Random notes on the Our Town papers…

 

  • Watch out for redundancy:  “In the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder, many underlying themes are ubiquitous1 throughout2 all three3 acts.”  Or how about “small milliseconds”?
  • Make sure you have a clear thesis!  Don’t ramble through an intro paragraph.  Some things to remember:
      • Clear thesis
      • Strong sense of mapping or how the paper will be organized
      • Some kind of hook or something to capture the reader’s interest
      • A clear sense of focus and purpose! 
      • Don’t develop and support in the opening paragraph.  That’s the job of the body paragraphs.
  • Here’s a wonderfully clear thesis:  “Throughout Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, he explains…that each person must absorb every simple yet delightful joy, including people, which make life worth living.”
  • From the same paper, here is a wonderful intro line that “hooks” the reader: “Sunrises, dark chocolate, deep breaths, bear hugs, the pitter patter of rain, and other simple pleasures fill the day, yet how many truly savor each glorious piece that life has to offer?”   
  • Be careful that you are using expressions correctly: “Take it for granite” might somehow connect to Grover’s Corners, but the phrase is take it for granted.
  • Watch out for sentence fragments, even in quoted text:  “Some twins born in Polish town” is not a full sentence.
  • Don’t ramble through a lot of non-essential info, especially plot stuff.
  • Be careful with transitions; they should be clear but not overt. 
      • Good: 
      • Weak:  First…  Next…  Last…  
      • Here is the end of one paragraph and the start of the next: We should all appreciate life and be willing to make errors and learn from them.  There will always be an eternal part to people.  Though they are in different paragraphs, we do read those lines back to back.  Shouldn’t there be some kind of connection?
      • Do not use quotes as transitions.
  • Don’t be afraid to use an interesting conceptualization.  Example: One paper talked about “the repetition of twos” in the play.  Or “The granite supports the land, just as this small town is really all that is supporting the people who live there.”  Take the risk.  You never know: you just might say something wonderful!
  • Proofread!!!!  (And spell check!)
  • Watch out for confusing phrasing: “As a stage between daily life and death, marriage is the middleman; it is the perfect preparation for death.”  (I mean: doesn’t this sound like the punchline to a joke?  J)
  • Support with the text!!!  (And find the most germane and interesting quotes to use for this support.)
  • Do not “quote and explain.”  Rather, make your statements and then use the quotes to support them.
  • Why not come up with an interesting title?  A title is the first thing we see, after all.  Would you rather read a paper named Our Town Essay or one called “Breathe Each Moment” or “ Too Wonderful for the Living”?
  • A vibrant, dynamic, interesting conclusion always helps; it’s the thought you leave us with…
  • Basics:  You need to mention the author (Thornton Wilder, by the way, not Thorton Wilder) and the play in your first paragraph.  On subsequent mention, use his last name.  (He’s only “Thornton” to his close friends.)
  • Try to use only words that actually exist in the English language.  I mean, really: unacceptantly???
  • Break up paragraphs that run too long.  (Five is not a magic number.)
  • It is probably not a good idea in an analytical essay to focus on how boring a play is.  ;-)
  • Be sure that your constructions are self-evident.  Noting that Wilder “stresses the importance of the small things,” one paper declares, “For Our Town, this is the green in a green sweater.”  Huh?  ;-)
  • Obviously, be sure that you are interpreting things accurately.  J
  • SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT… SDT…SDT