Writer’s choice

Last semester feedback from professor:
You make a convincing case for humour being employed as a defence mechanism for the primary characters of the novel that you analyse. Your textual descriptions indicate why characters draw a protective shell up around themselves through humour that is sarcastic or serves to make light of difficult or traumatising situations. You include some relevant research on humour early in your essay. It is clear why you have chosen this topic and your reflective pieces indicate nicely what you are learning from your reading. Where this essay could have developed further is in terms of depth of analysis. It is quite easy to become a bit subjective when talking about humour (x is funny) without taking the extra step of demonstrating what techniques and effects are at play. Aim to root your points clearly in specific examples so that you can analyse the language more closely. It is also important to include references to support your general claims (about praise that authors have received, for example). When you paraphrase make it obvious where you introduce the other critic, so that you are able to enter into dialogue with them rather than their words blending with your own. Overall there is lots of promise here, and with some work on depth of analysis you should be capable of improving your grades in future assignments.

Please use Harvard citations.