Learning Focus

1
Learning Focus

• Writing Applications 2.2 Write responses to
  literature.
• Demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the
  significant ideas of literary works.
• Support important ideas and viewpoints through
  accurate and detailed references to the text or
  other works.

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Learning Focus (cont.)

• c. Demonstrate awareness of the authors use of
  stylistic devices and an appreciation of the
  effects created.
• d. Identify and assess the impact of perceived
  ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the
  text

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Key Points

• Demonstrate that you have thought about and
  understood something that you have read and share
  your insights.
• Include a thesis statement that shows that you
  have grasped the meaning of the work. This
  statement will establish the focus for your
  essay.

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Key Points (cont.)

• In each body paragraph, include a topic sentence
  that supports your thesis. This usually appears
  at the beginning of the paragraph, but it may
  appear at the end or even in the middle.
• Use details from the selection to support your
  ideas. If you use quotations, be sure to quote
  accurately. Also be sure that your details are
  accurate.

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Key Points (cont.)

• Discuss the authors use of stylistic devices
  (such as imagery, symbolism, and figurative
  language) and their effect on the text.
• Discuss the effect of any ambiguities (aspects of
  the text with unclear meaning or purpose).
  Explain their possible interpretation and their
  impact.
• End with a strong concluding statement. Leave
  the reader with a strong impression by summing up
  the thesis of your essay or by restating it in a
  forceful way.

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War by Luigi Pirandello

• Read the short story and then discuss the fat,
  red-faced man in groups.
• What observations did your group make about the
  character?
• What is the significance of these observations?
  (what do the details reveal about the character
  or the story?)

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Example Essay War by Amelia Vacca

• 1. What is the writers thesis in the following
  paragraph?
• The character the fat, red-faced man in Luigi
• Pirandellos story War is not only believable
  but
• also well developed. He is a man who has lost
  his
• son, but when we first meet him, he has not come
• to terms with what this loss actually means. He
• spouts patriotic slogans, covering the hurt he is
  not
• even aware of with statements about the glory of
• dying for ones country.

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Example Essay War by Amelia Vacca

• 2. Why does the writer include a quotation from
  the story in this body paragraph?
• This man is a hurt soul who does not even know
• that he is hurt. But his body language gives
  him
• away. Before he starts to speak, he is panting,
  and
• his eyes are budging with some inner violence
• which his weakened body could hardly contain.
• Pirandello shows us a man whose body reveals
• what his mind refuses to accept.

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Example Essay War by Amelia Vacca

• 3. According to the writer, what is Pirandello
  indicating when the man finally breaks down in
  uncontrollable sighs?
• The man has to confront the reality of his
  situation when the woman says, Thenis your son
  really dead? At first, he cant accept her
  words, and he finds no words with which to
  respond to her. To some degree, he is in shock.
  Only when the truth of her words dawns is he
  forced to face the reality of his loss and he
  breaks down in uncontrollable sobs.

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Example Essay War by Amelia Vacca

• 4. What technique does the writer discuss in her
  concluding paragraph? Copy her concluding
  statement.
• This is an accurate and riveting portrait of
  someone in denial. The way Pirandello allows the
  reader to see inside the man--to understand more
  than he does himself of what he is actually
  feeling--is truly masterful. The portrayal is so
  true to life that it definitely supports
  Pirandellos reputation as a writer with deep
  insight into the human psyche.