Quotes from Written on the Body
Without primary support, your argument is not likely to be convincing. Primary support can be described as the major points you choose to expand on your thesis. It is the most important information you select to argue for your point of view. Each point you choose will be incorporated into the topic sentence for each body paragraph you write. Your primary supporting points are further supported by supporting details within the paragraphs. What then kills love? Only this: Neglect. Not to see you when you stand before me. Not to think of you in the little things. Not to make the road wide for you, the table spread for you. To choose you out of habit not desire, to pass the flower seller without a thought. To leave the dishes unwashed, the bed unmade, to ignore you in the mornings, make use of you at night. To crave another while pecking your cheek. A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.
Written on the body analysis - When you support your thesis, you are revealing evidence. Evidence includes anything that can help support your stance. The following are the kinds of evidence you will encounter as you conduct your research:
Ive been reflecting on it a fair amount recently, and I wonder whether people generally become so consumed by the lives of those in the public eye because something is lacking in their own lives, perhaps tied in with the media pushing aspiration on us be more Beyoncé, more Angelina, go on a talent show, have your own fame and demanding more of public personalities, so that line between reality and presentation becomes increasingly blurred. Theres something about validation as well that is fed by social media. The need to collect friends and likes and followers, and the increased kudos is someone famous befriends, likes or follows you. Unless your teacher instructs otherwise, you should include at least three body paragraphs in your essay. A five-paragraph essay, including the introduction and conclusion, is commonly the standard for exams and essay assignments. Also keep an eye out for imagery in the textrecurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface. Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic.
Preview Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson - Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process, so it doesnt need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyze the text.
You can state it at the beginning of the body paragraph, or at the end of the paragraph, or you do not have to write it at all. This is called an implied topic sentence. An implied topic sentence lets readers form the main idea for themselves. For beginning writers, it is best to not use implied topic sentences because it makes it harder to focus your writing. Your instructor may also want to clearly identify the sentences that support your thesis. For more information on the placement of thesis statements and implied topic statements, see Chapter 8 The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?. The book also addresses grief, the loss of those dear to us. After all the trouble Wild gave me, I hardened myself while reading this. Somehow, though, Winterson doesnt nail grief in quite the way she nails love. I think it was because the narrator was paralysed by her sense of loss and wallowed a bit too much. Winterson writes interestingly on the death of love, which is what the narrators grief is bound up in.
In the five-paragraph model, try to divide your argument into three main areas of analysis, all linked to your thesis. Dont try to include everything you can think of to say about the textonly analysis that drives your argument. I cannot think of the double curve lithe and flowing with movement as a bony ridge, I think of it as the musical instrument that bears the same root. Clavis. Key. Clavichord. The first stringed instrument with a keyboard. Your clavicle is both keyboard and key. If I push my fingers into the recesses behind the bone I find you like a soft shell crab. I find the openings between the springs of muscle where I can press myself into the chords of your neck. The bone runs in perfect scale from sternum to scapula. It feels lathe-tuned. Why should a bone be balletic? ( 129) Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. Its the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text. In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical momentsa turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.
Trivia About Written on the Body
The narrator's demolitions of those encircling the beloved are
often funny (one woman is described as "a committed romantic and
an anarcha-feminist. This was hard for her because it meant she
couldn't blow up beautiful buildings"). But as the world
continues to fall hopelessly short of the exquisite Louise, and
so by implication the narrator as well, the book begins to feel
somewhat misanthropic, as if so much regard and generosity have
been expended on the portrait of the loved one that all else in
the narrator's field of vision must be stinted. (Louise's
grandmother, on the subject of her granddaughter's divorce,
cackles: "Got a packet out of the doctor. She left him as lean as
a wood louse in a plastics factory. Heh heh heh. ") To get
started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you
can focus on. As you analyze each aspect of the text, try to
think about how they all relate to each other. You can use
highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and
quotes. They regarded Jacqueline with wary approval, regarding me
as one might a mental patient who has been behaving for a few
months. A few months? More like a year. I was rigorous, hard
working and and what was that word beginning with B?
Youre bored, my friend said.
Written on the Body is a love story detailing the narrators love for a married woman, Louise. However, the narrator carries on romantic relationships with both men and women. Many would assume the narrators sex based on Louises, but by including lovers of both sexes, Winterson sidesteps this potential pitfall. Your thesis should be something arguablethat is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It must be complex enough to develop through evidence and arguments across the course of your essay. It isnt always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when youre discussing the authors language, but sometimes youll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that cant be captured in a short quote. The conclusion of your analysis shouldnt introduce any new quotations or arguments. Instead, its about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader. Maybe most people gloss their comforts with a patina of romance but it soon wears off. Theyre in it for the long haul; the expanding waistline and the little semi in the suburbs. Whats wrong with that? You have the option of writing your topic sentences in one of three ways.
Ive never read a Jeanette Winterson novel before. I read her autobiography. I didnt like her. I havent felt compelled to read any of her fiction, but a work colleague convinced me to give it a go. Written On The Body is on the 1001 Books list, so I thought why not? You can consult a vast pool of resources to gather support for your stance. Citing relevant information from reliable sources ensures that your reader will take you seriously and consider your assertions. Use any of the following sources for your essay: newspapers or news organization websites, magazines, encyclopedias, and scholarly journals, which are periodicals that address topics in a specialized field. Consider the narrators perspective. Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.