After you have completed the readings, develop your body paragraphs for Paper 1. You will be working on one of the paragraphs in the following discussion.
For this discussion, first post your current thesis.
Then post one of your paragraphs. You may want to choose a paragraph that is well developed—or you may want to choose one that you need some help with.
To help distinguish the various components of the paragraph, use different colored fonts to note the areas of your paragraph:
- Red for the paragraph’s topic sentence
- Green for the paragraph’s use of evidence
- Blue for the paragraph’s explanation/warrant of the evidence
It is recommended that you copy and paste your paragraph from your word processing software so that you have your draft all in one place; the colored fonts will carry over into Leo.
However, you can also change the color of font in Leo by clicking on the “more” box in the upper-right hand corner of the discussion box (the three dots). The screenshot below shows where this button is located.
It will open into a new window with more word processing choices, like changing the color of your fonts.
Once you have this paragraph in good shape, you can apply what you have learned about paragraph development to the remaining body paragraphs in the paper.
You should post the paragraph by the deadline; of course, the earlier you are able to post it and receive feedback, the better—for you can then move on to your other paragraphs. Your goal is to have the body of the essay completed by the end of Week Three.
Week 3 : Discussion 1
In the story, Zora Neal Hurston portrays Spunk as fearless and Joe as fearful, roles that ultimately were reversed in the end due to Joe’s conquering his fear to confront Spunk.
The characters illustrated the fear theme with a series of events contributing to the fear present throughout the story. Spunk is the epitome of fearless as Hurston’s writes, “…he [Spunk] ain’t skeered of nothin’ on God’s green footstool…” .The characters enhanced the them specifically Elijah escalating the conflict stating to Joes, “Say, Joe, How’s everything up yo’ way, how’s yo’ wife?” which made Joe decide to get out of his timid shell to confront Spunk. Joe’s confrontation of his fear created a shift of this fear from deceased Joe to Spunk. A now fearless Spunk has become laden with fear as the conflict escalates to a unusually somber level when Joe dies and seemingly haunts Spunk, or so he thinks. The belief that Spunk is being haunted by the vengeful soul of Joe Kanty is ultimately his demise as he is living in real fear of the deceased.
INSTRUCTOR
Hi! Thank you for your response. Your paper is about Flannery O’Conner’s short story. I’ve graded it and will have it back to you today. The discussions are supposed to be focused on whatever story it is you’ve chosen to write your final paper on. Also, the thesis for this particular paper should be focused on a message sent about a prominent topic in the work. What is the message that Hurston sends about fear, and what two general points could help you prove that message exists within the story?
Fear is a topic. The message sent about a topic by the author becomes one of the themes in the story. You don’t just want to note instances where fear shows up in the text. You need to make an argument about fear.
Audience hook (5 to 6 sentences) + thesis (one or two sentences) = introduction
Topic sentence (taken from the thesis) + claim (about the topic sentence; more specific point to be proven in the paragraph) + evidence (prove your claim here; in a two-page paper, one piece of analyzed evidence per paragraph will suffice) + example from the text analyzed and connected to the general evidence (use textual evidence, like a quote from the short story, to prove your evidence is valid and credible) = body paragraph
1.Topic sentence – Taken from thesis
2.Claim – More specific point about the topic sentence
3.Lead into the evidence (introduce what’s to come) – include evidence – lead out of the evidence through analysis.
Conclusion = paraphrase the body paragraphs
Thesis – In Richard Johnson’s novel Once Again, love is shown as being a form of blindness as the characters struggle to see the reality of those they claim to love (first supporting point) and they fail to recognize true love when presented with it (second supporting point).
Johnson demonstrates that love is blindness as the characters fail to see the true natures of those they say they love (topic sentence – paraphrasing the thesis). This blindness is most evident in the character of Lewis Nols, who allows Cynthia Nelson to control his life and eventually, destroy and end it (more specific claim). Lewis’ blind love for Cynthia, never questioning her motives or actions throughout the entire story, leads to his death (leading in to the specific evidence). In a pivotal moment in the story, Cynthia manipulates Nols into showing up at an empty warehouse in a treacherous part of town, knowing that the dangerous men who threatened to “end her” (Johnson) will be there, seeking revenge after she stole jewelry from one of the men’s wives (evidence from the story). If Cynthia loved Lewis, she would never have sent him there knowing that the men had one mission, to take a life, but she clearly does not love him, “calling him her albatross,” an allusion to a person or thing that is a burden in a person’s life. She only wants a scapegoat and a way out (analyzing the evidence). Lewis willingly goes, and his blind dedication to her means he never questions why she needs him to pick up a package at a sketchy warehouse. He blindly follows Cynthia’s orders because of what Johnson characterizes as his “unquestioning and naïve love for her” (evidence from the story). The word “unquestioning” is particularly important here because it shows that Lewis unthinkingly lets his love for Cynthia dictate his actions (analyzing the evidence). The men kill him, satisfied with their revenge, and Cynthia pawns the jewelry and leaves town, never looking back or regretting her actions.
There is one piece of evidence in the paragraph (the main piece of evidence about how his blind love for Cynthia and failure to see through her leads to his death) that is proven through two pieces of textual evidence.
If I needed to make my paper longer, I would add more evidence. If not, the first sentence you see below would end the paragraph above.
Lewis is dead because of his failure to see the true Cynthia and his intense desire to make a woman happy who never returns his love (transitioning into more specific textual evidence). Johnson stresses Lewis’s blindness to Cynthia’s true nature during a dinner party when Cynthia notes, “I am an independent woman who is beholden to no person. Love is a social construct, and I am not its pawn.” (textual evidence) Instead of realizing that these words clearly show that Cynthia is not in a real relationship with Lewis, he sees words like “independent” and “pawn” as being part of what he calls “Cynthia’s feminist nature,” so he foolishly dismisses any ideas in his mind that her words are meant to send a message to him about her lack of connection to any person, including him. He chooses to stay in the relationship with his eyes firmly closed to the truth about Cynthia and their relationship, and this leads to his death (leading out of the evidence through analysis).
WEEK 4 NEW MEDIA