06 Unveiling the Thesis

Solicitations, fellow malefactors!  In this class of English Composition, we are constantly being given new topics to discuss.  Turns out that on this particular week, the topics have me slightly befuddled.  So, for the sake of ease, I have elected to choose the most straightforward topic as my first for the week.  And which one is that?  Why!  It's the topic about discerning the main points behind the "documents" I read.  So let's get down to business?

 

So first off:  Quid Pro Quo!  Do you know what I love more than anything?  Certainly, there are a number of valid responses to that question.  Good food and music.  Driving at high speeds down the interstate.  Singing in the shower.  Enjoying the company of attractive individuals in private.  They could all theorettically work!  But they aren't the correct answers in this context.  What I really love are books.  Truly, I spend hours in book stores and libraries having the time of my life as I peruse the shelves.  And many more times, I actually read said books.

 

And being the avid reader I am, I usually have no trouble with determining the Thesis of the novel, article, or "document" in question.  It's simple really.  The thesis is the overall message of a written work that is not only mentioned most often, but is given the most emphasis in the writing. 

 

Case in point.  My most favorite novel of all time--bar none--would have to be The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike.  The story follows the everyday lives of three divorced women, gifted with a certain brand of magic, and their evolving relationships with a brash, repulsive man named Darryl Van Horne who has just moved to their small fictional town of Eastwick, Rhode Island.  Along the way, the three witches are each seduced in turn by Van Horne, suffer various tragedies at their jobs and love lives, and use black magic to screw with the lives of their neighbors.  By the end of the book, Van Horne has left town and the witches must give up their powers--in a roundabout sort of way--in order to regain stability in their ruined lives.

 

Now what exactly is the thesis of such a story?  Given that I've had to skip over a bunch of details in the story, it might be difficult to grasp, but I'll make it easy on my reader.

 

Ultimatrely, Eastwick is nothing more than a satire about feminism.  The witches themselves, having left their husbands in dissatisfaction, are overtly suspicious of men, considering most of them to be a threat.  Even more so, the witchcraft is firstly described as a potential found within all women, awakening when the woman in question is unsatisfied with the assumed gender roles and revolts (in the case of the book:  leaving one's husband triggers it); and the magic itself is but a literary device to allow the women to channel their rage and frustration at the world around them.  To make the point even clearer, the archetype of the witch is normally indicative of a woman finding strength outside of societal customs; an attribute Updike most likely counted on.  But then to completely subvert the image of a benevolent earth mother, the witches themselves not only use their magic for myriad malfeasance, but also engage in promiscuous behaviors with the married men of the town, neglect their children, abuse drugs and alcohol with Van Horne and fight amongst each other over the same man.  As far as Updike is concerned, he is spoofing the idea of empowered women by transforming them into wicked sorceresses.

 

But that was only an example.  My point is that with enough attention to the written work, the thesis is quite easy to spot.

 

Blessed be!