What story will this be about? Sonny’s Blues
How do you write the summary? Your purpose is to present a hypothesis of what the text was “about.” This hypothesis is your “interpretation.” Your task is to tell us your interpretation and support that argument with evidence (numerous examples and quotations) from the text. You can select to discuss the entire text, or interpret a specific character, or character’s relationship with other characters.
After identifying your topic and area of focus with this text you’ve chosen, you also need to present an argument, or thesis, based on your interpretation; in other words, not just what you think the text is “about” or “doing”, but why that matters and what that can help us understand about the text,it’s contexts, author, or even our own current contexts.
Following are the questions to consider:
What got said? That is, on the surface of it, what was the subject matter of the text and what, briefly, did the writer say about it? This is a matter of description, of trying to paint a very compact picture of the text for readers.
What are the major claims? Trace out the central claim, the support for that claim, and most importantly, any warrants (unstated assumptions) that readers must agree with to be persuaded by the argument. What unarticulated attitudes, beliefs, and values underlie the way the writer tells the story? (what can you pull from the text?—cite it)?
What is the writer’s motivation? One of the main tasks for an interpretive summary is to try to get at not just what the author says but why she says it—her purpose in writing the text to begin with. Explain what you think the writer’s motivation is AND what in text led you to believe that (cite it).
What didn’t get said/remains unclear? As we’ve talked about in class, it is important to consider what we don’t know, aren’t told, or otherwise are left without answer after reading a text. DO NOT INVENT YOUR OWN ANSWER; you can make some assumptions, but they are not definitive.
What is the purpose of this assignment? There are a couple. First, I want you to start to “dive in” to some writing-related conversation, which is especially useful if you did not have a Comp 1 class. Second, I want to see you practice careful rhetorical reading strategies and demonstrate that you can rhetorically interpret a text and summarize it clearly for others. Envision your audience(s) for this summary as your classmates and your instructor.
WARNING: Resist only responding to part of a prompt. For example, in the second bullet, students sometimes stop after noting the central claim. This results in an incomplete section as the unarticulated attitudes, beliefs, and values also needs addressed. Make sure you CITE where it’s required.
The largest error I see people make in this assignment is that they simply re-summarize the text; assume the reader knows the text you’ve chosen, and focus on your interpretation and analysis of it.