It has to be between 500-700 words. I am having a hard time getting started. Here is what I have so far. Thanks for any help. Andrea
I was not in the slightest bit looking forward to having to read a novel and then having to write a critical analysis on it. It is difficult for me to sit down and read a book all the way through, but then I picked up the novel The Street Lawyer by John Grisham and I could not put it down. The novel is fast pace moving from one scene to the next with no unnecessary details and it constantly left me wanting to read more of the novel.
In The Street Lawyer the main character, Michael Brock a 32-year-old antitrust attorney has a remarkable transformation that happens over a period of only thirty-two days.
Greetings!
I think you have a good opening! You've pointed out the fast pace and lack of unnecessary details, which is great! As you continue your analysis, you can talk more about how Grisham accomplishes these things. For example, how does he create the fast pace? Short sentences? Lots of action verbs? Is it ever confusing because he leaves out those details, or does that just make the prose clearer? Talk about not only what he does, but how he does it, and your analysis will be concise and thorough.
I'll give you a few small editing suggestions, mostly to do with punctuation, on what you have written so far.
The novel is fast-paced, moving from one scene to the next with no unnecessary details and it constantly left me wanting to read more [delete this repetition: "of the novel"].
In The Street Lawyer, [add comma] the main character, Michael Brock, [add comma] a 32-year-old antitrust attorney, [add comma] has a remarkable transformation that happens over a period of only thirty-two days.
You're off to a great start!
Thanks,
Sarah, EssayForum.com
// second draft removed //
Greetings!
You're doing a fantastic job so far! I can't find anything at all to criticize (with the possible exception of "furthermore" which is a bit cumbersome; you could take it out and lose nothing).
Really good work; I'll look forward to reading the rest!
Thanks,
Sarah, EssayForum.com
I was not in the slightest bit looking forward to having to read a novel and then having to write a critical analysis on it. It is difficult for me to sit down and read a book all the way through, but then I picked up the novel The Street Lawyer by John Grisham and I could not put it down. The novel is fast-paced moving from one scene to the next with no unnecessary details and it constantly left me wanting to read more to find out what was going to happen. Another factor I find important about the novel is that it deals with the factual details of the world of the homeless in America. In particular, their barely audible legal voice in a world dominated by large, all-powerful law firms.
Grisham wrote the novel after doing extensive research in Washington D.C., where he met with lawyers and poor people and even a mother with three young children who provided Grisham the inspiration for a fragile family in the book. This novel's portrayal of the homeless is influenced by poverty rates in America during the twentieth century, and Grisham's story may touch the souls of readers because of its harsh reality. The subject of this story is real in America everyday thousands of people live in absolute poverty. Grisham is illustrating the opposite side of the "American dream," a goal that is beyond reach for many Americans. As a result, even if they are not poor, working class and middle class people identify with the reality of the economic struggle in America. Therefore Grisham's novel The Street Lawyer is engaging because it strengthens the reality that in America there are few people that are able to live up to the "American Dream."
In The Street Lawyer, the main character, Michael Brock, a 32-year-old antitrust attorney, has a remarkable transformation that happens over a period of only thirty-two days. Before being taken hostage by a homeless man in his law firm, Michael knows nothing about the homeless community. The reader learns about the issue at the same time as Michael. Therefore, Grisham presents straightforward characters and prose to the readers in order for them to secure the core of the serious issues that he dramatizes. "I played with my soup, which, thanks to Miss Dolly, was really quite good, but couldn't get beyond the fact that I, Michael Brock, an affluent white boy from Memphis and Yale and Drake & Sweeney, was sitting among the homeless in the basement of a church in the middle of Northwest D.C." (83-84).
Grisham's fast-pace nature keeps readers in suspense, "We drove the well-plowed streets of Northwest Washington, blocks and section of boarded-up rowhouses, past projects so tough ambulance drivers refused to enter, past schools with razor wire glistening on top of the chain link, into neighborhoods permanently scarred by riots." (100). After reading the line I could not perceive what would occur next, Would the characters come upon something dramatic. The Street Lawyer is not in the least morsel boring, it hits hard on the first page, and continues to hit until the last page. I would recommend The Street Lawyer to anyone required to write a critical analysis on a novel, in fact I cannot wait to read more John Grisham's works.
Greetings!
You've done an excellent job of refining your essay. I just have a few more minor editing tips:
"The novel is fast-paced, [add comma] moving from one scene to the next..."
"The subject of this story is real in America everyday thousands of people live in absolute poverty." - This is a run-on sentence. You could put a colon (:) after "real" because the following clause explains the preceding one. You could also use an emdash--like that--or even a period. It does need something, though. Also "every day" is two words (think of it as "every single day"), unless you are using it as an adjective to describe something ordinary, as in: "She wore her everyday jeans."
The following partial paragraph needs a bit of work with word choice and punctuation. I'd do it lke this:
After reading the line I could not imagine what would occur next. What drama might the characters fall into? The Street Lawyer is not in the least morsel boring; it hits hard on the first page, and continues to hit until the last page. I would recommend The Street Lawyer to anyone required to write a critical analysis on a novel--in fact I cannot wait to read more of John Grisham's works.
Very good work!
Thanks,
Sarah, EssayForum.com
