Sethe In Beloved And Orleanna Chapter 1 Summary

Rachel De Smith’s sample essay from Chapter 12 “Sethe in Beloved and Orleanna in Bible: Isolation, Children, and Getting Out” had some a solid balance of insightful analysis, but fell short on the some of the more technical aspects of the piece. This paper will critique what the author did well, and what may have been improved upon to enhance its overall effectiveness. First of all, the author struck a strong balance between each of her points of comparisons. One way she made sure to hit every point for each subject was to condense the main comparison for each subject into a clear, and concise topic sentence. For example, “Both Sethe and Orleanna endure grueling journeys of escape, though the journeys begin very differently” (185). Another technique she used was
The first two body paragraphs do exactly this starting with “Sethe lives in the house number 124, a house generally believed to be haunted, “full of baby’s venom”,” (184) and continuing in the next paragraph with “Orleanna lives in a less malignant but equally isolated situation,” (184). Employing these structures helps ensure that the points brought up for each character are then specifically compared to one another, as well as not derailing the piece’s overall focus. However, while these techniques made sure every point was given some attention, the piece started to lose its focus toward the final comparison. The first 2 points, the characters’ isolation and pasts, are both in a whole-by-whole format. While completely valid, and effective in a relatively short piece, totaling only 5 sentences, the third point (journeys and “Getting Out”) is hindered by its structure. The first paragraph for this point feels short and feels somewhat like a summary, without expounding on what the examples it brings up. For instance, the paragraph ends informing the reader how “even after Sethe leaves jail and begins a life free from the degradation of