develop, organise and support an idea is valuable.

3. Understanding the question • It is so important to start on the right path by clearly understanding the essay question. • Example: Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the significance of idealism and truth in an individual’s life. • 1. Start by underlining the focus words: • Idealism • Truth • Significance • 2. Look up these words in the dictionary: • Idealism: a standard of perfection or high degree of excellence • Truth: reality, based in fact, legitimate • Significance: importance, of consequence

4. 3. Re-phrase the topic into your own words to ensure you truly understand what the essay question is asking you. • Example: Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the significance of idealism and truth in an individual’s life. • Re-phrase: Why is having a standard of perfection and basing ideas in fact and reality important? • Think about how these important terms relate to each other. This question begs for discussion about the contrast between these terms.

5. Planning • 1. Brainstorm for ideas • Think of which piece of literature might have examples to match this question. • Then think about which specific details from within that piece of literature may suit this topic. • 2. Create a rough thesis • A thesis is a response to the topic. • Say something using the language of the topic. Remember that the word significance is an important word. In this case, your job is to say something about why idealism and truth are significant. • Think of another idea or word which fits with your literature choice, to use in your thesis. • Example: • It is significant for an individual to recognise truth and balance this with idealism in order to live a fulfilled life.

6. Don’t worry if your thesis is not perfect in the planning stages. Try your best to have a rough idea of what you want to prove. You may develop better ideas as you proceed in your planning, or begin writing. • If you are stumped, remember that a basic repetition of the topic (if supported) may earn you a satisfactory. Example: Truth and idealism are significant in an individual’s life. • Tips for Thesis Creation • Avoid works like must and should. These are preachy words. Remember that your job is to make observations about human behaviour, not to tell people what to do. Example of a weak thesis: People should balance truth and idealism. • Avoid absolute statements such as always , everyone and never. These words beg for argument. Example of a weak thesis: People always balance truth with idealism. Try words like often, may, rarely, and often. Or, just leave out these words altogether.

7. 3. Planning Evidence • Now that you have developed your rough thesis, start planning out your support • It is always best to use only ONE piece of literature within this style of essay. If you cannot think of enough to write about, in a worst case scenario, use only one other piece. You are meant to dive deeply into one piece of literature, so quality is better than quantity. • Be as specific as possible. Generalizations result in satisfactory assessment. • Look for character traits, events, quotations, and language features which help to support your thesis. • Think of how you want to organise your evidence and your paragraph order. It should have a logical flow: • Chronological order • By character • By the progression of your idea

8. Writing • Introduction • Since you have already created your thesis, you do not have to start with your introduction • Example: • In human history, there have been many epic battles fought. • From the battle of David and Goliath to the Trojan War, humans • have been struggling to conquer their foes. It can be argued that • these conflicts are just as daunting as the battle we face within • ourselves. Often times, the greatest enemy we face are the obstacles • placed in front of us. But using the strength of the human spirit to overcome them, we attempt not to allow those adverse conditions to prevent us from achieving our dreams. It is significant for individuals to use determination in order to overcome adversity as it allows them to achieve their goals. Allusions to illustrate the thesis Notice no reference to literature Thesis

9. Body Paragraphs In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman and his sons are faced with a dilemma as they struggle with their own self-worth, and the pressures of society to achieve the American Dream. Willy dismisses Biff who works with his hands, and indoctrinated Biff and Happy, and indeed himself, to believe that the only noble life is that of a “well-liked” businessman who achieves financial success for his family. This is Willy’s ideal life for himself and his sons. However, he lives a life of illusions and is portrayed by Miller to be out of touch with reality. Willy states: “I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want”. Willy was not only selling goods, he was selling himself to the world and his sons. He could not face that his dreams and ideal life had not brought success, but rather failure. So instead he created a truth for himself that was not based in reality. Very brief summary of lit. Introduce lit. to reader Notice writer’s analysis of author’s intent As detailed as possible discussion of the lit., using details to support thesis.

10. Conclusions Through the internal conflicts of these two characters, as well their interactions with each other, Miller develops the connection between truth, idealism and delusion within the play. Failure is associated with lies and delusion, while redemption and fulfilmentare the results of truth and self-awareness. Willy’s unrealistic ideals about the American Dream creates a life of betrayal and isolation, while Biff’s recognition of his desires to work with his hands, or to be on a ranch, gave him peace, and perhaps more importantly, hope and prospects for the future. To become an ideal person of worth, in Miller’s view, a man must first see both the world and himself as he really is; unobstructed by illusion. Summary statement of essay General review of evidence from body paragraphs Restatement of thesis

11. Other Writing Tips • Transitions • Connect your body paragraphs, so they cannot be shuffled. • Use transition words/phrases • Similar to Willy, Biff struggled to live a fulfilled life. • Refer to something mentioned in the previous paragraph • When it was revealed that Willy had an affair… (the affair was explained in the previous paragraph). • 2. Extended Metaphor • Use a comparison in your introduction and continue to carry this comparison throughout your essay (don’t overdo!). • Biff had to muster up the courage to fight his own Goliath, and be able to tell Willy that he could not stay and fulfil his father’s dreams.

12. Proof-Reading • Check spelling and Grammar • Underline or italicize titles • No contractions in formal writing • Then/than • There/there/their • 2. Diction • Improve word choices from $1 words to $1,000 words, NOT $1 million dollar words • Avoid the word “things”…far too vague • NO first person pronoun “I”. This is not a personal response • 3. Sentence Variety • Have a nice variety of simple, compound and complex sentences • 4. Clarity is crucial! • If you are trying to make diction and sentence variety complex, you may run the risk of being awkward or confusing. NEVER sacrifice clarity for sophistication.