English 209: Paper Topic #2 -- Metaphors

Spring 98: DRAFT Feb 23, FINAL March 4

Instructions

This assignment is a more "traditional" English class assignment:  it asks you to make an interpretive argument.  In this case, I want you to start by looking closely at a metaphor that appears  in one of the texts we've read so far.  Using specific examples in context, suggest how the metaphor works in the text--perhaps in tandem with another metaphor--to add to, or even to confuse, our understanding of the text.

Some Possibilities

  • Jane Eyre:  birds, trees,  darkness.  (Please do not write on red and white or hot and cold!--though it is acceptable to use metaphors that are related to these ideas).
  • Wide Sargasso Sea:  paper/cardboard, walls, color, parrots.
  • "The Gilded Six-Bits":  coins, sweetness.
  • Dubliners (one story only please!--though you are allowed to make passing references to other stories if necessary): coins, light, snow, illness, green.

Tips

  • The five-paragraph essay format (intro, 3 paragraphs of support, and conclusion) is fine, but don't stick to it at the expense of a good argument.  In other words, concentrate on the argument, not on the 5-paragraph form.
  • Use present tense when talking about the text.  "The novel suggests...,"  "Rochester sees...," etc.
  • Don't take on too much!  Make sure your argument is firmly rooted in the text, and that you start small--with a particularly compelling invocation of the metaphor you're discussing, for instance.   Quote from the text.
  • Make every sentence count.  If you quote, quote for a reason, and make it clear what the reader is to take from that quotation.  Avoid summarizing the plot except when it's essential to making your argument.  You can assume that the reader has read the book, but you will want to remind her/him of details that are essential to your argument.
  • Make sure that your argument (that is, the progression of your interpretation) provides the logic of the essay.  While you might find that your paper progresses from the beginning to the end of the text you're examining, chronology (that is, what happens next in the narrative) shouldn't be the sole guide of your essay.  In other words, "Then Jane goes to Thornfield" shouldn't be the transitional sentence of a new paragraph, though "When Jane goes to Thornfield, X happens to complicate the metaphor of Y..." might be fine.
  • Your conclusion shouldn't simply be a rehash of your introduction.  By the time you've gotten to the end, you should be able to say why what you've shown us so far is important--what, in other words, your reading of the metaphor shows us about the text as a whole.
  • PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD!