English 2235 / Spring 2008 / Essay #1

Assignment:

Write an essay of 2-4 pages (double-spaced in MLA style) in which you seek comparisons, connections, and/or differences between August Wilson's play, The Piano Lesson, and Neil Simon's play, Brighton Beach Memoirs. Do not do any library or internet research; focus on the two primary texts and on your observations and analyses.

Defining Some Terms:

"Explication" is also known as "close reading," a painstaking analysis of the details of a piece of writing, particularly individual scenes or passages. "Analysis" is defined as the breaking up of something into its parts in order to study the whole better. In literary analyses of fiction (including short stories, novels, and prose plays), the "parts" are fairly standard -- plot, characterization, point of view, setting, style, and theme -- and often only one of these parts is analyzed in an essay.

Comparison and contrast employ the same general techniques as explication and analysis. They use specific details from the text to support a particular interpretation of the stories, novels, or plays. But whereas explication attempts to exhaust the widest possible range of meanings, comparison and contrast are more selective in their focus, requiring that you examine how a single element -- a theme, a technique, a structural device -- functions in two works or in a related group of works

Finding a Focus:

Assignments for compare and contrast essays can be quite specific; for example, "Compare and contrast 'Barn Burning' and 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' as examples of initiation stories." Or, assignments can be quite general, as in the one I'm giving you. Thus, since you must analyze two plays in a single paper, you should take special care to narrow your topic in a comparison and contrast essay. Too broad a topic might send your paper sprawling in several directions at once.

For example, you might want to begin with a general topic or literary element, such as "characters." You might then want to narrow it to "father figures," or "mother figures," or "siblings," or "outsiders," or "travelers," or "intruders," etc. Or you could begin with a familiar literary conflict, such as "individuals vs. society" or "individuals vs. themselves," or a general theme, such as "families working together through adversity" or "coming of age" or "how reality differs from appearances." But again, you would then need to narrow your general idea to something more specific.

Finding and Explaining Evidence:

At this point, you will need to go back through both plays, looking for anything and everything related to your focus. As you work, you will hopefully find ways to narrow your focus even more. You will also eventually need to decide what textual evidence you will include in your paper and what stuff can be set aside. Remember, however, throughout this process, you are going to need to do more in your essay than simply present information from both plays to illustrate HOW they are similar and/or different. You are going to have to explain WHY they are similar and/or different, and, maybe more importantly, WHY these similarities and differences matter, why they are significant, why your readers should care about them, why you find them to be important.

Citing Your Sources:

If you include descriptions or summaries of scenes or passages in your essay, if you paraphrase the ideas in a particular passage, if you quote something, you need to let your readers know exactly where in the texts of the plays you found the evidence. Since we are using the MLA (Modern Language Association) documentation system and citation styles, you need to keep track of authors and page numbers. If you include the name of the author in your sentence to introduce the textual evidence, then you only need the page number in parentheses at the end of the borrowed material; however, if you introduce the borrowed material in another way, then you will need both the author's last name and the page number in parentheses at the end of the borrowed material. Here are some examples:

Finally, since the two plays we are using are common to everyone in class, I am not going to require a Works Cited page for this essay -- unless you are using a non-standard edition. And, as I said above, research is not required, or even recommended, for this essay; however, if for some reason you must include an outside source, then you will need to include a Works Cited page, and the bibliographic format must also be in MLA style.

Comparison/Contrast "Block" Organization ("OK"):

I.) Introduction

II.) August Wilson's Play, The Piano Lesson

A.) Main Idea #1
B.) Main Idea #2
C.) Main Idea #3
etc.

III.) Neil Simon's Play, Brighton Beach Memoirs

A.) Main Idea #1
B.) Main Idea #2
C.) Main Idea #3
etc.

IV.) Synthesis

V.) Conclusion

Comparison/Contrast "Alternating" Organization ("BETTER"):

I.) Introduction

II.) Main Idea #1

A.) August Wilson's Play
B.) Neil Simon's Play

III.) Main Idea #2

A.) August Wilson's Play
B.) Neil Simon's Play

IV.) Main Idea #3

A.) August Wilson's Play
B.) Neil Simon's Play

Etc.

X.) Conclusion

Evaluation:

Your essay will be evaluated based on (1) the clarity of your central argument and main ideas, (2) the strength and clarity of your evidence and explanations, (3) the clarity of your organization and the smoothness of your transitions, and (4) your use of language -- reasonable "correctness" in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics. In other words, your ideas and how you present and explain them are most important; "grammar" is only taken into account to the degree that it detracts from your presentation. Making unusual connections, offering rigorous analysis, shedding new lights on the texts, showing imaginative thinking, or sparking controversy are all encouraged. Keep in mind that you are able to use the plays and your notes as you write your essay; not only should you go beyond the ideas we talked about in class, but you should also be careful that you are accurate in your use of the authors' names, quotations, and factual details from the text.

Formatting Requirements:

Your essay should be at least two (2) pages long but no longer than four (4) pages -- double-spaced and word-processed -- with 1.0"-1.25” margins on all sides, and a 12-point “normal” font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri). No title page is needed: simply put your name, my name, the course prefix and number, and the date in the upper-left-hand corner of the first page. Finally, check this page and this page for more information about writing papers in literature classes.

Any Questions?

Due Date: ____________________