First of all decide whether you agree or not. Do you think it’s always the case or sometimes the case that authors explore a question but do not reach a conclusion?

Some authors are more dogmatic than others. You can expect an author like Ayn Rand to try to answer the questions by showing a more one sided set of facts to answer the underlying question. Other authors are more interested in showing who there are many sides to the question and these authors often don’t even try to answer the question about humanity that their novel raises.

So pick a theme- Barthes is right, he’s wrong or he’s sometimes right and sometimes wrong. The last requires using multiple books- more work and maybe technically not what the assignment states about picking one book.

Then, of course, you need to decide what the main question being raised is. Is it something like “Can we overcome childhood adversity?” Or “Are we the products of nature or nurture?” Or “What is courage and how do we tap into it?” Whatever.

As the assignment says, don’t recite the plot. But you’ll have to give at least three concrete examples from the story of how plot or characterization addresses the question. One of the best ways to do this is to take different characters that illustrate different perspectives or parts of the question.

Finally, show how either the question was definitively answered or how the question remains open. Even if the question seems answered, is this the final answer or only one of many possible outcomes leaving the reader to wonder if it is inevitable or the best?

Quick example:

Green Eggs and Ham

Question: Can we get others to overcome their prejudices?

Characters who are different aspects of the question? Sam and the Fellow Who Doesn’t Like Green Eggs and Ham. (explain, with examples, how each represents a different approach to, or part of, the question)

Specific plot points that illustrate an approach to the question: fox/box, train/rain- utilization of different settings and conditions to find a comfort point that might encourage dropping prejudice or that might so take the prejudiced one out of his natural element that he might think outside his preconceived notions.

Conclusion: In the end the prejudice is overcome. But is it answered? Perhaps not- was it persistence that worked? was it extreme hardship that caused the change? Was it perhaps ultimately entirely up to the prejudiced person? Was the outcome inevitable or was this only one of many possible outcomes?

My understanding of the work as a whole is changed because treatment of the question raises the story above a merely episodic recounting of a particular attempt by one character to get another to eat an odd breakfast and made it an issue of universal import.

Needless to say, you’ll have to pick a fancier sounding book, that’s why I used this for illustration to avoid any temptation to copy.

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