World Lit 1 help!

[Guest deathwish546]

Ok so I want to compare the power of women in Lysistrata and Death and the Maiden, and how it goes against the traditional view that women are supposed to be weaker and less intelligent than men.

I will be comparing 3 points in both books, and taking excerpts from both books to prove that both book demonstrated the points I stated,

1. Women are supposed to have no power, and they are looked down upon

2. Women show that they are equally capable of thinking for themselves

3. Women rise up to take the power, and gain dominance over men

Is this a good topic/thesis/idea, and is my approach a good method?

Also, how many quotations would be a good amount?

THANK YOU!

Edited January 12, 2010 by deathwish546

[sweetnsimple786]

Yeah, that's a logical and organized approach. I haven't read your works, but good job.

Umm I'd do 1-2 per book. 3-4 per point [yeah, the math doesn't completely add up, but you want at least 3 quotations] If you have more words left in the word count, I'd go back and add another example.

[IBhelp]

yup, definately thats a good topic. i think you have good points to discuss and dont forget that you support you points by giving enough of quotations. not too many but atleast 2-3 and also while wrting keep mind the structure in which you are goin to write your world lit.

structure that you may want to follow:

Plan A: Use Plan A if you have many small similarities and/or differences. After your introduction, say everything you want to say about the first work or character, and then go on in the second half of the essay to say everything about the second work or character, comparing or contrasting each item in the second with the same item in the first. In this format, all the comparing or contrasting, except for the statement of your main point, which you may want to put in the beginning, goes on in the SECOND HALF of the piece.

Plan B: Use Plan B if you have only a few, larger similarities or differences. After your introduction, in the next paragraph discuss one similarity or difference in BOTH works or characters, and then move on in the next paragraph to the second similarity or difference in both, then the third, and so forth, until you're done. If you are doing both similarities and differences, juggle them on scrap paper so that in each part you put the less important first ("X and Y are both alike in their social positions . . ."), followed by the more important ("but X is much more aware of the dangers of his position than is Y"). In this format, the comparing or contrasting goes on in EACH of the middle parts.

sorry its too long bt this will definately help you in scoring higher grade

[Guest deathwish546]

I was planning on doing my structure something like this.

So as I have stated, my 3 main points will be

1. Women are supposed to have no power, and they are looked down upon

2. Women show that they are equally capable of thinking for themselves

3. Women rise up to take the power, and gain dominance over men

I was planning on having 2 paragraphs for each point, making a total of 8 paragraphs (including intro and conclu paragraph)

So first paragraph will be one book, and where my point appears, the second paragraph will be where the points in the second book appears and how it applies to my thesis

And for each topic paragraphs after that ill do the same thing, and then conclude about how everything i stated matters, is that a good idea?

[sweetnsimple786]

There might be a way to pull that off successfully, but I wouldn't want to try. Usually what happens is you'll start summarizing in the body paragraphs when you should not and/or you'll have short, choppy paragraphs. Instead, try to make one [or two] paragraph about each point with both books intertwined. You'll need to use lots of transitions, but then you'll have linked the two texts together intimately. You can have two paragraphs for a point if there's a natural break in what you're trying to say. The natural break shouldn't be a switch between works but rather... well let me give you a made up example.

"Women have no power and are looked down upon"

So one paragraph could talk about how they are treated physically and the lack of power from a material and lawful aspect. Then another paragraph could look at it from a psychological aspect. And I haven't read your works, so I doubt this applies to you perfectly. So with the two paragraphs, you're still mentioning both works in each one... you're just shifting focus a little bit.

So have the intro and conclusion and 1-2 body paragraphs for each of your points. Take your word limit into account as well. Unless you're an extremely concise person, 8 body paragraphs would probably cost you a lot.