Levels of Essay Writing—From a paper by Peter Barry, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales

(The examples are from a discussion of Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte.)

Level 1—Description

Jane is mistreated by the Reed family, and although she is solely dependent on them to secure her livelihood, she speaks out against her harsh treatment…

· re-tells the story, usually sticking to the sequence of events as they appear in the plot

· demonstrates only that the novel (or a summary) has been read, but little has been understood about the significance of the work or passage

Level 2—Commentary

Jane is mistreated by the Reed family, and although she is solely dependent on them to secure her livelihood, she speaks out against her harsh treatment. This shows that Jane is becoming something which society disapproves of—a woman with a voice and opinions of her own.

· factual description is supplemented by comments on the significance of events

· leading to higher marks, but still limited

· if the essay continues like this, it will disintegrate into a long list of events, with none examined closely

Level 3—Discussion

When she protests against her treatment by the Reeds, Jane, of course, engages in a laudable act of rebellion and self-assertion. But the emphasis of the passage is not really upon this but upon the heroine’s realization of her own powers, which are tested in this episode for the first time. “What strength had I to dart retaliation at my antagonist?” she begins by asking herself. When she makes her verbal assault (“I gathered my energies and launched them in this blunt sentence.”) she is herself shocked at the force of her own words as Mrs. Reed is silenced and rebuffed: “Mrs. Reed looked frightened…she was lifting up her hands…and even twisting her face as if she would cry.”

· a sequence of events, linked together with a single focus

· concerns one aspect of the scene (Jane’s sense of the force of her own personality)

· does not merely repeat what Jane says (description), nor does it merely praise or blame her (commentary), but lays out the implications

· note that you cannot have discussion without commentary; commentary is the vital first step, followed by discussion

Level 4—Analysis

When she protests against her treatment by the Reeds, Jane, of course, engages in a laudable act of rebellion and self-assertion. But the emphasis of the passage is not really upon this but upon the heroine’s realization of her own powers, which are tested in this episode for the first time. “What strength had I to dart retaliation at my antagonist?” she begins by asking herself. When she makes her verbal assault (“I gathered my energies and launched them in this blunt sentence.”) she is herself shocked at the force of her own words as Mrs. Reed is silenced and rebuffed: “Mrs. Reed looked frightened…she was lifting up her hands…and even twisting her face as if she would cry.” The outburst here prefigures the moment near the end of the novel when she again has the undoubted satisfaction of releasing the full force of her tongue and telling another person exactly what she thinks of them: This is the climactic moment when she rejects St. John Rivers, telling him, “I scorn your ideas of love…I scorn the counterfeit sentiment you offer; yes St. John I scorn you when you offer it.” In this later exchange, the matters at issue are the same as in the scene with Mrs. Reed. On both occasions, she refuses to take part in a masquerade of love. “I am not deceitful,” she tells Mrs. Reed. “If I were I should say that I loved you…” On both occasions she resents the assumption by the other party that she can repress her feelings in an inhuman way. “You think I have no feelings and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness,” she says to Mrs. Reed. In that sense, taking up St. John Rivers’s offer of marriage in adult life would involve re-imprisoning herself in the red room of Mrs. Reed’s childhood neglect.

· a close study of one aspect of the text, combined with establishment of links to other aspects/scenes in the text

· passage is a “springboard” to a series of connections in the text

· not written as a chronological essay working through events, rather it establishes its own order based on thematic connections

· works more with ideas, not events

· assertions are made, and then qualified, amplified, and supported

· takes a close look at a section of the text, mining it for broader implications

· does not quote huge chunks, but works at the phrase level—appropriate and efficient use of quotations