Prompt:
How does Pushkin elaborate on Karamzin’s “Poor Liza” in his own short story, “The Stationmaster”? In other words, it is widely accepted that Pushkin’s “The Stationmaster” is a rehashing of Karamzin’s “Poor Liza.” Choose one significant difference between the stories and, with textual evidence, make an argument about *what* the significance of this difference is — how it changes the worldview or the outcome or the characterization etc of the story.
Be VERY VERY specific. You are arguing within 2 pages, that means no fluff, no repetition, no general statements — you don’t have room for anything that does not advance your argument. If it is a general statement that is widely true about the story and does not relate specifically to your argument–then throw it out. No superfluous sentences, please 🙂
For example: A.S. Pushkin’s short story “The Stationmaster” (1831) ends in a death, just as Nikolai Karamzin’s “Poor Liza” (1799) does. However, where Karamzin laments the death of his passive heroine Liza, Pushkin has Dunya weep on the grave of her father, whom she abandoned in order to marry Minskii.
(Now what’s the upshot/significance of the difference? I would probably argue something like…)
Pushkin is giving the younger generation hope, his Dunya is not seduced and then abandoned like the unfortunate Liza. Instead, Dunya is happy in the city and has been elevated in class and wealth. Her children accompany her when she visits the countryside. Pushkin’s more optimistic ending allows for life to go on, whereas Karamzin’s ending subordinates the characters to the feeling elicited by the tragic story. This is because Karamzin, the narrator and the reader, are all implicated in the Sentimentalist tradition which values eliciting emotions rather than offering multiple perspectives on the world, or rewarding characters for agency, as Pushkin does in his story.
Something like that? Choose another difference, obviously, and back it up with short (a couple lines, not paragraphs) quotes taken from the text and explained in your essay. So that’s evidence. And then ANALYZE the evidence, so explain how it is serving your argument. This does not mean repeat–it means dig deeper and do some thinking.
1. claim sentence (usually toward start of body paragraph, the thesis is the “claim” for the entire essay, overarching argument
2. textual evidence supporting claim
3. unpack the textual evidence relating it directly to your claim and then this is crucial as a last step,
4. not in a repetitive way, try to relate your claims to your argument. this means organizing your paragraphs to build up your argument.
Those are the pure mechanics of essay writing, but of course it’s not ever as simple. You need to have your prompt (THIS) in front of you, the texts for both Liza and Dunya in front of you, and your brain turned on. I suggest a cup of tea or a snack, maybe some water. And give yourself lots of time–writing is hard. If you do it last-minute, you will end up getting a poor grade and doing it again as a revision, and it will eat up MORE of your time. So do it well the first time! (And always always always go back and edit your rough draft, rewrite the thesis after you’ve written the essay to MATCH the essay you wrote; our ideas always change as we articulate them and type them out, this is normal, but not changing the thesis to match will lower your grade–see the rubric!).
The best way to start is to literally sit down with the text and your notes and this prompt and to write. Start with bullet points if you want. Pull out the evidence quotes you want to use. Think about how they serve your argument. Outline this logically, make sure you’re being specific and clear. By the time you have a rough draft, you will know kinda-sorta what your argument is. THEN you should go back and revise the draft with your argument in mind. ONE MORE TIME: do not turn in rough drafts, ever, they are very messy and will not receive good grades. I want the argument to be clear! And writing a rough draft is a process of clarifying the argument to yourself (to myself, too). The argument emerges at the end of the rough draft, usually. So that means you must must must give yourself a little break and then return and articulate that argument clearly in a thesis statement at the end of your introduction, and then go through your essay and make sure it is consistently supporting this argument. That is, revise your thesis, which was just a “hypothesis” or a guess at a thesis, to match the essay as it looks now that you’ve written it.
Remember, keep it focused and concise. Have 12pt Times New Roman font, double spaced 1.5-2 pages. Have a thesis which addresses the prompt directly at the end of the first paragraph. Give ample textual evidence and tie it back to your argument in your body paragraphs. Conclusions can be short. Prompt:
How does Pushkin elaborate on Karamzin’s “Poor Liza” in his own short story, “The Stationmaster”? In other words, it is widely accepted that Pushkin’s “The Stationmaster” is a rehashing of Karamzin’s “Poor Liza.” Choose one significant difference between the stories and, with textual evidence, make an argument about *what* the significance of this difference is — how it changes the worldview or the outcome or the characterization etc of the story.
Be VERY VERY specific. You are arguing within 2 pages, that means no fluff, no repetition, no general statements — you don’t have room for anything that does not advance your argument. If it is a general statement that is widely true about the story and does not relate specifically to your argument–then throw it out. No superfluous sentences, please 🙂
For example: A.S. Pushkin’s short story “The Stationmaster” (1831) ends in a death, just as Nikolai Karamzin’s “Poor Liza” (1799) does. However, where Karamzin laments the death of his passive heroine Liza, Pushkin has Dunya weep on the grave of her father, whom she abandoned in order to marry Minskii.
(Now what’s the upshot/significance of the difference? I would probably argue something like…)
Pushkin is giving the younger generation hope, his Dunya is not seduced and then abandoned like the unfortunate Liza. Instead, Dunya is happy in the city and has been elevated in class and wealth. Her children accompany her when she visits the countryside. Pushkin’s more optimistic ending allows for life to go on, whereas Karamzin’s ending subordinates the characters to the feeling elicited by the tragic story. This is because Karamzin, the narrator and the reader, are all implicated in the Sentimentalist tradition which values eliciting emotions rather than offering multiple perspectives on the world, or rewarding characters for agency, as Pushkin does in his story.
Something like that? Choose another difference, obviously, and back it up with short (a couple lines, not paragraphs) quotes taken from the text and explained in your essay. So that’s evidence. And then ANALYZE the evidence, so explain how it is serving your argument. This does not mean repeat–it means dig deeper and do some thinking.
1. claim sentence (usually toward start of body paragraph, the thesis is the “claim” for the entire essay, overarching argument
2. textual evidence supporting claim
3. unpack the textual evidence relating it directly to your claim and then this is crucial as a last step,
4. not in a repetitive way, try to relate your claims to your argument. this means organizing your paragraphs to build up your argument.
Those are the pure mechanics of essay writing, but of course it’s not ever as simple. You need to have your prompt (THIS) in front of you, the texts for both Liza and Dunya in front of you, and your brain turned on. I suggest a cup of tea or a snack, maybe some water. And give yourself lots of time–writing is hard. If you do it last-minute, you will end up getting a poor grade and doing it again as a revision, and it will eat up MORE of your time. So do it well the first time! (And always always always go back and edit your rough draft, rewrite the thesis after you’ve written the essay to MATCH the essay you wrote; our ideas always change as we articulate them and type them out, this is normal, but not changing the thesis to match will lower your grade–see the rubric!).
The best way to start is to literally sit down with the text and your notes and this prompt and to write. Start with bullet points if you want. Pull out the evidence quotes you want to use. Think about how they serve your argument. Outline this logically, make sure you’re being specific and clear. By the time you have a rough draft, you will know kinda-sorta what your argument is. THEN you should go back and revise the draft with your argument in mind. ONE MORE TIME: do not turn in rough drafts, ever, they are very messy and will not receive good grades. I want the argument to be clear! And writing a rough draft is a process of clarifying the argument to yourself (to myself, too). The argument emerges at the end of the rough draft, usually. So that means you must must must give yourself a little break and then return and articulate that argument clearly in a thesis statement at the end of your introduction, and then go through your essay and make sure it is consistently supporting this argument. That is, revise your thesis, which was just a “hypothesis” or a guess at a thesis, to match the essay as it looks now that you’ve written it.
Remember, keep it focused and concise. Have 12pt Times New Roman font, double spaced 1.5-2 pages. Have a thesis which addresses the prompt directly at the end of the first paragraph. Give ample textual evidence and tie it back to your argument in your body paragraphs. Conclusions can be short.
The document titled Essay1, is my essay. Take the ideas and the textual evidence provided there, along with factual evidence from both texts that I have provided, and make this an A grade quality essay. I have also attached the rubric for further reference.