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Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried emphasizes the importance of appreciating stories for their existence, and not going too deep into what they mean in order to truly understand them.

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Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried emphasizes the importance of appreciating stories for their existence, and not going too deep into what they mean in order to truly understand them.

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I think my thesis is strong because it is clear and to the point about what the paragraph will be about, but it could be more original. It follows a very generic template for a claim, and I think I could've been more original with the wording and format. The language I use, however, is used throughout my paragraph making it much stronger. The inclusion of phrases such as "for their existence," and "truly understand" also make it easy for me to connect to "Against Interpretation." It is generic, but not necessarily bad.

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In the pieces The Things they Carried, and Against Interpretation, Tim O’Brien and Susan Sontag cultivate the idea of true work and what reactions they entail.

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In the pieces The Things they Carried, and Against Interpretation, Tim O’Brien and Susan Sontag cultivate the idea of true work and what reactions they entail.

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In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brian argues that a true war story can not be didactic, because it gives the listener a false idea of what war is like. - Oliver aborn

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In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brian argues that a true war story can not be didactic, because it gives the listener a false idea of what war is like. - Oliver aborn

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I think that my thesis is good because I was able to make it arguable, and easy to support with evidence. I said that making a war story would give "the listener a false idea of what war is like", but you could argue that it does the opposite, because it might make the story more relatable. It could have been more specific, but I think that it was generally a strong thesis.

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Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried carefully cultivates the idea of “silence” as both containing meaning and as an appropriate response to meaningful stories. Silence on its own is meaningful and a comforting presence for the soldiers because it can bring some peace and relief from the constant horrors of war... This is what Sontag suggests in her seminal essay, “Against Interpretation,” that art’s primary function relates to the field of emotion and physicality, not reducing it to intellectual interpretations. (James Zwirn)

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Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried carefully cultivates the idea of “silence” as both containing meaning and as an appropriate response to meaningful stories. Silence on its own is meaningful and a comforting presence for the soldiers because it can bring some peace and relief from the constant horrors of war... This is what Sontag suggests in her seminal essay, “Against Interpretation,” that art’s primary function relates to the field of emotion and physicality, not reducing it to intellectual interpretations. (James Zwirn)

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I believe that my thesis is strong because it gives a specific point that answers the question of "so what?" My beginning thesis statement about TTTC talks about the idea of "silence" and how it relates to the soldiers. Then, I used my thesis for "A.I." in order to connect it to TTTC and my previous analysis. My thesis statement could be improved because at times it can be a bit too wordy, meaning that I could state the same point in fewer words.

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Through using somewhat fabricated stories, Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried offers a more accurate portrayal of the traumatic nature of war, than if the story were to be completely factual because these stories evoke visceral emotional reactions in the reader. 

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Through using somewhat fabricated stories, Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried offers a more accurate portrayal of the traumatic nature of war, than if the story were to be completely factual because these stories evoke visceral emotional reactions in the reader. 

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I think my thesis is strong because it is specific, is able to be argued against, and acknowledges another way of considering an issue. It is a bit wordy so if it was more concise it would be clearer.

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In the texts of The Things They Carried and Against Interpretation, there is a theme of trusting the content of the story rather than the author who wrote it.

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In the texts of The Things They Carried and Against Interpretation, there is a theme of trusting the content of the story rather than the author who wrote it.

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I believe that my thesis is strong because it isn't too long and it gives a preview of what I talked about in the rest of the paragraph. When I say, "there is a theme of trusting the content of the story rather than the author who wrote it," I think that I go on to discuss that theme in the following two quotes and their analysis. Also, I state the point of the paragraphing by writing the two texts we were using in the claim. I could have done better by providing a little bit of context in the thesis by giving a small example of how the theme is expressed in the texts.

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Tim O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, would agree with the claim Susan Sontag makes in Against Interpretations that interpretations are unnecessary. 

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Tim O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, would agree with the claim Susan Sontag makes in Against Interpretations that interpretations are unnecessary. 

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2.) Using your writing rubric and using your Thesis Statement Refresher explain why you think your thesis is strong. Be specific and quote your own claim. And finally, talk about one area where your thesis is weak or could be stronger.

I think my thesis is strong because it requires interpretation and could be argued ie "interpretations are unnecessary."  I could improve my thesis by adding transitional words.

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Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried explores the idea of masculinity in order to show the soldiers’ fear of looking less manly by being sensitive.

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Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried explores the idea of masculinity in order to show the soldiers’ fear of looking less manly by being sensitive.

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I think my thesis is strong because it explains how one of the ideas generally so that in my paragraph I can do more into depth about it. I also think that it sets up my paragraph to support this.

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Through “Against Interpretation” and “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien and Susan Sontag highlight the individual experience and the fallacy of the single truth.

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Through “Against Interpretation” and “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien and Susan Sontag highlight the individual experience and the fallacy of the single truth.

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1. I think my thesis is strong in the way that it clearly states my argument without using any unnecessary words. I also think that my thesis is interesting and fulfills the "so what" question. I also believe that my thesis can not be answered simply by looking at the book and it requires an essay to back up my claim.

2. I think that I could work on my word choice to make my topic sentence even better. This would exude style and make my reader even more interested in my topic.

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Tim O’Brien’s novel The Thing They Carried carefully emphasizes the idea of “silence” as both containing meaning, and as a response to meaningful stories.

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Tim O’Brien’s novel The Thing They Carried carefully emphasizes the idea of “silence” as both containing meaning, and as a response to meaningful stories.

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I think my topic sentence is good because it is specific but also doesn't go into to much detail. It also included "silence" which is a quote that introduces my whole paragraph which shows that I know what I will talk about

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Susan Sontag and Tim O’Brien agree that art should not be interpreted because interpretation takes away from the truth of art and literature.

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Susan Sontag and Tim O’Brien agree that art should not be interpreted because interpretation takes away from the truth of art and literature.

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I think that my claim is strong because it takes the side of an argument and it is very specific. For example when I say " interpretation takes away from the truth of art and literature" I am taking a specific stance on the matter of art being interpreted. Although my claim is concise, it reaches a conclusion based off of the main idea that I am writing about.

On the other hand, my claim needs to do a better job of specifically reaching a conclusion. It also needs to do a better job of being unique.

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Peace and quiet develops a special meaning and rarity in The Things They Carried because of the constant violence, murder, and gunfire that is present in Vietnam and during the war.

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Peace and quiet develops a special meaning and rarity in The Things They Carried because of the constant violence, murder, and gunfire that is present in Vietnam and during the war.

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I think my claim is strong because of the evidence and quotes I provide. I also make sure to include connections between the writings. I do think I could have had a better and more original claim but I feel I supported it well by including many quotes from both books.

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Tim O'Brien's novel The Things They Carried carefully discusses and explains the idea and double meaning of how to “tell” stories as both the actual act of telling the entire truth, and how to determine if one is telling the truth. 

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Tim O'Brien's novel The Things They Carried carefully discusses and explains the idea and double meaning of how to “tell” stories as both the actual act of telling the entire truth, and how to determine if one is telling the truth. 

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I like my claim because I think that I went into depth about something that most people don't notice. I also think my claim really goes into the text and is specific to one part, however I can really go into depth about that one part and how it affects the entire chapter.

I also think that my claim can be supported by text evidence, however I think that O'Brien never actually says my claim in the text which means that my claim is my own.

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In How To Tell A True War Story, Tim O’Brien suggests that no response is the only adequate response to a war story, and to truly absorb the meaning of such a story, one must sit in the discomfort it brings.

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In How To Tell A True War Story, Tim O’Brien suggests that no response is the only adequate response to a war story, and to truly absorb the meaning of such a story, one must sit in the discomfort it brings.

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I think my claim is strong as I answer the question as well as outline my argument for the rest of the paragraph. The "truly absorb the meaning of such a story" part is strong, and I like the word "absorb" in this context. However, I worry that the sentence might be wordy or complex, and I think I could have done a better job on it.

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Against Interpretation and The Things They Carried relate to each other in a way that both pieces of writing convey the message that there can always be more than one interpretation based on how true the story is, who's telling it, and through what perspective.

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Against Interpretation and The Things They Carried relate to each other in a way that both pieces of writing convey the message that there can always be more than one interpretation based on how true the story is, who's telling it, and through what perspective.

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I think my claim is strong because it makes an argument that I am able to support.  It also includes different aspects of my overall claim which makes it stronger and easier to write about. It is very straightforward and you can really tell what my claim is.

Something I could do better is being more specific, as specific as I can be.

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Susan Sontag’s essay “Against Interpretation” helps us understand why parts of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” should not be interpreted but instead experienced. 

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Susan Sontag’s essay “Against Interpretation” helps us understand why parts of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” should not be interpreted but instead experienced. 

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I think my claim is strong because it explains that it should not be interpreted but instead experienced.  It also adds a why which lets the rest of the paragph explain why it should be experienced.  I need to use context sfter my claim.  But the claim needs to relate to the context.

- Jake M

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Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Susan Sontag’s “Against Interpretation” reason that interpretation leads to a lack of understanding with which humans try to cope by learning morals from literature. -Jake

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Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Susan Sontag’s “Against Interpretation” reason that interpretation leads to a lack of understanding with which humans try to cope by learning morals from literature. -Jake

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My claim is strong as it answers a specific argument that is based on the text. I believe that my thesis can be argued which allows the reader to have an internal debate where I sway them with my analysis. It answers the "so what" and uses a subordinating conjunctions to spread my idea. When I say with which Yet, as I look back at my thesis with critical eyes, I think it could have been even more concise and used better vocabulary to express what I truly meant to say.

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In the Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and “Against Interpretation” by Susan Sontag, both authors convey the message of “finding the truth” to spread to readers , so they’re not misled by others.

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In the Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and “Against Interpretation” by Susan Sontag, both authors convey the message of “finding the truth” to spread to readers , so they’re not misled by others.

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I think my claim is strong and overall, makes a argument, that both authors are exposing the truth. I do also think I need to be a little bit more specific in order for the reader to know exactly what I’m talking about. -Shiloh

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Tim O’Brien demonstrates the idea of enjoyment and appreciation of storytelling to show us that not all stories have morals.  ... Storytelling, like art, is subjective, therefore there shouldn’t be rules. - Micaela Gonzalez

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Tim O’Brien demonstrates the idea of enjoyment and appreciation of storytelling to show us that not all stories have morals.  ... Storytelling, like art, is subjective, therefore there shouldn’t be rules. - Micaela Gonzalez

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I think my claim is strong because it takes a side to whether or not stories should have morals or lessons. I justify why it shouldn't have a lesson or moral (how a person tells a story should be up to them and how comfortable they feel).

I think it can be improved by having a SO WHAT. Something deeper to just storytelling is subjective. What does it being subjective and how telling the story let us know about the person? I also think that second sentence should explain more (why shouldn't it have rules, why is it subjective?) Though I think it is good, going a little deeper to why it matters would help it become stronger.

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In “Against Interpretation”, Susan Sontag argues that in the pursuit of finding a deeper meaning, humans have undermined the importance of a “gut” feeling and sensuality. -Lucas

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In “Against Interpretation”, Susan Sontag argues that in the pursuit of finding a deeper meaning, humans have undermined the importance of a “gut” feeling and sensuality. -Lucas

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I think my claim is strong because it is specific in how interpretation has effected our view of art and literature. It also is an arguable statement and not simply a fact or description. Personally, I think this answers a "so what" question and is interesting but that's obviously a matter of opinion, however I do believe it answers a "so what" question.

One thing that could be improved on this thesis is possibly a better structure of my words because I think I often have a good idea but can't transfer it onto the paper very well, so basically the clarity of my writing.

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While both writer Susan Sontag and novelist Tim O’Brien argue that a piece of work should be approached with an emphasis on form rather than overinterpretation of content, Sontag uses art as a lens, and O’Brien discusses true war stories.

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While both writer Susan Sontag and novelist Tim O’Brien argue that a piece of work should be approached with an emphasis on form rather than overinterpretation of content, Sontag uses art as a lens, and O’Brien discusses true war stories.

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My thesis is strong because it uses a subordinating conjunction at the start of this sentence. My claim is very concise; however, it is vague and quite simple. I could have strengthened the claim by having more of a tie to the text.

-Nitya

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In her influential essay, “Against Interpretation”, Susan Sontag connects the negativity of interpretation of art to the negative ambiguity of morals in war stories in The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien.

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In her influential essay, “Against Interpretation”, Susan Sontag connects the negativity of interpretation of art to the negative ambiguity of morals in war stories in The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien.

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My thesis is strong because it reasons what my paragraph will be based upon in totality. It is very straightforward, and not factual, but can be interpreted to have a deeper meaning. It is simply a statement that can be unfolded well. The "so what" is present as well, connecting the themes of both texts.

However, I feel as if perhaps I could have improved upon my specificity in what negativity is present.

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Tim O'brien does not want to hinder the readers ability to understand the importance of war because there are so many complex ideas in the war that are hard to interpret.

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Tim O'brien does not want to hinder the readers ability to understand the importance of war because there are so many complex ideas in the war that are hard to interpret.

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I feel my claim is really strong because it is concise. Due to the fact that I think it gets my point across very directly, I am proud of it. The only thing I am worried about is whether or not the reader can understand my idea, due to how concise it is. Moreover, I am questioning whether I was too concise.

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In Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, emphasis is placed on stepping out of the typical lens in which we view war stories in order to invoke a more realistic or “true” experience for the reader. - Nadia

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In Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, emphasis is placed on stepping out of the typical lens in which we view war stories in order to invoke a more realistic or “true” experience for the reader. - Nadia

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I think my thesis is strong because it is detailed and specific enough to get a good sense of what's to come in the following paragraph, while also leaving room for expansion and explanation. Additionally, having the word "true" in quotes, sets up an explanation of what defines true to O'Brien, aiding my transition into the rest of the paragraph smoothly. I also think that while my topic sentence refers only to The Things They Carried, it is easily applicable to "Against Interpretation" as well.

I think the wording could be clearer and more concise. I also think that an element from "Against Interpretation" could have strengthened my claim. Lastly, I think that it could apply a little more into the rest of my paragraph, but I think it still captures the heart of my message.

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When one's environment causes people to feel alienated from meaning or God, losing a sense of self and purpose is inevitable. -Rebecca

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When one's environment causes people to feel alienated from meaning or God, losing a sense of self and purpose is inevitable. -Rebecca

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I think my thesis is strong because it leaves room for explanation. I also connect both the article and the book in this claim. The words "alienated from meaning or god" come from the Against Interpretations article. In addition, the second half of my claim connects to TTTC when the soldiers were in the forest and they were questioning their very actions. I think that I can strengthen the beginning of my thesis where I am most general.

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Interpretation and analysis can be beneficial to the experience and understanding of art, if well informed.  ...  I believe that Susan Sontag, the author of the piece Against Interpretation, would agree with the process in which Tim O’Brien analyses events occurring in his book.

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Interpretation and analysis can be beneficial to the experience and understanding of art, if well informed.  ...  I believe that Susan Sontag, the author of the piece Against Interpretation, would agree with the process in which Tim O’Brien analyses events occurring in his book.

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I believe that my thesis is strong because it leaves room for explanation.  The first section can easily be related to the benefits and detriments of proper and improper analysis,  and the second section allows expounding on the ways in which O'Brien writes, and the connections his work has to the "desirable" form of interpretation.

I think that I could improve my thesis by re phrasing it so that there is not a context break in the middle of it. This would allow it to hit the reader more concisely and sooner into the essay, providing a more powerful hook.

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In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and “Against Interpretation” by Susan Sontag both authors argue how both art and war stories have value in and of themselves. They don’t need a justification or moral, even though an audience might wish that it had one. 

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In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and “Against Interpretation” by Susan Sontag both authors argue how both art and war stories have value in and of themselves. They don’t need a justification or moral, even though an audience might wish that it had one. 

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I think that my thesis is strong because it:
1. takes a claim
2. can be supported by evidence (but not directly stated in the text)
3. makes a significant point.

1. My thesis makes the argument that war stories do not need morals, even though the audience wants to have them.
2. My thesis can be supported by evidence because I used evidence that was relevant in my paragraph. I included a quote from Susan Sontag that said, "It is always the case that interpretation of this type indicates a dissatisfaction (conscious or unconscious) with the work, a wish to replace it by something else.” This phrase demonstrates the second half of my claim where the reader/audience want a moral for their own interest or good.
3. I also believe that my claim makes a significant point. I think that it may give the reader an insight to Tim O'Brien's choice behind making a book that was so gory and depressing.

In my claim, I argue for 2 different ideas, that war stories/art have value without morals, and that the audience wants there to be morals.