Response Constructor
Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values.
Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a
deeper understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole.
Character:
Thesis:
Theme:
A single character from the novel that you
will use to answer this question due to the
significance of sacrifice(s) and
corresponding values.
Explicitly answers the question by
identifying what values are highlighted by
character’s sacrifice(s).
A clear statement that explicitly presents a
greater understanding inferred through
the commentary of sacrifice and values.
Dr. Manette
Charles Dickens, through Dr. Manette’s
forfeiture of safety, illustrates how much
the doctor values the pursuit of justice, an
endeavor to ensure that right prevails over
wrong.
Each invidious event’s corresponding
outcome, consequences stripping away
Dr. Manette’s sanity and well-being,
convey the notion that acts of injustice,
through tempering the morals of the
victims, may forge greater resiliency to
overcome future tests to an individual's
principles.
Sydney Carton
Topic Sentence
Explicitly states the values held by the
character based upon sacrifice.
Evidence
Specific details or events that relate to the
sacrifice.
Commentary
Part 1: Explain how the evidence reveals
the value reflective of the sacrifice.
Part 2: Explicitly connects the
commentary to the theme statement.
Dr. Manette’s sacrifice of safety when
trying to reveal the misdeeds of the
Evremonde brothers makes clear the value
he sees in pursuing justice for those
wronged.
After offering medical aid to a clearly
distraught abuse victim and observing the
deceased form of said woman’s brother,
Dr. Manette writes a letter identifying the
Evremonde brothers as the culprits behind
the heinous crimes.
Part 1: Through this act of reporting a
crime by the aristocracy in efforts to bring
them to justice, Dr. Manette sacrifices his
safety, knowingly making an enemy of
more powerful individuals, men already
demonstrating that they care little for the
health and well-being of anyone they
perceive as inferior. Seeing first-hand the
destruction the Evremondes leave in their
wake, Dr. Manette does not sway from his
path, ultimately being rewarded with an
unjust imprisonment in the Bastille in lieu
of the justice he seeks.
Part 2: Even in this first act of defiance,
in the hopes of upholding justice and his
morals, Dr. Manette shows an inner
strength that Dickens carefully tempers
through further acts of sacrifice once freed
from his prison. Though he fractures
while imprisoned, Dr. Manette’s
resiliency demonstrates the power that
hardships have to fortify the resolve of
those willing to be tested.
DON’T
● Use First-Person (I, Me, My)
● Compliment the novel or the author: “The brilliant Charles Dickens.” or “The masterpiece that is ​A Tale of Two Cities.”
● Leave your introduction without a clear thesis: “Sydney Carton makes the ultimate sacrifice in the novel showing the reader
what he truly values.” or “Charles Darnay escapes France to London where he finds something more valuable than the riches
he left behind.”
● Leave your introduction without a clear theme statement: “Sacrifice can teach us a great deal about justice.” or “Dickens shows
the reader an important message about sacrifice.”
● Have more evidence than commentary.
● Retell the major events of the novel without discussing the significance in a meaningful way.
● Discuss tangents unless they hold significance to the argument that you are trying to make/prove.