CHL137 Essay Assignment

1. CHL137 Essay Assignment Directions, format, due dates and pre-writing activities Part II

2. Last time: from topic to thesis • A topic is not a thesis. • A thesis is a point, an argument, an interpretation. It is specific and focused. It must be supported with evidence. It is not obvious. It is something others might disagree with, which means your essay is a means of convincing your reader.

3. Last time, you wrote a thesis. Today: Get into groups of 3 or 4 Share the thesis with your group to get feedback so you can refine your thesis: Does it meet the criteria we discussed? How can you refine it, narrow it down further, make it more focused, more specific?

4. Using and citing evidence Essays will be graded, in part, on: • Adherence to MLA citation guidelines (quotes & paraphrases are correctly cited), and • The effective use of evidence to build a convincing argument or interpretation.

5. Evidence in a literary essay: • Quotes and specific examples from: • Literary texts (the HP novels) • Academic articles, books, classic sources, interviews, newspaper articles. • Always evaluate your sources: consider the source--who wrote it? What are their qualifications?

6. Citing Quotations • Introduce and/or contextualize • Quote and cite properly • Analyze and/or tie to your thesis • (not, always, necessarily, in this order) • Some examples . . .

7. Thesis: Dementors as metaphor for depression • When a Dementor enters the Hogwarts Express everyone, even Ron, is affected by its presence, “‘I felt weird,’ said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. ‘Like I’d never be cheerful again. . . .’” (HPPA 85). People who suffer from depression often feel hopeless, like they will “never be cheerful again,” etc.

8. Thesis: Dementors as metaphor for depression • . . . It is significant as well, that characters in the book are able to ward off Dementors by focusing on happy memories instead of sad ones. Professor Lupin explains to Harry that the incantation “expecto patronum” will only work, “if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory” (237). The fact that this is a difficult incantation to perform, for Harry and other wizards, demonstrates how difficult it often is to fight the symptoms of depression . . .

9. Basics on citing quotes • Use direct quotes as specific examples. • Always cite the page number: (237) • Since this is a class on the HP novels, we can be informal about citing them. On first reference, just put the initials for the book title: HPSS, HPCS, etc. and the page #: (HPPA 237). • If you are only citing HP novels or texts we read for class, you do not need to compile a bibliography.

10. Basics on citing quotes • Harry said, “blah blah Voldemort blah blah” (HPSS 134). • Note punctuation: comma after said, use of quotation marks, citation, and punctuation after citation.

11. Basics on citing quotes When there’s a long quote you want to include (don’t do too many of these btw) then indent it like this: Harry said, Blah blah blah blah dee blah blah blah blah blah blah and blah and blah and blah. I love the sound of my own voice and have really really important things to say that take more than four lines to quote. (HPOP 566) Notice how the period goes before the citation here. Also, if this were a paper (not a ppt), the quote would be double spaced and indented five spaces only on the left side.

12. Basics on citing quotes • Finally, a quote within a quote is marked using single quotation marks. Like this: “Something whooshed suddenly out of the end of his wand; it looked like a wisp of silvery gas. ‘Did you see that?’ said Harry excitedly. ‘Something happened!’” (HPPA 238).

13. Need more help? • Purdue’s On-line Writing Lab rocks! • http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

14. Weaving in quotes from sources • You may, if you choose, use any of the essays we read for class, classic texts we read or which you used for research, books and essays you find on your own, etc. • Choose quotations carefully. Use them only for a clear purpose. • Let’s discuss the reading for today and how it could be used in an essay.

15. A bit of background • Folks like Joseph Campbell often discuss the Hero Monomyth as if it is “universal,” as if it applies to everyone. • Hourihan’s book, Deconstructing the Hero, shows how the hero story, especially in Western culture, is not universal and is, instead, a reflection of Western cultural values like patriarchy, racism, and classism. • Some of her points are applicable to HP and some are not. Furthermore, we may, as individuals disagree on these points.

16. Quotes from Hourihan: Do they apply to HP? Or, does HP break with tradition? Part 1: Race • “The hero is white, and his story inscribes the dominance of white power and white culture” (58).

17. Quotes from Hourihan: Do they apply to HP? Or, does HP break with tradition? Part 2: Class and mastery • “Most contemporary realistic children’s stories have moved beyond a preoccupation with social position but this is not the case with fantasy and science fiction where it is common to find pseudo-medieval societies and aristocratic heroes” (64).

18. Quotes from Hourihan: Do they apply to HP? Or, does HP break with tradition? Part 3: Gender • “The essence of the hero’s masculinity is his assertion of control over himself, his environment and his world” (69).

19. Quotes from Hourihan: Do they apply to HP? Or, does HP break with tradition? Part 4: Age “The archetypal hero is not merely young, he is essentially adolescent. . . . The qualities of the hero are the qualities of the adolescent male invested with a self-serving gloss. The refusal to be diverted from his quest is a glamorized image of adolescent egocentricity” (74).

20. Quotes from Hourihan: Do they apply to HP? Or, does HP break with tradition? Part 5: Relationships “The hero travels with a band of brothers, as Jason did with the Argonauts, or with a devoted male companion who is usually his inferior in some way” (77).

21. Quotes from Hourihan: Do they apply to HP? Or, does HP break with tradition? Part 6: Rationality “The structure of these stories is carefully arranged . . . The criminal is discovered, the puzzle is solved, and the analytical brilliance of a patriarchal elite is established as essential for the solution of problems and the maintenance of order. But the image of reality these stories construct denies the actual complexities of society, and the closure insists that ultimately everything is understandable . . . “ (94).

22. Quotes from Hourihan: Do they apply to HP? Or, does HP break with tradition? Part 7: Action and Violence “The hero is a man of action and it is in action that he expresses his nature--skill, courage, dominance, and determination. He is neither contemplative nor creative” (96).