In-class essay Wednesday on The Divine Ryans

Good luck on your in-class essays Wednesday morning. There isn't much to say that I haven't already said, but I'm sure I'll find something to say anyway.

You can prepare a great deal for the assignment, but you should also allow for inspiration to hit while you're writing. If I were writing that essay, I would make sure I know the novel really well.

You already know the questions, so it's just a matter of organizing your ideas. Figure out which passages you might be referring to on the essay and re-read them. That's the only way to be as specific as you need to be. If you've read other passages (the ones I've mentioned as significant, along with others that you find particularly interesting), then your brain will have no trouble making connections during the writing of the essay tomorrow.

Remember, I've been saying all along that each paragraph should have three components:

1. Make a statement (the topic sentence).

2. Give evidence (brief quotes and/or specific reference to parts of the novel, without summarizing).

3. Discuss evidence. (Here's where you tell me what is significant about what you just said.) Don't just re-state or summarize what you just said or quoted; tell me the implications of the author's word choice. Why does he choose to say things the way he does? What does his word choice say about the speaker; how do they relate to a particular theme of the novel?

For example, if you use Tom the Doberman as evidence of Aunt Phil's policy of close-mouthedness, you'd probably say something like this:

Tom the Doberman is an example of how Aunt Phil does not like to talk about certain subjects because she is uncomfortable with them and even seems ashamed to be associated with them. When she and Draper encounter the dog, she tries to ignore its existence, particularly when Tom begins to hump the fence doggy-style. Of course her phobias go much deeper than simply being afraid of a dog. Tom's actions perhaps remind her of sex and, particularly, the "beast with two backs," as Uncle Reginald calls the sex act. Aunt Phil sees sex as a duty performed by a woman for her husband in "the marriage bed". But her brother Donald is homosexual, which she sees as being perverse and even beastly, in the style she might well associate with Tom the Doberman. She might even be reminded of Donald's secretive, perverse behaviour, as well as young Draper's burgeoning sexuality, as represented by his growing awareness of his "swollen pee-bud" and the need to buy underwear for himself. In a sense, just as Aunt Phil wonders what kind of woman would "allow" her twelve-year-old daughter to grow breasts, she also sees Draper's maturation as an affront to her authority, as well as to her Catholic sensibilities regarding sinfulness. Tom simply represents the sort of unforeseen, relentless flood of regrettable knowledge that threatens to overwhelm both Aunt Phil and her "divine" family, the kind of truth from which she is constantly trying to save them.

I could keep going. But that, to me, represents, a fairly decent paragraph on the significance of Tom the Doberman. You could say much more, perhaps even go in a completely different direction, depending on what you think Tom represents and what certain details and scenes (like the dream sequence that includes both Tom and Momary) suggest. Notice, though, how the last sentence attempts, as well as I can under the circumstances, to put into words what exactly Tom the Doberman is all about: what he symbolizes for Aunt Phil.

Notice how, in that example, the first sentence is a topic sentence that tells you exactly what the main subject for the paragraph is: Tom, Aunt Phil, and secrecy. Then I go on to discuss all three, particularly noteworthy being the meaning of secrecy for Aunt Phil: it signifies her own sense of shame about certain subjects, and her sense of futility when it comes to things she cannot control, like sexuality, especially others' growing awarness of sexuality and matters of the body.
Don't be so rigid with your pre-chosen examples that you forget to show that you have a clue about the big picture. Notice how every word that I put in quotation marks is a direct quote. They are notably brief and therefore leave more room and time for analytical discussion. You might also note how I don't stick to talking only about Tom the Doberman, but I use references to various other parts of the novel to show how it is all connected in some very specific way.
That, my friends, is critical analysis. There's more than one way to skin a doberman, of course. But this is the way that came to me, and I wrote that paragraph in about thirty seconds, no revision. What I mean to emphasize is the fact that you can come up with good, on-the-fly analysis, just by being focused and yet creative at the same time. Just show me how much you know. And of course, choose precise, clear language to express your insights.

Hope this helps. Oh, and if you have questions, just ask. Whether you believe me or not, I want you to do well. I like giving A's and I enjoy helping you improve your grades and your writing.

GC