Writing

Literary Essay

Introductions Usually Go Like This...

• Lead (1-2 sentences)
• Title and Author + Brief Summary (main character, problem) (1-2 sentences)
• Thesis (1 sentence)
• Reasons (1 sentence)

The world can be a tough place for someone who has faced a major loss, especially if that someone is a kid.  In the story “Shells” by Cynthia Rylant, Michael loses his parents and moved in with his Aunt Esther, who at first seems not to care about his needs.  Luckily, things don’t stay that way forever.  “Shells” teaches that things can get better if you change.  This is true for Sluggo, for Aunt Esther, and, most of all for Michael.

In life, everyone faces hard times.  Some people face hard times in school, and some people face hard times at home.  How you deal with those hard times is what makes all the difference.  In the story “Shells” by Cynthia Rylant, Michael has hard times because his parents recently died and he has to move in with his Aunt Esther, who doesn’t seem to care about him at first.  “Shells” teaches that things can get better if you change.  This is true for Sluggo, for Aunt Esther, and most of all, for Michael.

In literature, authors write a lot about characters who face particularly tough times.  What’s fascinating to see is that characters respond to these problems in different ways.  “Shells” by Cynthia Rylant is filled with characters who change gradually when they encounter problems.  “Shells” teaches that things can get better if you change.  This is true for Sluggo, for Aunt Esther, and most of all, for Michael.

Body Paragraphs with Quotes Usually Go Like This...

1. Write your thesis + reason as your topic sentence.

• One reason/ way/ character  that shows (thesis) is (reason).

2. Give a quick summary/ background information to set up the quote.

• In this part…(1-2 sentence summary)
• In the beginning/ end (1-2 sentence summary)

3. Add the quote.

• The author writes, “...”
• The text says, “...”
• (The character) says, “...”

4. Unpack and elaborate your quote, connecting it to your reason and thesis.
1. Tell what this part shows and how it proves your reason and thesis.

• This shows readers that ________.
• This is important because ________.
• In this part we see ________.

2. (Optional)  Discuss author’s craft technique in this part.

• The author used (craft) to ______.
• Ex: In this part, Cynthia Rylant uses revealing actions to show how

Aunt Esther changes and opens up to Michael.

• If you have more than one quote, sometimes you might decide to elaborate

after you add them both. (see example below)

Example

Another way the text teaches that things can get better if you change is through Aunt Esther.  At first, Aunt Esther, is closed off from Michael.  She yells at him, saying “Don’t yell at me!” She also spends her afternoons talking with her friends on the phone instead of talking to Michael.  Later, though, Aunt Esther allows herself to be vulnerable in front of Michael.  She does this first in small ways when she shows interest in Sluggo and brings Michael to the store to buy more hermit crabs.  But then Aunt Esther changes in big ways at the end of the story when she accidentally hurts Michael’s feelings by talking carelessly about his parents.  She whispers an apology to him, saying “I’m so sorry, Michael.”  Then she embraces him, and touches his arm.  Cynthia Rylant uses revealing actions to show how Aunt Esther finally opens up to Michael.  In the beginning, she rarely touched anyone but now she is embracing Michael.  She changes by finally showing compassion towards Michael.

Conclusions Usually Go Like This...

• Restate the broader theme or thesis.
• Make a connection to:
• Your thesis and tell why your claim matters
• A life lesson you learned
• An issue in the world
• A song or quote that ties into your claim
• Optional- Suggest a further way of acting, of thinking, or a new question.
• “From now on…”

Models:

As you can see, the characters in “Shells” undergo major changes across the story.  They go from being closed off and more isolated from one another to being more open.  This story shows that you should be kind to the people around you and sensitive to their needs.  You never know what people are going through.  They might just need a little kindness and a little time to help them come out of their shells.

As you can see, even with so many setbacks, hard work and determination paid off for the “Paynee Football Club”.  On their journey to create their own football team, they never gave up, and they became one of the best football clubs in Southern Thailand.  This story shows that nothing is impossible when you persevere.  If we think of all of the challenges we face each day, few compare to the massive challenge of building a field on water!  From now on, I encourage you to remember their story when you think you can’t do something.  If they can do it, you can too!

Through this story, we learn that if you want to find happiness you need to try.  Willie and Mrs Markham would have stayed miserable forever, if it wasn’t for Willie trying to find a “cure” for their unhappiness.  This lesson is something that we can learn from in our own lives.  While it might be easier to sit and sulk about our problems, the only way we can make things better is if we try.  

Unit 1: Poetry Anthologies

Gathering Ideas
Use the strategies and ideas that we discussed in class to help you write a poem that expresses an idea:

Use the 6 Room Poem Chart

Think about what's in your heart 
-What do you love?
-What's your favorite place?

- What events has really affected you?

- What people have been important to you?

- What are some experiences or central events that you will never forget?

- What happy or sad memories do you have?

- What small things or objects are important to you - a tree, a trophy, a stuffed animal...?

- Should some things be outside of the heart and some inside of it?

- Do you want to draw more than one heart? - good and bad; happy and sad; secret and open- and include different things inside of each heart

- What's in the center of your heart?

- What is on the outside edges?

- What makes you laugh?

- Are there any animals or pets in your heart?

Think about Issues that you care about
- terrorism- trying to take over, bombing and attacking innocent people.
- refugees- people without a home who have to flee from their country
- global warming- pollution, environment, oil spill, landfills, cutting down our forests- animals
- racism
- bullying
- sexism- dress, what they are allowed to do, how much money they make
- endangered animals- elephants
- people scamming others- unfair things happening to people
- homelessness- sick, starving...
- police violence against African Americans

- housing crisis- high rent, not enough places to live that people can afford