The Journey In Experience In Ross Ones A Heifer Analysis

A Concise Guide for High School and University PrepPRIVATE 1. HEADER, TITLE AND INTRODUCTION -put your last name plus the page number in the top right corner of every page of the essay (this is the header) -on the line below the header, put (1) your full name, (2) your teachers name, (3) the course name and number and (4) the date in list form down the left side of the page, then put the title of the essay centred and underlined on the line below (remember to double-space everything) Anybody 1 Pat Anybody Ms. L. Wiles ENG 7Jc 16 March 2001 The Journey in Experience in Ross Ones a Heifer - the essay starts with a first few sentences which are a general, interesting lead-in to the topic As a writer of short stories, Sinclair
Ross has a reputation for accurately depicting a particular time and placeSaskatchewan during the years of the Great Depression. But the best of Ross stories are something more than mere slices of history or patches of local colour. While maintaining their strong sense of time and place, Ross stories present the reader with universal truths about human experience.
Ones a Heifer, for example, is more than just a story about the incredible poverty that Saskatchewan farming people had to endure throughout the 1930s. - last sentence in introductory paragraph is the THESIS statement, which is the main point/idea of the essay plus three illustrations. For example, in this essay, the thesis is The metaphorical passage from innocence to some degree of experience in the story is conveyed by means of an extraordinary journey that the boy takes across a bleak and frozen stretch of Saskatchewan prairie, through a kind of hell, from which he emerges having taken his first hesitant steps into the adult world. - this thesis implies THREE ways in which the story reflects the motif of the journey (which become THREE TOPICS for each of the THREE BODY PARAGRAPHS) (1) the extraordinary nature of the trip across a bleak and frozen stretch of Saskatchewan, (2) the boys experience of a kind of hell, and (3) the boys emergence from this hell having become wiser than before. The point is NOT to always have three points in your thesis and therefore three body paragraphs the point is that the topic of your body paragraphs, however many there are, must always relate to your thesis - remember that at the high school level, theses should always be one sentence, so sometimes it is necessary to construct more complex sentences using the colon () and the
semi-colon (). 2. 1ST BODY PARAGRAPH a) TOPIC SENTENCE (1st point in thesis) b) EXAMPLES/QUOTATIONS c) COMMENT/INSIGHT d) CLOSING SENTENCE (relates back to thesis) - the first sentence is a TOPIC sentence, which is an exact statement of what the paragraph is going to be about. For example, using the above thesis, the first topic sentence is There are several clues near the beginning of the story which suggest that this will be no ordinary journey. - the rest of the paragraph includes specific examples and quotations from the text which illustrate how the journey promises to be extraordinary The reader meets the boy just as he is preparing to set out. The boy in Ones a Heifer is unnamed, a fact that contributes to the storys universality, since he is, in a sense, Everyboy, a young version of Everyman. He is going to travel alone. For what appears to be the first time in his life, he expects to be staying away over night, and clearly he is doing a mans work. This last detail is made clear in the opening line of the story, for here the reader learns that the boys uncle was laid up with sciatica (Ross 97), and the boys aunt expects him to replace the uncle by going out and looking for the two lost heifers, even though the boy is only thirteen and has never been away like that all night before (Ross 97).
More than this, his journey takes him into unfamiliar territory and places him among strangers. - the last sentence is a CLOSING sentence that relates back/ties into the thesis Rather like a knight arming himself for battle, the boy arms himself against the cold using the sheepskin coat and two suits of underwear (Ross 98), and rides off on what promises to be an extraordinary journey with evident self-confident innocence. 3. 2ND BODY PARAGRAPH a) TOPIC/TRANSITION SENTENCE (2nd point in thesis) b) EXAMPLES/QUOTATIONS c) COMMENT/INSIGHT d) CLOSING SENTENCE (relates back to thesis) - again, the first sentence is a TOPIC sentence, an exact statement of what the paragraph is about. Going to point 2 in the thesis, the topic sentence reads This journey takes him, metaphorically, into a kind of hell, where he comes face to face with (and does battle with) the devil in the form of a half-mad farmer named Arthur Vickers. N.B. Remember that topic sentences for body paragraphs 2 and 3 must also be TRANSITION sentences, which connect the essay in a flowing, logical
order of progression. Using connective words and phrases such as similarly, moreover, furthermore, in addition to, another example of, and so forth, assist in constructing effective transition sentences. In this case, the transition is accomplished by continuing the idea of the journey which the last sentence in the previous paragraph mentions - again, supporting quotations must illustrate this particular point, and examples must also include some insightful commentary of your own Verbal evidence that Ross expects the reader to consider the boys journey as an adventure down into the underworld is found in several places in the story. He travels for a long day across the prairie and arrives, just at dark, at a poor, shiftless-looking place that has no light in the windows (Ross 100). To the boy, it seems as if he has come to the edge of the world, and this version of hell is described bleakly as some buildings that lay huddled at the foot of the sand hills (Ross 101). Vickers, the sole master of this dark domain, is not dressed like a normal farmer in a sheepskin, but has on a long black overcoat nearly to his feet (Ross 102). The hellish aspect of the situation is intensified when the reader remembers that the boy arrived at Vickers farm just as Darkness was beginning to close in (Ross 102), and that this darkness remains during all the hours that he is a guest in Vickers kingdom. Even when the boy escapes into the upper world at the first light of next morning, the reader is reminded of the kind of place he escapes from, for Vickers farm is described as a lonely little smudge against the whiteness (Ross 101). - a closing sentence for this paragraph, relating to the thesis, is Like many other characters in fiction who have made the mythic journey into the underworld, the boy in Ross story is required to traverse hell and enter into a series of contests with the devil, in this case not only the checkerboard, but also in his struggle to keep awake, and in the brief physical tussle he has with Vickers just before he makes his escape back into the light of the upper world (Ross 103). 4. 3RD BODY PARAGRAPH a) TOPIC/TRANSITION SENTENCE (3rd point in thesis) b) EXAMPLES/QUOTATIONS c) COMMENT/INSIGHT d) CLOSING SENTENCE (relates back to thesis) - first sentence is a TOPIC sentence, which is point 3 in the thesis. An example is But the point of Ones a Heifer is not merely that the central character makes a journey down to hell and lives to think about it the more significant point is that from his struggle with Vickers, the boy gains a new comprehension of the complexity of the world, although he does not become aware of this until after he learns that the calves that he is certain are in Vickers barn are not there at all. - to reinforce supporting quotations from the play, be sure to make relevant, references to illustrate points, and then offer insightful comments on their connection to the work What he is so assured about turns out not to be true, and whenjust at the end of the storyhe speculates about what might have been in the box-stall if it wasnt the calves in there (Ross 105), he realizes that something of considerable significance has taken place. He comes face to face not only with the possibilities of evil, but also with the ambiguitiesrather than with the certaintiesof adult experience. Life, he learns, is not necessarily something about which one can be boyishly absolute. - remember that each paragraph must end with a concluding sentence that relates back to the thesis, such as The first taste of lifes complexities does not, of course, transform him overnight from an innocent to an experienced human being, but nevertheless, he takes his first irrevocable step into a more complex adult world. 5. CONCLUSION - first sentence is the THESIS RE-STATEMENT, which is the main idea/point and three supporting arguments of the essay re-worded or at least re-ordered, such as By tracing the development of this unnamed boy, or Everyboy, and his initiation into adult life on a frozen stretch of Saskatchewan prairie by way of an encounter with evil, the story thus suggests the motif of the journey, the metaphorical passage from innocence to some degree of experience. - the format of the rest of the concluding paragraph is the opposite of the introductory paragraph instead of moving from the general to the specific, the conclusion moves from the specific to the general. Basically, it should be a general summary of the points covered in the essay and conclusions arrived at. Remember that there should be reflective analysis and insight (in every paragraph, not just this final one), and do not introduce any new ideas in the conclusion. In this case the end of the concluding paragraph moves toward the extremely general the great tradition in literature which includes many different versions of the journey The prairie presents a bleak hell-like setting for the unfolding of this development in which the protagonist confronts the devil and emerges from the underworld wiser and more experienced than he is when he starts. Sinclair Ross thereby presents universal truths of human experience which transcend the setting of the Depression-era rural Saskatchewan, and recapitulate what Joseph Campbell calls the mythological round, the journey of the hero into the underworld and his return, with an attendant transfiguration of his consciousness as the heros reward (Campbell 245-246). In this way, Ross story is a part of great tradition in literature, which includes many versions of this same kind of journey in all times in history and in all corners of world. 6. WORKS CITED - at the end of your essay, start a new page and put Works Cited centred at the top of the page on the line following the header - using the works-cited style below, list all of the sources you quote from or refer to in your essay in alphabetical order by author Anybody 5 Works Cited Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York World, 1949. Ross, Sinclair. Ones a Heifer. Great Canadian Short Stories. Ed. E. J. Sheppard. Toronto Fictional, 2001. 96-106. 7. STYLE FOR QUOTATIONS WITHIN YOUR ESSAY - when quoting from books in your essay, or even when referring to an idea from a book, after the quote but before the period at the end of the sentence put the authors last name and the page number in brackets Rather like a knight arming himself for battle, the boy arms himself against the cold using the sheepskin coat and two suits of underwear (Ross 98). If it is a poem you are referring to, use the line number (Eliot 6-10). If you quote more than one line of poetry, make sure to put / between the lines. If it is a Shakespearean play you are referring to, use act, scene and line numbers with periods between them (2.4.112-115 for act 2, scene 4, lines 112 to 115). Again, make sure you put / between lines of poetry in Shakespeares plays (but not lines of prose) - for quotes which are more than four lines, you must double indent the whole quote from the left side of the page, end the quote with appropriate punctuation, and then put last name and page number/line number in brackets. In this case of quotes which are more than four lines, no quotation marks or / between lines of poetry are necessary (The rest of the paragraph precedes this sentence.) The poem is rich in evocative detail It was winter. It got dark early. The waiting room was full of grown-up people, arctics and overcoats, lamps and magazines. (Bishop 6-10) 8. STYLE FOR WORKS CITED (AT THE END OF YOUR ESSAY) - the works cited are always in alphabetical order by author. Note that for each work, each line after the first is indented - when making your list of works cited, most often you will need to consider (1) authors name, (2) title, (3) city where the book was published, (4) publishers name, (5) year of publication, and possibly (6) editors or translators name and (7) page numbers. Titles of short works (poems, songs, short stories, articles) are put in quotes, titles of long works (books, CDs, plays, websites) are underlined or italicized. What order you put this information in depends on what type of source you have. Some common examples are listed below, but refer to HYPERLINK http//webster.commnet.edu/mla.htm http//webster.commnet.edu/mla.htm for a more complete list, as well as a lot more possible requirements for style in scholarly essays. A book by a single author Schmoe, Joe. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature But Forgot to Ask Before the Test. New York Faber, 1986. A book by two authors Schmoe, Joe, and Jane Doe. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature But Forgot to Ask Before the Retest. New York Routledge, 1988. A work in an anthology (book containing works by different authors with an editor) Schmoe, Joe. Literature Aint it Nice. Great Essays by Really Great Guys. Ed. Hugh Jas. New York Penguin, 1999. An article in a reference book (note the number of volumes if there is more than one) Ulrich, Lars. Motorhead. Encyclopaedia Metallica. Ed. James Hetfield. 4 vols. San Francisco Dell, 1998. An introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword (note pages numbers are last) Allen, Woody. Introduction. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature But Forgot to Ask Before the Test. By Joe Schmoe. New York Faber, 1986. iii-liv. An article in a newspaper or magazine (note page numbers are last) York, Geoffrey. Northern Resistance in Afghanistan Prefer Miracle Whip Over Mayonnaise. New York Times. 30 Dec. 2001 A1. An article in a scholarly journal (volume 2, issue 1 is written 2.1 and page numbers are after the year) Serious, I. M. The Politics of Politics in the University The Politicking Time Bomb. The Journal of Political Jargon. 2.1 (2000) 85-207. CD-ROM (note version number) Jeeze, Louise. Cheese and Macaroni. Dictionary of the Worlds Greatest Recipes. Vers. 1.1. CD- ROM. Toronto Quanta, 2001. Online database or website (if you cant find some of this information, give what is available) Webhead, Fred. Why Creed Kicks and Staind Bites in About 15,000 Words. Rawk Tawk Online. Ed. Ziggy Stardust. Vers. 9.9. U of California, Berkeley. 22 Nov. 2001. HYPERLINK http//www.rawktawk.org.edu.htm/alt.html.net.ucb.too.many.letters.and.dots.com http//www.rawktawk.org.edu.htm/alt.html.net.ucb.too.many.letters.and.dots.com. 9. SOME BASIC RULES FOR ESSAY WRITING A. Line spacing - double space the entire essay. Never put an extra space between paragraphs. Press Tab to indent at the start of paragraphs. Press Enter only when you finish a paragraph since Word will start a new line for you when you get to the end of the page. B. White space - leave 3 cm left, right, top and bottom margins around your page your teacher needs a lot of space for writing comments When typing, one normally leaves a single space between words, after commas and before and after dashes, but two spaces after a sentence (semi-colon, colon, period, exclamation mark, and question mark). Hyphens and apostrophes get no spaces before or after. Sometimes, the characters in Hamlet deal with complicated philosophical questions. As Hamlet himself says, To be or not to be, that is the question (III.i.56). Try to keep quotations relatively short. When quoting a text, there should be a careful interplay between the authors words and your personal ideas/insight. Please see Style for Quotations Within Your Essay above. If it is necessary to either change a word or add extra words when quoting from a text, use square brackets to indicate that these are your own words. Remember punctuation (periods, commas, exclamation points, question marks, etc.) usually goes INSIDE quotation marks, but most times, punctuation to end the sentence with the quote will come after your citation (authors last name, page number, line number, and so on). For example, Hamlet says, To be or not to be, that is the question (3.1.56). Sometimes when quoting a passage, for certain reasons you may wish to omit some words or sentences that are in the original text. This necessitates the use of either 3 dots (...) or the use of 4 dots (....), depending on whether only a few words are left out, or whether more than one sentence is omitted. When it is necessary to put a quotation within a quotation, use single quotes for the quotation within, like so When we least expect it, he quotes Hamlet as he marches into the room muttering To be or not to be, that is the question (Shakey 56). E. Apostrophes - Use apostrophes only to indicate missing letters or number, contractions, or possessive adjectives e.g., Ross story, the boys journey, 1930s, 90s, he is in his 20s. Remember that its does not take an apostrophe for the possessive (e.g., the doll is broken its head fell off), only for the contraction its warm outside. Similarly, everyones and ones do not need an apostrophe for the possessive, (as in everyones idea of fun is a party), only for the contraction everyones going). G. Numbers - Spell out numbers one to nine and write numerals for numbers over ten. You should generally use numerals for dates, times, money and measurements however 12 oclock, 5, 3 p.m., 3 cm, Saturday, November 24, 2001, 3 BC, etc. When the baby bear tastes his porridge, It is just right (Southey 45). page arabic2