English 1220 Writing Workshop

Dropped Quotations (DQ)

Dropped quotations are those quotations that appear in the middle of your paper without being introduced. In order to transition into your quotation smoothly, avoid dropped quotations in your writing. If you start your sentence without explaining who's speaking, then the effect on the reader can be jarring. You want to eliminate that kind of confusion as much as possible.

References:

LWP: pgs. 26-27, pgs. 82-85

Handbook Ch. 16-19

Student Example of DQ:

Manley Pointer would not leave Hulga alone about seeing her leg and showing him how to take it off and put it back on. “Show me where your wooden leg joins on.” (196)

Why is this confusing to readers?

How do we fix this?

Fix #1: Using a complete sentence to introduce quotation

Manley Pointer is very intrigued by Hulga’s wooden leg: “Show me where your wooden leg joins on” (196.)

The colon links the preceding sentence with the quotation. Because both parts of this example are complete sentences, the colon (not the comma) is the appropriate mark to link them.

Fix #2: Using an explanatory sentence to introduce the quotation

Manley Pointer shows that he is very intrigued by Hulga’s wooden leg when he asks her, “Show me where your wooden leg joins on” (196.)

This example combines an explanatory sentence with the quotation.

Fix #3: Using a tag to introduce the quotation

Manley Pointer is very intrigued by Hulga’s wooden leg. He asks, “Show me where your wooden leg joins on” (196.)

Another example of a DQ:

The narrator states, “We are all damned,” she said, “but some of us have taken off our blindfolds and see that there’s nothing to see. It’s a kind of salvation.” (196). Pointer is a prime example of seeing through Hulga’s mental wall and working around her to manipulate her Manipulation has always been a primal instinct.

Fix #4: Integrate Quote into your sentence by using the word “that”

Hulga tells her mother, “We are all damned” (196). She adds that “some of us have taken off our blindfolds and see that there’s nothing to see” (196).

Hulga tells her mother that “we are all damned” (196). She continues, “but some of us have taken off our blindfolds and see that there’s nothing to see. It’s a kind of salvation” (196).

Fix #5: Weave a word or phrase from the quotation into you own sentence

Hulga’s nihilist outlook leads her to believe that everyone is “dammed” ; she contends that some individuals see the world more clearly because they have removed their “blindfolds” (196).

Student Examples of quoted phrases

Hulga’s birth name of Joy did little to represent the “bloated, rude, and squint-eyed” woman that she had grown to be (O’Conner 188).

Manly is not even an adopted name of his, he used “a different name at every house” (198).

When integrating quotations, you must be consistent with tense. You still must create a sentence that correctly punctuated.

Hulga’s birth name of Joy does little to represent the “bloated, rude, and squint-eyed” woman that she had become (O’Connor 188).

Manley is not even his actual name; he explains to Hulga that he uses “a different name at every house” (198).

Here are some signal words you can use to eliminate dropped quotations:

Acknowledges / Comments / Describes / Insists / Responds
Adds / Compares / Disputes / Maintains / Reveals
Admits / Concludes / Emphasizes / Notes / Says
Agrees / Concedes / Endorses / Observes / Shows
Argues / Confirms / Finds / Points out / Suggests
Asserts / Considers / Endorses / Predicts / Thinks
Believes / Contends / Grants / Refutes / Warns
Claims / Declares / Illustrates / Reports / Writes
Denies / Implies

Quotations do not speak for themselves; we use them in order to develop an argument. Therefore, in addition to properly introducing, contextualizing, and punctuating quotations, you must always show how the quotation is connected to your argument.

So, in this example, we are left wondering how the quote about Mrs. Freeman is connected to the writer’s claim about nihilism. We also wonder why the quotation about the name change is present.

Hulga has a nihilist view towards life that she believes in nothing and no reason to be polite or to care for anyone. From that comes in Hulga’s negative remarks and actions. Like when Hulga gives “Mrs. Freeman would take on strange resentments (from Hulga)” (187) and how Hulga changed her name from Joy to Hulga as “Mrs Hopewell was certain that she (Hulga) had thought and thought until she hit upon the ugliest name in any language” (187) as a way to make her mother feel bad. Then the walk with the bible salesman, Mainly Pointer, showed Hulga the ugliness in Nihilism.

The quotations that you choose to insert must match your purpose.

So, in keeping with the above topic of how Hulga’s nihilism may contribute to the way she interacts with others around her, something like this would be more fitting:

Hulga has a nihilistic outlook on life. She claims that she believes in nothing, and thus her beliefs affect the way she interacts with the people around her. Her actions seem to be motivated by the idea that if she has nothing to gain in life, then she also has nothing to lose. Hulga alienates herself from her mother and from Mrs. Freeman; she goes out of her way to be rude and inconsiderate. For example, the narrator explains that Hulga continuously “[stumps]” around the kitchen despite her ability to “walk without making the awful noise” (188).

You should not insert quotations merely for the purpose of providing readers with plot details or description.

Hulga goes about his attitude through the entire narrative; until a young gentlemen by the name of Manly Pointer, comes by with nothing but good intentions and selling bibles to spread the word of God. “He was now nineteen years old and he had been selling Bibles for four months. In that time he sold seventy-seven Bibles and had the promise of two more sales. He wanted to become a missionary because he thought that it was the way you could do most for people” (191) invited in to the house, he tells his story form childhood til recent age.

Creating Quotation Sandwiches every time

Bread: Introduction

Meat: Quote

Bread: Analysis of quote/link to your argument

You also need to make sure that the claims we make about the text are supported with evidence from the text.

Many people in the story shy away from the fact that this troubled girl did not have a normal childhood compared to most children. The incident with her leg has caused Hulga to feel bitter about the world, as well as feeling like God was not watching over her when a hunter shot off her leg. Therefore, explaining why she is an Atheist and refuses to allow her mother to keep a Bible anywhere in their house.

Issues of Formality (LWP pgs. 63-64)

Freeman symbolizes how she speaks freely and really does not have a seal for her mouth.
Lastly, we have our final character of the story, and who can be viewed solely as the antagonist, Pointer Manley.
Yes, O’Conner did have names that symbolized who the character was and what the character was all about; however, he would through in a curve ball.
Her name fits her personality like a glove.

Paragraphs/Thesis Statements/Topic Sentences

First sentence of essay

In Flannery O’Conner’s short story “Good Country People” , a young man who goes house to house soliciting with bibles is a phony and is actually against what he is selling.

Introductory paragraph

In “Good Country People” (1955) by Flannery O’Connor, the names given to the lead characters at first seem just like ordinary names. It is not until you get a few pages into the story, when you realize that the names given to these characters play a significant role in describing their individual personalities and what the names symbolizes. The mother, Mrs. Hopewell, and the daughter, Joy/Hulga, are two very complex characters. The names, Mrs. Hopewell and Joy/Hulga play an interesting role when analyzing the “mother/daughter” dynamic in this story.

What are the characteristics of an effective thesis statements and introductions?

LWP pgs. 23-25, 140

142-143

First line of body paragraph:

Joy-Hulga is thirty-two years old and is so sick that she is forced to live with her mother, Mrs. Hopewell.

Mrs. Freeman works for the Hopewell’s as a tenant farmer.

Sample Body Paragraph:

Manly Pointer has very manly features not only physically but in the way he acts as well. When he is first introduced into the story his is nothing but a gentleman. He is only trying to do his job and sell bibles. At the end of the story he completely changes the way he acts and ends up being a thief that steals prosthetic body parts from young women. He is very assertive the whole time but never trying to be rude which is like a man.

Sample Conclusions

Lastly, Hulga’s artificial leg is continually talked about throughout “Good Country People.” It says multiple times how it got blasted off while she was hunting, how she walks around and how some characters are obsessed with her leg. The reader may be able to notice that the fake leg is a symbol seeing as it is one of the main objects of this story and how all the characters react with the leg.

The use of irony in the names of the characters is a very clever way that O’Connor keeps the readers guessing and also creates a deeper meaning in her story that keeps the reader thinking long after they have put it down.

What are the characteristics of an effective conclusion?

LWP pgs. 25-26, 165-166

Sample Titles

Saying and Doing Are Two Different Things

Names Are More Than Just a Coincidence

A Misleading Name

Other Issues

Use active voice: LWP pages 61-62

Do not evaluate the text: The words “interesting,” “brilliant,” “good,” and other qualitative terms mean nothing. Do not use them. Instead, ask yourself what you specifically mean by interesting, and how does the work achieve that effect?

Don’t be generic or write empty sentences.

All stories have some kind of hidden meaning for the reader to grasp.

The story is full of interesting symbolism.

The story explains that nobody is perfect in life.