37. Contextualize the Quotation or Paraphrase

37. Contextualize the Quotation or Paraphrase:

in order to address the needs of the reader of a textual analysis essay, writers need to remind readers of the major moments surrounding the excerpt just quoted. These starters can be used above or directly beneath the quotation.

For example: in the paragraph below from a paper on David Duncan’s The River Why, the bolded portion of the sentence beneath the quotation contains context starters:

After discovering that self-love is miserable and that he must find inner-balance in order to love, Gus’ native intelligence continues to evolve as he attempts to find spiritual meaning. All throughout the novel Gus strives to find answers to his questions about God, life and death. He is in a continual search for a tangible God and is constantly questioning his own beliefs. In the beginning of the book Gus is confused with his life and has trouble believing that there is a God. Duncan depicts Gus’ yearning for a palpable God:

But God never told me nothing. And until He or some

new son of His comes along and tells me straight out that

they want me to be different than how I am, I’m going to be

like the disciples... I’m going to fish as long as I can as hard as

I can, and wherever that takes me is where I’m going be it

Good Place or Bad. (Duncan 44)

At this point in the novel Gus has an immature view of spirituality and has yet to discover that God has been giving him the signs he so desperately desires his entire life. Gus finds it hard to understand why he can’t seem to find God anywhere. Gus feels as though he needs visual proof that there is a God in order to have direction in his life.

“CONTEXT STARTERS” TO USE:

(X is a character’s name or author's name)

-Up until this moment in the text X has _________________.

_______________, _________________, and ________________ are the most significant moments at this point in the text.

-It is important to remember that at this point X has _________________.

-When X states this, X is______________________________________.

-At this moment the narrator is recounting _________________________.

-At this point in the poem the speaker has ___________________________.