Writing assignment

Write an essay on any movie genre. Try to follow the structure of an essay: in your introductory sentence define the purpose of the essay: give not fewer than three arguments; finish up with the concluding paragraph.

S e c t i o n 3. ¨ TEXT ANALYSIS

Plan for Analysis:

I. Are you familiar with the author of the story?

II. Look at the title. What is your prediction? Is it suggestive? Does it give any clue to the contents or not? What feelings and expectations does the title arouse?

III. What is the subject matter or contents? Give a summary of the story. Remember the rules of making a summary (short, given in Present tense. Avoid detailing. Give the plot).

What is the setting? Which details in the story define the setting?

What is the sequence of events? Are they presented in chronological order or are there flashbacks? If any, what is their role in the narration?

IV. Composition (structure):

Plots generally follow a standard arrangement of parts. They are:

· Exposition

· Conflict

· Complication(s)

· Climax

· Resolution

Does each complication has its own resolution or do they all lead to a common resolution?

Comment on the ways the author creates the stages of complication in a given narrative.

How is the climax traced?

V. Character study:

Who are the main characters?

Who are the minor characters? What is their function?

What are the physical and moral features of the characters?

What are the feelings the characters express?

What is the way of author’s portraying the characters: direct or indirect?

VI. The narrator: ¹

· First-person narrator

· Third-person narrator: omniscient narrator (who knows everything about the characters and events).

Limited omniscient narrator (the readers view the events and the characters through what he sees, hears and thinks).

Objective narrator (the readers are presented only with facts, but they must draw the inferences themselves).

VII. What is the purpose of the story? Was the author successful in getting to the purpose?

VIII. Comment on the language of the story: choice of words, syntax.

¹ The voice that tells us a story is called the narrator. It may be either first person (I, we), or third person (he, she, it, they).

A first-person narrator recounts events in which he or she has been involved either as a major or a minor participant. Because an “I” narrator must stay in character, he is restricted in what she knows, how she can interpret, and how he can express himself. A first-person narrator offers some advantages. An “I” narrator who is a major character can give us insight into that character’s thoughts and emotions, perhaps enable us to understand some inner transformation. Sometimes we can be drawn into an understanding that goes beyond the narrator’s limitations. This technique is effective for creating humor or irony. One variety of first-person used in this way is the innocent eye.

The three types of third-person narrator range from an almost complete freedom of movement and knowledge to a strict limitation of what can be seen and heard in a particular place at a particular time.

The omniscient narrator is all knowing. He is able to go anywhere, see anything, enter into the minds of any of the characters, and make comments on the story. He is clearly not a character but an author representative telling a story in which he himself is not a participant.

Many authors choose to narrow that omniscience until it zeros in on the thoughts and experiences of a single character, creating what is called the limited omniscient narrator. We seem to stand, unseen, at the shoulder of his character. We view the events and the other characters through what he sees, hears and thinks.

The third-person narrator that we call the objective narrator is often described as a combination tape recorder and camera. We are not taken into the mind of any character. We are given only what could be recorded and photographed – dialogue, setting, actions. We are presented with facts, but we must draw all of the inferences ourselves. The author seems to have disappeared, but that is an illusion. Objective in this narrator’s label doesn’t mean without judgment, for the author is in control, editing the tape and directing the camera.

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