3.4: Commentaries

Basic Definition of a Commentary:

“It is an expression of opinions or offering of explanations about an event or situation.”

At some point in your life, you might have to write a commentary²⁹ or, in other words, verbally or textually criticize someone’s work or a situation. Yes, whether you’re a teacher, editor, student, or amateur critic, knowing how to constructively analyze someone’s work is a useful skill. There isn’t a magical formula for writing a commentary. The commentary you write depends upon what you’re reviewing, why you’re giving feedback, and what you think about the work. No matter what you’re working on, having a clear goal and strong writing will help make your commentary successful.

Define your thesis. In many high school and college courses you will be asked to write a literary commentary. This assignment requires you to evaluate a piece of literature, most often a novel, poem, or play. The key part of a successful commentary is a strong, clear thesis statement.

• Maybe you are writing a commentary on Great Expectations. Your thesis could be, “Not only is Dickens’ tale engaging, it is also an insightful commentary on the differences between social classes in industrial Britain.”

Introduce your topic. An introductory paragraph will help you to remain focused on the key points as you write. For example, include an introduction where you provide the context for the work and state your thesis, followed by analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, themes, etc. Then wrap up with a short conclusion of the importance of the topic.

• You might start by saying, “Great Expectations is full of imagery that makes the reader feel as if they are in 19th century England with Pip. Dickens’ novel about class, ambition, and love sheds important light on the social divides of the time.”
• You could then list the themes that you will discuss in the body of your commentary.

Use specific examples to support your thesis. State an issue or theme you’ve identified, show where you’ve found it in the work, then explain what effect the issue or theme has on the work. You might feel that Miss Havisham’s obsession with lost love is an important theme in Great Expectations.

• An excellent specific example to illustrate this theme is pointing out that the character remains in her wedding dress, despite being jilted decades before.

Connect your examples back to the theme. When you use specific examples, make sure that you clearly illustrate how it connects back to the larger theme. You are using Miss Havisham’s wedding dress as an example of the grief that comes with a lost love. Your reader will appreciate you clearly explaining why that is important.

• You might write something like, “Miss Havisham is an example of the theme that love can sometimes go terribly wrong. This is also an important theme when examining the relationship between Pip and Estella.”
• Make sure to use smooth transitions. When you move to a new example, use a good transition word or phrase. Some examples are “similarly”, “conversely”, and “again”.

Write a strong conclusion. Your conclusion is the piece that will tie the rest of your commentary together. You might want to include a summary of your argument. You should also indicate why the piece of text that you read is important.

Cite your sources. If you used information from other sources, cite them according the guidelines for the assignment or publication. For instance, any quotes should be cited. Make a separate “Works Cited” section at the bottom of the commentary for this information.

EXAMPLE: ME AS A FUTURE PARENT BY MAKAI B.³⁰

Life is never easy. But our parents make it seem as easy. And that’s why most of us look up to them because they make a big impact on her life. So when you grow up are you gonna be like your parent? I’ll tell you what I think about this question.

Growing up we are told to look up to our parents. They are role models so the question was asked “ Will I become one of my parents in the future?’’ and I answered yes. The reason why I will turn it to one of my parents because my parents are kind of loving people. They are always wanted your time to volunteer their time. They’re always there to listen to you. My parent’s career is different from mine because I’m going to the medical field. Where my dad does odds and ends jobs, Whereas my mom does have a degree in nursing so I guess it’s kind of the same. I will raise my family differently because I want to go on more family trips whereas my family didn’t due to personal issues. In psychology, children develop learned behavior and it starts from childhood so I believe I will follow the same path but a little bit more curves, but not so many detours.

In conclusion, Most people don’t want to end up following their parents and some do, but I believe every individual has their own path. It doesn’t matter how you were raised it only matters how you finish your life and are you proud of what you doing. Parents are there to set us an example of what life is capable of. No matter the bends or the detours. What matters is family and if you stayed together you can go through anything.

Assignments or Questions to Consider

When it comes to the future: Are Americans getting smarter, or the opposite? How do you know either way? At the minimum, include the following criteria:

• Some sort of structure: intro, body, conclusion
• An argumentative thesis
• Three pieces of evidence that back your thesis

29 “How to Write a Commentary.” Co-authored by Alexander Peterman, MA, Education. Updated: April 23, 2019 https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Commentary. Under an CC-BY-NC-SA License, wikiHow's text content is free to modify, republish and share.

30 Thank you Makai, a student from the spring 2020 semester.