c h a /) t e r 3

Thesis

The thesis of all essay is its main or controlling idea, the point the writer is ttying to make. The thesis is often expressed ill a Ol1e- or two­sentence statement, a lthough sometimes it is implied or suggested rather than stated directly. The thesis statement determines the COll­

tent of the essay: everything the writer says must be logically related to the thesis statement.

Because eve rything you say in your composition must he logically related to your thesis, the thesis statement controls and directs tb e choices you make about the contem of your essCly. This cloes not mean that your thesis statement is a straitjacket. As your essay devel­ops, you JTlay want to modify your thesis statement to accommodate your new thinking. This urge is not 01l1y acceptable; it is normal.

Olle way to develop a working thes is is to determine a questiol1 that you are trying to answer in your essay. A one- or two-sentence auswer to

this question often produces a temative thesis statement. For example, a student wamed to answer th e fol/owing question ill her essay:

\)0 Me" ",,,01- WOMe" i--I",ve oI-i.f'.f'eve"l- co"vevs",\-io"",l spe",\:i"3 st-yles7

IIer preliminary answer to this question was this:

Me" ",,,01- WOMe" "'ppe",v l-o i--I",ve oI-i.f'.f'eve"l- objechves wi--Ie" l-i--Iey co"vevse.

After writing two drafts, she modified her thesis to better fit the eXClmples she had gathered:

lJevy o.f'l-e", co"vevs",\-io"s bei-wee" Me" ",,,01- wOVo\e" becoVo\e sil-u,,,,\-io,,s i" wi--lici--l l-i--Ie M"''' 3ives '" Mi"i-lecl-u,ve ",,,01- l-i--Ie WOM"'''

u,,,wil-h"3Iy l-u,v"s i"l-o '" c",pl-ive ",u,oI-ie"ce.

73

74 THESIS

A thesis statement be

used to support it, and

of your paper.

•

•

you make aboul your

A thesis statement is not a an assertion-a claim made about a issue that can be with evidence.

Another effective strategy thesis statement is to "What I wallt to say is that. ...

you will be with awhen you the thesis statement:

the thesis is in the essay, sometimes in first sentence. Here are some thesis statements that essays:

is eye behavior.One of the 1110st potent eleillents in -Flora Da vis

and eila t r\mericans can be divioeJ inro three

E

Over past become apparent that disorders among adolescents.

-Helen A. Guthrie

Clutier the disease of All1erican III ul1neccss~ ry pom pOllS

-\XIilli~Jtl Zinsser

do:these sentenCes does what a thesis statemellt the tonic and makes assertion abollt it.

Thesis 7S

Often writers prepare re,lders for the thesis statement with one or several sentences that ,] context. Notice jn the exa how a uthor eases the reader into his a bOllt televi­sion instead of presenting it in the sentence:

With the advent of for the first time in history. all of animal and human life and of societal and

behavior have been condensed on dIe average to a screen and a 30-minllte time ,[ot.

nor art, for our children who arc

011 occasion writer 11l0Y even a thesis until the or the of an essay. If the

troversJaI or needs discussion and ill later to make it easier the

ncar or the end of all essay, a thesis also g:mls prOllllnence. after an involved discllssion about

various groups put pressure on school to a student ended an essay with thesis:

The effort to censor wh<1t om chilJrcll !T;ld­

and withill schools COllltnllllities. If we call g<l all

,Iwvr censor we will be better nrcDared to

TheSIS

-T';H;1 s.ludCIl(

st;Jtcments. sllch ;)s letters :1l1cl J iaries.

Iws ;1 that is

e"l~oyces i\-s o~ il-s S\-t-\,Ae"l\-"O\\-""e\-es will be

The Most Itnportant Day

• Helen Keller

Helell Keller (1880-1968) was afflicted by a disease that left her blind and deaf at th e age of eighteen 1IIonths. With the aid of her teacher, Amze Mansfield Sullivan, she was able to overC011le her severe handicaps, to graduate from Radcliffe College, and to lead a productive and challengil1g adult life. III the followi11g se­lectiO I1 frail! her alftobiugratJhy, The Story of My Life (1902), Keller tells of the day she first met AlIlle SlIlIivall, a da y she regarded as the m ost imtJortant iJl h er life.

As y01/ read, lIote that Keller states her th esis ill the Illst paragraph {l1/.d that the rell/ailling paragratJhs 1I1aintain unity by elllphasizi11g th e ill/{Jortance of th e Jay her teacher arrived, even lhough th ey dea l with the days and weeks followillg.

Reflecting on What You Know

Reflec t on the events o f whdt you cons id er " the most important day" of your lire. Briefly describe what happened. Why was tl, at particlilar day so significant?

T he l110st impo rtant day I remember in a ll Illy life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivall, caille to me. I am

fill ed with wonder when I consider the ill1ll1casura blc contrast between the two lives which it connects. It was the third of Ivlarch, 1887, three months befo re I was seve n yea rs old.

On th e afternoon of that event fu l day, I stood on the porch, dumb,' expectant. J guessed vaguely from my mother 's signs and from the hur­ryillg to and fro in the hOllse that something unusual was about to hap­pen, so I went to the door and waited on the steps. The afteflloon slin penetrated the Illass of honeysuck le lhat covered the porch and fell on Illy upturn ed face. My fingers lingered a lillos t unconsciously 011 the familiar leaves and bloSSO J1ls which had just come forth to greet th e sweet southern spring. I did not know what the future held of marvel or

Id"", h: unable to speak; Illure.

76

.. YW!I .a Ii ...,-».rG

Keller I Th e Most 1111/w1"tal1t Day - 77

surptise for me. Anger and bitterness had preyed upon me continually for weeks and a deep languor2 had succeeded this passionate struggle.

Have you eve, been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anx­iOlls, groped her way towa rd the shore with plummet and sOllnding·· line,3 and you waited with beating heart fo r something to happen? I was like that ship before my education bega n, only r was without CO I11­

pass or sounding-line, alld had no way of knowing how nea r the harbor was. "Light! Give me light! " was the wo rdless cry of l11 y so ul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour.

I felt approaching footsteps. I stretched o ut my hand as r slipposed to my mother. So meolle took it, alld I was ca ught lip a lld held close in the arms of her who had come to revea l all things to me, and, more thall al l things else, to love me.

The Illorning after my teacher came she led me iJlto her room allel gave me a doll. The little blind childrell at the Perkins Jnstitutio1l4 had sent it and Laura I)ridgman5 had dressed it; but J did not know this until afterward. When l had played with it a little while, J'vli ss Sullivan slowly spelled into my ban d the word "d-o-l-I." I was a t Ollce interested ill th is finger pJay and tried to imita te it. \X/hen [ fillall y succeeded ill making the letters correctl y I was flushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running downsta irs to my mother I held up my hand and made the letters for dol L I did Ilot know that 1was spelling a word or even t1 1<1 t words existed ; I was si l11ply ma king l1l y fingers go in 1110nkeylike imitatioll. In th e da ys th at followed 1 learn ed to spell in this uncol1lpre­hending way a great many words, among them {)ill , hat, cut) and a few verbs like sit, stand, alld wall". But llIy teacher had been with me sev ­eral wecks befo re I understood that everything has a name.

One day, while I was playing with 111)' new doll, Mi ss Sullivan put (, Illy big rag doll into my lap also, spelled "d-o-l -I" and tried to make l1I e ullderstaml that "d-o-l-J" applied to bo tl!. Ea rli er in the da y we had had a tussle over th e words " m-u-g" a lld "w-a-t-e-r." Miss Sulli va n had tried to impress it upon me th at " m-u·g" is mug and

l la llgllor: s lu g~ i shness .

Jplul11l1Iel . . . l illc: a we ight tied to a line thJt is used to me;lsure the depth of rhe ()ce~ n .

' r erkills 1l1S1illllion: the first school for blino childrclI ill the Ullited Sta leS, opened ill .1932 and IOGlTcd in Sourh Boston during her rime rherc. 'The schoo l ll10ved to \Varcrtow n, Massachusetts, in '1912. sLallra 1Iringl11O" ( 1829-11189): a deaf-hlind gi rl who was cdllc~rcd ar lhe Perkin.s Institution ill Ih e 18405.

I r

78 :-~ THESIS Keller / The Must JlIl!7ortant Day ~ 79

Ii. that "w-a-t-e-r" is water, but I persisted in confounding the two. In t' eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the despair she had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither Isorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst. I had not loved the ~' doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong senti ­ment or tenderness. I felt Illy teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth, and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of Illy dis­comfort was removed. She brought me my h,lt, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensa­tion may be called a thought, made me hop and skip with pleasure.

!We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fra­ 7 ! grance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As t the cool stream gushed over one hand she spe,lIed into the other the lword water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole atten­tion fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a lllisty ~ consciollsness as of something forgotten-a thrill of returning I thought; a nd somehow the mystery of la nguage was revea led to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. The living weird awakened my soul, gave 1­

it light, hope, joy, set it fre e! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could ill time be swept away.

I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each nal1le g;1Ve birth to a new thought. As we retumed to the house 8 t every object which 1 touc hed seemed to quiver with life. That was I because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me. On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears; for I realized what I had done, ilnd for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow.

I learned a great many flew words that day. 1 do not remember wh<l t they a II were; but I do kllOw tha t mother, (ather, sister, teacher were among the Ill-words that were to make the world blossom for me, "like Aaron's rod,6 with flowers." It would have becn difficult to

find a h ,,' ppier child th;]n I was as I by ill my crib at the close of that

"/1"1"0"·5 rud: ill Jewish Jnd Christian traditi(lns, a rod similar to Moses's st~rr that, ill rhe high priest Aaron 's hunds , had miraculous power. r:

first time longed for a new day to come.

Thinl<ing Critically about This Reading

Keller writes that" 'Light! Give me li.ght!' was the wordless cry of [her] soul" (paragraph 3). What was the "light" Keller longed for, and how did receiving it change her life?

Questions for Study and Discussion

1. What is Keller's thesis? What question do you think Keller is trying to answer? Does her thesis answer her question?

2. What is Keller's purpose? (Glossary: PZiI/7ose)

3. What was Keller's state of mind before Anne Sullivall arrived to help her? To what does she COl1lpare herself? (Glossary: Analogy) How effective is this comparison? Explain .

4. Why was the realization that everything has a nalTle important to Keller?

5. How was th e "mystery of language" (7) revealed to Ke ller? What were the consequences for her of this new understanding of the nature of language?

6. Keller narr<ltes the events of the day Sullivan arrived (2-4), the morning after she arrived (5), and one day several weeks after her arrival (6-9). (Glossary: NalTation) Describe what happens on each day, and expl<lin how these separate incidents support Keller's thesis.

Classroom Activity Using Thesis

Oue effective way of focusing 011 your subject is to develop a list of specific questions about it at the start. This strategy has a number of advantages. Each question narrows the general subject area, suggest­ing a more manageable essay. Also, simply phrasing your topic as a question gives YOll a starting point; your work has foclls and direc­tion from the outset. hllall )" a one- or two-sentence answer to your qllestion often provides YOLI with a preliminary thesis statement.

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