!1 The Introductory Paragraph The paragraph that begins an essay causes students the most trouble, yet carries the most importance. Although its precise construction varies from genre to genre (and from essay to essay), good introductory paragraphs generally accomplish the same tasks and follow a few basic patterns. I have listed some of them below, but keep in mind that what follows are guidelines, not immutable templates. Tasks: The introductory paragraph to a short essay usually attempts to do three things: • Introduce the topic with some indication of its inherent interest or importance, and a clear definition of the boundaries of the subject area • Indicate the structure and/or methodology of the essay, often with the major sections of the essay or its structural principle clearly stated • State the thesis of the essay, preferably in a single, arguable statement with a clear main clause Not every essay does all three in the first paragraph, and the degree to which an essay declares its structure or methodology may vary widely, depending on how necessary that information will be to the readers. Sometimes, the entire first paragraph will serve no other purpose than to generate interest in the subject or raise a question, leaving the other tasks for the second paragraph. However, this kind of opening requires a lot of skill, and you can lose your readers in the second and third paragraphs if do not make your purpose clear. Patterns: The standard pattern for an introductory paragraph follows the order of the tasks outlined above. Below is an outline of that pattern, written as if it were the first section of a formal outline of the entire essay: I: Introduction A. The topic 1. Its boundaries 2. Why it is interesting B. Structure and/or Methodology 1. The essay’s main sections (structure) 2. Why they come in that order (structural principle) 3. How the author plans to draw the necessary conclusions from the information available (methodology) C. The Thesis Statement (usually a single sentence) 1. Its premise (the general claim about the information available) 2. Its conclusion (the consequences of the first claim) !2 Not every essay contains every element in precisely this order, but most good essays cover all of them, either explicitly or implicitly. In longer and more scholarly essays, the structure/ methodology section should be longer, or can even be its own paragraph. It should also include some mention of the essay’s position within the field as a whole. !1 Your last name Your Name Professor’s name ENGL 101. section number Date Writing Tips. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. All essays must contain a title, are written in ink , and should always be double spaced. Be creative with your title. Make sure that you do not bold, underline, italicize or put the titles of your papers in quotation marks. Do not use “you” as an indefinite pronoun when you are writing in first of second person. When talking about an individual “one” is a good choice. Ex: One must always be careful to use standard English when writing, not You must always be careful to use standard English when writing. Avoid direct address. This method places your essay in second person. Abb=Do not abbreviate the first time you use something e.g. VMA = Video Music Awards. After you write the word out the first time then you can use abbreviations. C/S= comma splice= Two independent sentences joined by a comma. Ex. We went to the fair, we ate funnel cakes and fried turkey legs. PR or Referent= pronoun referent= There is no clear noun in which the pronoun can refer. Ex. Tony showed John his dog. To whom does the dog belong, Tony or John? PA= Pronoun Agreement= You cannot have a singular subject and a plural pronoun. Ex: Every child must turn in their homework. Child is singular and their is plural. Correct answer is, every child must turn in his/her homework. SV Agr= Subject Verb Agreement. If your subject is plural, your verb should be also. Plural verbs do not end in “s.” Ex. Every one of the girls take the bus every day. “One” is singular and “take” is plural. Awk=awkward phrasing: you need to restate more clearly Trans= Transition needed Never use “This or that” alone. A noun should always follow; look at the second sentence in number three above. When something is circled with a line going up, it means you need to take that particular item out. There should be no less than six sentences in a paragraph. Make sure your sentences are related and provide supporting evidence. Coll=colloquial. This is a language that is okay in an informal setting or speaking but not okay in formal writing or standard writing. Avoid passive writing. Make sure your subject is completing the action e.g. condom commercials are shown on television, as opposed to The television shows condom commercials. !2 Your last name 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. PV = passive voice= The subject is not completing the action. Ex: The project was created by the Martians. “Active voice: The Martians created the project. Place terms that are slang in quotation marks e.g. “twerkin.” FS=fused sentence=run on sentence. WC= word choice= you have chosen the wrong word. Avoid starting paragraphs with a pronoun. There is no (s) on toward. Avoid writing “towards.” Do not use profanity in your writing. Essays should be written in ink (blue or black are legal ones). SP=spelling Do not use characters such as b/c (because) or & (why) @ (at except with email addresses. Always write numbers under one hundred out (22 should be twenty two). When referring to people always use “who” and not that. Example: “People who do this” and not “people that do this.” Your font sizes and types should match throughout the paper. For example you cannot have your paper in 12pt font, Times New Roman and your heading in Arial 11pt. According to MLA all papers should be done in 12pt. Frag. =Fragment. A fragment most often has a subject but no verb. WM=a word or some words are missing. IT= incomplete thought. Parallelism, your verbs should always parallel in form, e.g. if a verb is present tense, the following should be present tense or if your first verb ends in “ing” the remainder of you verbs should also. Try not to use the same verb or word twice in the same sentence. Essay Format, it is not an essay if your paragraphs are not indented. If it does not have a title then it is not an essay. Person shift. If you begin in first person, you should not shift to second person. See item number two on this sheet. Always introduce characters or people in your essays. Never assume that the reader knows anything about your essay. If it is a character in your essay, show the relationship to the essay. For example, Troy Maxson, the protagonist, or Cory Maxson, Troy’s son etc. Choose the correct homophone. “There” is an adverb. “Their” is the possessive case for “They.” “They’re”= They are. To be on the safe side, avoid using contractions altogether. An apostrophe is always need to show possession if the noun is singular then it is “’s,” for example, student’s. If the noun is plural then it “s,’” for example, students’. When writing about literature, keep it in the present tense. The titles of books, novels, movies, albums, newspapers, and magazines should always be italicized when typing and underlined when handwriting. The titles of essays, articles, songs, and chapters in books should be placed in quotation marks. !3 Your last name 42. 43. 44. Avoid beginning a paragraph with a pronoun. When a pronoun is used it must always have a referent. Ex. She is a good woman and she loves her family. The reader does not know who she is. Correction: Jane is a good woman and she loves her family; she refers to Jane. See #6 When comparing things do not use more with the “er” form of the adjective. For example Jerry is more taller than Scott. The correct usage is Jerry is taller than Scott or more tall than Scott. Also do not use most with the “est” from of the adjective. For example, Hallelujah is the most highest praise! The correct usage is Hallelujah is the highest praise or the most high praise. The “er” is called the comparative and “est” is called the superlative. MM=Misplaced or dangling modifier. A misplaced modifier is when there is a gerund phase but no subject reference. Ex. Mating on the beach, I saw two crabs. Who is mating on the beach, the crabs or the person? !1 Major Themes Celie's narrative This book is Celie's narrative. The first line of the novel is the only line of direct speech and the only line which falls outside the framework of the letters written by Celie and Nettie. The presentation of everything is under Celie's control, although she permits Nettie's letters to present Nettie's perspective. It is never made clear whether or not the first line, spoken by Alfonso, has also been written down by Celie before she starts her letter to God or whether it represents another writer’s hand. If it is Celie's doing, she strangely never repeats this way of recording dialogue. It is also strange that the line is in italics, which is a formal, even academic way of drawing attention to a spoken line. Much more likely, someone else has written the line. Perhaps this is the author, Alice Walker herself, signaling that she is present in the novel. Interestingly, another line appears after Celie’s last letter: "I thank everybody in this book for coming. A.W., author and medium." This last line is an admission by the author that she has indeed been present throughout--and so has the audience, the book's readers. The narrative, though, is Celie's; the author has merely been the medium, the means by which Celie's story is told, in one sense as the author and in another sense as the novel itself. Indeed, the novel is made up most of all by Celie's own writings, which she began out of the necessity of telling her story after being commanded to otherwise be silent. The author also appears to be thanking each character for contributing to the story. The two framing lines highlight Walker's narrative structure, yet what they frame is the world as perceived by Celie. God As the narrative perspective shifts and develops, so too does Celie's view of God. When Celie writes her first letter to God, we have a very limited idea of what she means by God. At first, God is an abstract, authoritative, and dependable figure to whom Celie can share herself. White white skin and a white beard, he will be there for Celie as long as she believes in him. When Celie tells Shug that she will stop writing to God because he does not listen, Shug teaches her something highly significant. Shug does not tell her to imagine a black God instead, nor does Shug simply tell Celie to keep believing anyway because God will return in the way she remembers him. Rather, Shug tells Celie to feel loved by God by being herself. Shug explains that one does not find God in a church but through oneself. This perspective challenges the general view of God in their society, as though God is someone who can be visited or expected to come when called--or as though God is some white old man with a white-grey beard. Shug shows her own love for God by loving the things she has been given. She appreciates the world, from her own sexual ecstasies to the color purple she finds in nature. For Celie, God moves from being a person to being something (not someone) inside Celie, a goodness that inspires. Celie learns that she writes from her own view of the world and that every view must be challenged and not taken for granted. Whatever people may think about God, whether the Bible says it or not, Celie learns to find her own meaning in God. Throughout her written letters, we see her writing, perhaps rewriting, her world and the divinity it expresses. Still, it is not until the end of the novel that she most fully sees what she has been doing all along: creating her own story. One has a certain power and responsibility in creating a world or judging a world that has been created by oneself or someone else. Creative expression !2 When Africans were taken from their homelands to America, they usually were denied education by their slave owners and were not allowed to speak their own languages, instead being forced to speak English. This meant that the slaves had to create their own forms of communication and expression. This is where the African-American oral tradition began, with style and content often rooted in the stories and tales they had grown up with in Africa. They communicated through dance, song, and gesture, passing on their stories of woe and of freedom from one generation to another. In a similar way, although Celie is forced into silence by Alfonso, by writing her letters she engages in creative expression and communication so that her story is received by all her readers. Her example of persistence in writing to God is her way of persistence in being heard, in writing instead of orally. Although she does not realize it at the time, every word she writes is an assertion that she deserves to be heard. Likewise, sister Nettie, who never knows if her letters will reach Celie, writes religiously to her, and their communication is eventually granted to them. This success is an example of the hope in human struggle, providing courage and strength for readers who do not yet feel able to communicate fully with others. During the novel several characters find their voices and their own expression: Shug recovers from her illness and continues singing, Mary Agnes starts singing and writing songs, Celie and Sofia start off by making quilts, and Celie eventually runs her own business making pants. Starting small, each enterprise is an example of courage and hard work that pays off in the end. Hope for the next generation The novel anticipates a brighter day for the black community and for black women in particular. Of all the black families, Samuel and Corrine’s is the most secure and loving. Celie’s children find their way into the bosom of that family and are protected by it. Their education, with help from Aunt Nettie, allows them to choose at an early age the sort of life they would like to live. Knowing that she does not want to be a subservient wife, Olivia (like Nettie before her) works hard to ensure that she can be independent without a man controlling her life. Within Celie’s family, we can already see change in her children, which opens up endless possibilities for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The white missionary Doris Baines also instills us with hope. Educating her so-called wives in England ensures that another family will be looked after and educated, equipped with the powers to challenge male dominance and racial prejudice. There is also change within the white communities at home. Eleanor Jane loves Sofia as she would a mother, despite her race and because of her care. When she has her son, Sofia comments that when he gets older he will be a problem for her, but we are not inclined to believe her. Sofia may think that this innocent, white, male baby will turn out like all the other white men she has dealt with, but Eleanor Jane demonstrates her hope--with her new perspective and with fresh, forward-oriented thinking--that her son and the next generation will advance in many ways after the struggles of earlier generations. Female solidarity At the start of the novel, the young, black female is presented as about the most vulnerable person in society. Celie epitomizes this female: she is abused and denied a voice by her (supposed) father and then by her husband. Along with the racial prejudice young, black women endure, they also tend to struggle against their black, male counterparts. Sofia always fought her brothers, and we see how she has to fight Harpo to assert her equality. Likewise, the Olinka tribe do not believe in educating their women, and although there are no reports of abuse against women by men in Nettie’s letters, female subservience is unchallenged, and the debasing initiation ceremony continues without contest--except from Nettie and her family. Under such conditions, if they want to change the status quo, these women must stick together against male oppression. In fact, the one time that Celie is too !3 disturbed to sleep is when she betrays Sofia by telling Harpo to beat her; the disloyalty to her fellow female is more than she can bear. Usually, however, there is a strong union of support between one woman and another, and this bonding comes from a need to unbalance the male view of themselves that they have total authority over women in their society. The woman who manages to challenge this male dominance the most is Shug, who asserts her independence by living according to her own laws. It is unsurprising, given the circumstances, that Celie and Shug become involved romantically. Shug is a powerful goddess who refuses to be brought down by men, ever vigilant to maintain the upper hand. Celie is a victim of male abuse who has closed herself off from the possibility of trusting men. When she comforts Harpo, who is crying on the porch, she feels nothing more than she would for a dog. Together, these females free each other: Shug teaches Mary Agnes to sing, Albert’s sister takes Celie shopping when no one else does, Sofia’s sisters look after her children while she is in jail, Nettie writes to Celie and looks after her children for thirty years, Doris Baines sends her "wives" to England for their education, Eleanor Jane cooks nourishing food for Henrietta, and Celie nurses Shug back to health and inspires her songwriting. More than all this, Shug and Celie loves each other with a very strong love born from isolation, desire for something better, and acceptance of one another. By the end of the novel, these women are no longer powerless; they have joined forces and are forging their own lives. Color Shug is often described in colorful terms: she is rouged in the photograph Celie first sees of her and twice wears seductive bright red dresses during the course of Celie’s records. She also gives Celie yellow fabric for her quilt. These bright, exuberant colors are full of energy. Contrastingly, the clothes Celie is able to choose from when she goes shopping with Kate are brown, maroon, or navy blue because Kate doesn’t think Mr. ______ will want to pay for her preferred red or purple because they look "too happy." When Mary Agnes first starts writing her own songs, they are songs about color: "they call me yellow/like yellow be my name." As she tries to find her identity apart from her skin color, Mary Agnes explores the shades of color that lie beneath her skin, in her personality--finding these colors within gives her the voice to sing. When Shug and Celie discuss their idea of God, Shug explains that God is in everything and that God is the beauty in nature. Shug points specifically to "the color purple" (traditionally a color of royalty) and wonders how such a color could grow naturally. Purple seems rare in nature. It as though the color itself were a manifestation of God. Transcendence and relationships By the end of the novel Celie has experienced love, started her own business, and learned to accept herself. She is a very different woman from the fourteen-year-old at the beginning. She becomes closer to Mr. ______ through their shared love of Shug and then by their listening to and relating to one another. The lessons both Mr. ______ and Celie learn teach them about themselves, which in turn gives them the confidence to talk to one another without any preconceived ideas of the roles they each fit into. Friendship becomes a vehicle for people to change and grow out of their original selves. Many of the relationships are disturbed over the course of the novel but are later restored: Sofia returns to her family and to Harpo, Shug returns from her travels with Germaine, and Nettie arrives home with Celie’s children. In these cases, people grow and change separately before coming back together. Although they each travel their own journey and learn their own lessons, when the relationships are restored they are bonded by family and friendships that transcend the pain of the past and the earlier roles that had caused tension. !4
Purchase answer to see full attachment