Typically, when writing an essay on a novel, it is best to
focus on one major theme (or two very similar themes) analyzed through the use of three
different literary elements. This will give you the basic five paragraph essay that is
typically required in high school essays. If your teacher has given you a minimum
length and five paragraphs is not enough, this focus is also easily adapted and made
longer by analyzing the theme through more than three literary
elements.
Before writing a thesis statement, you will have
to do some serious preliminary brainstorming first. I encourage you to answer the
following questions (using notes, lists, and short hand if you
want):
- What are some major themes (subject)
presented in the novel? - What is the author's point
concerning these themes? What message does Faulkner wish to get
across? - What literary elements does Faulkner use to get
this point (from #2) across? (Examples in fiction are things like: characterization,
symbolism, point-of-view, irony, figures of speech,
etc.)
Once you've given some basic answers to
the above questions, narrow your topic by focusing on one
major theme and the three strongest or easiest literary
elements. Continue brainstorming ideas by going back to the text and
gathering evidence in the form of quotes. The
two things you are looking for here are:
- Quotes
that display one of the three chosen literary elements
AND - simultaneously help support/prove the
theme.
You can organize your paper as you
gather evidence by listing quotes under the appropriate literary element heading (which
would also become your three topic sentences). After you've organized all your ideas,
you can easily write a two-part thesis statement by filling in the
blanks:
In
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the author uses literary
elements to show [theme and purpose of theme]. This theme is made most evident through
[element 1], [element 2], and [element
3].
The links below are also
great resources to review before you get started.
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