Writing Essays - Novel Structure

8/4/2019 Writing Essays - Novel Structure

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The Paragraph

The novel paragraph can be a bit trickier - it feels generally lessformulaic than the other two essay. However, I think therequirements of a good Excellence paragraph fall into two

categories:

1) Having an initial point and proving that point through evidence.

2) Drawing conclusions and judgements from that point that connectto both the question and the author’s wider intentions - going beyond

the text.

I think what is perhaps most necessary is trying make a moreconsistent attempt to discuss the author’s intentions and conscious

crafting throughout the essay, rather than just at the end.



Setting up the argument (here is what I think)

“The development of Huxley’s idea that utopia

comes at a high cost, and is ultimately inhuman isreinforced through his repeated use of animal

imagery throughout the text.”

This is the point that you want to prove - here it is as simple as Huxley using animal imagery to show the World State as inhuman.



Proving the point (this is how I know it)

“This strategy is obvious from the opening chapter, as Huxley describes the

students: “like chickens drinking, the students lifted their eyes towards the distant

ceiling.” The choice of animal is significant; being a domesticated farm animal itsuggests that the students are little more than farmed animals at the mercy oftheir owner. Huxley seems to be consciously denying the humanity of theserepresentatives of the World State. This becomes a motif, as Huxley continually

returns to animal imagery in his description of World State residents to furtherdevelop the idea that his utopia is inhuman. We see a number of examples, fromthe Gammas and Epsilons being described as “aphids and ants”, to the children

who plague John in the hospital being referred to as “maggots”, to the final

description of the orgiastic crowd as “locusts” swarming. Again the choice of

image is important. Huxley’s chooses animals with increasingly negativeconnotations – the maggot, with its connotations of death and decay, to the locust

with its Biblical connotations of plague destruction.”

Evidence is used to prove the point - there is a lot of evidence here and it is clear at the end of this sequence that Huxley’s animal imagery dehumanises the people

who inhabit the World State. But, how that connects to the topic or why this imagery is significant is not yet clear. Also, notice the embedding of author

intention/crafting/purpose.



Finding the significance (this is why it’s significant)

“More than just undermining the humanity of the people that populate this

utopia, he is actively constructing them as vermin or pests. This suggeststhat Huxley wants to clearly develop the idea that the World State isultimately an inhuman, plague-ridden, festering nightmare. Huxley seems deeply skeptical of any concept of utopia and seems to see the kind ofperfection and stability seen in the World State as something inhuman ,positioning the reader in opposition to it through his choices of imagery.”

There are only three sentences about author purpose here. This is fine because there has been so much embedded within the rest of the paragraph. What these final two sentences accomplish is a connection back to the topic - making specific use of words from the topic - before making a

beyond-the text point about how this shows that Huxley is skeptical of all utopias that offer stability through perfection. There is plenty here to show why the evidence I’ve provided is of significance in relation to the topic - justifying my choice of examples and showing that I know can use that evidence insightfully by using it to make judgements about the author’s

ideas and attitude towards the reader.

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Writing Essays - Novel Structure