English 9 Academic Essay 1

 Write an essay comparing and contrasting the concept of courage in The Last Lecture with each of the three poems. It might help to structure your essay by having each body paragraph address one of the poems, comparing them to the evidence you have found in The Last Lecture.

 “Song of the Open Road” ◦ How does this poem show courage? ◦ What lines support this idea of courage? ◦ What is the poetic voice saying about courage and life?  The Last Lecture ◦ What parts of the book relate to the poem? ◦ What is Pausch saying about courage? ◦ What is the textual evidence that you can use? ◦ Can you establish or explain a connection as a similarity or a difference?

 “The Road Less Taken” ◦ How does this poem show courage? ◦ What lines support this idea of courage? ◦ What is the poetic voice saying about courage and life?  The Last Lecture ◦ What parts of the book relate to the poem? ◦ What is Pausch saying about courage? ◦ What is the textual evidence that you can use? ◦ Can you establish or explain a connection as a similarity or a difference?

 The Courage My Mother Had” ◦ How does this poem show courage? ◦ What lines support this idea of courage? ◦ What is the poetic voice saying about courage and life?  The Last Lecture ◦ What parts of the book relate to the poem? ◦ What is Pausch saying about courage? ◦ What is the textual evidence that you can use? ◦ Can you establish or explain a connection as a similarity or a difference?

 A thesis statement is a single sentence at the end of your introduction that conveys your central position for a multi-paragraph essay.  ◦ While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions.  A thesis sentence is a statement of position, of belief or of a point of view – either your own or that of someone else, such as the author.  In order to be a thesis statement, it must be a complete sentence with a subject (topic) and a commentary (also called a position or opinion).

 A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process.  Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment.  Before you develop an a thesis on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships.  Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis,” a basic or main idea, an argument that you think you can support with evidence but that may need adjustment along the way.

 Must respond to the topic.  Must contain an opinion that is debatable – it is not a fact.  Must contain “divisions of proof” – a fancy way of saying the supportive reasoning your paper will present.  Let’s take a look…..

 People who live in the suburbs are alike. (no divisions of proof)  People who live in the suburbs are alike in age, race, and politics. (divided into three parts)  Capital punishment should be abolished. (no divisions of proof)  Capital punishment should be abolished because it is useless and inhumane. (divided into two parts)  Pollution constitutes a serious problem to humanity. (no divisions of proof)  Air and water pollution constitute a serious problem to humanity. (divided into two parts)  Life on this earth may soon be wiped out. (no divisions of proof)  Life on this earth may soon be wiped out for plants, animals, and people (the so-called higher animals). (divided into three parts)

 Hook - grab your reader’s attention and hint at the topic  Background - give your reader background necessary to understanding the topic  Thesis statement - provide your EXCELLENT position statement

 Take a look:  Did you watch the “Hunger Games”? Then you know the hero. In my essay about heroes I am going to show you how Peeta Mellark is the best hero in the Hunger Games. Most people would say Katness, but she is not. He is.  What do you think?  Do not address your audience directly.  If you must, use the question hook -- but try other hook strategies -- startling statistic, attention- grabbing opinion, quote, or anecdote.  Sentence starters that may help include: When…. Imagine… After…Although… Despite… Considering…

 Although we pretend they are rare and uncommon, heroes actually are ordinary people who transform themselves through their experiences. Teacher and author Joseph Campbell showed this to be true when he studied myriad literary efforts and discovered that the idea of a hero actually is an archetype that follows a predictable journey or pattern. Campbell says all heroes depart their comfortable life, pass through a series of tests, and then return to their original world as changed people who effectively change the world around them. Although most people would see Katniss Everdeen in the movie “Hunger Games” as the best example of Campbell’s archetype, the true hero is Petta Mellark because he leaves the safety of his home to make sure Katniss survives the games, and, along with the aid of his mentors Haymitch and his own intuition, successfully faces down his fears of losing who he really is while playing the game, keeping Katniss alive, and winning her love thus resolving the polarity established at the beginning of the film of his perception of himself as being weak and invisible.

 Transition from previous paragraph -- can be a sentence or a word.  State the topic  To establish Peeta as a hero in the making, the movie introduces him as the son of a baker who lives a more comfortable life than Katniss.  Undoubtedly, Peeta Mellark steps into his hero’s role during the reaping when the call to adventure pulls his name from the bowl and shakes up his ordinary world of being the baker’s son who lives a more comfortable life than Katniss.

 After you state the topic, provide the evidence  Then provide the commentary, explanation of the evidence.  Unlike Katniss, Peeta has so much food to eat that he can easily throw extra bread to animals and even Katniss when she sits huddles against a tree outside his family’s home. This stark contrast between the comfortable world of plenty of food that Peeta leaves and the one he enters shows the disparity between what Joseph Campbell calls the original world and the special world that all heroes must enter in order to face their greatest fears. Although Katniss also leaves her ordinary world, her starting point is similar to the one she enters, and the lack of a dramatic divide makes her journey less compelling. Peeta, on the other hand, has never felt hunger, has never hunted, and has only his intuition and understanding of other people to guide him. His fear is that he will allow that intuition to change him into being what others want him to be and not who he is.

 Undoubtedly, Peeta Mellark steps into his hero’s role during the reaping when the call to adventure pulls his name from the bowl and shakes up his ordinary world of being the baker’s son who lives a more comfortable life than Katniss. Unlike Katniss, Peeta has so much food to eat that he can easily throw extra bread to animals and even Katniss when she sits huddles against a tree outside his family’s home. This stark contrast between the comfortable world of plenty of food that Peeta leaves and the one he enters shows the disparity between what Joseph Campbell calls the original world and the special world that all heroes must enter in order to face their greatest fears. Although Katniss also leaves her ordinary world, her starting point is similar to the one she enters, and the lack of a dramatic divide makes her journey less compelling. Peeta, on the other hand, has never felt hunger, has never hunted, and has only his intuition and understanding of other people to guide him. His fear is that he will allow that intuition to change him into being what others want him to be and not who he is. This polarity resolves itself by the end of the movie, which is in keeping with Campbell’s monomyth archetype of the hero (Campbell).