Writing Arguments about LiteratureStories & Poems

LiteratureLiterature that we would deem worthy of study in the classroom tends to

require interpretation and tends to deal with

important issues humans face.

ArgumentRemember that when you

argue, you try to persuade an audience to accept your claims about an issue, working toward

this aim by offering evidence, showing your

reasoning, making assumptions, and

employing other kinds of appeals.

Audience• Formal, academic writing

• Follow MLA format

• No 1st or 2nd person

• No contractions

• Use elevated language. Avoid weak, ineffectual, and vague words.

ArgumentCome up with

• an issue worth addressing,

• a claim about that issue, &

• evidence for that claim

Be prepared to identify

• your process of reasoning &

• your assumptions

Thesis• Identify an issue

• Make a main claim (about a theme)

• Preview your evidence

Issues• Fact – gaps in information given

• Theme – main claim or message

• Definition – denotative (dictionary) & connotative (associations)

• Symbolism – representations, imagery, metaphor

• Patterns – organization, repetition, breaks in patterns, oppositions

• Genre – impacts readers’ expectations

Issues• Evaluation – judgment of characters &

artistic quality • Philosophical – wise?• Ethical – morally good?• Aesthetic – successful art?

• Historical & cultural context – author’s biography, time period & culture; time period & culture of work’s setting; reception of work

• Social policy – attempt to highlight problems in society &/or promote solutions

• Cause & effect – character’s motivation, author’s purpose

Literary Studies Topics

• gender

• ethnic background

• social class

• sexual orientation

• divisions, conflicts, & multiple forces within the self

• boundaries

• politics & ideology

• carnivals & other festivities (celebrations & retreat from work)

Literary Studies Topics

• distinctions between the universal & the historically or culturally specific

• relations between public & private, social & personal

• relations between “high” and “low” (or popular) culture

• role of performance in everyday life

• religious values

• desire & pleasure

• the body

• memory

Devising a Theme

• What does the work say about the issue?

• Midlevel generalization• Not cliché

• Not specific to the work

• Complications invited

• Significance of title

• Observation or recommendation

• Phrase as a problem

• “a” theme (not “the” theme)

Evidence• details from the work

• literary elements & devices

• direct quotations

• facts (historical or cultural context)

• secondary sources (analysis)

Questions for Analysis

• What goes with what? (association)

• What opposes what? (opposition)

• What follows what? (sequence)

• What follows from what? (consequence)

Short Story Elements

• Plot & structure

• Point of view

• Characters

• Setting

• Imagery ( & symbolism)

• Language (including dialogue)

Poetry Elements• Speaker &

tone

• Diction & syntax

• Figures of speech• metaphor• simile• synecdoche• metonymy• symbols• allegory

• Sound• rhyme• alliteration• assonance

• Rhythm & meter

Reading Poetry• Read poem silently.

• Read it again, this time aloud, and listen for the language. Listen for natural points of emphasis.

• Read a third time, marking key terms as you go. Mark passages you emphasized while reading aloud and why these seem important or warrant emphasis.

• Divide the poem into a beginning, middle, and end. Think about why you made the divisions you made. What happens in each part?

Quote Sandwich• Introduce the

context of the quote.

• Quote tag & quote (copy & punctuate accurately).

• Explain the significance of the quote (how it supports your argument).

Quote SandwichIago suspects that Othello slept with Iago’s wife. From then on, the jealousy that grows inside him turns into a wild, uncontrollable fire that refuses to be put out. Iago does not think he is talking about himself when he tells Roderigo, “Our bodies are gardens, to which our wills are gardeners” (I.iii.314-315). His will is controlled by jealousy, which causes him to act out of his jealous nature.

Secondary Sources• Must use a quote tag. No floating quotes.

• unacceptable:“Xxxxxxxxxx” (34).

• minimum: John Smith writes, “Xxxxxxxxxx” (34).

• better:John Smith, professor of English at X University, asserts, “Xxxxxxxxxx” (34).

• best:John Smith, professor of English at X University, explains the character’s motivation when he asserts, “Xxxxxxxxxx” (34).

Quote SandwichTrainers also can prevent ailments as simple as an asthma attack. Ron Walker, who is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma, uses an example of a high school basketball player who died from an asthma attack to emphasize how important a trainer is for prevention. Walker said, “Her death might have been prevented had her coach been properly trained or if an athletic trainer were present” (qtd. in Brewer). Being a medical professional, a trainer is able to keep things under control so a problem or injury does not become something so drastic.

Quote SandwichOdysseus’s nostos story, then, becomes not only one of literal return to home by surviving life-threatening dangers but also a return to the self. W. B. Stanford sums up this sentiment when he writes, “The movement of the Odyssey is essentially inwards, homewards, towards normality” (50). Through his nostos, Odysseus achieves the soldier’s return as he struggles to reintegrate into the normal, domestic world that he left behind.

Explain Reasoning & Assumptions: Sample

“This is why having a good family is so important in today’s society because  there are so many people out there that  are so accustomed to bad moral character and will share that with others around them. For the ones that are accustomed to bad morals, such as Isis , are taking  Americans with somewhat of a good morality and infesting them with their awful morals. If more and more people get accustomed to the morals such as Isis has, the world will be a really scary place to live in.”

Explain Reasoning & Assumptions: Sample

“To most people in the U.S, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , the leader of the terrorist group, ISIS, has no value for family nor love nor friendship; that is why he kills people without thinking about the effect it would have on their families. A man with wise judgment would not be able to lead a terrorist group and make the world unsafe for billions of people in order to prove a point.”  

Explain Reasoning & Assumptions: Sample

“Say  there are two first-world countries with a similar number of citizens, and they conduct a literacy census on their respective populations. Once the census for each country is completed, it is revealed that Country One has a much higher literacy rate than Country Two. The leaders of Country Two decide that they need to take measures  in order to raise their country’s literacy rate to at least match Country One’s literacy rate. Envy makes people within a community want to better themselves, and if they were deprived of it, society would become dull and stagnant, with everyone content with what they have and never wanting something better.”  

Explain Reasoning & Assumptions: Sample

“For example, the terrorist group in Nigeria, Boko Haram, forbade western education because they believe it defies their religion, so they terrorize others that  do not have the same belief. If this terrorist group valued respect for others, they would acknowledge and even protect others’ views of western education, thereby creating a safer world.”

Comparison• Write a thoughtful analytical

response to each piece individually.

• Take notes on similarities and differences between the two pieces.

• Identify an issue that both pieces address. Do they share any themes?

• Consider weighting your comparison (see Arguing about Literature pg 115)

Structures for Comparison

• Address one piece fully, then the second piece (2 or 4 body paragraphs).

• Address a literary element or device in each piece, then a different literary element or device in each piece (2 or 4 body paragraphs).

• Weighted comparison: Focus on one piece and use the other only as support.