Literary Essays:
Thesis Development
ENG3U
Note
• There are many types of essays (e.g. personal,
expository, comparison, persuasive, literary, …)
• Each type of essay has a different thesis structure.
The structure we will learn today is for a literary
essay
Theme Practice
• Which of the following are not themes of the
movie Titanic?
– Love
– Jack and Rose
– The boat
– Pride
– Classism
– Leonardo DiCaprio
Theme Practice
• Which of the following are not themes of the
movie Titanic?
– Love
– Jack and Rose
– The boat
– Pride
– Classism
– Leonardo DiCaprio
Theme Practice
• Which of the following are not themes of the
movie Transformers?
– Robots in disguise
– The role of technology in war
– Optimus Prime
– Cool cars
– Government conspiracy
Theme Practice
• Which of the following are not themes of the
movie Transformers?
– Robots in disguise
– The role of technology in war
– Optimus Prime
– Cool cars
– Government conspiracy
• The purpose of a literary essay is to analyze
the author’s choices and what we can learn
from them
• It takes a lot of thought and planning to write
a literary essay!
• The following examples are from William
Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies (last year’s
ENG3U novel)
Steps
1.
2.
3.
4.
Identify themes
Identify points of interest
Make connections
Ask yourself guiding questions
1. Determine the purpose of the connections
5. Create your thesis
Step 1: Brainstorm 8 themes
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Individualism vs. community
Order vs. chaos
Friendship
Responsibility
Loss of innocence
The nature of evil
Dystopia
Dehumanization
Step 1: Find Thematic Connections
1) Individualism
vs. community
2) Order vs.
chaos
3) Friendship
4) Responsibility
1) Loss of innocence
1) The nature of evil
2) Dystopia
3) Dehumanization
Step 2: Brainstorm 5-8 unique,
interesting features of your novel
• Things that can make good points of interest:
– Symbolic items
– Unique uses of setting
– Something unique in society (e.g. fashion, government
style, divisions between groups of people)
• Things that are not unique points of interest:
–
–
–
–
Characters
“Their experiences”  too generic
“The plot”
Feelings
Step 2: Brainstorm 5-8 unique,
interesting features of your novel
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The pig’s head
The different dances around the fire
Sacrifices: pig & human
The dead parachutist
Items of power: the conch and Piggy’s glasses
Jack’s war paint
Castle Rock
The monster & the living jungle
Step 3: Find Connections
• Make connections between your themes and
points of interest
Step 3: Find Connections
Choose your strongest theme: Which points of
interest does it connect to?
• Order vs. Chaos could connect to:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The pig’s head
The different dances around the fire
Sacrifices: pig & human
The dead parachutist
Items of power: the conch and Piggy’s glasses
Jack’s war paint
Castle Rock
The monster & the living jungle
Step 4: Ask Yourself Questions
Write 3-4 questions that you would need to ask
yourself to fully understand the connections you’ve
made.
• What causes characters to abandon order?
• Could any characters have stopped the boys’
descent into chaos?
• Why don’t the boys recognize that their dances
have dangerous effects?
Choose your best question
Which question will best allow you to analyze
the connection between your theme and point
of interest?
• Why don’t the boys recognize that their
dances have dangerous effects?
Answer your question
• Why don’t the boys recognize that their dances
have dangerous effects?
– Begins as an innocent game; blurs the line between
what’s real and what isn’t
– Motivated by fear; thinking only about survival
instead of reason
– Desperate for inclusion in the hunters’ popular clique
• Therefore: if they think only about what’s best for
themselves, they can fail to see the evil in their
actions
Step 5: Create your thesis
Basic Structure
(Author) uses (point of interest) to show the
theme of (theme).
Better Structure (Analysis!)
(Author) uses (point of interest) to show (theme
+ “so what”?).
Step 5: Write your thesis (basic)
• Theme: order vs. chaos
• Point of interest: dances
Thesis
In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding
uses the boys’ increasingly realistic dances to
show the theme of order vs. chaos.
Step 5: Write your thesis (basic)
• Theme: order vs. chaos
• Point of interest: dances
• Connection: self-interest leads to dangerous results
Thesis
In his dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding
uses the boys’ increasingly realistic dances to illustrate
the dangerous way that self-interest can lead to chaos
within society.
Example
William Golding uses the beast to show the theme of fear
of
the unknown. (good)
In his dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding
uses the boys’ increasingly realistic dances to illustrate
the dangerous way that self-interest can lead to chaos
within society. (better)
William Golding uses the conflicts about basic survival
needs at camp to teach that working as a community is
preferable to individualism. (better)
Try it together!
• Groups of 3
• Story: “The Shivering Tree”
Step 1: Themes
• List 4 themes from “The Shivering Tree”
– Find connections between the themes
Step 2: Points of Interest
• Identify 5 unique features of “The Shivering
Tree”
Examples
Themes
The danger of vanity
Friendship
Sacrifice
Revenge
…
Points of Interest
Shape shifting
Juggling
Magic
Origin story structure
Timeless, human-less setting
Animal characters
…
Step 3: Make Connections
• Choose your best theme
– Find connections between your theme and your
points of interest
Step 4: Ask Yourself Questions
• Create analysis questions to help you find the
importance of the connection between your
theme and points of interest
• Choose your best question and answer it
Step 5: Write Your Thesis
Basic Structure
(Author) uses (point of interest) to show the
theme of (theme).
Better Structure (Analysis)
(Author) uses (point of interest) to show (theme
+ “so what”?).
Example: Good
In “The Shivering Tree”, John McLeod uses the origin of
natural phenomena to show the theme of vanity.
Example: Better
In “The Shivering Tree”, John McLeod uses the origin of
natural phenomena to show the theme of vanity.
So what?  Our actions have consequences; bad
things happen to the characters who are too vain
In “The Shivering Tree”, John McLeod uses the origin of
natural phenomena as a metaphor for the negative
consequences of vanity.
The Hunger Games
• Make a list of 5-8 themes
• List 5-8 points of interest: STOP! Get checked!
• Make connections between themes & points of
interest
• Write 2-3 questions that can help you explain the
connection between themes & points of interest
– Answer your best question
• Write your thesis
– (Author) uses (P.O.I) to show (theme + “so what”)
Next Steps
Assignment (details tomorrow)
• Plan essay for The Hunger Games
– Thesis planning (done!)
– 3 sources for possible works cited (details
tomorrow)
– Introduction paragraph (details tomorrow)
• Due Wednesday, November 27
Homework
• Finish thesis planning
– Questions  Answer questions  Write thesis
• Bring your computer to do research
• Bring The Hunger Games tomorrow
Introduction
• 3-4 sentences
– Brief plot summary (+ name and author of book)
– Thesis statement (from your thesis planning
sheet)
– Blueprint (the three topics you would discuss in
your body paragraphs if you were writing the
whole essay)
Works Cited
• Find 3 sources (book, encyclopedia article,
website) that have some connection to the
ideas in your thesis statement
– You DO NOT have to actually read them; just find
something that seems relevant
• Works cited page will include those 3 sources
+ an entry for The Hunger Games
• Class website has a link to MLA formatting
website (Purdue OWL) to review your
structure