Overview Use the claim you just wrote to write the paragraph.
What Your Body Paragraphs Will Look Like
Use the Claim as a Map to the Body Paragraph
Remember your claim?
Initially, the archetypally rich setting of Eggers' 2015 film The Witch immerses the viewer in the Puritan world of the film’s characters,a world defined almost entirely by its rigid religious structure and its subordination of women.
Organize your paragraphs around your ideas, not the tool. Work the literary tool into the idea paragraphs, not the other way around.
For example, my first paragraph is going to focus MOSTLY on the religious structure and women’s subordination.
However, to do that, I will have to discuss HOW the director got me to understand this world BY USING setting.
Example of a Body Paragraph
NOTE: What I’ve done here is write a sample paragraph. Some insight into my process here might help. I was initially going to write about the period dialogue and diction as a way of opening up the issue. However, as I wrote, I found I wanted to talk about the physical setting more -- I found I had more to say about it. Therefore, all I did was go back and adjust my thesis and my claim sentence to reflect the fact that I was now going to talk about physical location. In other words, sometimes you figure out your thesis when you write. If that happens, go back and fix it like you meant to say it that way the whole time.
I’ve labeled here the elements in the claim that touch upon the two major thrusts of this paragraph: any word or idea directly and clearly related to setting, and any word or idea related to the MOWAW. The stuff in green has to do with setting; the stuff in red is MOWAW.
Initially, the archetypally rich setting of Eggers' film The Witchimmerses the viewer in the Puritan world of the story’s characters,a world defined almost entirely by its rigid religious structure and its subordination of women. The film begins in a 17th-century courtroom, a setting of civilization, religious law, and patriarchal order that this Puritan family,led by the well-meaning but hapless William, will soon abandon. William’s dispute is a theological one: he feels the colony is too liberal, and his refusal to conform results in his banishment. As William is the patriarchal head of the family, though, everyone else--including William’s wife, his eldest daughter Thomasin, and the four younger children--is banished along with him, a point the film emphasizes in a long shot of the colony gates closing on the family as they leave for whatever lies beyond. From there, the family must live on theedge of the wood, leaving the safety of civilization for the for the darkness and danger of the forest. As the film’s subtitle suggests, this place evokes the archetypal imagery of the fairy tale-- and we all know that fairytale woods are the most dangerous places to be: They’re where the witches live. Eggers'decision to locate the plot’s main action in this deeply ambivalent space suggests that the film, especially the pivotal female characterThomasin, will also experience a literal transition from one setting--and one form of power--to another, from a repressive Puritan civilization to the freedom of the witchy forest.
Organize your paragraphs around your ideas, not the tool. Work the literary tool into the idea paragraphs, not the other way around.
For example, my first paragraph is going to focus MOSTLY on the religious structure and women’s subordination.
However, to do that, I will have to discuss HOW the director got me to understand this world BY USING setting.
Example of a Body Paragraph
NOTE: What I’ve done here is write a sample paragraph. Some insight into my process here might help. I was initially going to write about the period dialogue and diction as a way of opening up the issue. However, as I wrote, I found I wanted to talk about the physical setting more -- I found I had more to say about it. Therefore, all I did was go back and adjust my thesis and my claim sentence to reflect the fact that I was now going to talk about physical location. In other words, sometimes you figure out your thesis when you write. If that happens, go back and fix it like you meant to say it that way the whole time.
I’ve labeled here the elements in the claim that touch upon the two major thrusts of this paragraph: any word or idea directly and clearly related to setting, and any word or idea related to the MOWAW. The stuff in green has to do with setting; the stuff in red is MOWAW.
Initially, the archetypally rich setting of Eggers' film The Witchimmerses the viewer in the Puritan world of the story’s characters,a world defined almost entirely by its rigid religious structure and its subordination of women. The film begins in a 17th-century courtroom, a setting of civilization, religious law, and patriarchal order that this Puritan family,led by the well-meaning but hapless William, will soon abandon. William’s dispute is a theological one: he feels the colony is too liberal, and his refusal to conform results in his banishment. As William is the patriarchal head of the family, though, everyone else--including William’s wife, his eldest daughter Thomasin, and the four younger children--is banished along with him, a point the film emphasizes in a long shot of the colony gates closing on the family as they leave for whatever lies beyond. From there, the family must live on theedge of the wood, leaving the safety of civilization for the for the darkness and danger of the forest. As the film’s subtitle suggests, this place evokes the archetypal imagery of the fairy tale-- and we all know that fairytale woods are the most dangerous places to be: They’re where the witches live. Eggers'decision to locate the plot’s main action in this deeply ambivalent space suggests that the film, especially the pivotal female characterThomasin, will also experience a literal transition from one setting--and one form of power--to another, from a repressive Puritan civilization to the freedom of the witchy forest.