Understanding Explication The word explication comes from the

Understanding Explication The word explication comes from the Latin ex (out or out from) and plicare (to fold)-literally, to fold out. When you explicate, you unfold the layers of meaning that lie beneath the surface of the literal text.

The Purpose of Explication The purpose of explication is to reveal theme of a given text.

THEME The theme of a literary work is the author’s most significant philosophical assertion about human nature or the human experience. The author may draw conclusions about subjects such as: Mortality Humanity’s Purpose Faith Human Emotions

Explication requires concentration on the language of the text, or "close reading!" Explication of a text is based on plausible inferences, or educated guesses.

Explication is not…. Explication is not a free-association game whereby you reveal your own private prejudices or impulses. Explication is not stating the plot; for example, summarizing that Macbeth kills King Duncan does not count as explication.

Applying Explication • In your essay’s body paragraphs, explicating selected literary passages proves that your topic-sentence claims are correct. • Your thesis is correct if your topic-sentence claims are correct. • And so, your thesis provides the dominant theme of the assigned reading.

Presenting Evidence in a Body Paragraph • Quotations are word for word transcriptions of the author’s words: Hawthorne describes the prison as “the black flower of civilized society…” (42). • Paraphrases are faithful summary of the author’s ideas as he or she intended. Note that you begin explicating immediately when you paraphrase, like so: Collectively, the Autumnal women, with their obese frames and loud speech, are an allegory for moral corruption (45 -46).

Three Cardinal Rules: 1. Limit plot summary to the bare minimum 2. Quote only what you plan to explicate 3. Use The MLA Handbook to properly document your evidence

So, to explicate in a body paragraph you should Explication 1 (E 1): Identify the literary elements in the passage, ie metaphor, symbol, allegory, etc. Explication 2 (E 2): Invoke the literary element’s definition to explain its purpose in the passage. Explication 3 a (E 3 a): Identify the emotional, logical, or ethical appeal developed by the literary element Explication 3 b (E 3 b): Explain how emotional, logical, or ethical appeal supports the paragraph’s topic sentence claim.

An Explication in 1, 2, 3 Explication 1 (E 1): metaphor Explication 2 (E 2): the metaphor compares the “black flower of civilization” to a prison. Explication 3 a+b: Hawthorne establishes an ethical appeal (E 3 a) in which he argues that society’s cruel judgment is unnatural (E 3 b). Note that E 3 b IS the topic-sentence claim of your paragraph

Strong Student Example Paragraph’s Topic-Sentence Claim: Hawthorne’s depicts the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s prison as the very representation of society’s cruel judgment, which he deems unnatural. Explication of Evidence in Paragraph: Hawthorne’s E 1: metaphor E 2: compares the “black flower of civilization” to a prison in order to establish his E 3 a: ethical argument that E 3 b: society’s cruel judgment is unnatural (42). Note that E 3 b IS the topic-sentence claim of your paragraph Note that E 3 b IS ALSO your body paragraph’s closing-sentence claim

Alert! Poor Student Examples Alert! What’s wrong with the student example below? In front of the prison door is “a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pig-weed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison” (Hawthorne 42). Hawthorne’s metaphor compares society’s prison to a flower, the black color of which serves as a motif that signifies evil throughout the novel. HINT: Has the writer broken any, ahem, CARDINAL RULES? And? What else is wrong?

Alert! Poor Student Examples Alert! What’s wrong with the student example below? Hawthorne explains Pearl as “a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion” (83). Pearl is an innocent child of nature, but she is also the outcome of her mother’s adultery. Hester, therefore, believes Pearl will be provoked to become evil herself. Did the writer identify the Literary Element? Did the writer explain its purpose in the literary passage? Did the writer identify the appeal or how it supports the topic sentence claim?