Page 61 - Aldi Lukman Nurhakim_How to Write Critical Esays: A Guide for Students of Literature

60 How to write critical essays
vocabulary and syntax that they should become a single
paragraph labelled ‘simplicity’. Conversely you might now
recognize that the material intended for paragraph 5 is in fact
so thought provoking that it can usefully be expanded and
divided into two paragraphs: one now labelled ‘concrete detail,
lists of objects, descriptions of physical gestures and clothes’,
and another summarized in ‘recurrent fascination with
economic terms, literal calculations of cash in hand or in
prospect and metaphorical use of “profit” and “loss” etc.’.
Each paragraph must not only have a clearly identified topic.
It must also advance at least one major idea. Check that you
now understand—and will later, when writing your essay, be
able to explain—the precise relevance of each paragraph. Ask
not only ‘What is this paragraph to be about?’ but also ‘What
am I going to say here and what will that prove in answer to
the title’s specified question?’ Being clear about how each point
supports your overall argument will often show you where it
must be positioned for maximal effect.
As you begin to make provisional decisions about which
paragraphs belong together, check that in a pair which you
intend to make adjacent each does make a clearly distinct point.
Points may deserve separate paragraphs because they concern
different, if related, issues:
Paragraph (a): the portrayal of God in Paradise Lost
Paragraph (b): the portrayal of Satan in Paradise Lost.

These characters are active opponents in the work’s narrative
structure and direct contrasts in its dramatized ideology. They
are thus sufficiently distinct and yet so mutually defining as to
deserve separate but adjacent paragraphs.
Conflicting views of the same issue can deserve separate
paragraphs too:
Paragraph (a): the case against the text: it fails to make God
impressive and Satan suspect
Paragraph (b): the case for the text’s success in ensuring the
reader’s respect for God and distaste for Satan
Paragraph (c): the moments at which Paradise Lost arguably
succeeds because of, rather than in spite of, its failure to
justify God and discredit Satan.