Go Deep…with Your Rhetorical and Literary Analysis!!!!
Quote: ________________________________________________________________
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Analysis:
Which device does the author use and define the term?
How is the quote that device?
Why did the author use this device for his/her purpose?
CONTEXT:
Who is the audience?
What is the time period?
What viewpoints might the audience already have about this topic?
How does the author want to affect the audience?
They think—what?
They do—what?
They feel—what?
By affecting the audience in this way, what does the author gain for his/her argument?
Go Deep…with Your Rhetorical and Literary Analysis!!!!
Quote: ___Frederick Douglass sincerely explains to his audience that “slaves know as little
of their ages as horses” know of their own (L. 12-13). _____________________________
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Analysis:
Which device does the author use and define the term?
simile: comparison of two unlike terms by using like/as
How is the quote that device?
Slaves are paralleled to an animal, a non-human entity.
Why did the author use this device for his/her purpose?
To demonstrate that slaves’ humanity has been ripped away from them due to the fact that
the very simple essentials of identity are lost to the slave.
CONTEXT:
Who is the audience?
Primarily a white audience, non-Abolitionist and Abolitionist
What is the time period?
1800s, Pre-Civil War
What viewpoints might the audience already have about this topic?
Some believed that slaves were in fact animals and should not have any human rights;
others believed that slavery was wrong.
How does the author want to affect the audience?
They think—what?
They do—what?
They feel—what?
Think: to get them to understand the atrocities of slavery and how very wrong it is to take
away the fundamentals of humanity.
Feel: to get them to feel guilt because it is the fault of the inactive that slaves do not have
the simple basic knowledge of one’s own identity
By affecting the audience in this way, what does the author gain for his/her argument?
It furthers the Abolitionists’ cause by forcing the non-Abolitionists to understand the
intensity of the effects of slavery and what it does to the overall society because, in fact, it
takes away humanity and turns people into animals.
Making Going Deeper a Great Body Paragraph
Each body paragraph is like a mini-paper in both form and content. It will argue a specific point,
prove it with backing/evidence, and explain how it proves the point you’ve claimed. Use going
deeper as we have practiced in class and then take it the next step to a great body paragraph.
Simple Tips for Writing Body Paragraphs
1. You need to defend your interpretation/opinions with backing/evidence and relate it to
your thesis.
 No key argument about the text should go without evidence. You need to make
direct or indirect references to the text, always using in-text citations.
 You need to read your thesis; then, read your topic sentence; next, read your backing;
and finally, read your analysis. Make sure that it all connects—has unity—and it
transitions/moves from part to part clearly.
2. Recap the story or passage as little as possible.
 Frequently, beginning writers give too much evidence and use too many quotes.
So, use only the most important part that supports the arguments of your paper,
rather than retells the events you are discussing.
3. Integrate the most essential of the author’s words with your own words.
 Too often, writers use too long of evidence, and the reader even more often will
not read big quotes. Make it a rule to never quote more than four lines and use
instead the key part of the sentence/phrase that you focus your analysis on.
 ALWAYS use sentence stems or signal phrases to chunk the quote into your own
sentence. The sentence should be a part of your own sentence and never sit in
isolation. A good rule of thumb to see if your sentence works well with the quote
is to pretend the quotes are absent. Read the sentence without the quotation
marks and the sentence should still read smoothly.
Use this “Simple Tips” list to both create and revise your body paragraph because these are the
key components your reader will need to see your interpretation and inevitably score you on.
Sample Body Paragraph with Going Deep
Argument/Thesis: In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Frederick
Douglass uses inhuman figurative language to show the dehumanizing effects of slavery.
Body Paragraph:
Douglass calls his audience to reexamine daily events to elucidate the thefts of slavery. There are
various aspects of life that people take for granted as predisposed personal information. Douglass
explains that slaves, however, “know as little of their ages as horses” know of their own (L. 1213). Douglass parallels slaves to animals in order to demonstrate that slaves’ humanity has been
ripped away from them because the very simple essentials of identity are lost to slaves, unlike his
white Pre-Civil war audience. While some in his audience would support his Abolitionist beliefs,
others would maintain that slaves were not entitled to common livelihoods. Yet by paralleling
slaves to animals at the onset of his speech, he attempts to evoke guilt in the audience because of
the basic knowledge that they have of themselves, which they keep from slaves. Further, he
seems to suggest that because of their inactivity, the audience is in fact damaging the overall
society because it is treating people as animals.