Prewriting

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Prewriting

• Be familiar with your novel/story
• Write out the instructions in your own words
• Devise a plan of attack Dont Wing it
• Dig-up some background information

2
Introduction

• Create a scintillating title
• Write an alluring lead
• Introduce the literary work and author
• Brief summary of the work
• Establish the thesis statement

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• Money is like Manure
• Have you ever found delight in a dream that you
  hope would happen even though you know in your
  heart of hearts, that dream you hold most dear
  would be deferred because you lack the monetary
  means to fulfill that dream? If your answer is in
  the affirmative, then you are like the main
  character, Pip, in the noteworthy novel Great
  Expectations by Charles Dickens who is
  dissatisfied with his broke blue-collared life.
  Pip lives with his sister and surrogate father,
  Joe, who unlike Pip is contented and comfortable
  with his impoverished existence. Pip plans to
  escape his meager material circumstance by being
  edified as a cultured English gentleman, so that
  he may be rich and refined enough to excite
  Estellas interest. Great Expectations is an
  illustrative literary masterpiece that could be
  investigated from a Marxist standpoint since the
  concepts of economic classes, economic
  determinism, class consciousness, false
  consciousness and alienation are remarkably
  typified by certain characters in the novel.

4
Body Paragraph

• Topic sentence (debatable claim)
• Proof/Evidence for that claim (quotations)
• Analysis
• Transitions

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• Pip is the main character and he proves to be a
  class-conscious and class-oriented individual who
  is awfully agitated by his economic position in
  society. It is evident to him even though he is
  only seven years old that Mrs. Joe is so
  receptive and reverent to Mr. Pumblechook because
  he was a well-to-do corn chandler in the nearest
  town and drove his own chaise-cart. (Dickens
  21). Furthermore, he is also cognizant of the
  veracity that Estalla treats him callously and
  cruelly because she does not consider him her
  equal since they are on different fiscal spheres.
  As a result, he feels an intense sensation of
  injustice that he should be mistreated and
  mishandled by someone his own age because of the
  verity that she was born with a silver spoon in
  her mouth as portrayed in the lines, there is
  nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as
  injustice. (60). Consequently, Pip aspires for
  educational and economic self-improvement because
  he concludes that as long as he remains a coarse
  country boy, he has no hope of economic
  expansion. Marx posits that if a person is
  class-conscious, they have a chance to
  revolutionize their consciousness as well as
  other citizens and this is seen when Pip tries to
  teach Joe to read- Whatever I acquired, I tried
  to impart to JoeI wanted to make Joe less
  ignorant. (34).

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Conclusion

• Say something memorable, witty, or profound
• Restate the thesis statement
• Mention the authors intention

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• In the end, Dickens ostensibly implies that
  money is like manure- if you spread it around, it
  does a lot of good, but if you pile it up in one
  place, it stinks like hell. Magwitch distributes
  his wealth to Pip and in doing so, he fulfills
  Pips highest hope of being educated as a gallant
  gentleman. On the other hand, Miss Havishams
  home is frightfully filthy and foul in view of
  the fact that she does not circulate her capital
  to the other characters in the novel. The novel
  could be viewed through a Marxist lens since the
  concepts ranging from alienation to economic
  determinism are embodied in the characteristics
  of distinct characters. Dickens is a careful
  craftsman who uses his novel Great Expectations
  to outline a carbon copy of the economic
  conditions in contemporary 19th century English
  society.

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Work cited

• Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. London
  Longman Literature, 1992.

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Tips

• Stick to your point
• Avoid plot summary
• Try to be original
• Write with your readers in mind
• Use present tense
• Write your introduction last
• Read what you wrote
• Find another person to proof-read your work