For my final assignment in my Lit:Fiction class my teacher gave me the option to do a comparison between a book we'd read in class and a book outside of class. I decided (and am now regretting << ) to compare two pieces that seemed vastly different but shared some subtle themes and aspects with each other (also I had been reading them both at the same time). I chose White Noise by John Delillo and Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner.
I'm struggling with a distinct thesis and a functional outline, and could use some suggestions and critiques on my ideas right now. I haven't written many comparisons between two books before without being given distinct questions, and I felt that "this is what these things share" as a thesis would be pretty weak, right? 4 pages double-spaced is required. I have an extremely large amount of freedom with this essay beyond that, which is why I think I'm floundering some. I am to "present an interpretive argument about your topic. Make a statement that you then support with textual evidence that your interpretation is correct. Use quoted material wisely- integrate into your paper and discuss the significance of your evidence."
Anyways, what I'm thinking right now is having a paragraph that analyzes how humor is used in both pieces, a paragraph on how dysfunctionality (especially in families) plays a role in the stories, and then a paragraph on comparing the two main characters. Is this too weak? I'm open for lots of suggestions. I also thought if one of those wasn't quite right, I could compare how death is feared in White Noise as an obsession, but becomes an expression of living, and how Cannie starts to obsess over death in a form of rage in revenge for the life that was almost lost. I've included things I've been writing so far (The more coherent ones anyways), for commentary and such. I hope my first post wasn't too vague or anything like that...
Here's the summary I have for dysfunctionality represented in Good in Bed. I know my teacher hasn't read this book before, so I tried to make it accurate without being too long:
Cannie's family consists of a disillusioned plastic surgeon father, who started out loving and became verbally and emotionally abusive, calling her fat and ugly to his friends and to her face and ending in him walking out of her life. Her mother, after the divorce,became romantically entangled with a woman named Tanya who her children strongly disapproved of. Cannie's sister went from near prostitution and strip-dancing to being the pretty, stick-thin girl who couldn't hold a job but fell for all the wrong kinds of people (such as a man who claimed he was a surgeon in India but later got arrested for fraud of some sort). Cannie's best friend has 1-2-punch boyfriends; the first date goes well, as does the second, but by the third they always seem to reveal some terrible aspect of themselves or do something to scare her away (one man taking her to a place blindfolded and then revealing that he'd taken her to his parents house where his entire family was waiting and telling them all that this was the woman he wanted to marry). Cannie's now ex-boyfriend, Bruce Gruber, joined the magazine Moxie (the equivalent of Cosmo) and started writing about "Loving a Larger Woman" after she'd requested a break to think things over about their relationship. This led Cannie (size 16, incredibly self-conscious about her weight, and her career at a standstill) to struggle to keep her life from going into a downwards spiral.
This is my comparison between Jack and Cannie. Everything here is in draft form so it's not too clean yet:
Jack and Cannie have subtle themes in common. Jack's job helps him escape his obsessive thoughts on death, with concepts and ideas much greater than his own life. Hitler has a power and draw that he can't achieve on his own, and he dons his clothing for being the head of his studies like an array of armor to keep death and insignificance from touching him. When he and his family are on the run from toxic chemicals, he even laments the fact that he doesn't have his glasses and robe to make him feel more imposing, more powerful, and ultimately more in control in a situation where he feels as if he has none. Cannie, on the other hand, dons her job as a shield change, which would lead to vulnerability. She works at a newspaper that seems to be only moderately successful, but feels she is squandernig her time. Even as she thinks that, the struggle to find a job quickly after college left her with this position, and she doesn't venture away from it to try to find another, assuming it would be impossible. She writes screenplays and has talent she fantasizes about handing off to a famous actor or director, but never shows them to anyone (primarily one that she focuses on, that she feels is her best). Her fear of vulnerability and Jack's fear of insignificance are sheltered by their current careers. Both of them get into a situation that drives them out of their safety; Cannie's realization that her ex boyfriend is profiting off of using her as a topic of his articles and Jack's confrontation with the idea that death has seeped into him in a situation he had no control over.
It's easier when you do the work in the right sequence: your thesis will be refined as you pull out more citations and quotes about these themes: humor, fear of death, qualities embodied by those two characters, etc.
It becomes easy if you are not afraid to change your thesis as you go along. You can sharpen it and make it more specific. You can make a bold assertion!
these two paragraphs you have are great! Now, reread them and skim through one of the stories; pullout a quote or citation; write a blurb about what happens at th start of chapter 2; comment on any new insights you get into the concepts involved.
So, in thsway you can "construct" the essay, building on what already exists. One of these paragraphs you wrote may end up in the middle of the essay, and the other might end up in the intro or conclusion. Cut and paste and quote and cite, and let the thesis come into focus.
