The Literary Essay:

Lesson 3Fine-Tuning Themes by Studying

the Author’s Craft

Connection

I bet you have a friend or family member

who speaks in a really unique way that

shows something central about them.

Take a second to talk in your groups—try

to act out how someone you love speaks.

Teaching Point

Today I want to teach you…

◦ that when literary essayists are analyzing a text,

they pay careful attention to not just the details

of the plot, but to the details of the author’s

craft as well (craft means the way an author

writes, choices he/she deliberately makes).

◦ There is a connection between the author’s

message (theme) and his or her craft (literary

devices used and choices made about writing).

◦ Literary critics can use this craft analysis to

inform their thinking about the text.

Teaching In the earlier sessions, we looked at critical scenes

that advanced the ideas about the text and reread the scenes closely for themes; HOWEVER,

We can also examine the craft (writing) decisions that the author has made. ◦ Were there specific literary devices the author used to

advance his or her message?

◦ Did the author use particular types of sentences or lengths to develop tone, mood, or atmosphere?

You’ve started this examination on your Theme Tracking & Literary Device sheets.

Use pages 21 and 22 In your packet to help you understand craft moves and

their purpose

Teaching

Literary Devices that Authors Use to

Highlight Themes:

◦ Comparisons (metaphors and similes)

◦ Alliteration

◦ Repetition

◦ Descriptive words or sentences

◦ Personification

◦ Short & long sentences (sentence variety)

Refer to our poster and page 12 in your packet

On the next slide, I have highlighted a scene from “All Summer

in a Day,” and we’re going to look for the devices the author

uses to highlight theme in this section.

Teaching What devices does the author use to highlight a theme?

How do you know?

“Oh, but,” Margot whispered, her eyes helpless. “But this is the day, the

scientists predict, they say, they know, the sun…”

“All a joke!” said the boy, and seized her roughly. “Hey, everyone, let’s

put her in the closet, before the teacher comes.”

“No,” said Margot, falling back.

They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and

then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet,

where they slammed and locked the door. They stood looking at the

door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself

against it. They heard her muffled cries. Then, smiling, they turned

and went out and back down the tunnel, just as the teacher

arrived.

Craft moves from selected scene…

Watch how my thinking unfolded…

I first noticed the descriptive language that Bradbury

was using. He really wants us to feel how helpless

Margot is, so he shows her ‘whispering,’ and he really

wants us to feel how swept up the children get that

they ‘surge’ around her.

The long sentences are there to kind of show how

swept up the children are, like they are a wave almost,

not even thinking about what they’re doing…

Now you try… Let’s start with the theme that

jealousy makes you selfish or

blind to others.

What do these craft moves

make you think about the

idea?

Start with a prompt, like “This

makes me realize…” or “This

connects to the idea

of…by…” or one of the other

from the poster/handout

Turn to your groups and talk

for a few minutes(page 20 in your packet)

Writing Long about Craft…In this scene, Bradbury uses descriptive language to show how vulnerable Margot is, and he uses long sentences to show how the children have gotten swept up in their jealousy. This connects to the idea that jealousy makes you blind to others, because the children cannot see how much they are hurting Margot. The long sentence, “They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door,” shows them almost not knowing what they are doing. They are caught up in their own jealousy. This makes me realize that this story shows us that when you get caught up in your own pain, you can hurt other people. Bradbury uses descriptive language and long sentences to illustrate how out of control the children have become because of their jealousy.

Now you try to write about craft…

You’ve learned that one way to look more closely at a theme is to examine the authorial decisions that were made in key scenes, thinking about what they might reveal about the theme you are considering.

We’ve already

completed

these steps.

Now, we

must

complete

this step.

(page 5 in your packet)

Lesson 3 Assignment

By tomorrow you will need to write long for at

least two more pages & you have to have an

idea for a thesis statement. This time you will

be examining author’s craft.

Go back to some to the same scenes, you’ve

already examined closely, but this time instead

of looking at the scene, look at the way the

author wrote the scene (AKA the literary devices

he/she used: comparisons, alliteration, repetition, imagery,

personification, sentence length, etc.)

You’ll mention a literary device and then use one of the

prompts from page 8 to explain your thinking to continue

writing about that device and what you think the author

was trying to accomplish by using it.

Refer to our sample paragraph for help.

On page 19

in your

packet, there

is a craft

organizer…

this is a

good place

to start

organizing

your ideas.

This isn’t

easy! You

need to use

all of the

resources

from page

17-22 to

help you.

Lesson 3A Now that you’ve thoroughly explored different themes by

writing long… try to come up with a couple potential claims for your essay. You can discuss these claims (theme statements) with your group and get help from them.

Possible claims for “All Summer in a Day”

◦ Jealousy makes people selfish.

◦ When jealousy and grief get the best of us, everyone suffers.

◦ When you act out of jealousy, you will feel guilty.

◦ It is difficult to watch someone grieve what you never had.

◦ When people cannot get over their own pain, sometimes they end up hurting others.

What is a claim? It’s also known as a thesis statement…

Lesson 3A

Now that you know what a thesis

statement is…you must write one and

gain approval.

See me before the end of class so that

I can approve your thesis statement. Remember, you’ve already been brainstorming since lesson

2A…you thought about it again last night, so these are just

the final changes.

Lesson 3A Assignment By tomorrow you will need the essay you

will write all planned out.

To do that you need:

◦ Approved thesis

◦ Body paragraph plan

Topic sentence

Content you will include

◦ Evidence from text with page numbers

You should have everything you need in order to

start writing your essay from start to finish!