The Formal Literary Essay

K. Parrish

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The Formal Literary Essay

Writing about Literature

  • gathering evidence
  • direct and indirect references
  • contextualizing quotations
  • working with long quotations
  • how to document plays and poetry
  • putting it all together

An Essay is Like a Journey:

  • Introductions
  • Body (argumentative) Paragraphs
  • Conclusions

Format: what your essay should look like

  • The Title Page
  • The Essay Itself
  • The Works Cited Page

Language and tone: What your essay should sound like

  • levels of formality- what does formal mean?
  • can I use “I”?
  • avoiding sexist language

Appendix:

Writing about Film, Television, Video Games and other media

Writing about Literature

When we write about literature, we always need to refer to the text. If we don’t, it is very difficult to persuade our readers or to clearly explain our opinions about the text. For example, I could say that Janie, in Their Eyes Were Watching God is a spoiled, immature girl, but Saira, who is a bit immature herself, might disagree. If neither of us supports our positions with words or events from the text, our conversation will look a little like this:

Me: She’s spoiled.

Saira: No, she isn’t.

Me: She’s spoiled!

Saira: No, she isn’t!

Me: I tell you, she’s spoiled!

Saira: No SHE ISN”T!

As the fellows in Monty Python’s Flying Circus pointed out, this is NOT an argument.

Before we can convince anyone of our conclusions about a text, we need to make a series of statements about it that are supported by evidence from the text. We call this evidence references or quotations.

I am going to write a paragraph to prove or explain my opinion that Janie, in the beginning of the novel, is immature. Can you think of some evidence to support this opinion?

Take a moment to write down this evidence.

Gathering evidence about a character:

what the character does:

She pouts when Nanny told her about Logan Killicks (14).

She refuses to chop wood (26).

what the character says:

“...Ah hates the way his head is so long one way and flat on de sides and dat pone uh fat back of his neck” (24).

what the character thinks (revealed by omniscient narrator)

“Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21).

what others say about the character:

“Yo’ Grandma and me done spoil yuh now, and Ah reckon AH have tuh keep on wid it (26).”

Exercise # 1

1) As a group, gather evidence from the text about a character from chapters 1-4.

Find at least THREE of EACH type of evidence. (NOTE: we are not, for the moment, interested in the physical descriptions of the characters.) Include page references, properly documented.

2) Using the character vocabulary sheet, based on your evidence, come up with three different adjectives to describe this character.

Evidence to demonstrate that Janie is immature:

Indirect references / Direct References
She pouts when Nanny told her about Logan Killicks (14).
She refuses to chop wood (26). / “That was the end of her childhood” (12).
“Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21).
“...Ah hates the way his head is so long one way and flat on de sides and dat pone uh fat back of his neck” (24).
“Yo’ Grandma and me done spoil yuh now, and Ah reckon AH have tuh keep on wid it (26).”

You’ll notice that I’ve divided this evidence into TWO categories: direct referencesindirect references.

What’s the difference?

Direct references to the text are quotations. When you use a direct reference in your writing, you

  • take the author’s words directly from the book
  • insert them into your own writing
  • indicate that these are not your words through the use of quotation marks, or in the case of a long quotation, by indenting
  • document the source of the quotation, using the proper rules for your writing

Indirect references are references you make to events or ideas in a text using your own words. When you make an indirect reference to a text, you

  • paraphrase the event or idea from the text
  • insert your paraphrase in your own writing
  • document the source of the quotation, using the proper rules for your writing

EXERCISE #2: IDENTIFYING DIRECT & INDIRECT REFERENCES

Read the following passage carefully, and identify the direct and indirect references:

Joe Smith, the protagonist of One Hundred and One Ways to Rid your Drains of Jello, is a walking contradiction. Just when he demonstrates one kind of behaviour, he immediately acts in the exact opposite way. For example, Joe is both honest and dishonest. In the opening sentences of the book, he very bluntly states that he is not going to give his audience the details about his life that they probably want to hear.[A] -> He tells the reader directly, "·that stuff bores me" (1). [B] -> Joe again shows himself to be a fairly honest person when he writes the note of apology to Mr. Murch for his poor performance on the exam. He admits that he knows nothing else about the Egyptians and that Murch has every right to flunk him (12). [C] -> Joe also clearly values honesty as he tells us repeatedly how much he hates phonies (13). Yet, Joe is paradoxically also very honest about the fact that he is dishonest. [D] -> He declares, "I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life" (16). It is a true enough statement. [E] -> He lies to Mr. Murch about having to go to the gym (16). [F] -> He lies to Mrs. Spingle about his name. He lies to her about his feelings about her son (54-55). Therefore, Joe is, indeed, a walking contradiction. He is an honest liar.

Indirect or Direct Reference?

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

Direct or Indirect References: WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Sometimes an indirect quotation is all you need. These are best used when your claim can be supported by a reference to an event in the text.

If there is something significant, however, in the manner in which the event was described, or the way a character thinks or speaks, then a direct quotation will be a much stronger piece of evidence.

Look again at the evidence gathered to show that Janie is immature:

Indirect references / Direct References
She pouts when Nanny told her about Logan Killicks (14).
She refuses to chop wood (26). / “That was the end of her childhood” (12).
“Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21).
“...Ah hates the way his head is so long one way and flat on de sides and dat pone uh fat back of his neck” (24).
“Yo’ Grandma and me done spoil yuh now, and Ah reckon AH have tuh keep on wid it (26).”

The indirect references all refer to events in the text. The direct references are concerned with the way a character thinks or speaks.

EXERCISE #3: Using direct or indirect references

Record your evidence about the character you are studying in the chart below. Decide whether the textual evidence would best be offered as a direct or indirect reference. Try to find at least 2 of each kind of reference.

For an indirect reference:

  1. paraphrase the reference (put in your own words)
  2. record your paraphrased version in the chart
  3. document it with pages numbers as you’ve been taught

For an direct reference

  1. record the quotation directly into the chart
  2. document it with pages numbers as you’ve been taught

Indirect References / Direct References

Embedding quotations

Alright. Now that you know that you need to use references when you write about literature, it’s time to talk about what you should do with them once you’ve chosen them. Let’s take a look at that sample paragraph again:

Joe Smith, the protagonist of One Hundred and One Ways to Rid your Drains of Jello, is a walking contradiction. Just when he demonstrates one kind of behaviour, he immediately acts in the exact opposite way. For example, Joe is both honest and dishonest. In the opening sentences of the book, he very bluntly states that he is not going to give his audience the details about his life that they probably want to hear.He tells the reader directly, "·that stuff bores me" (1). Joe again shows himself to be a fairly honest person when he writes the note of apology to Mr. Murch for his poor performance on the exam. He admits that he knows nothing else about the Egyptians and that Murch has every right to flunk him (12). Joe also clearly values honesty as he tells us repeatedly how much he hates phonies (13). Yet, Joe is paradoxically also very honest about the fact that he is dishonest. He declares, "I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life" (16). It is a true enough statement. He lies to Mr. Murch about having to go to the gym (16). He lies to Mrs. Spingle about his name. He lies to her about his feelings about her son (54-55). Therefore, Joe is, indeed, a walking contradiction. He is an honest liar.

Indirect references, you’ll notice, slip right into the text. They’re just another one of the sentences you’re using to prove your point. BUT!!! Don’t forget to include the page number in brackets, even when you’re using an indirect reference to the text.

Direct references are another matter. You can’t just stick them into the text willy-nilly.

Documentation: How to reference primary sources

Any time you quote another person's work or refer to something from their writing, you MUST acknowledge that reference. Even if you only quote a few words, if you use a phrase that is not your own in an essay without acknowledging it, it is considered plagiarism. It's like stealing somebody else's ideas, and it's a very serious matter. This is the kind of thing that can get you expelled at university. Oh, by the way, it's very easy to spot in your writing when you start using someone else's words. It's like watching Austin Powers playing basketball, and then all of a sudden he pulls a move that only Michael Jordan could do. Something just ain't right.

So.. save yourself the trouble. Acknowledge your references. There is nothing wrong with using someone else's words in your essay. In fact, it's necessary in a literary paper. Just let us know that you know when you are doing it!

Here's the nice and easy way to do it that the good people at the MLA (Modern Languages Association) have deemed acceptable for a literary paper. It's called Parenthetical Documentation. The deal is, any time you mention or quote something from a text, you follow it with the author's last name and the page number in brackets. Brackets are these things  ( )

example:

The central idea in the novel is found in Grover's words when he cries, "but I don't want to be a tool for the corporate machine! I want to build tree-houses" (Smith 234).

Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

example

The central idea in the novel is found in Grover's words when he cries, "but I don't want to be a tool for the corporate machine! (Smith 234)

That's the technical side down. Fairly simple.

Here's the tricky part. Something I call  contextualization.

You must put your quotations in context. This means that:

1) You must introduce the quotation in some way. That means you can't do this:

The central idea in the novel is found in Grover's words. "But I don't want to be a tool for the corporate machine!"

The problem here is that I, as a reader, don't know where this quotation came from. It MAY be Grover's words, but it could just as well be anything else from the work you are citing. Quotations need to have words that surround them that tell the reader a bit about the context of the quotation, especially important details that let the reader know the speaker of the quotation, and any important plot events that help us understand the significance of the quotation.

2) When you contextualize a quotation, it must still make grammatical sense as a sentence.

3.) When you contextualize a quotation, never, NEVER, EVER write that a character, narrator or author QUOTES something.[*] YOU are the one doing the quoting.

4.) You should never write in words in the body of your essay that an event happens on a page of a novel. i.e. When Jody slaps Janie on page 135, she does not cry. If you want to give some sense of when the event happened, use the events in the novel as your reference. i.e. When, ten years into their marriage, Jodie slaps Janie, she does not cry (135).

This probably sounds very confusing- some examples will help clear things up:

the wrong way / the right way
1. In the early part of the story, Janie had been indulged and pampered by those who cared for her. “Yo’ Grandma and me done spoil yuh now, and Ah reckon AH have tuh keep on wid it“ (26).
2. Janie is immature because she is only concerned with her husbands’ looks. “Ah hates the way his head is so long one way and flat on de sides and dat pone uh fat back of his neck” (24).
3. Janie had a lot to learn about life and marriage, “Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21).
This example is incorrect because it is an example of a comma splice- two complete sentences have been incorrectly joined with a comma.
4. When Janie kisses Johnnie Taylor across the gatepost, it was the beginning of her maturity. As the narrator quotes, “That was the end of her childhood” (12).
This example is wrong because YOU are the one doing the quoting. To quote means to refer to someone else’s words. Characters and the narrator don’t quote (unless they are indeed quoting someone within their own story.) / 1. In the early part of the story, Janie had been indulged and pampered by those who cared for her. Logan observes, “Yo’ Grandma and me done spoil yuh now, and Ah reckon AH have tuh keep on wid it“ (26).
2. . Janie is immature because she is only concerned with her husbands’ looks. When Nanny asks her what is wrong with her new husband, Janie replies, “Ah hates the way his head is so long one way and flat on de sides and dat pone uh fat back of his neck” (24).
3. Janie had a lot to learn about life and marriage. She believed that “Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21).
4. . When Janie kisses Johnnie Taylor across the gatepost, it was the beginning of her maturity. As the narrator notes, ““That was the end of her childhood” (12).

Here some more examples of the right way to do it. T he contextual details have been highlighted for you. (This is just to help you notice them. Do NOT use BOLD in your essays.)

It has been said that Holden Caufield is a "walking contradiction." Just when he demonstrates one kind of behaviour, he immediately acts in the exact opposite way. For example, Holden is both honest and dishonest. In the opening sentences of the book, he very bluntly states that he is not going to give his audience the details about his life that they probably want to hear.He tells the reader directly, "·that stuff bores me" (Salinger 1). Holden again shows himself to be a fairly honest person when he writes the note of apology to Mr. Spencer for his poor performance on the exam. He admits that he knows nothing else about the Egyptians and that Spencer has every right to flunk him (12). Holden also clearly values honesty as he tells us repeatedly how much he hates phonies (13). Yet, Holden is paradoxically also very honest about the fact that he is dishonest. He declares, "I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life." (16). It is a true enough statement. He lies to Mr. Spencer about having to go to the gym (16). He lies to Mrs. Morrow about his name. He lies to her about his feelings about her son (54-55). Therefore, Holden is, indeed, a walking contradiction. He is an honest liar.

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey highlights the difference in the relative strength and security of McMurphy and Harding by giving detailed descriptions of their laughter. One of the first things we learn about McMurphy is the nature of his laugh. Chief Bromden recalls that McMurphy’s laugh is "free and loud" and it rings like a bell (Kesey 16). This forms a sharp contrast to the "awful sound of that squeaking" that is Harding’s laugh (16). The effort with which Harding laughs is emphasized by Kesey’s comparison of his laugh to a nail being pulled out of a piece of wood (59). Mack, on the other hand, laughs effortlessly, his laughter "hovering" around him, even when he isn’t laughing (16). McMurphy is in full control of his laughter: "He laughs til he’s finished " (16). Harding "can’t stop it" (59). Finally, the description of McMurphy’s laughter illustrated the role he has come to play in the ward. His laughter has a contagious quality, as it "comes out of his wide grinning mouth and spreads in rings bigger and bigger till it’s lapping against the walls all over the ward" (16). McMurphy’s laughter is going to have a powerful effect on the patients, and help them give them back their security. As he relates to Harding, "when you lose your laugh, you lose your footing " (59).