Essay 3: Drama Essay
Essay will be on Fences by August Wilson
In this essay you will present your own argument about a scene or scenes from a drama using close reading to support your argument. Close reading involves paying attention to the details of a text: individual words, phrases, and sentences, and what they suggest about the meaning of the text. You will write a thesis-driven, 900 word (3 pages) literary-analysis essay (following the MLA essay format: 1-inch margins, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font) dealing with one of the following prompts.
Essay can be on one of the three options (choose one and do the essay)
Pick one of the prompts to guide your essay.
Choose an adaptation of one of the plays and make an argument about the aim or effect of the adaptation in comparison with what you see in the text. Try to answer the question: what interpretive choices are the director and actors making in their adaptation? In order to keep the essay manageable, focus on a scene and/or a character.
Pick a scene or passage from one of the dramas that you consider significant or that interests you. Do a close reading of the way it is constructed, paying attention to word choice, figures of speech, form, sound elements, sentence structure, etc. Use your observations to make an argument about what is going on in the passage and why it is significant to the drama.
Create your own argument that revolves around a close reading of a passage or a couple of passages in a drama. The main themes in Fences are race, barriers, and responsibility and love. (you can choose on )
Essay Components
Your own interpretation of the text: you have your own opinions and interpretation of the text; this is your chance to let them shine.
A thesis statement that fits into a single sentence: a good thesis gives your essay a clear purpose and direction. It’s natural for writers to revise their original thesis as they discover new ideas in the process of writing. You thesis must reflect what you say in the paper. This will make your argument stronger and easy to follow. One way to do this is to refer back to key words and ideas from your thesis throughout the body of the paper.
An introduction: this introduces the reader to what you want to discuss in the essay and ends with your thesis statement.
Body paragraphs that support your main thesis/argument: these are where you dig into the details of the text and show how they support your particular interpretation.
A conclusion: this begins with a restatement of your thesis and summarizes what you have argued in the essay.
Show rather than tell: showing what the text says with a quotation is always more powerful than telling the reader what the text says. Mixing your words with a potent phrase from a text is a strategic way to do this without needing to quote full passages.
Clear writing that is relatively free from grammar errors and confusing sentences: what you have to say will be worth more than flawless grammar. However, awkward sentences and grammar issues can make it difficult to understand what you are trying to argue. For this reason, it’s a good idea to proofread (or read it aloud) to make sure your sentences make sense and won’t confuse the reader.
Avoid the Following Pitfalls of Short Essay Writing
Arguments that are too simple usually sound like a description of the text. Arguments go beyond description by staking a claim that demands evidence or asserts something that others might not have noticed.
Do not pack too many points into your thesis. If your thesis looks like a shopping list of things you plan to talk about, you may be setting yourself up to prove too much.
While looking at the way a text reflects the life of the author or the time period in which it was written are valid types of literary interpretation, please keep biography and historical background to a minimum for this essay.
External sources are important when writing longer literary essays, but in a short essay they are often a distraction from a close reading.
Using quotations from the text without interacting with them: if you quote a line from a drama, make sure to talk about what it says.
Do not be overly general. Could your statement be about any number of similar pieces of literature? “This story discusses gender roles” “This poem is about the cruelty of war” This probably indicates that you aren’t paying close enough attention to your particular text. Paying attention to the specifics gives you things to say and makes for a more interesting essay.
Plagiarism: don’t do it. Usually students plagiarize because they reach a place where they feel stuck in their writing. If you are feeling stuck, talk to me and I can help you work through the issue.
Helpful Tips
Revise The typical high school paper involves writing out something and then turning it in. Advanced writers write and rewrite (and rewrite).
Writing is Thinking You often discover new things about a text in the act of writing an essay. When you revise your essay, incorporate those discoveries earlier in the paper to make your argument stronger.
Use Transitions Show how your ideas are connected to each other, especially the relationship between paragraphs. This will make your argument coherent and allows your readers to do less work to figure out what you are saying.
Grading/Rubric
This essay is worth 100 points, and I will grade it on the following:
Content: clarity, thoroughness (thesis, topic sentences, analysis, and supporting details) (40 points)
Correctness: mechanics, grammar, academic style (20 points)
Format: clear paragraphing, organization, page headers, spacing, font size (20 points)
Completeness: meets the stated requirements, supporting documents submitted (a short essay loses points) (20 points)
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