Simple Step by Step instructions

Introduction: Hook, Thesis, Preview of 3 arguments that use literary

devices

1. Thesis Statement:
Begin your essay with a clear and concise thesis statement. This should be a
single sentence that conveys the main argument or interpretation you'll be
discussing in your essay. Then show how this thesis is connected to the story.
The thesis part is in bold.
🐸Do not summarize - analyze

Examples

'The Paper Menagerie' explores the challenges individuals face in

reconciling their cultural identity with the pressures of assimilation,
emphasizing the profound consequences of rejecting one's heritage due to
societal expectations and xenophobia. Specifically In the story, Jack the son of
an American father and a Chinese mother rejects his mother's love and her Chinese
culture after he experiences bullying and prejudice

The main idea in "The Paper Menagerie" is the importance of

acknowledging and demonstrating love for those in our lives, irrespective
of differences, before the opportunity slips away. Specifically, the story
explores the fractured relationship between a mother and son, highlighting the sad
consequences of his rejection of her affection.

The main idea of "The Paper Menagerie” is the importance of cherishing

familial connections and the lasting impact of failing to do so. Specifically in
the story the protagonist only realizes how precious his mother’s love was after she
has died

The “Paper Menagerie” illustrates how prejudice and discrimination can

lead individuals to distance themselves from their cultural roots and loved
ones. Specifically in the story the a mother suffers the loss of her son’s love due to
the pressures he felt to assimilate into American culture.

2. Preview:
Provide a brief overview of the points or arguments you'll be making in the
body of your essay. This acts as a roadmap for your readers and gives them an
idea of what to expect.

Example (the bold is the literary device, the underline is how it

works in the story)
The story conveys this message through personification of the origami
creations, highlighting their shared cultural value in his childhood,
 characterization of Jack’s father's role in his feelings of shame, and the
setting of the American white suburban neighbourhood to represent racial
intolerance

🐸Always use a literary device (any one) and apply it to a moment in the story
to show what it represents. Do not just list devices. Ex: The story uses irony,
symbolism, and setting to get a message across.

—————— Your introduction is complete——————————————

Analytical Paragraphs: Claim, Evidence, Analysis, Evidence, Analysis,

Evidence, Repetition of Key terms of Claim

The body of your essay will typically consist of multiple analytical paragraphs.
Each paragraph should contain the following elements:

Topic Sentence (Claim):

Start each paragraph with a clear and specific topic sentence that states
the main point or argument for that paragraph and includes a literary
device, Your claim is one of the previews in your introduction.

Evidence:
Provide evidence to support your topic sentence. This could be
quotations from the text, examples, or specific references to the work
you're analyzing. The quotes are always part of a sentence and are put
in context.

Analysis:
Analyze and interpret the evidence you've presented. Explain how it
supports your thesis or contributes to your overall argument. This is
where you demonstrate your critical thinking and understanding of the
text. Refer directly to the words in the quote

Repetition of key terms of the claim:

Final sentence in the paragraph where you repeat the key terms of the
claim

Example:
(literary Device). (what is does in the story)
CLAIM The origami made by Jack’s mother symbolizes his relationship with
his heritage. First, throughout the story, the origami’s actions show what Jack truly
feels towards his Chinese identity. EVIDENCE For example, after putting them
away, “the animals had escaped and taken over their old favorite spots in my room.
I caught them all and put them back into the shoebox, taping the lid shut. But the
animals made so much noise in the box that I finally shoved it into the corner of the
attic as far away from my room as possible” (Liu 32). ANALYSIS Here, the animals
know that they’re not supposed to come out, but they do it anyway because that is
how they feel free. Their yearning for freedom continues to be shown by their noise,
even once the box has been shut. This mirrors what Jack feels. Jack is forced to hide
his identity and act like a “true” American when he doesn’t want to. He is internally
screaming and wishing to come out of the shoebox, which in this case, is being a
white American boy who only speaks English. Also, just like the animals being
forced to stay as far away from Jack, he is being forced to disregard part of his
identity by society. Moreover, the origamis show the regression of Jack’s
relationship towards his cultural identity. EVIDENCE This can be seen when
Jack describes the animals after many years in the attic : “The paper menagerie,
hidden in the non-insulated darkness of the attic for so long, had become brittle,
and the bright wrapping paper patterns had faded” (Liu 40) ANALYSIS, If taken
proper care of the patterns on wrapping papers don’t fade, but these are damaged,
representing the neglect Jack showed towards his culture, Furthermore, the
wrapping paper of the origami colour has become more faint symbolizing that part
of Jack deteriorated as he grew. Indeed, the more he grew up, the more he forgot
about Chinese culture. It came to a point where he didn’t know if his mandarin was
understandable because he never bothered to learn anything about his culture.
Likewise, the paper was said to be brittle, meaning that Jack’s character was
becoming weak. This is due to him being saddened by forgetting his Chinese
heritage. REPETITION OF KEY TERMS OF CLAIM In short, the symbolization
of the origamis represents his feelings of being unfree and sad by society
because he wishes to embrace both of his cultures.

🐸Your quotes are in context and part of a sentence.

🐸Your analysis is longer than your quotes.
🐸You refer directly to the quotes. The quotes are your evidence. The words are the
clues. Talk about the words in your quote.

Helpful tips:
Useful verbs to use in a claim:
Suggest
Implies
Reveals
Represents
Symbolizes
These verbs do not guarantee that you have a good claim, but they make it more
likely

Integrating quotations
It must be clear to the reader what the purpose the quotation has in relation
to your analysis, and in order to make this purpose clear the quotation must
be integrated into a sentence of your own.

Incorrect:
The narrator evaluates the intelligence of Miss Dent. “She was not clever”
(32).

Correct:
The narrator evaluates the intelligence of Miss Dent: “She was not clever”
(32).
or
The narrator says that Miss Dent is “not clever” (32).

The meaning of a quotation is not only connected to who is speaking but also
the position of the quotation in the literary text. Make sure to give enough
information:
Incorrect: The narrator says that “There were hatboxes piled in a corner”
(32).
Correct: The narrator describes Miss Dent’s room as Blake sees it “There
were hatboxes piled in a corner” (32).
In the first example, we do not even know what room is being described. We
do not know what corner is being referred to. In the second example, we
know that it is Miss Dent’s room. The information is crucial if we are trying to
show how the quotation reveals something about Miss Dent.

Edit: Give yourself the challenge. Eliminate 5-50 words in every

paragraph. Your writing will be tighter and less repetitive.