Morrison Recitatif Maggie is the scapegoat

Description

1. The character of Maggie in Morrison’s story “Recitatif” functions as a scapegoat, which means a person or group of people whom a community harshly punishes, casts out, or even kills in the hope of preserving its own unity, purity, and strength. Why is Maggie singled out? What do the other characters in the story hope to gain by treating her as they do? Write an essay in which you explore what “Recitatif” suggests about whom we tend to treat as scapegoats, when and why we do so, and what the consequences tend to be.

ENG 102

Guidelines for Essay Assignments

1-2 paragraph Introduction requires the following:

Hook. Grab your reader’s attention with a good question, quote (from the literature or elsewhere), image, anecdote, fact, intellectual tension or paradox, etc.

Context. What are the literary texts you will be analyzing in the paper? What are the main issues you will be exploring in the paper? Will you be using a particular critical approach or combination of critical approaches? Are you working with important historical or psychological research that helps you position your argument about the literature?

Thesis. 1-3 sentences at the end of the intro. Should pass the Reasonable Person Test and “So What?” Test. Reasonable Person Test: Could a Reasonable Person Disagree with my Thesis? If so, it passes the Test. “So What?” test: Why should we care? What is at stake? Why is this important in terms of a larger idea? Try to construct bold, original, sophisticated thesis statements.

Body Paragraphs

When writing literary analysis, it is easy to follow into a pattern of beginning body paragraphs with plot summary, simply what happens in the story. Instead, start body paragraphs with a strong topic sentence that supports the thesis. It should be your idea – your analysis of something that supports the thesis.

Body paragraphs should generally follow a pattern: Point / Illustration / Explanation. The Point is the topic sentence. The Illustration is the example you are using to support that point. Provide specifics from the text. Use important quotations from the story. Then analyze the illustration in order to explain its significance in your paper. Your analysis of the illustration should support both topic sentence and thesis.

Quotations. Avoid Quote Bombs, quotes that just appear in your paper without enough context given to the reader as to their significance. They result when quotes appear without introductory context, or when quotes don’t get enough analysis to support their purpose in the paper. Imagine your reader is someone who has read the literature under discussion within the last six months. They don’t need every detail, but they do need some help remembering the story’s context. When you use quotations, try to construct Quote Burgers: The top bun is the introductory signal phrase for the quote; the beef is the quote itself; and the bottom bun is your analysis of that quote.

Conclusion

Don’t repeat the thesis verbatim in the conclusion. Try to restate it in different terms. Better yet, try to raise some new questions or ideas in your conclusion. What other ideas does your analysis raise? (When you do this as you revise your draft, don’t be surprised if you discover a better way of framing your thesis – then you should go back and adjust your central argument to reflect your best thinking.)