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This guide is meant as a starting point. You can certainly experiment with form and I do not intend to constrain your writing, but until you’ve mastered the basic concepts of this response, this sample outline should provide a strong foundation. This sample outline uses the novel Huck Finn to answer the prompt that follows:
The eighteenth-century British novelist Laurence Stern wrote, “nobody, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.”
From a novel or play choose a character (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict within one character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.
Sentence 1: Specific reference from the book: Huck’s experience with the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons
Sentence 2: Broaden this to address the theme/prompt
Sentence 3: Thesis: Although Huck is raised in a Southern culture that demands conformity to the idea that African-Americans are less than human, the conflict Huck faces between these values and his own friendship with Jim reveals the importance of following one’s own conscience.
You can always refer to this guide as well.
Topic Sentence: Huck has been raised to believe that African-Americans are nothing more than property to be owned and sold.
Subtopic 1: The culture uses the law and education to enforce the idea of black inferiority.
–Detail, Detail, analysis
Subtopic 2: Even the morally upright people that Huck knows teach him that slavery is necessary and morally correct.
–Detail, Detail, analysis
Strong Closing Sentence
Topic Sentence: Despite the powerful influece of his upbringing, Huck’s mind is soon torn between these values and his own conscience that tells him slavery is wrong.
Subtopic 1: Huck rejects the idea of slavery.
Detail, Detail, analysis
Subtopic 2: Perhaps more importantly, he begins to realize a more powerful truth: not only is slavery wrong, but Jim is as much a human being as he is.
Detail, Detail, analysis
Strong Closing Sentence
Huck’s conflict between what he has been taught to believe and what he knows to be right are at the center of Mark Twain’s critique of the way that we allow society to shape our morality in dangerous ways.
Detail, analysis.
It’s easiest to return to the structure of the introduction. Three sentences, reversed order. Ideally, you can offer a new twist/spin/clarification on the original story.
The best way to see the comments would be to download your essay from this folder. If you have Microsoft Word, download the essay in that format and you can click on each of the comments to see exactly what the problem area was. If not, download the PDF version, which will allow you to see the comments more cleanly than the B&W print version.
Revisions are due in class on Wednesday. Please attach the original draft with comments to the new version. I do not want revisions to be sent in electronically. Remember, they are due in class.
If you would like to see what an A paper looks like on this prompt, you can certainly check this one out. The goal is not for you to replicate the style of this writer, but to match the organization, detail, and clarity.