"Unpacking a Quotation" Assignment

During today's class, we read and analyzed a sample of student writing that will be our model for the next assignment. (If you were absent on Thursday, please see me for a copy of the sample essay.) Our objective was to discover how this piece of writing was put together, and what kinds of things this student did in the piece, so that we could understand the model and establish a set of tools for our own essays. Here's what we came up with:

Unpacking a Quotation

1. The essay should begin with a quotation. The quotation needs to be a bit long, so you have enough to talk about. Choose a passage that you think is very important -- a key moment in your interpretation of the story.

2. Give the reader some context for the quotation. Don't forget to mention the author and title of the work. But more importantly: What is happening in the story when this passage occurs? Why is this passage important? What does it tell us? What changes at this moment, or what is revealed? Notice that the student who wrote our model essay connects her passage to the narrative arc of the story (what has happened, what will happen) and also to her own interpretation of the story (the governess is cray cray.)

3. Focus on one or more phrases in your quotation and explain them in detail. Notice how much the student who wrote our model essay has to say about the phrase "some one." Use other words and phrases from the passage to help with your explanation -- in our model essay, the student also quotes "the face" and "present to" in order to develop her ideas about the phrase "some one."

4. Ask yourself questions about the words and phrases the author chose to use in this passage. Look for contradictions and problems ("some one" vs. "the face"). Look for phrases that seem to agree with each other or support each other ("he" and "the face"). Think about what each of these words and phrases mean, and what they contribute to the meaning and the emotional tone of the passage.

5. Quote and paraphrase selectively from other parts of the story in order to help you unpack your main quotation.

6. Return to the same words and phrases several times in your essay to get more out of them, or approach them from different perspectives. Notice that the student who wrote our model essay introduces the phrase "kind light" at the end of her third paragraph, but then returns to it and gives it a slightly different interpretation at the beginning of her fourth paragraph.

Here's the basic assignment: Choose a significant quotation from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and unpack that quotation, using it to explain your interpretation of the story. Your argument may be based on the questions we previously addressed in class, or it may be based on a question or topic of your own that you wish to explore. Length: about 500 words, or two pages typed and double-spaced. Due date: please post the essay to your class blog before next Tuesday's class (11/4)