drafting body paragraphs for literary essays


The most important thing to remember when you are drafting your body paragraphs is your DISCUSSION!  For this particular essay prompt, your discussion should answer the following questions:
        -  How does your example/technique develop or show the theme to readers?
        -  Why is this example/technique important in revealing the theme?

 Here are some helpful sentence starters you can use:
        -  This demonstrates…
        -  From this scene, we can infer that…
        -  This scene/moment is important to the development of the theme because…
        -  This helps to develop the theme because…
Below, you can see how you can use your outline to help you draft your body paragraphs.  Try to find the discussion in the draft of the body paragraphs! 

outline


Introduction
Thesis:  In “All Summer In A Day,” Ray Bradbury uses many techniques to develop the idea that people shouldn’t judge others because they are different. 


Body
Topic Sentence 1:  In the beginning of the story, Bradbury uses characterization to emphasize how different Margot is from the rest of the children on Venus. 
·      “Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could never remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain.” (p.1)
·      “They [the rocket children] edged away from her, they would not look at her.  She felt them go away.  And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city.  If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow.  When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved.  Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows.” (p.2)

draft


Introduction
Thesis:  In “All Summer In A Day,” Ray Bradbury uses many techniques to develop the idea that people shouldn’t judge others because they’re different.

 
Body 1
    In the beginning of the story, Bradbury uses characterization to emphasize how different Margot is from the rest of the children on Venus.  For example, the first time readers are introduced to Margot is when Bradbury writes, “Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could never remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain” (page 1).  Immediately, readers can tell that Margot is a lonely person and that she doesn’t socialize with everybody else.  Bradbury also emphasizes this when he writes, “They [the rocket children] edged away from her, they would not look at her.  She felt them go away.  And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city.  If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow.  When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved.  Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows” (page 2).  From this scene, we can infer that Margot really loves the sun.  In fact, it is the only thing that brings Margot life.  This is unlike the rocket children, who don’t truly remember what the sun feels like or looks like.  They are able to play and have fun with each other without any worries.  This characterization of Margot as strange and different is extremely important to the development of the theme because it is exactly that difference that causes the rocket children to judge her.


Below is another sample outline and how I used it to transform it in to a draft.

outline

Introduction
Thesis:  In “All Summer In A Day,” Ray Bradbury develops the idea that people shouldn’t judge others because they are different.  He does this by showing the rocket children’s cruel behavior and subsequent guilt for their actions. 

Body
Topic Sentence 1:      In the beginning of the story, Bradbury shows how cruel the rocket children are to Margot. 
·      “You’re lying, you don’t remember!” cried the children. (p.2)
·      “…the children hated her for all these reasons of big and little consequence.  They hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness, and her possible future.” (p.2)
·      “They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door.  They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it.  They heard her muffled cries.  Then, smiling, they turned and went out and back down the tunnel, just as the teacher arrived.”  (p.3)

draft

Introduction
Thesis:  In “All Summer In A Day,” Ray Bradbury develops the idea that people shouldn’t judge others because they’re different.  He does this by showing the rocket children’s cruel behavior and their subsequent guilt for their actions.

Draft of Body 1
            In the beginning of the story, Bradbury shows how cruel the rocket children are to Margot.  For example, when Margot wrote a poem about the sun, one of the boys in her class said, “Aw, you didn’t write that!” (1).  Also, when Margot describe the sun as a penny or like a fire in the stove, the children screamed at her, “You’re lying, you don’t remember!” (2)  This shows that they don’t respect her opinion.  They refuse to acknowledge her experience and the fact that she has a better memory of the sun than they do.  The cruelest action, though, occurs when the rocket children lock Margot in the closet right when the sun is about to come out.  They know that Margot has been looking forward to this moment for seven years and that it would be a really important moment to her, yet they deprive her of the moment anyway.  Bradbury writes, “They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door.  They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it.  They heard her muffled cries.  Then, smiling, they turned and went out and back down the tunnel, just as the teacher arrived” (3).  The fact that they are smiling as they hear her screaming and crying shows how cold and cruel they are.  The characterization of the rocket children as being cruel is important to the development of the theme because, later on in the story, their behavior is different.

drafting introductions & conclusions