Writing for Honors Lit' and Soc'

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Writing for Honors Lit. and Soc.

• Criteria you will be graded on are as follows
• Insight have argumentative edge develop strong
  assertions, as opposed to obvious statements, and
  discuss your evidence shrewdly.
• Evidence know how to introduce apt information
  from the text to back up and advance your
  insights.
• Fluency make an impact on your reader through
  your style, through the way you express your
  ideas.

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Descriptive Writing

• Definition A descriptive piece of writing is an
  analytical word-picture of a person, place, or
  object. Part of your homework tonight will be to
  write a well-developed paragraph in which you
  present an insightful description of a person or
  place in Chapters 1-7.

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Two types of Description

• Objective Details as found in a text, fictional
  or non-fiction
• Provide factual information about the person or
  place.
• Tell readers what something/someone looks like,
  what they do, etc.
• Is literal, outwardly focused, non-interpetive.
• Focuses on the person/place being described
  rather than the narrators perceptions
• uses the five senses as appropriate
• implies an encyclopedic volume of information

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Example of objective writing

• Amsterdams Anne Frank House is located in the
  Jordaan quarter of the city. It occupies
  approximately one-sixth of a city block located
  at Prinsengracht 267, one of the oldest canal
  streets in the city.

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The second type subjective

• 2. Subjective (impressionistic)
• Expresses the psychological impact of the person
  or environment on himself/herself/itself, on
  other characters, or on the narrator (in
  fiction)/viewer (in non-fiction).
• Conveys an attitude held by the narrator,
  character, or other characters.
• The subjective realm will help you develop
  insightful, interpretive analysis.
• Example
• The Anne Frank House is an understated milieu,
  without pretense amidst the surrounding canal
  houses of the bohemian Jordaan quarter. Even
  today, in its present status as a world class
  museum, it is the unassuming quality of the site
  which stands as the most important, given that
  terror the attribute allowed its World War II
  inhabits to escape for too short a time.

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Synthesis of the two types

• As you read, always be on the lookout for
  technical and impressionistic details.
• Any academic paper relies on both, and has what
  we call a dominant impression as the driving
  idea.
• Dominant impressions are contained in all modes
  of writing, not just descriptive. They also are
  known as your thesis statement.
• For today, however, we will just think of
  dominant impressions about Chandrapore and some
  key characters.

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What are descriptive words describing Amsterdam?

• Colorful
• Stately
• Futuristic
• Alternative
• Water-infused
• Countercultural
• Surprisingly stiff

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Amsterdams Modern Architecture

• Objective details concrete, vertical, box
  shapes.
• Subjective impression futuristic, cold but
  alluring, unafraid of ugliness, in your face
  Im grappling with whether these buildings are
  more art than home colors imply a love of risk
  and Dutch interest in experimentation with new
  forms.

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Amsterdams Houseboats

• Objective details on the water, smaller than
  surrounding houses, circular and rectangular
  windows boat and bike are sometimes side by
  side.
• Subjective impression the boats turn water into
  a homefront privacy might be an issue if I lived
  on a houseboat unconventional place to live
  unorthodox boat and bike complement each other
  in a small and active city.

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Amsterdams Stately Canal Neighborhoods

• Objective impression green trees shiny windows
  over 150 years old in summer flowerpots are full
  and flowers are blooming, few bikes on streets
  in water the canals fill with people.
• Subjective impression taxes are probably high
  well-groomed enclosed and encased façade can
  easily become a playground.

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Dominant Impression

• The dominant impression is what we call a thesis,
  or overarching assertion
• Characteristics of dominant impressions
• A CULMINATING THOUGHT you arrive at after youve
  considered the more finite subjective perceptions
  you have about something
• CONTESTABLE someone could have a completely,
  utterly, totally different dominant impression of
  Amsterdam and hence make a different assertion
• Has an argumentative edge that causes the reader
  to ask WHY or HOW.
• The same thing as a main idea, top wafer on the
  oreo cookie paragraph, top piece of bread in the
  ham sandwich.

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My most effective dominant impression..

• Amsterdams residential architecture suggests a
  convergence of new and old.
• Amsterdams residential homes imply a conflicted
  Dutch people, torn between an unassuming domestic
  stability and a love of impulse and risk.
• I believe Amsterdams residential architecture is
  different and beautiful.

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To review, my subjective perceptions formed my
D.I.

• I see rivalry between competing ideas, tension if
  you will, between stability and impulse in most
  Amsterdam-ish domains.
• Finding the tension in a concept, place or person
  is one of the keys to articulating an insightful
  assertion.

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Stylistic Strategies for Writing Dominant
Impressions

• Diction (word choice) is the most important
  element in creating an effective dominant
  impression.
• Convey a sense of tension and complication about
  the place or person you are describing.
• A dominant impression, by virtue of the multiple
  perceptions comprising it, conveys a conceptually
  complex person or place and a conceptually
  complex viewer (you).

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Chandrapore

• Which dominant impressions do you find most
  insightful?
• HW Read Chapters 4-7. Write (handwritten is
  fine) a one page journal entry in which you
  explore one character who appears in more than
  one dialogue, in chapters 2-7. Explore the
  similarities and/or differences you see in the
  characters attitude in each setting.