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Several times this school
year, you will be asked to write an "approach paper" concerning novels
read in class. This web page explains the
assignment and offers a sample approach on a novel everyone read as sophomores, To
Kill a Mockingbird. Please type your approach paper using one inch
margins, 11 or 12 pt. fonts, and refer to your in-class handout to see how the
final paper should be formatted on a regular sheet of paper. If your paper
has trouble fitting on one page, try a 10 pt. font size and widen the margins to
.8 inches.
Writing an Approach Paper:
An
approach paper consists of several sections:
I.
Proper heading with your name, date, class, and novel/play title
II.
Summary Paragraph:
A three or four sentence paragraph which explains the ENTIRE novel using
as much description and detail as you can manage. To
encourage your writing style, you may not use semi-colons or colons in this
paragraph, and every sentence must start out in a different way.
Prepositional phrases, gerund phrases, normal word order clauses,
participial phrases, and infinitive phrases are some of the different ways you
might choose to start these sentences. This helps make your writing more
interesting to read. This is often the most difficult section of the approach
paper to write.
It will take some time to condense the happenings of the novel/play into
these few sentences which all start in a different way.
III.
Character Descriptions: Choose three or four main characters in your
novel or play.
By each of these character’s name, list four or five words which
describe the character distinctly. This is a good time to think about vivid
vocabulary words we have studied and to check the dictionary and thesaurus for
ideas. If
you use a particular word to describe one character, you may not use that same
word to describe another character.
IV.
Discussion/Essay Questions:
Write three questions that a teacher might ask you about the novel
or play either in class or for an essay.
These questions should be thought-
provoking
and almost always take more than one line to type because they ask readers to
combine more than one idea.
Just writing these types of questions helps you to anticipate what
questions might be asked of you in class discussion or on a test and encourages
you to think more insightfully about the book or play.
V.
Key Passage:
Choose the most important passage in the novel/play (in your opinion).
Type it up word-for-word in the approach paper.
Make sure to identify the speakers.
VI.
Key Passage Explanation:
In a fully-developed paragraph, explain why your chosen passage
is important to understanding the novel/play. In your explanation, make sure you
integrate
quotes (actual words or phrases) from the key passage to strengthen
your explanation. Often,
this selected passage will offer clues to the novel/play’s themes. Explain
any mentioned or inferred themes connected to the key passage.
Return to the
top of the page 
Sample
Approach Paper
Jennifer
Crowley
October
22, 2001
English
10: Mrs. Adams
To
Kill a Mockingbird
Approach
Paper
To
Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee is the story of three years in the childhood of Scout and her
older brother Jem. As an adult
narrator, Scout recalls a series of loosely connected episodes which occur in
Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s, a time of racial segregation and extreme
prejudice. Weaving two strands of
narrative, Lee presents Boo Radley, the mysterious and reclusive neighbor whom
the children find both intriguing and frightening, with the trial of Tom
Robinson, a hardworking, innocent black man who is being defended by Scout and
Jem’s just and courageous father, Atticus Finch. The two strands of narrative tie together
in the end when Boo Radley emerges from his seclusion to save Scout and
Jem from a cowardly attack on them by Bob Ewell, who vowed vengeance on Atticus
after the trial.
Scout
Finch: strong-willed,
intelligent, tomboyish, loyal, quick-tempered
Jem
Finch: thoughtful,
steadfast, imaginative, maturing
Atticus
Finch: just,
courageous, insightful, determined
Boo
Radley: reclusive,
lonely, simple, protective
- To
Kill a Mockingbird
deals with the issue of racial equality, but Harper Lee also includes the
strong story line of Boo Radley. How
does the Tom Robinson trial combine with the Boo Radley story thread to make
a novel that speaks powerfully of more than just racial equality?
- What
do Jem and Scout finally understand about their father: what he stands for
in their own lives and in the lives of many of the townspeople?
- Discuss
the three different views of Tom Robinson’s trial and its outcome as seen
by Atticus, Jem and Scout, and the townspeople.
From
Chapter 3, page 30:
Atticus:
“First of all,” he said. “if
you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all
kinds of folks. You never really
understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you
climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Atticus’
entire philosophy of life seems to be summed up in his words to Scout.
To be an objective and just community member, one must be able to
“climb into” another person’s “skin” and “walk around in it” or be
able to see issues from another person’s perspective.
Atticus offers these words to Scout after her first day of formal
schooling in the first grade when she is upset that the teacher doesn’t
understand her efforts to explain Walter Cunningham’s financial situation.
These words from Atticus begin her first lessons in life.
Through the course of the novel, Atticus will show the children his
compassion for people different from their family, his attempts to “climb into
someone’s skin and walk around in it” when he defends an innocent black man,
Tom Robinson, against a town’s wishes, and when he instructs the children to
be respectful and compassionate toward Boo Radley, a neighborhood recluse. One
of the main themes of the novel is understanding and accepting people different
from oneself.
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