answered: Essay Number Two: Textual Analysis (Fahrenheit 451) Discussi

  

Essay Number Two: Textual Analysis (Fahrenheit 451)
Discussion:
In Book VII of the Republic, Plato describes people imprisoned in a dark cave, performed for by puppeteers who control the shadows cast on a wall before them. The prisoners that leave the cave are temporarily blinded by light, but eventually their eyes adjust. Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 connects to this idea, as the protagonist finds the tools to escape metaphorical imprisonment.
Writing is a deliberate act. Authors use a variety of techniques and strategies to convey meaning and assist their arguments (to carefully build upon their ideas and support their arguments). There is an intersection between character, event, and language, where elements of the text’s construction enhance the text’s content.
Purpose:
A work of fiction is a sustained, and often a subtle, argument. Just as with a piece of non-fiction, readers must ask themselves what its writer have wished that we, having read his novel, would think, feel, know, or do –– in short, what the novel is advocating and how its people and its events express this argument.
One of a reader’s tasks is to analyze the structure of an argument—the claims, support, assumptions, and values—to reveal what is not self-evident and to establish the significance of the story’s action and characters. Analyzing the text means thinking about the ways in which the characters (their personalities, their motivations, their values, their actions, etc.) and the events work to communicate an idea or to express an attitude about an issue.
Through interpretation and criticism, readers evaluate specific techniques that authors employ to communicate a point of view regarding or to create understanding about an issue. In their own essay-based analysis, they explain to others the meaning that they have discovered within the novel.
When analyzing a novel, it is important to notice the characters and the situations. What do the characters look like and how do they behave? Think about the experiences of the characters. What does Montag experience during the time period in which the novel takes place? What do his wife, his friends, and his colleagues experience? Then think about these experiences in the context of the life they are living. Look through your academic analytical eye and use the facts in the book to make an analytical argument about what this book expresses to its readers.
In this assignment you will further your skills in critical thinking, reading, by illuminating a writer’s position for someone who has not read the story. The goal of this assignment is predicated on the idea that Bradbury’s novel, while a work of entertainment, is itself an argument. This assignment focuses on the construction of Fahrenheit 451’s structure and its underlying message—a point of view which the novel communicates through specific techniques of its construction.
Writing Prompt (Assignment):
Choose one of the subjects listed below in the Options for Writing, and respond in an analytical essay that provides relevant quotations from the novel and explanations of the ways in which those quotes support your essay’s thesis and paragraph claims.
Length and Format:
800-1,250 words, typed and double-spaced (approximately 3-4 pages)
MLA (Modern Language Association) Format
Since the purpose of this assignment is to promote close reading of the novel, outside reading is not necessary as part of this assignment. Should you choose to incorporate any, however, cite all sources for your quotes or paraphrases. Unless a secondary source is used, a Works Cited is not required.
Submission:
Submission Draft Due: Sunday, October 16
Submit the essay through Canvas, as a file upload, from Assignments > Essay Two, by its due date. This Canvas-tutorial webpage explains how to upload an assignment to Canvas.
For the elements of structure by which your essays are to be evaluated, see the Grading Rubric.
Revised Draft Due: Sunday, October 30
Submit your revised essay as an attachment through the same Canvas course site’s Assignments link as you submitted the original draft. Include with it a one-page explanation of your essay’s structure in relation to principles of strong writing, with reference to the Grading Rubric.
For more information on drafts, see the Requirements for Essay Submission.
Options for Writing:
Bradbury addresses many subjects in this novel. Perhaps the most obvious subject is that of reading. Certain characters go to great lengths in order to read books, which are banned by the government of the country in which they live. Why do they risk so much just so they can read these books? What does the taking of that risk say on a larger more meaningful level? In your essay, make and support an argument about Bradbury’s message about books.
Other distinct arguments that the book presents relate to the impact popular culture, including entertainment technologies, has on shaping people’s identity, on influencing people’s ways of seeing the world, on crafting people’s own sense of self, on limiting people’s ability to really be ‘alive’ in the moment (being present in the moment for the ‘now moments’ of the human experience), and constructing relatively superficial experiences. Choose one of the following, and develop an argument about the novel’s point of view on the influence of popular culture.
The novel indicates that popular culture teaches, indeed, manipulates, shaping collective values and creating a certain perception of the world. Make an argument about what this book says about how popular culture mediates or “defines” reality for us–as something that affects values and shapes attitudes about life and about what it means to be “normal.”
The book discusses the power popular culture has to make us “feel good” about ourselves, which is what makes it so seductive. But, according to the book, is ‘feeling good’ in this sense constructing a superficial and inherently unsatisfying experience?
According to the novel, what is the affect of popular culture on self esteem?
What does the novel argue is popular culture’s affect on our ability to really be alive in the moment (on our ability to be present to ourselves and others in real time)?
“We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing” (78). What is Bradbury’s argument in Fahrenheit 451 about happiness? How might Bradbury be defining happiness in Fahrenheit 451? How do people limit their own happiness? How can they foster happiness?
“With school turning out more runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word ‘intellectual,’ of course, became the swear word it deserved to be” (55). What is Bradbury’s argument in Fahrenheit 451 about education? Why is education important? What should formal education’s goals be?
Apply archetypal patterns to Fahrenheit 451, arguing for your interpretations of the novel’s characters. For example, write about one Fahrenheit 451 person and the archetypes that s/he manifests (the patterns that s/he fits, the characteristics that s/he displays). Or, write about one archetype and the Fahrenheit 451 people who manifest it (who fit it, who display its characteristics). Discuss not only who fits which pattern(s) but also what the principal expression of the archetypal pattern is. (For example, who is the chief Mentor, and why do you think so? Or, although expressing Mentor, Threshold Guardian characteristics, which is the character chiefly, and why do you think so?)
Write about the motivating urges in one character in Fahrenheit 451. What motivates him/her? Discuss such things as what a character wishes to do; how s/he determines to do it; why s/he wants to do this; and the way(s) in which his/her reason is consistent with his/her character (with who s/he is as a person). To focus your argument, write also about what you see as the significance of the actions as well as of the reason(s) lying behind these actions.
Apply Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to one person in Fahrenheit 451. Write about the ways in which one person’s actions demonstrate Maslow’s concept of psychological needs. Discuss such things as the ways in which a person expresses a particular type of need; the ways in which his/her behaviors demonstrate his/her psychological needs; what actions and conflicts result from his/her needs; whether s/he progresses up, regresses down, or remains static on the pyramid, and the significance of this. You will need to read and understand Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. As a starting point for your reading, see the “Hierarchy of Needs” materials in Canvas (Assignments > Additional Assigned Readings). Note: This is an analysis essay—not a comparison/contrast essay, so analyze the characters and their growth throughout the novel by looking through the lens of Maslow’s Hierarchy. Ask yourself which characters exemplify the various psychological needs depicted on Maslow’s pyramid, which characters grow and move up the levels and which remain static or even move backwards. Use examples from the book to back up your ideas.
Arguably, there is more than one person who could be called the hero of the Fahrenheit 451. Analyze the one that you believe could best be classified as the hero and the reasons for your point of view.
Fahrenheit 451 is about many things, including the power of story, for and to what people have a responsibility, and the construction of happiness. Analyzing the point of view that a text expresses about a key issue or character trait that it addresses involves examining the significance of people’s decisions, their reasons, and the consequences. What do you see the book being, principally, about? Through the characters’ decisions, actions, or experiences, what does Bradbury show us? Explain the central, dominant idea that the book communicates and the ways in which it supports this idea.
Writing Procedure:
This essay asks you to identify what Bradbury says and the ways by which he communicates this idea. As you analyze Fahrenheit 451, consider the relationship between action, character, and idea.Through the characters’ words and actions, and through their causes and their effects, what point of view does the novel suggest? What does the novel reveal to readers about human nature? In other words, what potential importance is there in the collected, combined examples of the characters’ decisions, actions, and experiences? Remember to use evidence from the novel in support of your argument.
Brainstorming: Questions to Ask Yourself as You Analyze a Text
Use the following questions to help you formulate your argument.
What is the underlying value system upon which the author seems to rely? What does the author value or care about? What does he seem to value most, and why? How can you tell?
What can readers learn from the story?
Through the book’s characters and situations, what does the writer say about life? (Put another way, what does he inform us about? What does he evaluate? What cause-and-effect relationships does he examine?)
What is the author’s argument? (Put another way, what action is being recommended? What does he seemingly try to persuade us to think or to do?)
What within the book leads you to think so? What supporting evidence does the writer provide?
In other words, through the personalities, choices, and actions of its characters, what issues does the novel address? In what ways do the characters (their personalities, motivations, values, actions, etc.) and the events work to support or to communicate the story’s central argument? What does the novel seem to be saying about characters’ choices and actions?
Look not only at what happens in the book but at how the events reveal truths about the characters, and about life. Use questions such as the following as starting points to help you ensure that each paragraph transforms plot summary into analysis.
What motivates the characters? What are their reasons for acting as they do?
What do their actions, and their motives, reveal about them (as people)? In what ways do they reveal what kind of people the characters are?
What lessons or transformations result from the events? In what ways does their character/personality grow or change as a result of them?
In what ways do the characters (their personalities, motivations, values, actions, etc.) and the events work to support or to communicate the story’s central argument? What does the novel seem to be saying about characters’ choices and actions?
What truths about human nature or about life do the examples of the characters reveal? What truths do the characters’ examples hold for readers?
Where is the lesson, or its evidence, best reflected in the text?
So what? What is the significance of this argument?
What are the ethical implications of people’s viewpoints and of the events?
Why is this argument important? How do the book’s characters and events connect to a wider human experience? What does the novel have to say about—or, how might its message be important in—real life?
Brainstorming: Questions to Ask Yourself about Your Own Essay
What are you trying to prove? (your thesis argument)
Why do you think this? (your novel-driven reasons)
How do you know this? (your quotable textual evidence)
What are the implications? (your identification of the events’ significance)
This is a critical analysis. Remember that to analyze means to break down a work to interpret (figure out) its meaning and significance. Do not summarize, which is merely telling what happens. Instead, express your own unique interpretation of the text, which is explaining the importance of what happens.
Drafting Your Essay
The first paragraph of your essay introduces the novel. Include the name of the novel and the name of its author. Provide a brief summary of the novel’s key events. At the end of your introduction, your essay’s thesis makes a claim of argument–your point about an idea or a person within the novel. For example, what would you claim that the book shows us about taking risks?
The body paragraphs argue your point of view on the topic about which you are writing. Each paragraph focuses on one of your reasons, providing illustrating support to show what you mean and explaining the link between your example and your reasoning. In other words, each paragraph explains the ways in which its example supports your thinking. Collectively, your essay’s paragraphs should constitute an illustrated, reasoned argument explaining your point of view (expressed in your introduction-ending thesis) and defending its reasonability.
Detail is essential to good writing. Every part of a body paragraph—its topic sentence, its example, and its explanations—should be specific. Each body paragraph must contain (a) a topic sentence claim that is the point that the paragraph will argue, (b) a specific example from the novel to illustrate your claim, (c) an explanation of how that example’s details support the claim, and (d) an indication of the significance of the paragraph’s topic, such as how it is important to the thesis or how it might be important to real life.
Look not only at the book’s events at how the events express the book’s point of view. Use questions such as the following as starting points to help you ensure that each paragraph transforms plot summary into analysis. What motivates the characters? What do their actions, and their reasons for acting as they do, reveal about what kind of people they are? In what ways do they grow or change as a result of the events? What truths about human nature or lessons about life do the characters’ examples have for readers? What happens in the novel is important, but equally important is what the novel uses the events to tell us and to encourage us to think.
Keep your paragraph focus small. Examine in separate paragraphs the different parts of large, shared ideas so that you will have room to illustrate and to explain your ideas. For example, use more than one paragraph to discuss the different parts of Montag’s personality. You may, of course, write more than one paragraph about a particular reason if its idea is complex enough to merit fuller explanation and illustration.
In your conclusion, draw together the various sub-topics from your body paragraphs. Indicate that the essay is finished by not including new ideas or quotes from the novel. For example, the conclusion could state again the significance of characters’ actions, possibly reminding readers of the importance of your essay’s argument about its subject. The conclusion needs to wrap up your analysis, and could determine whether or not the ideas still resonate today. Does the text connect to a wider human experience? Move from specific back to broad.
Canvas’s Reading Resources contains many handouts relating to reading analytically–including analyzing character. Also, Canvas’s Writing Resources contains many handouts relating to pre-writing, to writing thesis statements, to developing paragraphs, and to revising essays. You can access these handouts by scrolling down Canvas’s Home Page.
Revising Your Essay
A successful paper will
analyze rather than summarize the plot or describe the issues presented,
argue a defensible position,
strive to convince another reader of your position, and
demonstrate careful organization and development of ideas.
Examine your essay’s structure points. If it has a thesis, a topic sentence for each paragraph, a quote for each topic sentence, and an explanation for each quote, consider how you can make these more specific. If it is missing any of these, consider how you can express the viewpoint that each is working to argue.
Reminder: You can access writing-related handouts and also examples of both thesis statements and of body paragraphs by scrolling down Canvas’s Home Page.