- Write an essay on “The Little Virtues,” Natalia Ginzburg contends that we need to teach our children.
In her essay “The Little Virtues,” Natalia Ginzburg contends that we need to teach our children “that good is not rewarded and that evil goes unpunished; yet they must love good and hate evil . . .” (p. 1421). In making such a statement, Ginzburg is, I think, trying to defamiliarize for us our traditional views about good and evil. She wants us still to strive to be good and to avoid being evil, but our motivation cannot be that we seek to earn a reward or to escape from punishment, respectively. For your next essay, I would like you to apply this insight from Ginzburg to the comedy The Miser and answer the following question in your essay:
The more of the following criteria that the final draft of your essay meets, the higher the grade for your final draft will be [The criteria in bold are more important, and your meeting or failing to meet them will affect your grade the most.]:
1. The introduction starts with an effective attention-getter, something that would appeal to and/or generate interest in someone not necessarily interested in the particular comedy being analyzed.
2. The introduction builds logically from the attention-getter to the thesis statement.
3. It is clear what the thesis of the essay is.
4. The thesis of the essay contains the right kind of provocative tension.
5. The thesis offers significant and interesting insights about the topic or issues addressed.
6. The body of your essay contains sufficient and relevant detailed evidence to support your thesis.
7. The body of your essay contains logically valid and convincing reasons.
8. The body of your essay interprets actions and language in the play in a convincing and plausible way.
9. The conclusion offers explanations and concessions as needed.
10.The conclusion is developed in sufficient detail and brings the essay to a meaningful close.
11.The final draft is at least 750 words long.
12.The final draft is edited and proofread to eliminate nearly all errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, syntax, diction, and style.
13.The final draft contains enough effective transitions.
14.The final draft is organized into sufficient coherent paragraphs, paragraphs with clear topic sentences and with content that is relevant to the topic sentence.
