Note that student work varies significantly from one assignment to the next, even within the same
mark range. The intent behind providing samples such as this one is to guide students in
recognizing key criteria of assignments and in assessing their own work.
SAMPLE QUOTATION ANALYSIS – GOOD
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Strengths:
• Pertinent points are raised (thinking).
• Quotation segments are smoothly integrated into paragraphs (application).
• The overall structure of your paragraphs is clear (communication).
Tips for Improvement:
• Implying that God is the same as fate or luck is a problematic mixing of pagan and Christian
belief systems. Simplify by emphasizing luck as being the dominant force in the soldiers'
destinies, as "luck" is explicitly mentioned in the passage (thinking).
• Topic sentences should clearly state the point of significance being raised (thinking).
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"The water was full of squishy little jellyfish about the size of a man's hand. Millions of
them. In the centre of each of them was a green design exactly like a four-leafed clover. The
good-luck emblem. Sure. Hell, yes" (357).
This quotation comes from a descriptive essay by Ernie Pyle, an American war
correspondent, in which he describes the American invasion of Normandy during World War II
as he walks along the beach and gives an account of his sights and thoughts from a first-person
point of view.
This paragraph is the second in the essay, and its placement has significance both in
setting the tone of his essay and the war in a metaphoric sense. The water in which the jellyfish
lie represents the many places where war took place, may it be battlefields, bodies of water, or
the open sky. In all these places people fought – millions of soldiers, just like the "millions" of
jellyfish. They inhabited the land, the sky, the water, just as the jellyfish call the water their
home. His reference, "squishy little jellyfish", portrays some of the characteristics of the men
who fought, looking at them as a group and as individuals. The use of the word, "squishy",
implies that the structure in question is moldable. Linking that idea with the description that they
were "about the size of a man's hand", this can be thought of as an idea that the soldiers were
moldable beings in the hands of God. They didn't have much influence or say in their futures or
if there would even be a future for them. All this was left to fate and luck. In other words, they
were in God's hands. The jellyfish were small in the scheme of things, leaving room for so many
to occupy the water. Similarly, the soldiers were small in the scheme of life and of the world at
that point. Although they were many, they could only have so much of an impact. In fact many
of them were left floating in the water.
The concept that a great deal of the war was left to luck is further viewed when Pyle
states, "In the centre of each of them was a green design exactly like a four-leafed clover." The
symbol of a four-leafed clover is widely known as a symbol of luck and good fortune. The fact
that the design in the centre of each jellyfish meant such a thing is both ironic and meaningful.
Firstly, that luckiness and good fortune could be associated with the war in any way doesn't
make much sense. The majority of those involved were not lucky, and good fortune did not come
upon many individuals as a result. But as mentioned earlier, most still had hope that they would
be one of the lucky few. The position of the four-leafed design on the jellyfish, right in the
centre, can also be transferred to the idea of the soldier. The high casualty rate on D-Day made
luck very important to the mindset of a soldier.
Work Cited
Pyle, Ernie. "On the Road to Berlin." Echoes 12: Fiction, Media and Non-Fiction. Ed.
Francine Artichuk et al. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2002. 357. Print.