Thesis Statement
What is a thesis
• A road map to your essay
• Tells YOUR interpretation of the subject matter
• A thesis is an interpretation of a question or
subject, not the subject itself.
– A subject may be Bambi but the thesis would be your
interpretation of the meaning of Bambi. Most subjects
have many many potential thesis.
• Should be specific and cover only what you are
talking about in the paper with specific evidence.
Thesis outside of an essay
• Thesis can also be found outside of formal essay.
– Many argue that any message or meaning that a
writer is trying to convey would be their thesis.
– For example the story Bambi or the Pigman have a
thesis.
– Likewise movies have a thesis: The theme of Bambi is
growing up, but what is the author arguing about
growing up?
– That would be the authors thesis, but the arguing of
that would be your thesis.
Creating and Developing Original
Thesis
• Sample assignment:
– Analyze Bambi’s coming of age.
Find a Topic
• Inform yourself about the topic (re-read, look
through notes etc, research when
appropriate)
• Focus on ONE aspect of the topic:
– The struggles bambi faces
• Ask if the topic is worthy:
– It is worthy because it is not too broad but leaves
enough to prove.
Derive a main point from the topic
• Look for patterns in evidence
– Bambi has to follow his mother
– Bambi gets upset when he leaves his mother
– Bambi learns about danger and has a hard time with it
• Possible conclusion: Bambi had to go through these
struggles to grow up, with out them he would be a perpetual
child.
• Create a purpose statement:
– This paper will be about Bambi’s struggles growing up
and how in the end they helped him mature.
Create a draft
• After creating a purpose statement make a list
of proof or reasons
• Write a main idea, starting with the reason
– The reasons Bambi’s struggle helps him to become
an adult is because he has to discover himself and
survive on his own to reach maturity, if someone
else is always showing him the way he will never
find it himself.
Revise
• Ask if the thesis covers the assigned topic
• Question if each part is relevant and effective
• Clarify any vague phrases (thesis statements
should be clear and to the point)
• Try re-writing it or changing words to improve
it.
Other Hints:
• If the assignment is a specific question, turn it into a
statement and then put reasons after it:
– How did Bambi’s struggles help him grow up?
• Bambi’s struggles helped him grow up because….
– In what ways did Bambi struggle? How did the struggles
affect his growing up?
• Bambi struggled with finding his own way. These struggles helped
him to grow up.
• Also look for patterns in thesis statements and create a
formula:
– ________ was a story of _________ the main character
was ______________ because of _________.
Samples:
• Because the Internet is filled with tremendous marketing
potential, companies should exploit this potential by using Web
pages that offer both advertising and customer support.
• Hunger persists in Glandelinia because jobs are scarce and farming
in the infertile soil is rarely profitable.
• Although many parents of teens struggling with body image may
blame television models and other such stars, these body issues
and their disorders stem back to their daughters' younger days of
pigtails and Barbies
• Despite their high-tech special effects, today's graphically violent
horror movies do not convey the creative use of cinematography or
the emotional impact that we saw in the classic horror films of the
1940s and 50s.
Pick out the thesis:
• Both, John Milton in Paradise Lost and Philip Pullman
in His Dark Materials series, focus on the biblical fall of
man. Pullman draws heavily on Milton’s epic poem for
his trilogy, using it as a spring board to corrupt Milton’s
presentation and reverse the positive message about
god, religion and original sin. To do this he uses the
main character of Lyra who plays the role of Eve. At
first glance Eve and Lyra are very different, yet they are
also similar in many ways. Their similarities not only
show Pullman’s agenda, of twisting Milton’s paradise,
but it also shows how Milton pushed the norms of
gender convention and religious doctrine.
Find the thesis
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis
Carroll has always been seen as an incoherent
children’s fantasy novel with very little relevance.
Yet beneath the surface of the wonderland,
which Alice falls into, is a poignant social criticism
of Adults treatment of children, the troubles of
adolescent, and the often irrational adherence of
adults to strict protocol and proceedings, as well
as a warning to hold on to the innocence of
childhood.
• The role of school as we discussed in class is to create a
unified and homogeneous society, while this is a valid
concern and one that guides the curriculum and practices,
there are other things that must be addressed. Schooling
must also be aware of it’s influence in creating well
developed people, helping children to think critically, and it
is also a way to help them be apart of large society while
also introducing them to new cultures, and validating their
own. It is clear that in a large society such as ours there
needs to be a way to bring people together creating a
functioning guided society. While diversity with in culture
is important and should not be over looked there must be a
unifying culture in order for all members to be able to
interact and function.
• There seem to be as many interpretations, and critical analysis of
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis as there are people who have
read it. The Metamorphosis lends itself to wide and infinite
interpretations due to its ambiguous and open ended nature. Two
essays that capture this are “Competing theories of identity in
Kafka’s The Metamorphosis by Kevin Sweeney and “The Waking:
The Themes of Kafka’s Metamorphosis. While one essay, “The
Waking” focuses on the metamorphosis as a reaction to the
dehumanized and “sick environment”, the other essay, “Competing
theories”, focus on the struggle and problem being an internal one
for Gregor. However dissimilar the two essays are they do not have
to be mutually exclusive in their truths of dissection when it comes
to the true meaning of the metamorphosis in fact, in some respects
one essay can help clarify where the other falls short.
• The poem “Snake” by D.H. Lawrence is full of
complex ideas and intense images. The author
creates a struggle between two main ideas that
create conflicting desires with in the speaker.
Through the inner struggle and outer reaction of
the speaker in the poem we see the author’s
agenda to attack our reliance on social norms
that dictate behavior and his prescription to trust
you primal urges otherwise you will live in a
world of self-deprecation and self-doubt.
• The Life and Loves of a She Devil by Fay Weldon is a
humorous novel of revenge. Weldon uses the main
character Ruth, the lives she touches and skillful
narrative to entertain while conveying a powerful
message. We see the inherent flaws in the feminist
agenda, the unrealistic ideals of women and the
cultural entrapments that suppress and control
women. Through the narrative strategies of satirical
irony and humor the author successfully reveals the
flaws of the patriarchal society and the limits of the
feminist agenda that both trap women into male
dictated ideals.
• The universal theme of the struggle of women to find their voice is
prevalent in many texts that span the genres. It is addressed very
effectively and uniquely in The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong
Kingston. Through the stories of other women as well as her own
thoughts, the narrator paints a picture of the struggle to find ones
voice through different societies, generations, and cultures. We see
the women that effect her understanding and her life struggle to
find voice, and her interpretation of those stories as well as her
interaction with her mother highlight her own search for an
independent voice. Through the contrasting portraits of woman
and the narrators own speculation and insights we get an
understanding of the inherent struggle of women to find voice and
identity when crossing cultures and trying to balance between
outside expectations, while validating the marginalized woman.