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Essay #1 Option 1
Magic in Literature
Due: ___________
LENGTH:
2.5 – 4 pages (approximately 625-1,000 words). Recall any essay that does not meet minimum length
requirements can earn no higher than a D.
BACKGROUND:
Realism is the literary genre where stories are presented truthfully, realistically, without sentimentality or
romance, but with broad optimism. Gabriel García Márquez’s work is usually classified as ‘magical realism,’ a
concept that scholars and critics find difficult to define. Nonetheless, magical realism is distinct from fantasy or
science fiction as rather than creating new, fantastic worlds that do not exist, artists whose work is labeled
magical realism create realistic, believable, and familiar worlds that suggest the magical that is present in our
world. This is not to say that someone is performing magic tricks like pulling a rabbit out of a hat but that
suddenly the possibility for something more, something new, something interesting and exciting is possible.
The story, “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: A Tale for Children” is a prime example of magical
realism. Part of the requirement of children’s tales is that they provide a moral, which in this case can be that
we should expect the magical and be willing to change our lives once we encounter it, embracing the magic
and the possibilities it can present for us. In other words, our identities can change because of our imagination.
ASSIGNMENT OR PURPOSE:
Explain how García Márquez uses magic in “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: A Tale for Children”
to encourage the villagers to change their lives and how their identity has changed once the drowned man
arrives in the village.
(WRITING TIP: Notice that with a slight modification, the previous sentence would make a fine, debatable
thesis statement. This is true for most of my assignments ~ that the PURPOSE sentence is often able to be
turned into a suitable thesis by eliminating the words “explain how” and doing some very minor tweaking ~
and can help prevent writer’s block. For example, this would make a fine, debatable thesis statement that
could be defended by writing a well-supported argument: Gabriel García Márquez uses magic in “The
Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: A Tale for Children” to encourage the villagers to change their lives,
and thus their identity, once the drowned man arrives in the village.)
For example, the very first line sets up the possibility that something magical has or can occur “The first
children . . . let themselves think it was an empty ship” (García Márquez 297). The phrase “let themselves
think” denotes that immediately, the children’s imagination was engaged, allowing them to create new
possibilities. Notice also that there is significant sexual tension in the story, especially when the women
become excited after cleaning up the man, and suddenly they begin to have fantasies about him, which also
requires their imagination to become engaged.
K. Joyner
Eng. 1220
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(WRITING TIP: Many folks immediately think of the details about painting buildings, enlarging entrances and
expanding rooftops as well as planting flowers as ways that the drowned man influenced the village, but ask
yourself this: what about those actions is magical ~ what about those actions demonstrates use of the
imagination that changes identity? In other words, if we could merely paint our house a different color and
add flowers around the porch, in essence improve our curb appeal, would our identities change? How so? If
you decide to use these examples as magic in the essay, you need to explain why our identities would change
by such an action ~ explain why that would be magical.)
AUDIENCE:
College-educated adults familiar with the fiction and the criticism written on the fiction.
POINT OF VIEW:
Academic writing is formal, so the third-person, objective point of view is required. Avoid using first person (“I,
we, us, our, my”) as you will be using MLA style documentation to cite any ideas that are not your own. Also
avoid using second person (you), which is never appropriate for academic writing.
TONE:
Appropriate to your purpose and audience, thus formal and objective. Avoid contractions (can’t, don’t,
doesn’t, haven’t, it’s, etc.), informal word choices, and slang.
GRAMMAR/STYLE/MECHANICS:
The essay must include a vigorous introductory paragraph with an easily identifiable thesis statement, well
developed and well organized body paragraphs that have one controlling idea put forth in a topic sentence
with evidence from the reading supporting the sub-topics of each paragraph, and a strong, logical, concluding
paragraph, one that does not end the essay abruptly.
Sentences should be well developed, interesting, and free of run-ons, comma splices, fragments, pronoun, and
subject verb agreement errors.
RESEARCH/SUPPORT/CITATION:
In addition to your textbook, you must use ONE source (a critical essay) other than your textbook to support
your claims, so both the story and the critical essay will be cited parenthetically and on the works cited page.
Remember that we have all read the short stories. Therefore, DO NOT spend time summarizing the stories. We
already have the original version.
It is VERY IMPORTANT to realize that when conducting research for this class, you will want to FOCUS on
sources that are CRITICAL ESSAYS; thus you will want to select the tab LITERARY CRITICISMS, ARTICLES, &
WORK OVERVIEWS in the Literature Resources from Gale. Do NOT, for example, use definitions of common,
everyday words like ‘magic’ or ‘realism’ as a source or in lieu of research.
It is equally important to realize that in most cases, "OVERVIEWS" will NOT be very useful. Often overviews are
little more than plot summary or paraphrase, which means very little useful analysis will be present in the
overview articles. This is not always true, though, but unfortunately, it is most of the time, so you will need to
continue to search for articles that are actual criticism in order to find the most useful articles for your
research. Keep this tip in mind for all of your research in this class as well as the fact that this is an English class
based on readings from literature, so the General Reference types of databases are inappropriate for research
conducted for essays in this class though they are excellent for research in classes like business, automotive,
engineering, education, nursing, etc.
K. Joyner
Eng. 1220
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As you consider your response, however, use evidence from the story (very brief quotes, short summaries) to
support your argument, but be very careful to ensure that you use appropriate evidence to support your
points or to refute them. Do NOT reiterate the plot. As you proofread your draft, ask yourself if you are
retelling the story (plot) or if you are using support to reinforce or prove a point. Retelling the plot rather than
analyzing the content is a common error that often occurs in high school writing. Don’t let this error follow you
here: too much “then the women washed him, then they secretly compared him to their own men” is merely a
reiteration of the plotline and not analysis.
Be sure that any quotes or summaries are very brief. This is a short paper, so you should not need to rely on
long quotes more than one sentence long and certainly not on block quotes of four or five lines.
Access to online databases in the MCC Library’s collection can be located here:
http://www.macomb.edu/Current+Students/Library/
The Literature Resources from Gale database is the best source to find criticism on literature. Sources must be
correctly cited both parenthetically and on the works cited page. I will be looking for evidence that you can
smoothly integrate source material with your own conclusions without plagiarizing.
Here is a good rule of thumb for how much source material to include in your essay: no more than “two or
three citations per page of text should be” used (Schwartz 37). This number would also include the amount of
paraphrasing or summarizing. In other words, use no more than two or three quotes or brief summaries per
page.
Your source material MUST come from MCC’s college library, either print or online. You may NOT use
source material from the web or from general Internet searches. Do NOT use definitions as sources as
you would in science or math classes.
Wikipedia is NEVER acceptable as a source.
GRADING CRITERIA:
All essays will be graded based on the standards set up by the English Department at MCC. A brief explanation
of these standards can be found in the rubric document entitled GuidelinesGradingPapers.
GUIDELINES FOR SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS ESSAY FOLLOW:
 Re-read each story.
 Think about the message the author/stories are trying to convey.
 Make an outline of your essay.
 Write your first, rough draft, do not stop to correct grammar or spelling problems; get the gist of your
essay on paper.
 Leave the work for an hour or two. Think about what you have written.
 Re-read your chosen pieces-take additional notes on things you may have missed.
 Spend more time thinking about your interpretation of the piece, and what you, as the creative and
intelligent writer that you are, want to say in your paper.
 Revise your draft. Check for grammar errors. Check your spelling. Use a dictionary to make sure that you
are using the correct word, not just the correctly spelled word.
 Revise as needed.
 Include a Works Cited page and an outline.
K. Joyner
Eng. 1220
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TRANSITIONAL WORDS
These words and phrases act as signposts for readers, telling which direction the writing is about to move in.
They usually come at the beginning of a sentence, where they show how a new thought relates to what has
come before, but they can also appear in the middle of a sentence. Remember to use these where appropriate
in all your essays.
Some common transitional expressions are listed below, according to the type of relationship they indicate.
contrast and qualification—adversely, on the contrary, however, in contrast, to contradict, to depart, to
deviate, to differentiate, to disagree, dissimilarly, distinctively, to distinguish, to diverge, divergently,
lack resemblance, nevertheless, on the other hand, to oppose, in opposition, oppositely, poles apart, to
separate, to set off, still, vice versa, yet
comparison—analogously, comparably, comparatively, consonantly, correspondingly, equally,
equivalently, evenly, identically, in common, likewise, similarly, synonymous, synonymously,
uniformly
continuity—besides, furthermore, in addition, also, secondly, to continue, next, similarly, likewise,
moreover, indeed, again, in other words
cause/effect--thus, therefore, as a result, consequently, hence, for this reason, since, because, so
exemplification--for instance, for example, in fact, more specifically, to illustrate, in particular,
specifically
summation--finally, in conclusion, to sum up, in brief, lastly, as we have seen, in short, in conclusion,
all in all
addition—also, and, too, in addition, furthermore, first, further
time—now, then, before, after, earlier, later, soon, finally, first, next
space—near, next to, away from, beside, inside, on the left, on the right, along-side, behind
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS AND THEIR MEANINGS (meanings are italicized, conjunctions follow)
time—after, before, once, since, until, when, whenever, while
reason or cause— as, because, since
purpose or result— in order that, so that, that
condition—if even, if, provided that, unless
contrast—although, even though, though, whereas, while
choice—than, whether
place or location— where, wherever
K. Joyner
Eng. 1220