Interpretive Claims about Literature

A claim

• offers an arguable interpretion

• summarizes the main idea of a passage

• gives a strong opinion about something

• all of the above

When writing a claim about literature, it is important to avoid:

• opinions

• value judgments

• statements of fact

• all of the above

Which of these is not an interpretive claim about the early scene in which Jeannette gets burned:

• Jeannette got burned badly while making hot dogs.

• Jeannette's parents are terrible people.

• Jeannette will bear the scars of this serious injury for the rest of her life.

• None of the above.

• All of the above.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Passage: "Good for you," Mom said when she saw me cooking. "You've got to get right back in the saddle. You can't live in fear of something as basic as fire" (15).

Claim: Though her parents have many faults, they instill in their children habits of resilience and fortitude.

• This is a successful claim.

• This is not a successful claim.

"There was nothing on the walls, not a single painint or drawing. A naked lightbulb hung from the ceiling, right next to three or four dangling spiral strips of flypaper so thick with flies that you couldn't see the sticky yellow surface underneath. Empty beer cans and whiskey bottles and a few half-eaten tins of Vienna sausages littered the floor" (82).

Which of the sentences below is a successful interpretive claim?

• Billy is as horrible as his living situation.

• We should feel a bit sorry for Billy despite his cruelty toward Jeannette.

• Billy's lives like an animal in a neglectful, loveless environment.

• None of the above.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

"The things I hard heard always made it [NYC] seem like a big, noisy place with a lot of pollution and mobs of people in suits elbowing one another on the sidewalks. But Lori began to see New York as a sort of Emerald City--this glowing, bustling place at the end of a long raod where she could become the person she was meant to be" (223).

Which of these is a successful interpretive claim.

• This passage reveals that Lori will likely move to New York City.

• Lori and Jeanette imagine New York City differently.

• Lori, an avid reader of fantasy who has even named her piggy bank "Oz," imagines New York as a vibrant alternative to her stagnant life in Welch.

• All of these.

• None of htese.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Passage: "I'm not upset because I'll miss you," Mom said. "I'm upset because you get to go to New York and I'm stuck here. It's not fair" (237).
Which of the following is the WEAKEST claim about this line.

• Rose Mary makes a childish and selfish assertion as a shield against the pain of losing her daughter.

• Rose Mary, faced with the premature break up of her family, can see only how this situation affects her.

• Rose Mary responds to her daughter's departure like a selfish child.

• Rose Mary makes a cruel statement that emphasizes her sense of fairness over her concern for her child.

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.6

CCSS.RL.8.3

Passage: "But I was darned if I was going to give some stranger my hard-earned case, and I didn't want to become known in the neighborhood as an easy target, so I always fought back."
What's the better/stronger intepretive claim about this passage?

• Rose Mary fights off bullies in her new neighborhood just like she once fought them in Battle Mountain and in Welch.

• Through her hard-scrabble upbringing, Rose Mary has developed the fortitude and resilience needed to navigate life in the Bronx.

Tags

CCSS.RI.2.1

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RL.1.1

CCSS.RL.2.1

CCSS.RL.3.1

Which is the stronger and more developable / defendible in an analytic paragraph?

• Rex and Rose Mary Walls move to New York to live closer to their children.

• In moving to New York, Rex and Rose Mary Walls fail to respect their childrens' reason for leaving them behind in Welch.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Which of the following are not features of a strong interpretive claim?

• Complicating a common reading of a scene.

• Identifying a meaning pattern in a text.

• Explaining a strong opinion you have about a character or situation.

• Showcasing a terrific piece of evidence or quotation.

Tags

CCSS.RI.1.1

CCSS.RI.2.1

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RL.2.1

CCSS.RL.3.1