How to write an essay

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How to write an essay

• Masculinity

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Inductive Method
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Specific description Paragraph 1

• Growing up in Maine, my parents had very
  masculine ideas for me and my siblings. However,
  these ideas caused my sister and I to rebel,
  which made us stronger then my brother, who
  didnt rebel.

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Paragraphs 2, 3, 4

• 2. Scout was made stronger by Aunt Alexandras
  opposition to her tomboy ways.
• 3. Nick is a weak character, which could result
  from his overtly masculine father.
• Romeo also had a masculine family and turned out
  a bit girlish, but in his case the feminine
  nature expanded him into a well-rounded
  character.

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Paragraph 5- make a general statement

• Women arent the only characters who can rebel
  against an overly masculine family men can too.
  The key is to actually rebel instead of remaining
  weak and ineffectual, like Nick.

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Appearance vs. Reality
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Conventional wisdom

• 1. Our culture promotes the idea of proving
  virility through violence. TV shows and movies
  have strong men with guns, knives, and knotted
  fists. Masculinity has become pseudonymous with
  physical strength and a lack of feeling.

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Explode the myth

• However, Atticus, Romeo, and Faber give a new
  definition to masculine.
• Atticus has strength without violence. It is a
  strength of character that all people can look up
  to and try to emulate.
• Romeo is a man who is proud to have different
  goals than his peers. He does not want to kill,
  but to love.
• Faber learns to be a true man towards the end
  of Fahrenheit 451 when he takes the Bible to a
  publisher in another city. He does not have to be
  violent to perform this heroic task.

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Alternate definition

• Instead of the culturally accepted association of
  masculinity and violence, we should instead
  develop a new definition. This definition of
  masculinity would include a strength of
  character, like Atticus, a better set of
  priorities, like Romeo, and brave, yet
  non-violent actions, like Faber.

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Dialectic Method
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One side of the argument

• Male authors write more masculine stories than
  female authors.
• Example 1 Hemingways style and In Our Time is
  written in a very masculine style with short,
  concise sentences and never telling us how the
  characters feel.
• Example 2 Jamaica Kincaid, a female author,
  focuses on flowers, fruits and emotions.

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The Antithesis

• The gender of the author does not influence the
  masculinity or femininity of the novel.
• William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet focus
  on love, and Romeo is a very emotional character.
• Harper Lee, a woman, has a tomboy for the main
  character, and Atticus is one of the strongest
  male characters in literary history.

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The synthesis

• One must first define masculine stories in
  order to determine if gender plays a role. If
  masculine is simply referring to the style of
  writing, with masculine being a short, concise
  style and feminine being a long, flowing style,
  than we can determine that gender can play a
  role. Hemingway and Bradbury both have masculine
  types of writing, while Kincaid, especially, has
  a feminine type of writing. On the other hand, if
  masculine stories also takes the characters
  into consideration, than the line blurs.
  Hemingways Nick is a weak character, while Lees
  Atticus and Scout are strong characters.

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Exploratory Essay
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Rat in the Maze

• A masculine novel has a great deal of violence in
  it.
• Not necessarily Romeo and Juliet was violent,
  yet people dont tend to refer to it as masculine
  since it is all about love.

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• So a masculine story must have strong male
  characters.
• Hemingways In Our Time is thought of as
  masculine, but Nick is a weak character. He cant
  even truly break off a relationship, but must
  wait for his girlfriend to make him break up with
  her.
• Conversely, Atticus Finch is a strong male
  character, yet the sentence structure of the
  novel is long and descriptive.

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• Therefore, the sentence structure of a novel must
  actually explain if the story is masculine or
  not, even if particular characters are weak or
  some of the themes are emotional.
• Hemingways style is short and concise, never
  revealing emotions. In Our Time is a truly
  masculine novel.