Sample Outline essay SOW

Opening paragraph:

Have one or two sentences of background here

The noblest characters in Yukio Mishima’s The Sound of Waves have close ties to nature, and personification, vivid imagery, contrasting descriptions, and  serve to clarify the many ways in which nature works in the lives of the character.

 

Sample outline:

I.               Shinji is an intelligent character: personification

A. He is not intelligent in the usual way p. 7

B. Personification: the ocean “bestows intelligence upon him” (7)

 

 

II.           Shinji is able to stay peaceful due to connection with nature/

A. When he is disturbed by his meeting with Shinji, his connection to nature restores him p. 13

B. vivid imagery: A description of the rough seas immediately follows, and we see how Shinji is like a boat smoothly navigating rough seas (13)

 

III.        Shinji is unlike a city boy and can deal with problems and people well due to connection with nature.

A. Vivid imagery: Recovers easily from harm (112)

B. Contrasting imagery: When he is teased he does not take offense the way a city boy would (112)

 

IV. Review main ideas: point out how Shinji’s connection to nature allows him to triumph in the end. The island (nature) had protected them (182). But since Shinji is also a part of nature, his own strength “tided” him through (183).