all right ladies and gentlemen so students have had a little bit of
trouble with this in the past so I wanted to walk you guys through it it's
actually a fairly simple model as long as you don't overthink it so what I'm
trying to do is get you to deconstruct a quote in order to glean meaning and
therefore explain meaning in your essay using a formula that I've developed that
just makes it a little bit easier so a lot of people just will put in quotes
and not really know what to do with them they just kind of copy paste it in there
and say this quote shows all of this well the fundamental problem with that
is that the quote doesn't show anything you need to explain to me or explain to
whoever is reading your essay exactly what the quote shows you can't just say
this quote shows that the main character is conflicted about their feelings well
how does it show that? Unless you're pulling out specific word choice,
phrasing, metaphor; something like that I'm not going to understand what you
mean because remember the person who is
reading your essay just because they've read the book can't read your mind they
don't know how you made the connection so you need to make that very clear so
I'm gonna go through it first and then I'm gonna do an example for you guys to
explain it a little bit better so you're going to take your quote okay you see
your quote right here and you're going to highlight important names circle
words that carry symbolic meaning underline words or phrases that speak to
theme all that kind of stuff now remember a theme is a comment on a
subject so a theme isn't love or hate it's what about love what about hate
hate is all-consuming love heals all whatever okay so the example is here's
the quote my missions to mortify these girls the lusts of the flesh to teach
them to clothe themselves with shamefacedness and sobriety not with
braided hair and costly apparel now this is from Jane Eyre by
Bronte you don't have to know the book to be able to deconstruct the quote okay
so we want to look for things that stick out to us and you know this does take
some practice and it takes some very careful examination so I'm going to show
you guys how to do that so first let's look for words that let stick out so my
mission is to mortify these girls now whenever you're mortifying someone or
you're mortified you're embarrassed you're shaming them
that should stand out to us that his goal in life is to shame somebody okay
so again that's important because this is you feel embarrassed humiliated that
means that this guy who's speaking is out to make people feel bad about
themselves okay that's important that speaks to who
he is and he wants to embarrass them of the lust of the flesh
now obviously a lust of the flesh is yo desire passion love things like that so
this is a guy who wants to embarrass girls out of those those carnal needs
those carnal desires this is someone who basically wants to make these gals a
bunch of nuns okay teach them to clothe themselves with shamefacedness and
sobriety again shamefacedness like mortify is to be ashamed of who you are
sobriety is is seriousness solemn Ness all things that suggest that these girls
whoever they are should be very guarded very ashamed very conservatively dressed
with regards to who they are not with braided hair and costly apparel so these
are people according to this guy who should not be proud of who they are who
should be ashamed of who they are and therefore he is going to you know
basically get rid of any feeling of you know self-esteem of pride anything like
that so we know a lot about this guy we haven't even read the book okay so
here's what I do I take a box and I explain
each one of these things is important because when you deconstruct a quote it
is just like it sounds okay you are taking it apart and
breaking it into smaller pieces and explaining all this so instead of just
throwing this quote in there and saying this shows that mr. Brocklehurst is the
typical Victorian era you know anti-feminist I can say here's how
specifically I know that mr. Brocklehurst feels this way okay so you
can read this whole paragraph but basically what I did as I say it
demonstrates you know this stuff through a particular phrasing and I pulled out
mortified I pull out shamefacedness and sober he's essentially stating he wishes
to humiliate every single girl into doing what he believes is best
so I've clumped these three together because they're important they all kind
of mean the same thing and I have taken these three and come to a conclusion and
effectively explained my conclusion how I came to that by taking any sense of
pride from them he is teaching them which again I took from the quote to be
quiet obedient and forever ashamed of who they really are since he is of the
opinion that girls are solely ruled by lusts of the flesh because he mentions
that I pulled the phrase out he believes that by teaching them that they are
disgrace to society which I got from the shame face of Miss thing up here he is
actually doing them a service okay because it's his mission right however
since he is one of the most prideful characters in the text which you would
know if you read it all this quote shows his blatant sexism and hypocrisy
especially since his own sisters are dressed elegantly and carry themselves
with the same pride that he does so look how I have come to a full analysis of
his character from this one quote not just by slapping it in there but by
actually taking the time to break it into smaller pieces okay now when you
make a paragraph what you do is that this whole part here this analysis piece
comes at the end comes after the quote so what you'd have the topic sentence
you would have some context for this quote where it came from what's going on
around the quote put in the quote put in this BAM you have your paragraph here
so I'm gonna show you guys really quick how that works
and once again just a reminder I do use Google Docs it saves every two seconds I
suggest you do it it uploads downloads weight easier than anything else so use
Google Docs it's just easier for everybody all around and always Times
New Roman 12-point font I still have students not doing this I'm
not entirely sure why their eyes me kind of bonkers so just do it alright so I'm
gonna pull a quote from a text that you know some of you may have read but most
of you probably haven't so don't actually I always pull from Jane Eyre
let's let's keep it simple
okay
okay so here's a quote and this is the female character speaking and by the way
when it's a quote within a quote which means that if it's dialogue so if in the
book it's in quotations you just add another one of those that's how you do
that
okay this is a quote I've just pulled from the text and just so you guys know
it's much easier because I know a lot of people have trouble falling quotes what
do I find specifically important all that kind of
stuff make sure you're taking notes in your books I know a lot of you want to
send them back but you know the road is what link six bucks and the
metamorphosis if again it uses a couple of bucks it's not worth it to send it
back write in it make take notes put in post-its it'll make it much easier for
you to go back and find that important thing that you saw while you were
reading instead of you know spending 20 minutes searching for it okay so again
we don't really have to know the context of the story know what's going on in
this quote so this is Jane speaking and then you won't know me sir and I shall
not be your Jane Eyre any longer but an ape and a Harlequins jacket a Jane
borrowed plumes I would as soon see you mr. Rochester tricked out in stage
trappings as myself clad in a court lady's robe and I don't call you
handsome sir though I love you most dearly far too dearly to flatter you
don't flatter me so let's start at the beginning of this quote okay and then
you won't know me sir I shall not be your Jane Eyre any longer but an ape in
a Harlequins jacket so those of you who know - you've heard of Harley Quinn I'm
sure most of you the Joker's girlfriend right Batman
so if you think what is Harley Quinn well you know she is a clown
okay so a Harlequins jacket so someone who is an ape and a Harlequins jacket is
a show a show a joke okay so we know that a Harlequin is is a joke okay so
why don't we pull that out and again you can do this any way you want you can use
boxes you can use arrows I don't really care it's really for this is for your
benefit more so than for mine so Harlequins jacket a clown's jacket okay
and again an ape is is dumb is something that we wouldn't consider to
be courtly okay a jae-in borrowed plumes okay that's important for a couple of
reasons a J and borrowed proves a J is obviously a bluejay in borrowed plumes
plumes or feathers so a J and borrowed plumes would be a bird who is wearing
the feathers of another bird okay so basically a bird who is trying to be
something other than what it is someone who's putting on a show okay so we're
getting the idea just from this first sentence here that she says you know you
won't know me I shall not be your Jane Eyre but I'll be a J and borrowed plumes
an ape and Harlequins jacket that whoever Jane is speaking to wants her to
be something that she's not okay so we already get that idea I would as soon
see you mr. Rochester tricked out in stage trappings as clad myself in a
court ladies robe okay so this is an important phrase so
she is saying that her putting on a court ladies robe is equivalent to mr.
Rochester putting on staged putting on a show okay putting on a costume so Jane
it's not true to who either of them are okay and now we just starting to
understand what exactly it is that this mr. Rochester is asking her
he is asking her to be more than she is a court ladies robe no we can understand
that this is a time of courtliness so this is actually a Victorian era of
peace so he is asking somebody who is not of nobility to put on the clothes of
nobility and Jane is saying to him don't ask me to be something that I'm not
don't ask me to be this this highfalutin court woman because that is not who I am
okay and she says I don't call you handsome sir though I love you most
dearly far too dearly to flatter you don't flatter me so she's also somebody
who is not going to say oh you're so wonderful you're so beautiful you're the
most beautiful person in the entire world just because she loves him she's
gonna tell him the truth now that speaks to a lot of things
it speaks to her character okay she is not someone who is going to put on a
show for somebody else she's very true to herself now why does this matter
okay so we've kind of broken down some things who cares okay
what kind of point are we trying to make now we can make an argument about her
character but again why is it relevant why is it relevant that she is standing
up to this guy well for one reason we understand this is the Victorian era
because we've got this court ladies robe thing now this is a time of prints and
prints says kings and queens and all this kind
of stuff specifically the Queen Victoria hence Victorian era so she is somebody
who we know is not nobility who refuses to pretend to be that's a big deal
because when you think about a lot of the stories that we've heard not just
from this era but fairy tales things like that what does the popper want to
be well they want to be the Prince what is the the girl with nothing want to be
well she wants to be the courtly lady who is loved by the rich man and the
fact that Jane would rather be true to herself instead of putting on this show
speaks very highly not only to her character but to the author because to
write a character like that during a time where women were not voting women
could not have property women had very very few rights so to write a character
like this is very dynamic very important and speaks to the disagreement that
Bronte had with with the time period okay so how do we put this into a
paragraph we need to break down these pieces okay so obviously this would be
the analysis that comes after the quote in your paragraph so this quote
demonstrates and let's pick a theme
since this has a lot to do with truth to oneself and you know being who you are
let's talk about truth to oneself okay now truth to oneself again is not a
theme because there's no comment on it okay so this quote M so we need to have
a comment on it so obviously she is prioritizing being true to herself
okay this demonstrates the theme
and this is obviously much a very oversimplified theme but you guys
haven't read the text so I'm just gonna make this a little more clear myself
okay because now I'm going to explain why
okay the use of because and I'm gonna use metaphor because the Harlequins
jacket the giant borrowed plumes are metaphors okay so I'm going to explain
to you this quote will demonstrate this theme through these ways okay so
dress is mr. Rochester she explains that by doing what he asks no longer be his
Jane Eyre and because you've already quoted up here when you're pulling out
just a couple of words and phrases you don't have to put the page number
unless you're pulling a whole new quote okay because Jane Eyre but instead an
ape even a Harlequin jacket J and borrowed clothes this is important now
you're gonna tell me why so what these things mean okay this is important
because these metaphors Express that chain
feel like a fraud clowns jacket it's representing herself wearing the
identity someone else plumes okay now I've explained I've explained
these two okay it is clear that mr. Rochester is asking Jane to dress or act
of her social station Donna she equates
yep
yeah as she equates being a fraud with
court ladies robe okay so I'm explaining why this part is important okay so as
cleared mr. rochester's Assam do need to dress or active up for social station as
she equates the feeling of being a fraud with a court earth wearing court ladies
rope does Jane is proud of who she is where she is in life and to act
otherwise
mr. Rochester checked out in stage trappings playing a role he really is
okay perfect so I had these now I can do this
don't flatter me Park okay I can get to my argument so this relates to theme
because it shows it shows how Jane
refuses the typical rags to riches handout Rochester is offering her to 18
things merit without being
flattered
she was just sorting things around Merrythought being flattered by words
from the man she loves she just she knows that I won back - he is not
handsome
yeah so why am I making you do this let me
show you so and by the way this is kind of how I want it turned in so when you
go to the the rest of the assignments let me show you you go the rest the
assignment I'm giving you quotes one from the road one from the Three
Musketeers one from feet again you don't need to have read these tags to be able
to deconstruct the quote and make an assumption about it so I want it to look
like this so quote things you pulled out then your paragraph and again why am I
making you do this I will show you why I'm making you do
this it's easier it seems harder but it's easier so let's say that I've done
this okay and it comes time to write my essay which it will very shortly okay so
let's say that Jane Eyre is metemma I'm a paragraph my topic so I would write
some kind of topic sentence to start my paragraph so you'd be to begin first as
something like that to begin
santé theme essential piece remember you got to remind me who you're talking
about here even in the first paragraph it sounds repetitive and it is but
that's just the way essays are written it's not essential not only an essential
piece
okay this would kind of be the preamble right introducing it quote okay so I
have old two sentences that explain what my paragraphs gonna be about right so to
begin the theme the importance of La Table central goes individualist most
clearly shown into the character Jane and her relation with mr. Rochester then
after that you need some context for this quote you guys don't know the
context unless you've read Jane Eyre so the context of this quote is obviously
that mr. Rochester and don't say in this quote because that drives me nuts I
clear it I see that it's a quote you don't have to say in this quote so
really share with mr. Rochester
so basically mr. Rochester as Jane to address in a courtly manner marry him
and become
the head of his estate Jane however
you know it does not feel suit her as she states and remember you have to have
some kind of something you know some kind of leaden I call it a signal phrase
that leads into the quote so she states that I'm just gonna come up here grab a
quote
put it in their space grab my analysis paragraph
I put it right there okay take this
double space it and look what I have now I have a page and a little bit more and
my paragraph is done that is why I'm showing you how to do this because it's
going to cut the amount of time that it takes for you to write your essay when
you do it in pieces like this when you you find out the quotes and why they're
relevant and explain why they're relevant all you have to do is copy
paste and your essay is done an essay really shouldn't take you five six hours
it should take you if you do all your research beforehand if you pull out your
quotes beforehand if you do things the way I'm showing you it should take maybe
one or two and you see how long this took us not very long again obviously I
knew this quote I knew it to pull from it but the result is this okay
the result is BAM you have this you throw a transition sentence on the end
you're done with this paragraph okay so again this is to help you this is to
make it easier and more efficient to write your essay okay my goal here is
not necessarily to change the way you write essays but to just make you a more
efficient essay writer and this is something I've learned over you know
many years of teaching essays and how I learned how to do this on my own just by
figuring stuff out so again this is this is the part I'm looking for you will use
some quote deconstruction this in your essay and it'll end up doing this for
you okay so don't get rid of this assignment once you finish it hang on to
it and all the future assignments that are going to lead up to our essay
because you're going to continue to use them if you have questions about this
feel free to email me I will make this this piece available for you to look at
in case you want to look back at it you can show this to any of the tutors in
the Writing Center if you have questions from them net tutor you can ask them as
well net tutor once again is going to be on this side right here net tutors
right there you can ask them for help however this should be fairly clear
again if you have questions let me know otherwise good luck
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