The narrator of “Do Not Go Gentle” associates women with ...



Make Yourself a Quote Sandwich

When you use quotations in a literary analysis, make a quote sandwich:

Present your analysis in your own words.

Support your analysis with a quote.

Follow up your quote with a comment or interpretation.

[pic]

GOOD Example:

The narrator of “Do Not Go Gentle” associates his wife with strength and supernatural power.

He describes her as “beautiful and powerful” and “magic like a grandmother” (96).

In his view, grandmothers are naturally magical, and his wife possesses the power of a grandmother, even though she is only twenty-five years old.

Analysis (BREAD)

Quote (MEAT)

Interpretation or comment (BREAD)

Things to avoid when using quotations

1. Use quotes to support your analysis. Don’t use quotes in place of presenting your analysis!

BAD Example: The narrator views his wife as “beautiful and powerful” and “magic like a grandmother” (96). In his view, “Indian grandmothers aren’t afraid of a little man like Mr. Grief” (96), and his wife “beat him severely about the head and shoulders like she was Muhammad Ali” (97).

2. Don’t start with a quote and then explain it. Avoid phrases like “This shows that” or “This quote means.”

BAD Example: The narrator says, “My wife is beautiful and powerful… she is magic like a grandmother” (96). This quote shows that he associates his wife with strength and supernatural power.

3. Do not drop a quotation into your paragraph without warning; use a signal phrase.

BAD Example: The narrator of “Do Not Go Gentle” associates his wife with strength and supernatural power. “My wife is beautiful and powerful… she is magic like a grandmother” (96).

4. Do not begin or end a body paragraph with a quote.

5. Keep quotes as short as possible. Some instructors believe that no more than 10% of a paragraph should be directly quoted. For example, in a 10-line paragraph, less than one line should be directly quoted.

Evaluate these examples of integrating quotes from “Do Not Go Gentle.”

1. The narrator gets mad at the two men in the bathroom. “I almost yelled at them” (Alexie 99).

2. Listening to the mean talk from the men in the bathroom seems to wake up the narrator and lead him into action. He says, “The whole bathroom crazy-scene gave me some energy” (page 99, Alexie).

3. Before he overhears the conversation of the two men in the bathroom, the narrator feels like a grief soldier under grief fire (Alexie 98).

4. After seeing the narrator, the two men in the bathroom regret their conversation: “They were ashamed of themselves… for building a secret clubhouse out of the two-by-four boards and ten-penny nails of their pain. (98)”

5. In the hospital bathroom, the narrator’s grief causes him to feel paralyzed. (Alexie p. 97-8).

GOOD Example: The narrator learns that every object and every human action has transformative power. He realizes “Everything is stuffed to the brim with ideas and love and hope and magic and dreams” (101).

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download