Writing an Interpretive Essay

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Writing anInterpretive Essay

• Prepared by Mrs. Do
• According to Ch. 3
• Literature and Composition Reading, Writing,
  Thinking. Bedford

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From Analysis to Essay

• Read the short play Trifles and consider the
  literary elements we have discussed plot,
  character, setting, and symbol. Try to formulate
  at least two or three thematic statements that
  could become the thesis for an interpretive
  essay.

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Analyzing Literary Elements - Plot

• In Trifles, two plots run parallel
• the men have an off-stage story as they hunt for
  clues to the murder of Mr. Wright
• the women have an on-stage story as they unravel
  the life of Mrs. Wright.
• The tension in the storys plot has to do with
  the rate at which Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters come
  to understand what has happened.

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Analyzing Literary Elements - Plot

• Suspense builds as the two women, and the
  audience, figure out who killed Mr. Wright and
  why.
• The suspense is heightened by the moral dilemma
  of whether the women should conceal incriminating
  evidence and whether theyll get caught doing
  it.
• One reason the men in the story dont figure out
  what happened is that they dismiss the things the
  women say as mere trifles.

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Analyzing Literary Elements - characters

• Trifles has two female characters - Mrs. Hale and
  Mrs. Peters and three male characters Mrs.
  Hale, the sheriff, and the county attorney. Mrs.
  And Mrs. Wright, though not on stage, have a
  presence as well.
• Over the course of the play, Mrs. Hale and Mrs.
  Peters change, feeling less certain about their
  own beliefs, disappointed in themselves for not
  being better friends to Mrs. Wright, and
  empathetic to her desperate loneliness. The men
  dont change.
• We learn about all of the characters through
  their conversation, especially in the way the
  conversation changes when the men are involved.

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Analyzing Literary Elements - setting

• The setting helps us understand character and
  also moves the plot along.
• The play takes place in an empty farmhouse, but
  the setting is more complicated than that. The
  men go to the bedroom where the murder occurred,
  while the women focus on the kitchen. Both the
  men and the women note the disheveled condition
  in which Mrs. Wright left it, yet the women are
  protective of her as well, understanding that she
  probably wouldnt have left such a mess if she
  hadnt been unexpectedly taken from her home.
  They also come to understand that the mess (which
  is a part of the setting) may be a sing of the
  sudden feeling the sheriff and attorney are
  looking for.
• We learn that the community is close and that
  Mrs. Peters is a newcomer. Mrs. Hale has known
  the woman under suspicion for many years, and it
  is through that familiarity that she understands
  what has happened and makes the decision she
  does.

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Analyzing Literary Elements - symbols

• Certain symbols are repeated.
• The cold is brutal and unrelenting. The
  characters move toward the stove whenever
  possible, and the cold is a repeated subject of
  conversation. Mr. Wright is depicted as being
  cold and unloving, making the cold a clear symbol
  of a life without affection or even company.
• Other symbols might be Mrs. Wrights quilt
  pieces, the choice between quilting and knotting,
  the dead bird and the broken birdcage, the
  preserves (or trifles), and even the half-done
  chores.
• Each of these things is more fraught (loaded)
  with meaning than it at first seems.

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Possible Themes

• So, although the subject of Trifles is the
  unraveling of a mystery and the decision to
  protect the murderer, some of its themes might
  be
• Sexism can make people blind to the truth.
• People may take desperate measures when they feel
  entrapped in a loveless marriage, in a cold
  isolated house, or in a society that doesnt
  value them.
• Someone who is a criminal by one set of social
  standards might be a victim according to another
  set of social standards. Or, in other words,
  justice is not always the same as the rule of
  law.

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Developing a Thesis Statement

• First and foremost, remember that you are
  analyzing the elements of the work in order to
  arrive at an interpretation you should not be
  summarizing the work.
• Simply retelling what happened or making an
  observation does not amount to an interpretation.
• If you start right off with a thesis statement
  that argues for an interpretation of the plays
  meaning, you will guard against summary. .

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Thesis with only Summaries

• In Trifles, the women notice evidence that the
  men do not.
• Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover a birdcage and
  dead canary, which provide clues to what actually
  happened to Mr. Wright
• The summary statements, though accurate, simply
  tell what happened during the course of the play.
• There are facts only, and it leaves no room for
  development but retelling.

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Thesis with Interpretations

• In Trifles, the differences in the evidence the
  men and women notice suggest different worldviews
  and value systems.
• When Mrs. Hales and Mrs. Peters discover a
  birdcage and a dead canary wrapped in silk, they
  associate the silenced songbird with the joyless
  and repressed life that might have motivated Mrs.
  Wright to murder her husband.
• The interpretive statements take the same points
  and explain why it happened.
• There are facts and opinion which give room for
  development.

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Remember

• When formulating your thesis, you are writing
  about how literary elements such as plot,
  character, setting, and symbol illuminate the
  meaning of the work as a whole. Thus, you are
  always balancing the two literary elements and
  interpretation.

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Prompt

• In a conventional mystery, the point of the story
  is to figure out who the culprit is. The mystery
  in Susan Glaspells play Trifles is
  unconventional, as the culprit is apprehended
  before the play even begins. However, as Mrs.
  Hale and Mrs. Peters unravel the mystery of why
  the murder took place, the plays themes are
  revealed. Discuss how Susan Glaspell uses the
  mystery in Trifles to reveal a theme of her play.

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Deconstruct the Prompt

• A good starting point is to figure out exactly
  what is being asked.
• In this case, you are being asked to consider the
  murder-mystery plot not as an end in itself but
  as a means of developing a theme. A murder
  mystery is all about the law, because somebody
  has to be held accountable for the crime.

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More questions than answers

• Is Glaspell asking us to reflect on the
  relationship between law and justice or to link
  justice and punishment?
• Did Mrs. Wright do wrong in being her husbands
  judge, jury, and executioner?
• Was living with him punishment enough for her
  wrongdoing?
• Did she choose a punishment that fit his crime?

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Initial Thesis

• Try to incorporate the answers to all the
  questions into a one-sentence statement
• The murder mystery in Trifles is solved, but it
  is not so easy to answer the questions that the
  mystery raises about law, justice, and
  punishment, and whether hard-and fast rules that
  govern human relations are always appropriate or
  fair.
• Too long and rambling, needs more focus.

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Narrowed down thesis

• In Trifles, the murder mystery is the means
  Glaspell uses to explore whether the rule of law
  is always the same as justice.
• Since the play ends inconclusively Mrs. Wright
  is neither convicted nor exonerated (acquitted)
  which make it difficult to say that the play
  takes a stand on the issues. Then, it is better
  to argue that Glaspell asks her audience/readers
  to explore these issues.

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Thesis Statements to work on

• Activity on p. 114-115

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Planning an Interpretive Essay

• When writing an essay, your main points will grow
  out of your thesis statement. Expressing these
  points as topic sentences moves the essay along
  and makes it more cohesive.
• Thesis In Trifles, the murder mystery is the
  means Glaspell uses to explore whether the rule
  of law is always the same as justice.

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First Development of the thesis

• This thesis indicates that you will first discuss
  the murder mystery as a plot device, and then
  explain how it contributes to the theme.
• Solving the murder is not really the point of the
  story. Suspect is detained, and case is pretty
  much closed right from the beginning.
• Seem to be different ways of investigating for
  men and women. Men doing police work. Women
  looking at trifles.
• Women suppress evidence, defy mens justice.
  Empathize with Mrs. Wright.
• Birdcage and dead bird symbolize Mrs. Wright
  (former singer) and her desolate life with Mr.
  Wright.

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Possible Topic Sentences

1. Although Mr. Hale retells the circumstances of
   finding the body, questions arise concerning Mrs.
   Wrights indifferent behavior and the way her
   husband died.
2. During the investigation, the men follow rules to
   gather evidence, supporting one anothers
   assumptions about what is significant, while the
   women quietly observe the surroundings, noticing
   important clues that the men dismiss as
   trifles.
3. Identifying with Mrs. Wright, the women withhold
   judgment and instead try to understand what might
   have motivated her.
4. The birdcage and the dead canary, clues to the
   mystery, also symbolize the quiet oppression of
   Mrs. Wright.
5. The plays conclusion serves as closure to the
   mystery, but it is the investigative process that
   proves to be more illuminating.

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Lets Practice

• Activity on p. 116-117

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Supporting Your Interpretation

• Be specific.
• Active reading and rereading are essential.
• Citing examples and explicitly explaining how
  they illustrate and support your interpretation
  are key to a successful essay that analyzes a
  literary work.
• The more you explain how rather than state that,
  the stronger your essay will be.
• Avoid stating the obvious.

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Avoid Summary but

• Keep a good balance by
• Assuming that your reader has read the book but
  has not necessarily thought too much about it.
  This way you wont have to recount the plot or
  describe the characters.
• Pretend you are writing for the person who sits
  in front of you in class (Thomas Foster, How to
  Read Literature Like a Professor).

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Sample developing paragraph

• Identifying with Mrs. Wright, the women withhold
  judgment and instead try to understand what might
  have motivated her. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters
  look around the house, especially the kitchen,
  and notice the fruit Mrs. Wright has canned and
  the quilt she is stitching. They talk about the
  fact that the couple had no children and that Mr.
  Wright was not a communicative husband. They also
  discuss incidents from their own past when they
  felt strong emotions that might have made them do
  something uncharacteristic or rash.

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Comments on the sample developing paragraph

• Holds clear focus
• Information is drawn from the play so what?
• But too general seems like summary
• Need to ask
• What can you infer from their actions?
• How do these events reveal some of the themes
  that anchor the play?
• How do the remembrances of Mrs. Wrights
  loneliness and childlessness help them to
  understand Mrs. Wrights motivation, which is the
  focus established in the topic sentence?

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How to better support the thesis and topic
sentence

• The most important part of supporting your
  argument involves explaining your examples and
  discussing the ways the details you recount or
  quote connect to your thesis statement and topic
  sentences.
• Include sentences of explanation, sometimes
  called commentary or analysis, for each of your
  examples and making those examples as concrete
  as possible.

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Compare to the revised

• Identifying with Mrs. Wright, the women withhold
  judgment and instead try to understand what might
  have motivated her. They discuss how hard life
  must have been for Minnie in a house with no
  children and with John, who was cold and distant.
  The Wright house is located in a hollow, and the
  road cannot even be seen, so Mrs. Hale and Mrs.
  Peters begin to understand how the isolation and
  sense of entrapment could have led Mrs. Wright to
  snap. They can see how the only means of escape
  might have been to kill her captor, Mr. Wright.
  Mrs. Peters furthers the link between them and
  Mrs. Wright by sharing a time when Mrs. Peters
  herself felt the desire to hurt a boy who
  butchered her kitten with a hatchet. The women
  realize that they too might have been driven to
  violence under Mrs. Wrights circumstances.

• Identifying with Mrs. Wright, the women withhold
  judgment and instead try to understand what might
  have motivated her. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters
  look around the house, especially the kitchen,
  and notice the fruit Mrs. Wright has canned and
  the quilt she is stitching. They talk about the
  fact that the couple had no children and that Mr.
  Wright was not a communicative husband. They also
  discuss incidents from their own past when they
  felt strong emotions that might have made them do
  something uncharacteristic or rash.

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Lets practice

• Activity on p. 118

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Sample student essay

• Read a student essay on Trifles and answer
  questions (p. 119-121)