Q Web Assignment 3 Read through to the end before you being the answers! Step One: Q. Looking Back over Lab 3, which of the potential themes do you feel is the strongest? Or, put differently, which theme did you most clearly find evidence for in Lab 3. This will be the theme that you will examine for essay 3. A. Theme: Step Two: Q. Now, identifying the theme you will examine is only the first step. You need to provide an interpretation of it. So, for example, let's say that I see the theme of "adoption" in "The Black Cat." What point does the story make about adoption? That is the interpretation. The theme you identify is the topic of your essay, but not its claim/thesis. Your claim is dependent upon your interpretation of the story. If I say for a thesis: In his story "The Black Cat," Poe focuses on the theme of adoption through his use of setting, character development, imagery and symbolism. then I have only pointed out to my reader that the theme is in the story, I have not provided an interpretive claim. It needs to include a "why" or "in order to" assertion, and "to get his point across" or "to tell his story" is not an interpretation either. It simply asserts the function of all elements of fiction -- to create fiction. Instead, you need to to posit the meaning the story creates. Now, there isn't only one interpretation; there are only well-supported and poorly supported interpretations. So step two is complicated. Using my example from above, I could develop the thesis to include an interpretive claim: In his story "The Black Cat," Poe focuses on the theme of adoption through his use of setting, character development, imagery and symbolism...in order to demonstrate the dangers of taking an outsider into the family. This last part is my interpretation of the story, and my essay will build support in every body paragraph as I interpret Poe's use of the elements of literature to bring about this point. What is your interpretive claim/provisional thesis in one sentence? A. Provisional Thesis: Step Three: What are your topic sentence claims (drawn in part from Lab 3) supporting the above thesis? For example, following the example thesis above, I might have a topic sentence that states "Poe uses symbolism to reflect the evil potential of an adopted individual." or even "Through the use of setting, Poe demonstrates how an adopted individual can disrupt a home environment." While both of those claims are absurd given the story (it's not about adoption, and certainly not about adoption as evil!), I offer them to show you structure and the topic sentence that supports but does not simply repeat the thesis. Each one contributes to supporting the larger umbrella claim the thesis makes. Looking back on your Lab 3, under your chosen theme, which elements of literature will your essay examine? Write your four topic sentences, one for each of the body paragraphs you will write. Remember, one sentence each. A. TS 1: TS 2: TS 3: TS 4: Copy and paste your answers into the submission text box using the headers below: 1. Theme: 2. Provisional Thesis: 3. Topic sentence one: 4. Topic sentence two: 5. Topic sentence three: 6. Topic sentence four: