Collins: Comic Relief or Literature's Worst Nightmare?

Collins is a laughable character based on the underline message that the majority of Austens characters are products of their society. Austen uses satire to make them seem less diabolical and more ignorant. The reader is more likely to laugh along with and forgive the absurdities of a character like Collins because he is so outrageous and self-involved. The reader is more likely to pity Mr. Collins than think he's a nightmare because he is so ignorant.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Well, there are some minor errors in my essay that I could have easily avoided. I should have put my header in the upper left corner (I'll never make that mistake again!). I also put the name of the chapter instead of the page number for one of my quotes.
My main strength in this particular essay was being able to make a claim and backing it up with evidence. I referred back to the main point of my essay a few times so that the reader could easily understand what I was trying to prove.
Also, having a good title made my essay more interesting for the reader to read.
I pretty much need help in structuring my sentences. I should work on my verb tenses because I tend to mess that up a lot when I'm writing. I think this essay is one of my better ones; however, I'm afraid the frequent mistakes I made during 9th, 10th, & 11th grade might come back to haunt me during  my 4th year in an English class at Buckley.

It's All About the Thesis

The most important aspect of a strong essay is a strong thesis and evidence that proves your thesis. Your thesis is the backbone to any essay you write; therefore, if the thesis is weak, the essay is probably weak too. With any thesis you need examples to explain why your claim is true. Too much textual evidence might overwhelm the reader or the reader could potentially miss the point to your essay. On the other hand, using very little examples can unravel your thesis and can let the reader think the reason why there's a lack of evidence is because your claim is weak and must be false. D2's thesis, for example, is not only strong but complex when discussing Mr. Hurst as being the "epitome of the triviality of Austen's society's class-conscious aristocracy" despite his status as a minor character.

X Marks the Spot? Eh, Not So Much.

I had the pleasure of reading X for Xander, B2, D2. Xander's title was the main reason why I stopped flipping through the pages of my Sample Essay booklet and decided to read it. His use of descriptive adjective helped paint a vivid picture of the setting Greene uses in his novel thus adding to Xander's claim that the environment plays a role in introducing characters. The big problem I had with his introductory paragraph has to be the use of a quote. He should save his examples for the body paragraphs instead of throwing it into his intro. *cough*rookie mistake*cough* Regarding the essay as a whole I thought it was lacking in some areas; however his central idea was strong. Another observation I had was that Mr. Xander didn't have a conclusion per say he just mentioned another idea that related to his title but then he didn't insert any textual evidence so the essay ended on a weird note for me. After finishing that...interesting piece of work I moved onto a better essay. Author B2's title was also eye catching. I liked the use of alliteration for Characters and Collaboration. In her actual essay she had thorough analysis and a great thesis. I enjoyed reading it and B2's essay was easy to understand and follow. The last essay I read was D2 and boy was I surprised. She chose to focus on a minor character, Mr. Hurst, instead of any of the major characters. Right off the bat, I wanted to learn more about Mr. Hurst through the writer's eyes. In my opinion, the thesis was a tad bit on the wordy side; however, it showed complexity which is nice to see. The remainder of her essay was insightful and wonderfully written. I applaud D2 for taking a risk and writing about a minor character. Therefore, I have decided that D2 wins the honor of having the best essay with Tallulah's coming in a close second.

This Ukulele Needs Some Fine Tuning; It's Still Pitchy

The three essays I chose to read this time were T for Tallulah, U for Ukulele, and Y for Yolanda. I thought Tallulah had an interesting title that quickly grasped my attention. I felt that her first sentence would have been better suited as a thesis statement rather than an introductory sentence. It even showed complexity. Other than that, the rest of the intro paragraph was great. The sentences flowed together and didn't have an excess of fluff which can often bore the reader. All of her points were concise and easy to follow. U for Ukulele's intro paragraph was lacking for me. He could have talked a little bit more about the two books before slamming down a claim after three sentences that basically stated the same thing.  Plus the thesis was vague in regards to the "what ends they use their characters" part.  Plus he didn't expand on his idea that different literary devices were used to help introduce characters. The last essay I read, Yolanda's, had an interesting title that hooked me at "Judgement Day and For Love or Money" but then fell short for me after the semi colon. In my opinion titles should be a little shorter and shouldn't need an explanation. I liked her approach of posing a question to the reader. I felt it quite engaging because her essay seemed more conversational. The rest of the essay was great. My only other complaint was that her quotes were a tad bit on the long side, but that's because I'm nitpicky. My favorite essay of all the ones I've read has to be Tallulah's because I could understand what she was trying to communicate to her audience and how she backed up her claim was strong.

Read and Review Three Essays

The three sample essays I chose to read were Conflicting First Impressions; Austen's Misleading Character Introductions and How They Affect the Reader, Character Introduction Through Bias or Subtlety and Freethinking: In Austen and Greene, and Finding Purpose in Character Introduction with Austen and Greene. The first one I read made a great and understandable claim that gossip and misleading first impressions are how Austen introduces her characters. I feel like the writer backed up his thesis with strong quotes and thorough analysis.  In the second essay the title appeared too wordy; however, in the essay itself was fairly good. The essay showed complexity between authors Austen and Greene. The reader can easily differentiate between the two authors' styles of writing. In the last essay, the thesis was basic and lacked complexity. The essay was great overall despite the simple title. The writer's points were pretty good especially when she mentions how Austen uses gossip almost as an independent, unseen character. My favorite essay so far has to be the first one because this essay was easy to read and yet made you think after reading it.

Mrs. Bennet: Miss Understood

Although Mrs. Bennet's actions appear drastic, her heart is in the right place as she strives for her daughters to live financially secured lives.