What up guys, it’s Vlad from EssayPro, and man… writing is hard!
We know some of you are sitting at home, pulling at your hair, because you just can’t make
your writing the way you want it.
Well today, EssayPro is here to make it all a little bit easier for you as we will go
over how to write a thematic essay.
Don’t forget to subscribe for more essay writing tips and tutorials.
First off, what is a thematic essay?
Well, the word “thematic” should give you a clue – it’s an essay where you discuss
a piece of literature primarily through its themes.
Not only are you stating what themes are present, but you’re also explaining and analyzing
how the author managed to pull it off.
A reader should be able to read your essay and figure out the central themes in the literary
work and understand why they did it.
In writing this essay, you will use most, if not all of the skills you would use for
writing any other essay.
The difference here, however, will be in how you keep focusing on your chosen themes and
motifs.
There are two major parts to writing this sort of essay.
The first one is to figure out which piece of literature it is that you want to dissect.
In a classroom setting, this could potentially be given to you, as you’re most likely going
to be writing about something that you’ve talked about or read in class.
Easy!
Now, if you have complete and total free-range for your essay, it can be a little bit overwhelming
to choose what exactly you want to discuss.
But, have no fear!
There are a few key questions you can ask yourself in order to narrow down all the gazillion
possibilities.
Ask yourself: “What books have I read recently that have
really made me think?”
“What conversations have I had that really match something I’ve read?”
Another approach could be listing your favorite pieces of literature or listing all the themes
that are interesting to you and matching those to a literary source.
You’re doing all of this in an attempt to find your central question.
An example of this could be: How is the question of perception versus reality
explored in A Streetcar Named Desire?
What is Vonnegut saying about morality and mortality in Slaughterhouse-5?
Or, How is innocence, or the loss of innocence presented in The Catcher and the Rye?
You don’t want your question or topic to be too vague or broad, because then there
will be too much to talk about, and that will make it difficult to keep your essay tight
and focused.
So, a question such as: “How is human nature discussed in Animal Farm?” is probably not
a good choice.
On the other hand, don’t make your question or topic too specific, since that will limit
what you can talk about and make it really difficult to gather enough evidence.
An example of a question that is too-specific would be:
“Why does Salinger use the word “phony” so much in The Catcher in Rye?”
This question forces you to focus on that one word: phony
This word is limiting your discussion potential.
You can fix it by asking: “How is Salinger commenting on the concept
of phoniness and authenticity in The Catcher in the Rye?”.
The core concept is the same, but this question allows you to broaden your argument.
Onto the second part – writing: The first step is to get all your information together.
How do you do this?
Go through the piece of literature that you are focusing on, and summarize it to yourself.
Write down every place you can think of in the book where your chosen themes are relevant.
Keep in mind that there’s a difference between subject and theme.
For example, in The Catcher and the Rye, the subject is Holden Caulfield as he wanders
around reminiscing about various aspects of his life.
The themes, however, are about cynicism, fake personalities, and the loss of innocence we
all suffer from as we inevitably have to grow up.
Furthermore, the author, JD Salinger, creates those themes by showing you Holden Caulfield’s
thoughts, and helping you understand what he is feeling at this point of his life.
In your introduction, present your main topic in an interesting and captivating way.
Your first sentence should grab the reader, and pique their interest.
Use the next two sentences to give any necessary background information about the literature
that you may want the reader to know.
Lastly, your introduction should end with a thesis statement.
Your thesis should present the central theme of the novel and give your reader a taste
of what you will be discussing in your essay.
Before you write your body paragraphs, you should gather all the evidence you will need
from the text.
A crucial technique you need in order to write a successful thematic essay is to really evaluate
the choices of the author.
Analyze the word choices they make: What they are trying to make you feel
What is the significance of their main point?
Remember, each body paragraph should use a literary device as a claim.
You are giving your reader 3 body paragraphs, which means that you need 3 literary devices
to show how the author is creating and building their themes.
In Slaughterhouse-5, Vonnegut repeats the phrase “so it goes” whenever a death is
mentioned, and treats both horrific scenes of war and idyllic scenes of family life with
the same nonchalant tone.
Vonnegut is using a motif, and repetition, to emphasize moral ambiguity, and to tell
his readers that sometimes, life moves on.
Be very careful not to spend too much time focusing on the plot of the story.
When writing a thematic essay, you do not want to give a synopsis of the book.
Instead, pick a select few instances in the plot that support the themes you are discussing.
For example, instead of giving a chronological summary of all the stories Blanche tells in
A Streetcar Named Desire, you could select just one anecdote and then juxtapose it with
Stella’s point of view.
This way you can show your reader how Blanche often lives in her own fantasy, without burdening
them with too much information.
Some more crucial tips for your body paragraphs are:
Ensure that the first sentence in each body paragraph has a topic sentence.
A topic sentence in a thematic essay should introduce your claim and lead your reader
into your evidence.
Also, make sure to include the author’s name, and how the claim relates to your thesis.
Use direct quotations when you can.
Direct quotes really strengthen an argument, and they are the best form of evidence to
use in an essay like this, but be sure to link your evidence to your claim.
For example, extending the previous Slaughterhouse-5 argument mentioned before, a potential topic
sentence could say:
“Through repeated use of the motif: so it goes, Vonnegut discusses mortality as an inevitability
that should not be treated with too much reverence while also questioning our framework of morality.”
With this topic sentence, it is clear that the literary device I will be discussing is
the repeated use of a motif.
It is related to the theme of morality and mortality, and I can use numerous direct quotes
that include “so it goes” as evidence.
So, as you can see, a good topic sentence can really help you organize your body paragraph
as you write.
Now to finish things off, let’s talk about the conclusion.
There are three main things to remember when wrapping up your essay.
First, never present any new information or evidence at all.
Just don’t do it!
Instead, restate or paraphrase your thesis using transitions such as “In conclusion”
or “Finally.”
- This will give your ending a nice smooth and natural flow.
Second, briefly summarize your three central claims and how they relate to your thesis.
This doesn’t have to be long or elaborate, just give your readers a little reminder of
what you’ve been talking about.
Lastly, end your essay with some broad statement that gives a wider global relevance to your
writing.
This can be a call to action, or a statement that leaves readers chewing on your ideas.
For example, in an essay about the loss of innocence in The Catcher in the Rye, a concluding
statement could be:
By closing the essay with a sentence like this, you will open the reader’s mind to
the greater ideas at large, and leave them wondering how else they can dig into the topic!
Well, that’s it!
Now, hopefully you are equipped with all the know-how to go ahead and tackle that thematic
essay.
Here at EssayPro, our professional team has over twenty years of writing experience and
our goal is to give you all the best resources so that you can write better and more thoughtful
essays.
If you find this video helpful, please be sure to like and subscribe to our channel!
Leave us a comment if you have any questions or ideas for future videos, and we will get
back to you shortly!
Anyways guys, thanks for watching.
See you on the next video, i’m out, peace!