Fournier 1

Andrew Fournier

Mrs. Bonakdar

English 11 CPI G Block

5 November 2013

Clever Title Goes Here

This is the first sentence of Andrew’s essay (not

really!)

First Two Sentences: Hook and TAG

Finding true love with the right person is hard. In the novel “Their eyes are

Watching God”, Zora Hurston writes about Janie, the protagonist, and her journey to find love.

First Two Sentences: Hook and TAG

Some never find the meaning of true love, but it is those that go out searching for love that reveal the their own meaning of true love. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie develops her own meaning of love.

Background Info

The story involves an ¾ African American protagonist named Janie during the early 1900’s growing up in a small town called Eatonville. The novel tells the story about Janie’s life and her struggles and relationships throughout.

Background Info

• Protagonist• Setting• Pear Tree/sexual awakening?• Any context your reader needs to understand

your essay

– Remember, Nanny is Janie’s grandmother; make that clear if you mention her in intro

The Chopped Off Prongs… When she was young her Nanny arranged for her to

get married to have her becoming financially stable. Janie marries Logan Killicks even though she knows she doesn’t love him. Shortly after she leaves him to run off with a new man named Joe Starks, who promises her a nicer life. At first the marriage is successful, but quickly goes downhill and becomes abusive. Joe eventually dies and Janie meets and falls in love with a man named Tea Cake. Janie realizes that Nanny message about marriage was incorrect after how happy and free she felt with Tea Cake after the terrible one with Joe.

Thesis

Janie’s life and relationships are examples of becoming more individualistic which conveys Hurston’s message throughout the book of independence and femininity.

topics, not themes

Through Janie’s life and relationships, Hurston

suggests that…

Topic Sentence

Janie first discovers that she is unhappy doing what everyone else thinks she should do when she marries her first husband, Logan Killicks, which helps to reveal Hurston’s theme about how important it is to stay true to oneself.

Transition? CircleTopic? UnderlineLanguage from thesis? Box

Topic Sentence

Janie first discovers that she is unhappy doing what everyone else thinks she should do when she marries her first husband, Logan Killicks, which helps to reveal Hurston’s theme about how important it is to stay true to oneself.

Transition? CircleTopic? UnderlineLanguage from thesis? Box

Evidence

1. Specific examples from the novel put into your own words (must still have citation)

2. Direct quotation from a character

3. Quotation from the narrator

Quotation Integration

1. Context – What’s happening?

2. Lead-in phrasing – Use comma or colon

3. Quotation – Citation!

4. Analysis– Use analysis verb– Do not use “This quote shows”

Context

Nanny knows that she is going to die soon, so she forces Janie to marry this older man so that she can rest easy knowing that Janie is well off.

Lead-In and Citation

Nanny says, “And Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me” (Hurston 20).

Analysis

“And Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me”

Instead of doing what she wants to do, Janie abides to what Nanny thinks is best and marries Logan. After a while Janie becomes angry with her grandmother for forcing her to marry somebody that she does not love and someone that is hard for her to satisfy.

Is analysis linked to quotation?

Analysis

“And Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me”

• How does this quotation support thesis (“…it is important to stay true to oneself”)?

• Are there any words we can “zoom in” on?

Clincher

The moment she runs away with Joe is the first time that Janie realizes she wants to be free and be herself, even if that is not what Nanny wants for her.

-Clinches topic?-Includes language from the thesis?

Conclusion

Inverted Intro!1. Rephrasing of thesis2. Body paragraph ideas summarized in a few

sentences3. Leave the reader thinking

*The best essays come full circle. Can you get back to your hook somehow?

Other Tips

• PRESENT TENSE, PRESENT TENSE, PRESENT TENSE!

• Get rid of contractions (can’t, won’t, etc.)• Don’t forget your Works Cited page• Check for silly spelling and CAPS errors– Spell check won’t correct leafy, for example!

*Use handouts, this PowerPoint and Eyes Analysis PowerPoint when working on your essay