WRITING AN EXPOSITORY PARAGRAPH/ESSAY

 What is exposition?  Exposition is a detailed description of something  An expository essay is a detailed description of a text; the purpose is to discuss a text’s meaning

 What can an expository essay do?  Explain  Give information  Clarify an idea

 What is literary analysis?  A type of expository writing that offers an interpretation of a story  Why is it important?  Stories are complicated  They have meanings, but these meanings are arguable – someone might disagree with what you feel is the meaning of a story

 What makes a “good” literary analysis?  Offers a main point that comments on the meaning of a text.  Supports its main point with evidence from the story  Uses reasoning to explain how the evidence relates to the main point; explains all information and connects all related content

 What does a good one-paragraph literary analysis look like?  Topic sentence  Clarifying sentence(s)  First point  Second point  Third point  Clarifying sentence(s)  Clincher

Topic sentence  A topic sentence must include:  Title of text (following MLA formatting) Book, Play, “Poem,” or “Short story” Do not be redundant Good:In “The Most Dangerous Game”… Bad:In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game”…  Author  Textual evidence  An argumentative verb  Specific claim or argument

Example  Richard Connell’s portrayal of power in “The Most Dangerous Game” illustrates that a person’s social role influences his view of justice.

Fix it  In “The Necklace,” Mme. Loisel is a greedy woman.

 Come up with a strong topic sentence for “Harrison Bergeron”  Come up with a strong topic sentence for “Poison”

Clarifying sentence(s)  Provides background on story, main characters, main plot events/conflict, etc.  In “The Most Dangerous Game,” the main character, Rainsford, struggles to safety on a Caribbean island after falling off his yacht on the way to Brazil; however, he quickly discovers that the owner of the island has made a sport out of hunting humans after becoming bored with hunting animals.

 Provide a quick clarifying sentence for “Harrison Bergeron”  Provide a quick clarifying sentence for “Poison”

Each point  Your paragraph will have three points; each point must accomplish three things  Lead in – provides context for your evidence  Evidence – anchors your point in specific details and events from the novel  Lead out – analyzes evidence and connects it to main point of the paragraph

 Lead in: At the beginning of the story, Rainsford’s view of justice is influenced by his role as a hunter. He is a very experienced hunter and has written many books on hunting large animals. In particular, he seems to enjoy the thrill of hunting and killing dangerous animals.

 Evidence: While on the yacht to Brazil, Rainsford comments to his companion, Whitney, that hunting is “the best sport in the world” (14). When Whitney objects by stating that someone might feel differently if he were the one being hunted instead of the one doing the hunting, Rainsford orders, “Don’t talk rot, Whitney…Who cares how a jaguar feels?” (14).

 Lead out: Rainsford’s attitude toward hunting is clearly influenced by his social role. Since he is the one doing the hunting, he is unable to empathize with the animal being hunted. Since his role affords him the ability to have power and control, he feels that using this power to get what he wants is fair and justified.

 Richard Connell’s portrayal of power in “The Most Dangerous Game” illustrates that a person’s social role influence’s his view of justice. In “The Most Dangerous Game,” the main character, Rainsford, struggles to safety on a Caribbean island after falling off his yacht on the way to Brazil; however, he quickly discovers that the owner of the island has made a sport out of hunting humans after becoming bored with hunting animals. At the beginning of the story, Rainsford’s view of justice is influenced by his role as a hunter. He is a very experienced hunter and has written many books on hunting large animals. In particular, he seems to enjoy the thrill of hunting and killing dangerous animals. While on the yacht to Brazil, Rainsford comments to his companion, Whitney, that hunting is “the best sport in the world” (14). When Whitney objects by stating that someone might feel differently if he were the one being hunted instead of the one doing the hunting, Rainsford orders, “Don’t talk rot, Whitney…Who cares how a jaguar feels” (14). Rainsford’s attitude toward hunting is clearly influenced by his social role. Since he is the one doing the hunting, he is unable to empathize with the animal being hunted. Since his role affords him the ability to have power and control, he feels that using this power to get what he wants is fair and justified.

What comes next  Make sure you use transitions between each point in your body paragraph.  Examples:  Next, …  Later in the story, …  After this, …

Practice  “The Necklace”  Continue your topic sentence and clarifying information to write one strong context/evidence/analysis for “The Necklace”