Prose Analysis – Kiss and Tell
Instructions: Below you will find a sample essay for Kiss and Tell, written by a fellow AP scholar. For revision practice and skill building, complete the following for YOUR essay AND for the sample essay.
- Annotate the what, how, and why in both thesis statements.
- Underline the universal theme in both thesis statements.
- Highlight evidence in all body paragraphs (specific examples from the passage and/or terminology).
- Highlight analysis in all body paragraphs (using a different color).
*Remember, summary is not necessary for the prose passage because the passage is available to all readers and writers).
Sample Essay:
In this passage from Kiss and Tell, Alain de Botton establishes comic relief through the use of irony and through his description of the stereotypical, predictable behavior of the narrator’s date’s parents, establishing the relatable nature of embarrassment that children can face at the hands of their elders.
Upon the first introduction to the couple, the author points out the cautionary statements and shame his date, Isabel, feels toward her parents. She immediately remarks the disapproval of her mother’s outfit as resembling a “willow tree” and her age as if to distinguish herself from her mother as fast as possible. Isabel also reveals her mother’s marital infidelities to her date, stating that she hopes her mother isn’t there with one of her “gentleman” friends. The irony of this situation is that Isabel is explicitly revealing all of the negative qualities and characteristics of her parents despite the fact that she is trying to avoid them. Clearly, the lack of social awareness here has transcended generations.
The setting of the fiasco takes place in a theater, and the author uses the elegant setting to emphasize the parents’ contrasting lack of grace. The author uses juxtaposition to highlight the contrast between the parents’ embarrassing behavior and the “elegantly suited and scented audience.” For example, among the sophisticated surroundings, the author says the father stood up in the middle of the theater “and began making the vigorous hand gestures of a man waving off a departing cruise ship” while similarly, his wife shouted at top pitch like “a woman recognizing a long lost friend on the deck of an incoming cruise.” The use of onomatopoeia to describe the “aaahtchoo” of Isabel’s father’s sneeze also emphasizes the lack of social graces her parents have and the embarrassment that Isabel feels in their presence.
Irony adds humor to the passage when Isabel has accurately predicted her parents’ petty argument about her father clumsily dropping the parking ticket at the end of the excerpt. Her father’s euphemism of “they’re so fiddly these days, they fall right out of one’s hands” provides humor, as Isabel has already revealed to readers that her father loses everything.
This pathetic predictability of one’s parents provides a universal connection to readers as they can empathize (or at least sympathize) with Isabel’s situation.
--OVER--
Other great points for body paragraphs:
Dad waving to a “departing” cruise ship while mother waving to an “incoming” one – highlights their misfit personalities and inappropriate decorum
Isabel reveals all of the embarrassing aspects of her parents to her date before the traits even manifest; it seems that her parents are not the only ones who don’t know proper etiquette!
Embarrassment Isabel feels when they treat her like a child, despite the fact that she’s an adult out on a date (calling her “bean” and saying it’s a “pity she doesn’t have more of a cleavage for it [dress]”; her mother also implies that she cannot make purchases on her own (“is it [dress] the one that I paid for at Christmas?”)
Dad’s fixation on the “tungsten lightbulbs” – more interested in examining them than the conversation at hand (much less meeting his daughter’s date)
Metonymy when “Lorca comes to the rescue,” temporarily relieving Isabel from her embarrassment
Irony of observing a Spanish domestic drama, much like the domestic drama that’s unfolding before the narrator’s eyes
Universal quality/application of embarrassing family dynamics clashing with newly-formed relationships
Silent narrator– highlights the fact that he doesn’t have to say anything to fully observe this “train wreck”