An argument
When you write an extended literary essay, often one requiring research, you are essentially making an argument. You are arguing that your perspective-an interpretation, an evaluative judgment, or a critical evaluation-is a valid one.
When you write an extended literary essay, often one requiring research, you are essentially making an argument. You are arguing that your perspective-an interpretation, an evaluative judgment, or a critical evaluation-is a valid one.
For your top three favorite topics, create a thesis statement that would fit the criteria discussed in class
For homework, post your thesis statement by 12am tonight!
Bad Thesis Statement Example:
You would not want to make an argument of this sort:
Shakespeare's Hamlet is a play about a young man who seeks revenge.
That doesn't say anything-it's basically just a summary and is hardly debatable.
A better thesis would be this:
Hamlet experiences internal conflict because he is in love with his mother.
That is debatable, controversial even. The rest of a paper with this argument as its thesis will be an attempt to show, using specific examples from the text an
25 comments:
Thesis
1. Fishel Shilaky did not apperciate his family and would often take advantage of them
2. Ruth was evry protective of her children, she would fight back if anyone took advantage of them.
3. Ruth perferred black people over white people because while growing up she was ridiculed by white people and accepted by black people
Edwin Robles
1. James internal conflict about his races bring a lot of confusion to his life.
2. Ruth outcast from her jewish family help her intergrate into a black community.
3. James was raise by a stranger his mother, he didnt know anything about her.
1. James cultural background caused him to have confused towards his mother. 2. When Ruth becomes a family outcast this allows her to integrate the black community.
3. Ruth's fathers molestation caused her to never feel secure with her family.
1. james is confused about himself and doesnt have any help from his family.
2. Ruth still has problems with her past and it AFFECTS HER RELATIONSHIP with her children espically james.
3. Ruth is wrong for not telling james about who he is> she wrong for keeping anything from her children.
Natalie Rodriguez
1. For Ruth, being disowned by her family, just made her stronger and want to run away from her past; and in doing this, she was never able to really settle down anywhere where her and her children where in good living conditions.
2. As James was growing up, race was a major conflict and it was something he could not live peacefully with. He was always asking his mom where did he come from, because he did not know and Ruth didnt want to know.
Erika
1.James's identity crisi was bought on by his mother's messed up past.And when he learns his mother's stony he come's to with who he is.
2.Ruth's father dominated the household with an iron fist.Later we learn Ruth also protrays this when ruling her household.
3.Ruth always fled to the black side because she always felt it was safe.Later in life James does the same, thinking its the best side to flee to because of his mother's beliefs.
Alma
1.Ruth Mcbride Jordan used repression as a cpoing mechanism, but in turned damanged her son, causing him to live most of his life with a identity crisis.
2.Ruth Mcbride Jordan lost the remainder of her sanity when her second husband died.
3.James's mother childhood friend Frances helped her during her teenage years.
Asia Cruz
1.Knowing where you come from evidently shows who you are as a person.
2.Hiding your past, may not always be good. It may effect the people around you. That was the case with Ruth and her family.
3. When you look at James and Ruth life they have a lot in common when it came to their identity.
1- how ruth had power and james didnt because of their race.
2- how james living with his mom and not having a father figure
3- james trying to figure out his mothers past and her jewish side
1.Ruth is a very strong woman evn after all the problems she's been through in life.
2.Racism was a big influence in James life and that scarred him for life.
3.The way Ruth's family reacted towards her behavior was not necessary and very wrong...
1.Ruth reflects her own identity issues through those of her son James.
2.Coming of age in a bi-racial home was James' main source of internal conflict.
3.Ruth reflects much of her childhood experiences on her children.
1. Trying to forget about your past is a daily problem especially when you have 12 biracial kids worrying about their history
2. Is the life you chose the one you wanted for yourself or the life your surrounding made you become
3. Does self identity come from knowing your past your do you create your from what people perciieve you as
M.G.W
1st. Ruth being disown by her family and still being able to make it, raise her kids and sending them to school.
2nd. Ruth founds a black church even thou she once was Jewish.
3rd. James was confused about his Identity, so he created an imaginary person in the bathroom mirror so he could coop with his problems.
1.james growing up with out a father figure 2.james was growing up clueless not knowing what he was as in race 3.ruth hiding stuff about her family and her past life
trevorp 1.james growing up with out a father figure 2.james was growing up clueless not knowing what he was as in race 3.ruth hiding stuff about her family and her past life
1.The struggles of color for Ruth and Dennis made their marriage stronger.
2.With the massive amount of children Ruth gave birth too, she had no time to socialize much with them.
3.As james aged, he became more aware of color and its difficulties.
Since Ms. Wondwossen didn't made a separate post on supporting thesis statements with quotes yet, I decided to post it here.
Thesis Statement: Both Ruth and Tateh used tyranny on their families but the former provides for her kids while the latter keeps his family on the store for life.
Quote(surrounding Ruth's familiy): If it doesn't involve your going to school or church, I could care less about it and the answer is no whatever it is." (Pg. 27)
This quote is important as it gives a brief insight of how Ruth runs her family, in order to be different from her father, Tateh. She's more focused on helping her kids getting an education or getting them to believe God. In order to keep it that way, she told her kids to never talk about anything but school or church. This quote can be supported further as every time James asked his mom about something like her past or skin color, then she will try to close the conversation if it gets out of hand.
Alma
Topic: Identity
Thesis: Ruth Mcbride Jorden used repression as a coping mechanism but in turned damaged her son to live most of his life with a identity crisis
Quotes: " Her past was a mystery she refused to discuss" (pg 9)
" Matters involving race and identity she ignored" (pg 9)
"When I was a boy I used to wonder where my mother came from, how she got on this earth. When I asked her where she was from she would say, " God made me", and change the subject again. Answering questions about her personal history did not jibe with mommy's view of parenting twelve curious, wild, brown- skinned children." (Pg 21)
" Although each had drawn from the same bowl of crazy logic mommy served up, none seemed to share my own confusion." (Pg 93)
"Looking back, I see it took about ten years for Mommy to recover from my stepfather's death.It wasn't just that her husband was suddenly gone it was the accumulation of a lifetime of silent suffering, some of which my siblings and I never knew about. Her past had always been a secret to us and remained so even after my stepfather died, but what she had left behind was so big, so complete that she could never entirely leave it: the dissaption of her own jewish family, and the guilt over abandoning her mother, the separation from her sister, the sudden tragic death of her first husband, whom she adored." (Pg 163)
" The Irony was that Mommy knew how to drive before she was eighteen. She drove her father's 1936 Ford back in Suffolk, Virginia. Not only did she drive it, she drove it well enough to pull a trailer behind it full of wholesale supplies for her family's grocery store. She drove the car and trailer for family's store. She drove the car and trailer on paved and dirt roads between Norfolk, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and North Carolina. She could back the trailer up with the goods in it, unload it at the store, back the car into the yard, unhook the trailer, and park the car in the garage, backing in. But she had left her past sofar behind she literally did not know how to drive."(pg 167- 168)
Edwin p.
Topic: Identity
Thesis: James goes through a journey of self discovery as he groes up.
Quote: "I felt like a Tinkertoy kid building my own self out of one of those toy building sets; for as she laid her life before me, I reassembled the tableau of her words like a picture puzzle, and as I did, so my own life was rebuilt" pg
1. The fact that Ruth hides from kids about the fact that she’s Jewish
2. The fact that Ruth married a black man although her father told her not to.
3.ruth thinks that blacks were a lot better than whites, even though she was a jew
Topic-racism
Thesis- Ruth’s father, Mr. Shilsky disliked blacks
Quote-“if there was one thing Tateh didn’t like more then gentiles, it was black folks. And if there was one thing he didn’t like more than black folks in general, it was black men in particular” pg 107
EstefanyGrullon
Topic: Identity
Thesis Statement: The only way to discover yourself is through learning about your past.
Quote: “It was typical Mommy behavior, and I didn’t fully understand it till I learned how far she had truly come…As she revealed the facts of her life I felt helpless, like I was watching her die and be reborn again (yet there was a cleansing element too), because after years of hiding, she opened up and began to talk about the past, and as she did so, I was the one who wanted to run for cover…I reassembled the tableau of her words like a picture puzzle, and as I did, so my own life was rebuilt.” Page 269
As this quote reveals we discover that James was having a discussion with his mother Rachel Shilsky, concerning the details of her past life. Her behaviors from long-ago lead James to not only characterize his mother, but himself as well. Ruth is the only individual James has ever known who has been in the process of moving for ten years straight. Furthermore, Ruth has always told her children to mind their own business and never got into depth of her childhood nor her Jewish background. James strongly felt that in order to find out whom he was he had to find out who his mother was. Realizing things like his mother’s Jewish side is gone further helps James learn about who he is today. His mother’s acts were unusual; however he believes that her past has drastically influenced whom she is today.
My 3 thesis:
1. How James grew up without a father
2. some jews cant stand james appearance because he's colored
3. He's a black man with a white mom
Thesis:Ruth's father dominated his household with an iron fist.And Ruth later protrays this same dominance in life when she is ruling her household.
Quotes:
1."we worked in there from morning till night, except for school, and Tateh had us timed for that."(pg 111).
2."...an unbending nature, a sridency, a focus on money, a deep distrust of all outsiders,... the best and worst of the immigrant mentality: hard work, no nonsense, a quest for excellence, distrust of all authority figures, and a deep belief in god and education."(pg 29)
3."He told Mameh, 'we're moving south".Mameh didn't want to go...but talking to him was like talking to that wall over there.He said"we're moving", and we wnt to suffolk,Virginia..."(pg 39)
4."we were instructed never to reveal details of our home life to any figures of authority..."(pg27)
5."Mommy has no model for raising us other than the experience of her own family...not to mention her father's tyranny"(pg 29).
6.At fifthy-one she was still slender and pretty...dark eyes, a large nose,...and a bowlegged walk you could see a mile off.We used to call it "Mommy madwalk" and if she was doing it in your direction all hell was gonna break lose."(pg 7).
Topic: James being so curious about his mom's family and past and James always wanting to noe where he came from
Thesis: James always has curious questions to ask his mom about her family, religoin and etc.
Quote:"How come we dont have any aunts and uncles on our side?"(pg.99)
This quote relates to my thesis beacuse this is one of the curious questions that James asks's his mom
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