Where, oh, where to begin? This whole paper grew out of an idea that I conjured up while speaking with Professor Burton during our midterm interviews. I was just thinking about what I could possibly write about and the idea popped into my head to start looking at the Modernists. I had always liked them, but I had never analyzed a specific work in detail apart from a few poems and movements. So, from there grew a desire to analyze a novel from, or around, the Modernist era.
I started asking a few questions about the Modernists in a post dedicated to the greatest Modernist writers. I wanted to know more about Hemingway, Eliot and Fitzgerald. I was encouraged by the feedback that I received from Professor Burton and the possibilities for my future paper. After reading various works by the aforementioned authors and studying the Modernist movement a little more in depth, I settled on five potential thesis statements.
From these 5 thesis statements emerged two clear winners. My evaluation claim about the aims of Modernism and my Cause and Effect claim about "The Catcher in the Rye" provided me with a narrow focus for what I wanted to write. I shared both thesis statements on Facebook and discussed them with various family members. After some feedback from them and, more importantly, from classmates, peers and Professor Burton, I decided to stick with my Cause and Effect claim regarding JD Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye." Even though the novel was published after the World Wars, I still felt like the themes and tone of the novel, along with the experiences of the author, resonated with many Modernist themes. I finally had my thesis statement.
After thinking about my winning thesis statement and contemplating how I was going to structure my argument, I decided to look in the book and pick out some potential quotes that could guide my paper and provide substantial evidence for my thesis. I just picked a couple that I thought were really good and I ended up using them in my paper. This exercise gave me almost one third of my potential paper and got me off to a good start. The other exercise that proved helpful was writing about why I cared about my topic. I could work through my ideas and see if I actually cared about what I was doing or if I was just writing for the sake of it.
The most important factor that contributed to my paper were the comments that I got in class from Kimara, Jamie, Briggs, Richard and Hilary. They all provided me with ideas and observations regarding my thesis and how I could go about writing my paper. The feedback was brilliant and it kept me motivated as I struggled with arguing my thesis.
The next part proved to be the hardest as I wrote the roughest Rough Draft in the history of the world. (Hyperbole ;) At any rate, it was good to get some of my clearer arguments onto paper so that I could see how they looked on a page next to my thesis. I think the feedback that I got from Briggs proved to be most helpful as I decided to tweak my thesis in the end and write a more condensed version of my paper. What could have been a long mess turned out prettier than I originally imagined.
After a quick courtship with the brazen serpents, I now had the necessary tools, evidence and ideas to support my claims and write a decent paper. I took a few days off to clear my head and then focused on writing the best paper I could. After all of the preparation and thought, writing the Final Draft proved to be smooth sailing. I rearranged some ideas so that the organization of the paper flowed better and I incorporated some new ideas. After all was said and done, the paper came out (before the deadline) and I was proud with the end result. I was able to connect with the paper by showing it careful thought and substantial effort and I had plenty of time to analyze the novel in order to support my claim. It was a good experience and I'll probably use some of the steps that I learned for future papers. . .but, as Holden Caulfield would say, "I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don't. I think I am, but how do I know?"
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