18.4 Outlining Your Main Points: Lead Each Paragraph with Your Claim
One of the biggest challenges with the Literary Interpretation Essay is in presenting an interpretive argument rather than just summary or description. The process of developing a thesis statement often involves moving from a topic to a thesis. A topic is different from a thesis. A topic is a general subject while a thesis is a statement of claim about how that topic is depicted in a particular text.
Deciding on a topic or general focus is an important part of the process of writing an interpretation essay, but the next step is to take your topic, and notes, and turn your general focus into a solid outline of an argument-driven interpretation essay.
The following examples illustrate how two students refined their original topics for their literary interpretation essays, turning their general focuses into thesis statements.
Example 1
Original Topic and Outline:
There are many different types of relationships in Jane Austen.
sister – sister
parent – child
woman – future husband
Revised Thesis and Outline:
Although it may seem as though Jane Austen’s novels are focused on young women who are obsessed with getting married, the crucial connection in Austen is actually the relationship between sisters rather than the relationship between a woman and man. In both Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, Austen represents the most important relationship as the one between the sisters. Austen depicts the relationship of the sisters—Marianne and Elinor, and Elizabeth and Jane—as having the components of an ideal marriage, specifically: 1.) shared experiences and time, 2.) devotion and protection, 3.) depth and frequency in their communication, 4.) growth and challenge, and 5.) physical proximity. In this sense, it is the sisters who function as soul mates to each other rather than the men they marry.
Marianne and Elinor
-
- shared experiences and time
- devotion and protection
- depth and frequency in their communication
- growth and challenge
Elizabeth and Jane
-
- shared experiences and time
- devotion and protection
- depth and frequency in their communication
- growth and challenge
The essential component of Austen’s concluding HEA (“happily ever after”) is based upon the sisters’ relationship, not their marriages: the happiness comes from the sisters living near each other and being a part of each other’s daily lives. [#5: physical proximity]
Example 2
Original Topic Sentence and Outline:
Romance of the Forest, Sense and Sensibility, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail reflect inequities of the time they were written—between rich and poor and men and women.
Revised Thesis and Outline:
Sense and Sensibility, Romance of the Forest, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail all contain critiques of aristocrats and upper gentry. Each author sets about to accomplish this goal differently, but all through some form of satire. Jane Austen achieves her critique through social satire and irony, Ann Radcliffe through her use of the gothic, especially her depiction of the Marquis, and Monty Python through comic, absurd satire.
1. Jane Austen’s use of irony in Sense and Sensibility is evident in her mocking characterizations of Fanny as self-interested, hypocritical and heartless.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
2. One of the conventions of the gothic is that it is politically egalitarian and anti- royalist. In Romance of the Forest, Ann Radcliffe’s use of gothic is directed against the aristocracy, especially in her scathing depiction of the Marquis as a duplicitous murderer and rapist.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
3. Monty Python’s work is recognizable as satire given how absurd and over-the-top its comedy is. In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one of the targets of the satire is the aristocracy.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Synthesize connections between the three works as conclusion.
Notice how the examples above follow the guidelines of naming the literary work and author in the opening sentences, and developing a clear thesis statement by end of the introductory paragraph.
Continue Reading: 18.5 Curate Your Collection of Relevant Evidence from the Literary Work
