It is two o’clock in the morning, as you stare blankly at the blinking cursor
on your computer screen. You
take another swig of Diet Coke and try to write your thesis statement for
what feels like the hundredth time.
Your paper is due in twelve short hours, and you are completely stuck.
All week long, you have been meaning to work on the assignment,
but every time you sit down to type out your masterpiece, your ideas desert
you. Unfortunately, putting
off the paper to a time when “inspiration strikes” is no longer an option.
In a desperate gesture, you half-heartedly write what you know
to be a weak, boring, and disorganized essay.
“Thesis statement – who needs one?” you carelessly mutter.
The next day, with eyes averted, you hand in your paper, and
that night, the professor is compelled to place a C- or D on the title page.
This is a depressing scenario, and it is not enjoyable or productive
for anyone.
I want you to think for a moment about a time when you had trouble writing
a paper – back to a time when you were staring into the computer screen or
when you were erasing the first sentence of a paper and trying yet again
to get it right. What you were
doing was the grand No-No of academic writing – you were attempting to structure
and to compose your paper simultaneously.
Structuring a paper is much more difficult than composing a paper.
In fact, the difficulty inherent in paper writing is rarely
caused by dilemmas over word choice or sentence structure – it is caused
by lack of preparation. There
are those among you who are saying to yourselves right now, “I hate outlines.
I’ve never had to use outlines.
I write based upon inspiration.
I do my best work under pressure.
My high school teacher loved my English papers, and I wrote
them one hour before school started, on the bus, while my brother and my
best friend were throwing spit wads at me!"
Guess what? I used to say the
same things, and I will raise the stakes even higher – I used to write my
English papers for high school during the changeover from my Geometry class
to my British Literature class – i.e., in fifteen minutes.
Oh, and I made straight A’s.
However, I also learned very little, wrote very little of note,
and had to spend the next four years learning THE HARD WAY that my academic
integrity and my intellectual growth depended upon the recognition that writing
a paper is the very last step in a lengthy and rewarding process that begins
with…thinking!
In other words, inspiration does not strike; it is not an out-of-body force
that conveniently appears in the eleventh hour to rescue you from your own
lack of creativity. Inspiration
occurs when you begin to think about a concept in a focused way – when you
tune out the CD player, the TV, your roommate or spouse, and think carefully
about your topic. Moreover,
even when an idea comes to mind, it still needs to be scrutinized for its
value, and it has to be developed in such a way that your readers will appreciate
your line of reasoning.
The best way to move from idea to outline is to use my Post-It-Note Theory
of Composition (PINT), developed during my joyous paper writing days in grad
school. Let me digress for one
self-serving moment to inform you that every single person who has used this
theory has improved his/her writing skills.
The testimonials I have collected over the years could fill
an entire infomercial.
The basic premise of PINT is that most of us are not linear thinkers; we
do not brainstorm by visualizing a roman numeral I, sub-point A, followed
by a roman numeral II. Rather, we catch onto the thread of one idea and as
we begin to sort it out, another idea may occur to us, and so on.
The problem happens when we try to fit the second idea into
some relationship with the first idea – in other words, when we force ourselves
to think sequentially. The result
can often be confusion. Sometimes
we forget the first idea completely, or just as we think we have managed
to draw a relationship between idea one and idea two, a third idea occurs
to us, and we are now trying to juggle three ideas simultaneously.
The dilemma is compounded if we try to accomplish this balancing
act while also attempting to compose.
I get a headache even thinking about the intellectual tangles that
this process encourages.
In order to solve the problem, I would suggest that each of you invest in
a pack of 1” x 2” post-it-notes (PIN).
When you begin to brainstorm on a topic, write each idea down on a
new PIN. “But, Gwen,” you protest.
“How can I write down an entire idea on a tiny little PIN?”
Ah-ha! “You cannot,”
I answer, and that is the point.
At the early stages of brainstorming, you want to relieve your brain of the
responsibility of juggling a number of thoughts simultaneously.
If your writing space is limited to a 1” x 2” square of paper,
you will not be able to spend time trying to link ideas or trying to order
them. At this juncture, you
can focus on getting your ideas out on paper, regardless of their relationship
to each other. Once you have
written down a number of ideas, you can then begin to order your ideas sequentially,
and as you do, you will begin to identify gaps in logic or begin to think
of more ideas. Great!
You simply fill out more PINs and incorporate them.
See the beauty of the PINs?
Their sticky backs can be moved around on a flat surface, so
that you can rearrange them until you are satisfied that all of your ideas
have been set down on paper and organized efficiently.
I often place my PINs on a wall or a poster board so that when
I am finished, I have an organized row of ideas.
Once you
reach this stage, you are finally ready to compose, and when you do sit down
in front of the computer, you should no longer feel overwhelmed.
You have a plan, and you can direct your attention to composition.
Moreover, you can write the various sections of your paper
out of order, if you so wish, and combine them sequentially once you are
done. I also have the habit
of removing each PIN from my outline board, once I have incorporated the
idea it contains into my paper.
I get a really satisfying feeling of accomplishment from doing this, but
then, that’s me. However, I
do manage to write papers with ease – a feat born out of my use of the PINT
and years of practice, and now you can do the same.
Before you write your Analytical Paper, read the sample process
below.
Sample Essay Question
In Cofer’s “Beauty
Lessons,” Sandi is influenced by the dominant culture’s ideal of beauty.
Discuss the way that she ultimately manages to avoid losing
her self-esteem, even though she thinks that she does not “have the look
that boys like.”
My first step is
to go back to the text and find instances when Sandi describes the way that
girls are “supposed to look.” I consider Jennifer Lopez’s appeal to the boys
– and the fact that she bleaches her hair blond and wears false eyelashes.
I write these points down on PINs and include the page number
reference for each one. I think
about the way that Sandi sees herself as “a before picture” and her friend
Anita as an “after picture” in a fashion magazine – I note that these magazines
often set up girls’ expectations regarding beauty.
I place a number of notes on PINs to reflect this idea.
Then, I think about the different ways the kids tease Sandi,
and I am particularly interested in the fact that she likes to play sports
– a fact that her classmates seem to disapprove of.
I highlight the fact that Sandi is a very practical person
– she knows that she has to stay in school if she doesn’t want to end up
working in the factory like her parents.
However, she still wants to fit in, and I think about how embarrassing
it is for junior high kids to go up to the board to solve problems when they
know that everyone is looking.
Next, I shift gears from Sandi’s school experience to her home experience.
Aunt Modesta’s visit is troublesome not just because she takes
up space, but because she reminds Sandi of the “beauty” culture that seems
to permeate every aspect of her life.
I think about how watching Modesta walk down the block depresses Sandi.
The theme of appearance vs. reality is very important at this
point, because when Modesta comes home and “takes off her face,” Sandi learns
a valuable “beauty lesson.”
Finally, I consider how Sandi’s ability to reevaluate her situation and to
approach Paco reflect the lessons she has learned about self-esteem, and
I think about how Cofer wants young girls to appreciate their natural assets
and not try to live up to an often racially-constructed beauty ideal ( think
of Jennifer’s blond hair, for instance).
Here is what my PINs look like:
PIN #1: Jenn has blond hair
and wears three layers of make-up (42)
PIN #2: Jenn makes fun of Sandi
when she has to go up in front of the class (44)
PIN #3:
The girls learn these beauty lessons from magazines & ads.
PIN #4: Sandi says she doesn’t
have “the look boys like” (42; 51).
PIN # 5:
On her visit, Aunt M. brings tons of clothes & make-up.
(49)
PIN #6: Like her sister, Aunt
M. married in H.S. – Sandi seems to realize that looking good & getting
married early go hand-in-hand and she does not want to jeopardinze her future
(43; 49)
PIN # 7: Sandi is discouraged
by the way the boys watch Jenn & the men watch Aunt M. (42; 49)
PIN #8: Once Sandi watches Aunt
M’s transformation – she changes her mind about beauty (52-53)
PIN #9: The men on the porch
at El Building represent the sort of objectification that Sandi dislikes
(44).
PIN #10:
Different standards of beauty – “American” and “Puerto Rican”
– (50) – Sandi fits into neither category
PIN #11:
Sandi ends up holding herself to the same standards she holds
Paco – he’s not Mr. Universe, but she still likes him (54)
Step Two:
Now, I simply reorder
my PINs and fill in the gaps:
PIN #1:
Intro: author,
title, scenario – Sandi feels like an outcast in her H.S. because she doesn’t
have “the look” (41-42)
PIN #2: Define the look, using
Jenn Lopez and Anita as examples (42; 45)
PIN #3:
Jenn has approximated an “American” ideal – blond hair; 3 layers
of makeup, & false eyelashes (42)
PIN #4:
Anita is the “after picture” to Sandi’s “before.”
(45)
PIN #5:
Sandi’s experience underscores how vulnerable teenagers can
be to the scrutiny of peers
PIN #6:
There are two standards – Amer & PR, and Sandi cannot meet
either (42; 51)
PIN #7:
However, Sandi seems to have her doubts regarding where looking
“sexy” will get her (43; 49)
PIN #8:
Mention her mom’s early marriage & Aunt M.’s exp. &
her dislike of the 3 bums (48)
PIN #9:
When Sandi is teased in front of the boy she likes, she decides
to take action by observing Aunt M. (44; 51)
PIN #10:
Discuss Aunt M’s obsession with beauty & how she lives
to garner men’s attention, even if the men are jerks (49-53)
PIN #11: Describe Aunt M’s transformation
(52; 53)
PIN #12:
Discuss Sandi’s second mirror scene and note why physical beauty
seems more trivial to her (53)
PIN #13:
Sandi’s lessons:
PIN #14:
3. She realizes
that she does not hold the boy she likes to impossible standards, so why
do that to herself?
PIN #15:
4. Sandi feels
compassion for her aunt & may be able to see Jenn’s future there, too.
(53-54)
PIN #16:
Conclude w/Cofer’s message.
Now, I am finally
at the point when I can begin writing.
The finished essay is below.
Good luck with your own writing!
Essay
Dr. Gwen A. Tarbox
Sandi, the protagonist in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “Beauty Lessons,” is faced
with a problem. Unlike most
girls in her high school, she does not possess “the look that boys
like;” in fact, she is much more interested in honing her talent for track
and basketball than she is in honing her expertise in make-up application.
However, like most adolescents, Sandi wants to fit in, and
on one warm spring day, she decides to take beauty lessons from her Aunt
Modesta, a belleza divorcee who regularly wins the admiration of the
men in Sandi’s Patterson, New Jersey neighborhood.
Initially, Sandi wants to be just as admired as Aunt Modesta or just as popular
as Jennifer Lopez, a classmate who has transformed herself into the dominant
culture’s beauty ideal. Looking
like a Seventeen magazine covergirl or a Barbie doll, Jennifer saunters
down the hall on the way to class, flirting openly with any boy who will
notice her. “She’s got bleached-blond
hair and wears about three layers of make-up,” Sandi comments.
“To me, she looks like she’s got a happy-face mask on, w ith
hot-pink lips and false eyelashes” (42).
Although this look does not appeal to Sandi, she does admit that Jennifer’s
“breasts, hips, and butt” also contribute to her popularity.
Sandi could apply the make-up, but she cannot change her “thin
and flat-chested” physique.
Interestingly, Sandi realizes that not only does she fail to approximate
the “American” or “Anglo” beauty ideal, she fails to meet the predominant
Puerto Rican ideal of beauty, as well.
When her Aunt Modesta walks down the street like a one-woman salsa
band, “wearing a tight dress that shows off her hips and breasts,” Sandi
observes that her “American friends would say [the dress] makes her look
fat, but … Puerto Rican men [think it] is just right” (50).
Even though Sandi spends most days seeing herself as a “before picture” in
a magazine and her friend Anita as an “after picture,” she recognizes that
looking sexy might also be dangerous to her ambition.
Both Sandi’s mother and her Aunt Modesta married while they
were still in their teens. Sandi
does not want to follow in their footsteps and work in a factory or have
to find a rich husband. At one
point, she notes, “I plan to stay in school because if I don’t I’ll end up
depending on someone else to take care of me, like a man.
That seems to be all the women can talk about around the barrio
– money and men, men and money” (43).
Instead, she plans to go to college, and she even mentions her joy
at writing literature compositions.
Sandi’s practicality and her intellect are assets that are undervalued
by her peers, however, and Sandi’s fledgling self-esteem takes a particularly
hard hit on the day that Jennifer Lopez makes fun of her in class by pointing
out how little the culture prizes a girl’s intelligence.
When Sandi is called up to the board in her algebra class to
compute a problem, Jennifer yells out, “’Come on, Sandi baby, show off your
brains. What size are they?
I think they’re a triple A cup, myself’” (44).
Sandi’s embarrassment is heightened by the fact that her friend
Paco is sitting a few rows back; to have her “deficiencies” detailed in such
a cruel way in front of a boy she likes is devastating, even for a usually
level-headed girl like Sandi, who has to run to the girls’ bathroom in order
to calm down.
After regaining her composure, Sandi walks home from school, dreading the
fact that she must now face “the three amigos,” a collection of unemployed
men who sit outside her apartment building, saying “stupid things to women”
as they pass by. Already self-conscious
about her appearance, Sandi has to listen to their running commentary:
“Mira, linda,” says Bum Number One, calling me “pretty” in
a sarcastic way, “when are you going to put a little flesh on those bones,
huh?”
“Hombre, she’s got a pretty face, you know?” says Bum Number Two.
“I have time, I’ll wait for you, my little bird,” say Bum Number Three.
And then all three laugh as I run past them to the front door.
I stumble on a step and they laugh harder, hooting and howling
and making comments. (48)
After such a stressful day, Sandi goes up to her room and sits in front of
the mirror, trying to find something good to say about her appearance.
“I have a very nice nose,” she thinks, “and high cheek-bones,
and big eyes with long eyelashes.
Everything by itself is okay, it’s just that it doesn’t come together into
what I hear Mami and Modesta call belleza, beauty” (51).
Determined to learn how to develop her looks, Sandi vows to
take “beauty lessons” from Aunt Modesta.
That afternoon, Modesta returns home from a trip to the bodega, and she rushes
off to her room to prepare for a date.
Sandi plans to ask her aunt’s permission to watch the process, but
since the volume on Modesta’s radio is turned up so loudly, Sandi just decides
to sit quietly and watch without disturbing her aunt.
What follows is a revelation for Sandi, as Modesta strips down
her many layers of make-up and builds it up again for the evening.
Sandi comments:
I
watch her take out her contact lenses…and then she peels off her false eyelashes.
I didn’t know she wore false ones; mine are just as long, and
they’re real. I see her rub
some white cream all over her face, and suddenly she starts to change.
Her cheeks had been painted on, and the big red lips too….
My glamorous aunt Modesta has turned into an old woman!
I watch it all in the dresser mirror as she squints, trying
to see herself while she takes out a set of false teeth!
Her face just sort of caves in when she does this.
It’s like watching a horror movie. (52)
Sandi tiptoes quietly out of the room and goes back to the mirror in front
of her dresser. Minutes ago,
she believed that she was not belleza, but now, she looks at herself
again and thinks, “I look okay, maybe better than okay.
I may have Bugs Bunny teeth, but they are mine, and if I put
on a few pounds, they might even look alright on my face, which at least
is my real face, and not painted on” (53).
Sandi learns a number of lessons from her Aunt Modesta’s beauty regime.
First, she recognizes that beauty is fleeting; in twenty years,
Jennifer Lopez will undoubtedly have to work just as hard as Modesta does
in order to look the part of the beauty queen.
Moreover, Sandi recognizes that she has been neglecting to
value the physical features that make her unique.
Like her friend Paco, she is “aerodynamic” – well-suited to
play basketball and run track, the things that she enjoys.
Sandi also realizes that she admires Paco for who he is, not
what he looks like, and she begins to suspect that he feels the same way
about her. Suddenly, it seems
better to be appreciated for who she is and what she does, not how she looks.
Armed with a new sense of confidence, Sandi walks up to the
playground and calls out Paco’s name.
He stops shooting baskets for a moment and smiles as she moves to
join him in a game. Her elation
is complete as she notes that she is “getting ready to fly,” a metaphor for
her leap in self-esteem.
In “Beauty Lessons,” Cofer underscores the challenges that all teenage girls
face as they reach puberty in a culture that tends to value them for their
looks, rather than for their personalities or their actions.
When Jennifer Lopez bleaches her hair blond, she neglects to
value her natural beauty, a fact that Cofer wants her readers to question.
When Aunt Modesta puts on her show for the men in the barrio,
she is also suggesting that her self-worth is completely tied up in how she
looks, a fact that causes her increasing anxiety now that she is an older
divorcee. As in many of her
stories, Cofer emphasizes the importance of self-esteem to her young readers;
it is a quality that she feels will be useful long after adolescence slips
away.