An Outline for Writing about Literature The outline that follows is your model for writing both the two major essays due in this course, which are the fiction essay and the research paper.  The outline is based on the fundamental Three-Part Format outline which I teach in ENGL 1301.  That more basic outline can be accessed in the Links item in the menu bar above or below, but the version which follows has been adapted for writing about literature, and is meant to be self-contained.  In other words, you need not have already learned the other, more basic outline. This outline that follows has several key features which I want to emphasize: It consists of three main sections:  intro, main body, and conclusion.  In papers of the three-to-five page length which you will write in this course, both the intro and conclusion normally consist of only one paragraph each, but the main body will always consist of multiple paragraphs--normally either three or four. Note this:  The body paragraphs each will focus on one single important literary device (from the list of eight which you have already studied).  The body paragraphs should not just ramble around, and they should not merely discuss one scene, then another, etc.  If that is all you do, your paper will probably do nothing but retell the story.  That is called a "plot summary," and it will earn a failing grade!  You will describe scenes, of course, and even quote from them.  But in each body paragraph, you will do these things within the context of analyzing how one particular literary device works in the story--for instance, how some specific type of social conflict works, like gender conflict perhaps.  In the outline itself, you will see how this works. Recall the three devices which are crucial steps in the strategy for interpretation which you have already studied.  Those three devices are social conflict, inner conflict, and opportunity for character change.  I highly, highly recommend that you make these devices your choices for your three body paragraphs.  So what you see below in the outline is a body paragraph on some particular social conflict, followed by a second body paragraph on the inner conflict in the protagonist which is caused by the social conflict, and lastly you follow with a third body paragraph on the opportunity for character change which occurs as a result of that inner conflict. Focusing intently and thoroughly on just those three devices can produce an excellent paper.  However, some students choose to add a fourth body paragraph, usually on another major device like symbolism (an excellent choice) or perhaps irony or some other device.  This option is covered in the outline also. Advice for writing a title is also part of the outline, and that is where we will begin.  Here is the outline: Include a Title Which Uses Key Words from Your Statement of Theme I.  Introduction (normally one paragraph containing the following three elements)             A.  Background:  name author and work; state issue; you may also choose to tell some personal story which suggests the same lesson as the theme in the work.             B.  Theme:  what is the author’s message about this issue?  State it in one sentence, and absolutely take no more than two sentences to state the theme.  Refer to the link on Theme for help with this.             C.  Preview of Devices:  list the devices you’ll use to support the theme.  Obvious choices are social conflict, inner conflict, and opportunity for character change—in that order, since one leads to another. II.  Main Body (either three or four paragraphs, each focusing on one of the devices previewed above.             A.  First Device:  social conflict of some specific kind.  Items 1, 2, 3, & 4 make one paragraph. 1.  Topic Sentence:  Always begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence that states the device to be discussed, like this:  “The main social conflict in this work is gender conflict” (or racial, or whatever).  And then perhaps “We can see many examples of this conflict.”  What you are trying to do in this paragraph is to show your reader that gender conflict (or whatever kind) is the key social conflict that drives the story.  To do that, showing one instance is not enough!  I would like to see three instances discussed (a, b, and c below), preferably drawn from key scenes. 2.  General Discussion:  Here you tell the reader, in a fairly general way, why this device is important to the story, and how it works within the story.  This part will often be only two or three sentences long.                         3.  Specific Examples, with direct quotes: a.  First example:  describe the scene, then quote from it, then explain how the quote shows the type of conflict you say it does.  (Note:  this three-step sequence is crucial to the success of your paper.  I break it down further in the link on how to include direct quotes in essays.)                                     b.  Second example:  same three things as above.                                     c.  Third example:  same again.                         4.  Concluding Sentence:  sum up how these examples, together, show that this type of social conflict is indeed prominent in the work.                        B.  Second device:  inner conflict.  As with the first device, 1, 2, 3, & 4 below make one paragraph.                         1.  Topic Sentence:  “The gender conflict in this work leads to an inner conflict in the protagonist, a conflict which intensifies as the work develops.”                         2.  General Discussion:  This will be similar to the general discussion of the first device, but here you may choose to emphasize also how the inner conflict is an effect brought about by the social conflict(s) just discussed.                         3.  Specific Examples, with direct quotes                                          a.  First example:  early appearance of inner conflict                                     b.  Second example:  a later, more intense example of it                                     c.  Third example:  most intense instance, probably at the climax                         4.  Concluding sentence:  point out how the conflict increases in intensity             C.  Third device:  opportunity for character change.  Items 1 through 4 make one paragraph.                         1.  Topic Sentence:  Mention the connection to social & inner conflict; tell whether the protagonist is dynamic or static, and say whether this appears to be good or bad.                         2.  General Discussion:  The thing to do here is to emphasize how the opportunity for character change is created when the inner conflict reaches a critical mass.                         3.  Specific Examples, with direct quotes:  This paragraph will differ from the others in that it will not focus on a series of scenes but on the moment of climax, when character change is most likely to happen.  You may quote only once, or if the scene is more prolonged, you may quote several times.  But the crucial part of the paragraph will be your explanation of how the quote does or does not show a character change.  You will also tell whether this change or lack of one appears to be a good thing or a bad one (and what shows us this).  At this point you should be on the very doorstep of your theme, since that theme should have been based on what the protagonist does, or should have done, at this crucial point.                         4.  Concluding sentence:  Just sum up your conclusions from the above discussion.  You may even want to restate the theme at this point. III.  Overall Conclusion             A.  Summarize your devices:  at the very least, list them again.  But better yet, tell how they connect (social conflict causes inner conflict, which causes an opportunity for character change).             B.  Restate the theme:  your summary of what the devices show us should lead smoothly into a restatement of the theme you began with. Notes on using other devices along with or instead of these: §         No matter which other devices you use, you must discuss character change or lack thereof. §         Do not choose to bypass the devices of social and inner conflict unless you have an excellent reason to do so.  By that, I mean that you had better have something extremely impressive to show me in their place!.  I have rarely seen a student pull this off.  Usually, even if you want to bring in other devices, you’re better off using one or two in addition to the above three, not instead of. §         It is also never a good  idea to try to combine social and inner conflict, but to give a separate paragraph to each. §         Point of view is usually best used to help find the protagonist.  It is usually not worth a paragraph to itself, unless something unusual is going on with it (example:  an unreliable narrator, when the narrator tells things one way while you can clearly see that he/she is not being truthful). §         Setting is best used to predict the sort of social conflicts, though sometimes physical setting can be symbolic. §         Tone is best used not as a paragraph in itself, but to help with the interpretation of quotes in other paragraphs, such as those on conflict or character change. §         Climax is best discussed as part of the paragraph dealing with character change. §         Symbolism can be used within another paragraph, but if there are several important symbols in a work then that might be worth a paragraph in itself.  Sometimes you can even place such a paragraph after character change:  state the theme at the end of the paragraph on character change, then work back to it again with symbolism, thereby getting sort of a “cross-fix” on the theme:  arriving at it from two fairly independent arguments. §         Just as some works are highly symbolic, some are highly ironic, filled with unexpected twists and turns.  In writing about such works, verything said above about symbolism also tends to apply to irony.

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