What is the situation? What is the point of view? What conflict drives the piece of art?

1. What is the situation? • What is the point of view? • What conflict drives the piece of art? • What are the images? • What are the details? • What is the TONE? (complimentary or contradictory ) • What is the SUBJECT? • What is the CONFLICT? • What is the CENTRAL QUESTION?

2. TONE • Alienation and despair • Futility and oppression • SUBJECT • Waiting at the post office • Waiting at immigration • April 15th, tax day • CONFLICT • The haves vs. the have nots • Citizens vs. the government • Immigrants vs. immigration • CENTRAL QUESTION • Why do we stand in line? • Does the government really help us? • Is the government really out for our best interests?

3. ANALYTICAL THESIS • Thesis formula: • SUBJECT + ASSERTION + PURPOSE • (title, author, devices) +(how they are used) + (what the author is persuading us to think)

4. YOUR TURN… • Practice writing thesis statements using the formula, creating a thesis statement where you use tone, subject, conflict, or the central question as their “subject.” • Government Bureau by artist George Tooker

5. TONE: In Tooker’s painting Government Bureau, the artist uses details and images creating a tone of alienation and despair to show the reader the complacency of American society and the questionable legitimacy of a so-called democratic government. • SUBJECT: In Tooker’s painting Government Bureau, the artist uses details and images to depict that waiting in line is dehumanizing to show the reader the complacency of American society and the questionable legitimacy of a so-called democratic government. • CONFLICT: In Tooker’s painting Government Bureau, the artist uses details and images creating a conflict between the haves and have-nots to show the reader the complacency of American society and the questionable legitimacy of a so-called democratic government. • CENTRAL QUESTION: In Tooker’s painting Government Bureau, the artist uses details and images to force the reader to ask if the government really helps its citizens. Tooker does this to show the reader the complacency of American society and the questionable legitimacy of a so-called democratic government.

6. Grendel Prompt 1 • Because Grendel is so akin to men, but at the same time distant enough to be an alien, his point of view provides an opportunity for us to see more clearly what it means to live as homo sapiens. Determine: • Subject • Assertion • Purpose

7. Grendel Prompt 2 • Grendel by John Gardner is a presentation of the dark, the misunderstood, and the ugly, speaking always for itself, urging empathy for its pain, and claiming some rightful place in the shaping of whatever is real. Or perhaps human. Determine • Subject • Assertion • Purpose

8. Everything but the Essay • Thesis • CDW Paragraph #1 • Claim – topic sentence/central statement of ¶ • Data – text evidence with citation • Warrant –bullet points - detailed analysis of data • Data – text evidence with citation • Warrant –bullet points - detailed analysis of data • Concluding sentence(s). • CDW Paragraph #2 (repeats pattern above) • Conclusion

9. Purpose of the CDW ¶ • to assure that the claim is strongly supported by the Data and Warrant sets. • Note the use of plural. Any suggestion by the use of the acronym that there is only one data and one warrant per paragraph is accidental. A CDW ¶ should have two data and a warrant that accompanies each.

10. Claim • Statement of your topic AND • Your specific opinion/observation about it • One sentence that includes author & title • Detailed and specific

11. Example of Claim • In Edgar Allen Poe’s “Cask of the Amontillado”, the ending is foreshadowed by both Montresor’s malice and the obviously elaborate scheme that unfolds in the plot.

12. Data • A quote, statistic, or other evidence taken from a source that supports your claim. • Introduced by a sentence that indicates how it relates to your claim or earlier statements. This gives your Data context. • Data is cited using MLA parenthetical documentation (Author #).

13. Example of Data • Montresor reveals the malice he feels towards Fortunato when he says, “the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe 5). • Citation goes at end of sentence, not end of quote. Period outside parenthesis.

14. Warrant • A warrant is the analysis of the textual evidence (Data) used to support your claim. • It includes a statement of what the quote says, if necessary AND • What the quote means (this part can never be skipped nor assumed!)

15. Warrant, Continued • You MUST indicate how this meaning supports and/or proves your claim. • Avoid “this quote shows that ____ is____. • Suggest that the passage illustrates your point for some reason that YOU provide. The use of “because” or similar analytical word will force you to complete this step.

16. More on the Warrant • A warrant is the real analysis of an analytical paragraph. • It should be 2-3 sentences at least, AND should leave the reader sure of your point

17. Example of Warrant Although we have no idea from the plot what injuries Montresor has experienced, we can tell by this passage that some insult has been exchanged and that Montresor means to repay Fortunato for it as well as “the thousand injuries” he has suffered. The foreboding sound of “vowed revenge” clearly suggests a deep malice. However the use of the past tense in this opening would suggest that the ending has occurred in actual time before the narrator begins to tell his story.

18. Creating Credibility • No one believes anything when given a single example! • TWO data/warrant sets are expected in a well-formed analytical paragraph. Our example only provides one, but you will come up with a good data that represents another clear example and develop it.

19. Concluding the CDW ¶ • Sum up the contents of your two warrants knitting your whole point together. • Example: Taken together, Montresor’s opening expression of malicious intent phrased in the past tense and the obviously premeditated scheme that unfolds during the plot foreshadwo Fortunato’s terrible death at the end of Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado.”

20. Everything but the EssayTomorrow You will be given a thesis that stems from your reading and understanding of Grendel, and you will be given a specific format. You may use your class notes, your book and any handouts that you have printed from the Wiki. No electronic devices, please.

21. Everything but the Essay • Thesis • CDW Paragraph #1 • Claim – topic sentence/central statement of ¶ • Data – text evidence with citation • Warrant –bullet points - detailed analysis of data • Data – text evidence with citation • Warrant –bullet points - detailed analysis of data • Concluding sentence(s). • CDW Paragraph #2 (repeats pattern above) • Conclusion