Outline Structure for Literary Analysis Essay
Outline for Literary Analysis EssayTopic: The response of the
community has a powerful influence on the ultimate resolution of
trauma. Restoration of the breach between the traumatized person
and the community depends upon community action. [] The community
must take action to repair the injury. The two responses,
recognition and restitution are necessary to rebuild the survivors
sense of order and justice.
To what extent does Celies recovery form trauma depend on the
intervention of the community?1. Introduction:
a. Hook: The beginning sentences that catch the readers
interest. Ways of beginning creatively could be:
A startling fact or bit of information
A meaningful quotation (from the work or another source)
E.g. In The Color Purple Alice Walker weaves a narrative that
traces the protagonist Celies struggle to overcome trauma,
loneliness, and despair and ultimately recover her humanity and her
connectedness to the community. b. Introductions should identify
the work of literature being discussed, name the author, and
briefly present the issue that the body of your essay will more
fully develop (your thesis). Basically, introductions suggest that
something interesting is occurring in a particular work of
literature, or that a given feature (aesthetic/thematic) of the
narrative must be thoroughly examined.E.g. From a cursory reading,
Walkers portrayal of her characters journey towards recovery and
self-knowledge evinces the role of the community in contributing to
the success or failure of this process. Yet a thorough examination
of Celies attempt to reconstruct an independent sense of self
reveals that identity re-construction is also an individual process
whose success depends on the survivors determination to restitute
and rebuild his/her own sense of order and justice. This essay
highlights the novels examination of the interdependence of the
individual and the collective realms and their role in enabling the
protagonist to restore the breach between her and the community in
order to recover her essence as a human and social being. 2. Body:
The body of your paper should logically and fully develop and
support your thesis. Each body paragraph should focus on one main
idea that supports your thesis statement. These paragraphs
include:
a. A topic sentence a topic sentence states the main point of a
paragraph: it serves as a mini-thesis for the paragraph. It relates
the paragraph to the essays thesis, and thereby acts as a signpost
for the argument of the paper as a whole, but it also defines the
scope of the paragraph itself.
b. Context for the quote 1. Who says it? What is happening in
the text when they say it? (Speaker, setting, and/or situation).c.
Quote/Concrete details - a specific example from the work to
provide evidence for your topic sentence.
d. Commentary - your explanation and interpretation of the
concrete detail. Commentary explains how the concrete detail proves
the thesis. e. Concluding Sentence - It concludes the paragraph by
tying the concrete details and commentary back to the major
thesis.
Part 1: ANTI-THESIS
Walkers protagonists traumatizing experience of rape, her
capitulation to her father and her husbands marriage transaction,
as well as her ordeal of being deprived of her children certainly
represent the ultimate in human suffering. Such difficult moments,
critics argue, would not have been overcome were it not for the
intervention and spiritual guidance Celie has received from the
female community. In fact, the spiritual and affective nurture
Celies friends Sophia and Shug provide underline the communitys
responsibility for the harm inflicted on Celie and its ability to
restore the victims sense of self and humanity. Celies encounter
with these characters supplies her with role models who allow her
to move beyond submission and inferiority. Through their shared
suffering and common experiences, Shug and Sophia disentangle Celie
from her essential loneliness and helplessness within an atmosphere
of adversity and subjugation created by the men who rule her world.
The reader also witnesses Celies liberation from patriarchy and her
ability to move beyond her traumatic experience through
quilt-making, a traditional activity shared among African American
women. Celies first quilt, to which both Shug and Sophia contribute
with torn fragments of their clothes and which Sophia works on with
Celie is symbolically named Sisters Choice. Significantly, this act
of naming corroborates the female characters sisterhood, solidarity
and unity against common histories, hardships and ordeals.
Furthermore, the word choice, which announces an unprecedented act
for doubly exploited and disadvantaged African women living in the
Deep South of the United States, affirms these characters ability
to define their life choices and decide for themselves. Celie and
Sofias quiltmaking is a process of healing because they are no
longer passive victims who are torn. Quiltmaking turns being torn
into tearing, turns object into subject. Celies decision to make
the quilt is thus the turning point in her life because it is the
first step to her own empowerment via connection with other women.
Part II: THESIS:
It is undeniable that the narrative charts Celies Bildung mainly
at the collective level, as her journey towards self-knowledge
necessitates her awareness of her connectedness to others and their
constructive role in allowing her to move beyond trauma and
victimization. Yet it can equally be argued that such a process is
inherently an individual process that cannot come to fruition
without the traumatized victims initial willingness to recover her
lost identity and her self-worth. Celies internal Bildung manifests
itself in her attempt to record her suffering in letters. By
mastering and modifying writing, Celie implicitly claims that this
creative act is no longer the exclusive property of white men.
Given the highly oppressive, restrictive circumstances within which
Celie writes, the simple act of picking up a pen in the act of
self-expression is an autonomous and defiant venture. Through the
act of recording what happens to her, Celie rejects the view that
her only worth is found in what she can do for the men in her life.
Moreover, through addressing her letters to God, Celie seeks a
replacement for her lack of female confidantes, thereby
transcending the need for reintegration in a social network that
can help her overcome trauma. This attitude is revealed in the
spiritual guidance Celie seeks in writing to God. Indeed, the fact
that Celie writes letters to God holds significance because her
audience is one to whom someone cannot mail letters. As Wendy Wall
argues, letters become the surrogate body for Celie, an inanimate
form that alleviates her pain and allows her to express the
intensity of her emotions in their immediacy (85). Since Celie has
been denied her humanity and worth, the tangible quality of the
letters, which act as representatives of her, is vitally important.
Carolyn Williams observes, Writingas opposed to speechseems safe,
seems even the sign of ongoing life (276). In fact, letters not
only result in a tangible product which confirms the presence of
the writer, but also signify the continuation of life because one
is immortalized in the writing act.Conclusion:
a. Summarize AND extend your argument.
b. A sophisticated conclusion does not simply restate the thesis
of the introduction or summarize the logic presented in the body of
the essay. Your conclusion, most often, will try to suggest the
broader significance of your discussion why is it important?
E.g. Although Celies Bildung and her coming to terms with the
trauma of rape require her individual will to survive and act
against patriarchal oppression, the role of the female community in
reinforcing and consolidating this tendency is crucial. The
dialectics of the individual and the collective thus represents one
of Walkers chief concerns in the narrative. In this respect, Celies
relationship with Shug is undoubtedly vital in developing her sense
of self. Walker reveals Celies progression from displaced
dependence on Shug to the development of her own independence
stemming from the achievement of a mutually satisfying and
respectful relationship. In fact, rather than evincing her
inability to develop an independent identity, Celies reliance on
female confidantes, particularly Shug, allows her to step into the
path of female emancipation and independence, thereby restoring her
sense of balance and belonging to a community where she had once
felt excluded, shamed and stigmatized. Judith Herman. Trauma and
Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence from Domestic Abuse to
Political Terror. (New York: Basic Books, 1997) 70.
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