Writer's Block!

[BreakfastSurreal]

ugh! it REALLY sucks when you have an english paper due. I consider myself to be a good writer, but I SUCK when it comes to analyzing literary elements and stuff like that. My teacher has given us 6 different instructional type papers on how to do our paper. It's so technical and I'm trying so hard to follow all the rules that its been putting up a huge block in my mind. I hate having to write with such strict guidelines. My paper isn't flowing very well at all and it's really pieced together, and I don't know what to do. I am analyzing the short story "A Good Man is Hard To Find" by Flannery O'Connor. Some of you may have read it. I have to come up wth a thesis that consists of an element of fiction (setting, plot, character, etc) and a theme. That was the easy part. I jsut cant get this stuff to flow together. Heres what i have so far. ugh. I'm embarrassed by this work of shit! Any suggestions?

Some say that wisdom comes with age. According to this story, however, that is not always the case. Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” begins as an innocent, humorous journey for a Georgian family, set in the early twentieth century. The story takes a sharp turn for the worst when the Grandmother decides that they must go off the highway, and onto a bumpy dirt road to look for a plantation house that she believes to be nearby. The Grandmother’s thoughts and actions in this story show that manipulation and lies can only ultimately lead to heartache. The Grandmother is the protagonist of this story, and the narrator in the story is limited omniscient, divulging only into the Grandmother’s thoughts.
The Grandmother is a southern belle at heart, and although times have changed, she retains many garish habits. One thing the reader might find interesting about this story is the amount of foreshadowing that O’Connor uses in this piece. Before the family leaves to go on their trip, the Grandmother takes extra care with her outward appearance: “Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady,” (O’Connor 375). This shows a lot about how much she values what others think of her, and.............

yuck

 

[andcuriouser]

Oh babe, write through it, edit it later?

Matt wrote a song about that story. I don't remember it off the top of my head, though.

 

[BreakfastSurreal]

Oh babe, write through it, edit it later?

Matt wrote a song about that story. I don't remember it off the top of my head, though.

ok wait i have more now! i forgot that we had done an exercise in integrating quotes earlier this week and I had done that story. She said I could use that for my essay. So <insert> this afterwards. I guess this will be my body paragraph

In the very first paragraph in the story there is evidence of the Grandmother trying to be manipulative in order to get her way: “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing every chance to change Bailey’s mind,” (374). Trying to argue and reason with her son proves futile to her, and she winds up going on the trip to Florida. As they are packing the car for the journey ahead, “…she was hiding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it. She didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush up against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself. Her son Bailey, didn’t like to arrive at a motel with a cat,” (374). This mistake is one that will eventually lead to the death of the grandmother and her entire family. Ironically, the cat is the only one who will survive this tragic journey. Another fateful twist in the story is when the grandmother decides that she wants to go and visit a big plantation house she used to go to when she was younger. To get her way, she decides to turn the children against their father, and make up a story that “There was a secret panel in the house,” (378). After the children heard this they couldn’t stop whining and begging about visiting the house. Finally, Bailey relents and turns down the road the grandmother thinks it’s on. Right before their car crash, the grandmother had a horrible thought, that she was in fact wrong and that the plantation house was actually in Tennessee. She then “…turned red in the face and her eyes dilated and her feet jumped up, upsetting her valise in the corner. The instant the valise moved, the newspaper top she had over the basket under it rose with a snarl and Pitty Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey’s shoulder,” (379).

 

[lemon]

Some say that wisdom comes with age. According to this story, however, that is not always the case. Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” begins as an innocent, humorous journey for a Georgian family, set in the early twentieth century. The story takes a sharp turn for the worst when the Grandmother decides that they must go off the highway, and onto a bumpy dirt road to look for a plantation house that she believes to be nearby. The Grandmother’s thoughts and actions in this story show that manipulation and lies can only ultimately lead to heartache. The Grandmother is the protagonist of this story, and the narrator in the story is limited omniscient, divulging only into the Grandmother’s thoughts.
The Grandmother is a southern belle at heart, and although times have changed, she retains many garish habits. One thing the reader might find interesting about this story is the amount of foreshadowing that O’Connor uses in this piece. Before the family leaves to go on their trip, the Grandmother takes extra care with her outward appearance: “Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady,” (O’Connor 375). This shows a lot about how much she values what others think of her, and.............

this is how i would open the analysis, and if you wish to use it, go ahead...

Some say that wisdom comes with age. According to Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find," such may not be the case. Set in the early twentieth century, the Gerogian family starts out on an innocent and humorous journey. The plot thickens when Grandmother decides to go offroad, in search of a possible plantation nearby. Her convictions and activities insinuate that deception and manipulation ultimately lead to heartache. ...

 

[BreakfastSurreal]

thank you lemon! I like the way you worded the beginning of that, I'm going to use some of it if you dont mind!

 

[lemon]

thank you lemon! I like the way you worded the beginning of that, I'm going to use some of it if you dont mind!

heh, i surely do not mind. use it all, if ya want. :cool

 

[Eridanus]

Eek, I used to hate writing papers, you have my sympathy.

For general writer's block I have found (as was already suggested) that working through it generally works. Just keep writing, even if you feels as though you are saying nothing worthwhile or it appears at first glance to be nothing but gibberish.

Good luck with your paper.

 

[lemon]

Eek, I used to hate writing papers, you have my sympathy.

For general writer's block I have found (as was already suggested) that working through it generally works. Just keep writing, even if you feels as though you are saying nothing worthwhile or it appears at first glance to be nothing but gibberish.

Good luck with your paper.

haha, thats how i wrote my first paper.

 

[Kat]

i dont envy you at all clare ...good luck hun with your paper

 

[IntruderLS1]

Good advice already up there. Muscle your way through it even though it's hard. After you have the length and thoughts you need, editing is much easier than creativity.

Just poor over it, and make it better one paragraph at a time. You'll be surprised how fast if comes together.

Good luck!!

 

[lemon]

Good advice already up there. Muscle your way through it even though it's hard. After you have the length and thoughts you need, editing is much easier than creativity.

Just slave over it, and make it better one paragraph at a time. You'll be surprised how fast if comes together.

Good luck!!

there we go. "poor" seemed like a poor choice of words. i replaced it with "slave"

 

[IntruderLS1]

Thanks for the save.

 

[lemon]

that will cost you 1 point.

99 isnt bad