The Literary Essay:
Lesson 3Fine-Tuning Themes by Studying
the Author’s Craft
Connection
I bet you have a friend or family member
who speaks in a really unique way that
shows something central about them.
Take a second to talk in your groups—try
to act out how someone you love speaks.
Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you…
◦ that when literary essayists are analyzing a text,
they pay careful attention to not just the details
of the plot, but to the details of the author’s
craft as well (craft means the way an author
writes, choices he/she deliberately makes).
◦ There is a connection between the author’s
message (theme) and his or her craft (literary
devices used and choices made about writing).
◦ Literary critics can use this craft analysis to
inform their thinking about the text.
Teaching In the earlier sessions, we looked at critical scenes
that advanced the ideas about the text and reread the scenes closely for themes; HOWEVER,
We can also examine the craft (writing) decisions that the author has made. ◦ Were there specific literary devices the author used to
advance his or her message?
◦ Did the author use particular types of sentences or lengths to develop tone, mood, or atmosphere?
You’ve started this examination on your Theme Tracking & Literary Device sheets.
Use pages 21 and 22 In your packet to help you understand craft moves and
their purpose
Teaching
Literary Devices that Authors Use to
Highlight Themes:
◦ Comparisons (metaphors and similes)
◦ Alliteration
◦ Repetition
◦ Descriptive words or sentences
◦ Personification
◦ Short & long sentences (sentence variety)
Refer to our poster and page 12 in your packet
On the next slide, I have highlighted a scene from “All Summer
in a Day,” and we’re going to look for the devices the author
uses to highlight theme in this section.
Teaching What devices does the author use to highlight a theme?
How do you know?
“Oh, but,” Margot whispered, her eyes helpless. “But this is the day, the
scientists predict, they say, they know, the sun…”
“All a joke!” said the boy, and seized her roughly. “Hey, everyone, let’s
put her in the closet, before the teacher comes.”
“No,” said Margot, falling back.
They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and
then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet,
where they slammed and locked the door. They stood looking at the
door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself
against it. They heard her muffled cries. Then, smiling, they turned
and went out and back down the tunnel, just as the teacher
arrived.
Craft moves from selected scene…
Watch how my thinking unfolded…
I first noticed the descriptive language that Bradbury
was using. He really wants us to feel how helpless
Margot is, so he shows her ‘whispering,’ and he really
wants us to feel how swept up the children get that
they ‘surge’ around her.
The long sentences are there to kind of show how
swept up the children are, like they are a wave almost,
not even thinking about what they’re doing…
Now you try… Let’s start with the theme that
jealousy makes you selfish or
blind to others.
What do these craft moves
make you think about the
idea?
Start with a prompt, like “This
makes me realize…” or “This
connects to the idea
of…by…” or one of the other
from the poster/handout
Turn to your groups and talk
for a few minutes(page 20 in your packet)
Writing Long about Craft…In this scene, Bradbury uses descriptive language to show how vulnerable Margot is, and he uses long sentences to show how the children have gotten swept up in their jealousy. This connects to the idea that jealousy makes you blind to others, because the children cannot see how much they are hurting Margot. The long sentence, “They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door,” shows them almost not knowing what they are doing. They are caught up in their own jealousy. This makes me realize that this story shows us that when you get caught up in your own pain, you can hurt other people. Bradbury uses descriptive language and long sentences to illustrate how out of control the children have become because of their jealousy.
Now you try to write about craft…
You’ve learned that one way to look more closely at a theme is to examine the authorial decisions that were made in key scenes, thinking about what they might reveal about the theme you are considering.
We’ve already
completed
these steps.
Now, we
must
complete
this step.
(page 5 in your packet)
Lesson 3 Assignment
By tomorrow you will need to write long for at
least two more pages & you have to have an
idea for a thesis statement. This time you will
be examining author’s craft.
Go back to some to the same scenes, you’ve
already examined closely, but this time instead
of looking at the scene, look at the way the
author wrote the scene (AKA the literary devices
he/she used: comparisons, alliteration, repetition, imagery,
personification, sentence length, etc.)
You’ll mention a literary device and then use one of the
prompts from page 8 to explain your thinking to continue
writing about that device and what you think the author
was trying to accomplish by using it.
Refer to our sample paragraph for help.
On page 19
in your
packet, there
is a craft
organizer…
this is a
good place
to start
organizing
your ideas.
This isn’t
easy! You
need to use
all of the
resources
from page
17-22 to
help you.
Lesson 3A Now that you’ve thoroughly explored different themes by
writing long… try to come up with a couple potential claims for your essay. You can discuss these claims (theme statements) with your group and get help from them.
Possible claims for “All Summer in a Day”
◦ Jealousy makes people selfish.
◦ When jealousy and grief get the best of us, everyone suffers.
◦ When you act out of jealousy, you will feel guilty.
◦ It is difficult to watch someone grieve what you never had.
◦ When people cannot get over their own pain, sometimes they end up hurting others.
What is a claim? It’s also known as a thesis statement…
Lesson 3A
Now that you know what a thesis
statement is…you must write one and
gain approval.
See me before the end of class so that
I can approve your thesis statement. Remember, you’ve already been brainstorming since lesson
2A…you thought about it again last night, so these are just
the final changes.
Lesson 3A Assignment By tomorrow you will need the essay you
will write all planned out.
To do that you need:
◦ Approved thesis
◦ Body paragraph plan
Topic sentence
Content you will include
◦ Evidence from text with page numbers
You should have everything you need in order to
start writing your essay from start to finish!