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2015 Steve Campsall

Essay Writing Guide

Create an Argument
The first thing to understand is that you can
never give an answer to an essay question
only state a view. The view required is clear
from the essay question:
How does John Steinbeck present Georges
feelings for Lennie in the opening section of
Of Mice and Men?
The reason why bold claims for what a text
says or means are wrong is because language, and literary language
especially, creates meaning through interpretation, and often through
implication or connotation. For this reason the view and the argument
for it need to be stated tentatively with some reserve or caution. Students
who write boldy that this shows / persuades / engages /
entertains / makes the reader, or especially, This proves will lose
you marks. Similarly many students write, this shows or worse this
proves when all that can reasonably be said about much language is,
this implies or this suggests.

The opening introduction to an essay needs to be a briefly stated

overview of the remainder of the essay. This should also include a
summary of what brought you to the view, that is, the writers main
methods, those you will analyse in detail in the body of the essay. It
can be useful also to include some relevant contextual information a
reference to the kind of situation that brought the writer to want to
write such a text. Finally, a flourish that creates an authoritative tone is
always useful the use of an embedded quotation.
In the first section of Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck presents
George Milton as one of the loneliest guys in the world scraping
a living in 1930s rural America, a good place to be only if you
were a boss. George is shown to hold a wide range of emotions
shown towards the crazy bastard Lennie, emotions that bring
the reader to enjoy the tense, realistic plot. Georges emotions
range from deep friendship and caring brotherly love to extreme
anger and frustration. Some of the ways that Steinbeck presents

this effectively are through the use of an authoritative but

biased third-person narrator, the creation of vivid imagery and
the use of realistic dialogue.

It goes without saying that you wont be able to come to any

worthwhile view unless you know the text well. Examiners cannot be
fooled.
Another Example Essay Opening
Here is the opening of an essay written in response to the question:
To what extent does John Steinbeck encourage the reader to feel
sympathy for the character of Curleys wife?
Look out for the clear statement of a view and how the student gives an
outline of what the main body of the essay will cover?
In Steinbecks Of Mice and Men, Curley's wife is presented as an
important character, one who helps Steinbeck show the plight of
women in male-dominated rural 1930s America. She is presented
as a young and newly-married, the only woman on the ranch. When
we first meet her, dialogue from the characters of Candy and
George bring us to feel no sympathy for her - we agree with George
that she is a tart and jail bait. This negative first impression is
later reinforced when she lashes out at Crooks in a racist
onslaught. However, as the ending of the novel develops, we are
brought to feel deep sympathy with this teenager, one who got
herself into a marriage with a man who aint a nice fella. As
Steinbeck wrote of her in a famous Letter to Miss Luce, Curleys
wife is afraid of everyone in the world.

Supporting Your View

Sadly, in an English essay, your views cant just be stated, as convincing
as they might be. They need to be supported throughout the essay by
using evidence from the text using, mostly, quotations. These, too, need
carefully explaining, with a comment on their effect, the method used
and the writers likely purposes. Here is an example of this:
How does Steinbeck present the theme of loneliness in Of Mice and
Men?
An example of how Steinbeck develops themes relating to
loneliness is when George is shown interacting with Lennie.
Even very early in the story, Steinbeck seems to want us to
understand the frustration and anger that is a part of

Georges relationship with Lennie. Lennie is always there, so

in that sense George is never lonely; and yet Lennie is never
actually there only physically. Lennies mental problems
prevent George ever being able to connect with him as he
might with a normal friend: God amighty, if I was alone I
could live so easy... . Steinbeck uses sharply realistic
dialogue which serves a useful dual purpose: it develops the
tension needed by the plot and it helps us understand how
important friendship was in this tough rural 1930s society.