"Chew Upon This": Digesting Your Quotes

                           

                       

Ever watch people who, as the expression goes, “inhale their food”?  They ram in the forkful, let’s say, of mac-and-cheese, and swallow it all in one big gulp.  Often, there are sound effects—glub, ugh, doink. Their plate is clean and they’re pushing back from the table by the time the tips of your tines tickle your lips. These folks get indigestion, bloated bellies, and constipation. They overeat and are still malnourished, as they never enjoy the pleasure of savoring a morsel. They don’t do what you need to do—chew, mash, lubricate the food in your mouth.

            Similarly, I can tell without reading a word when a paper is bloated and, as it were, constipated.  Long quotes pad the paper.  The short paragraphs that follow have no quote marks to indicate detailed reference to the larger quote.  These papers are mere annotative summaries that don’t honestly reach the page requirements which all students insist on requesting. The problem is that the quotes, of whatever length, are undigested.

            Here is an example from student Danielle’s paper on Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens that does digest its quote. This excerpt starts with these words of the character Apemantus addressing Ladies dressed as Amazons at a costume party:

            They dance? They are madwomen.

            Like madness is the glory of this life

            …

            With poisonous spite and envy.

            Who lives that’s not depraved or depraves? (1.2.132-139)

             First, notice that Danielle does not—and, again, I’m trading on a cliché, “bite off more than she can chew.”  Instead of quoting all seven lines of the portion which she is considering, she places an ellipsis (…) where she has left out three lines.  She has cut a portion of her tofu steak that’s easily chewed.  As writers, it is our responsibility—and dare I use a hyperbole—our glory, to decide for our readers what’s important to consider. 

            Danielle follows her quote with these remarks:

            Notice that Timon says words like “poisonous,” “spite,” and “envy”—these are violent words that characterize the women as vile and dangerous.  He also uses “deprave” and “mad” in two separate contexts.  The word “deprave” derives from “perverse” and “crooked,” speaking about the women as if they were prostitutes.  “Madwomen” and “madness” question literally, their sanity—the cleanliness of their bodies and minds. Apemantus’s word choices all speak to his abrasive personality and his focus on all that is wrong with mankind.  Since these words are insulting, it shows the reader how Apemantus has little concern for others’ feelings when speaking to them.

Even here, I’m not quoting all of Danielle’s paper and commenting “Danielle digests her quotes” and then leaving it up to you to figure out how she does it and how you might emulate her.  I have already pointed out that she limits her quote—partially digests the play for us—to help us to better savor (yes, I’m usually a gustatory word) it.  I’m adding that Danielle contextualizes the quote by telling us several things: who is speaking, Apemantus; who Apemantus is addressing, the Ladies dressed as Amazons; and where Apemantus is speaking, “the costume party.” Danielle also quotes small portions of the quote, and offers us interpretations of the words and how they apply to her point of view on the scene.  In this paragraph, I am also illustrating how to digest quotes.

To recap, this is how to digest quotes:

(1)   Carefully select your quote

(2)   Limit the size of your quote, using ellipses where necessary

(3)   Contextualize the quote and its place in the larger text, including relevant character,

place, and story

(4)   Properly format the quote with line-endings for poetry, preferably indented for easy

reference

(5)    Explicate the quote using a variety close-reading strategies, such as binary

opposition, content analysis, diction, etymology, sound, rhythm, allusions, critical

approach, critical articles

(6)   Quote small portions of the quotation to illustrate your interpretation

Now that I have illustrated and detailed—digested—the process, discern how student Kathy employs these strategies as she compares Biblical Job to Timon of Athens. Kathy has just detailed her interpretation of Biblical Job’s humility, in order to contrast it with Timon’s ambition:

            …When one of Timon’s friends, Ventidius, is imprisoned for a debt, Timon is quick

            to pay it for him by saying,

                        My friend when he must need me

                        …

                        I’ll pay the debt and free him. (1.1.107-109)

             …Timon shows his ambition by making his charitable work all about himself.

            He does this through his use of the words, “My,” “me,” “I’ll”…to make himself

            look and feel dominant.

            To not digest your quotes for your reader is like stuffing them with a bowl of mac-and-cheese or then pouring a bottle of Mountain Dew down their throats.  At best, what you are saying is “Here!  You go back and figure it out!”  That’s not exactly courteous or user friendly to your prospective readers who want to be nourished by your wisdom, who want to relish, as in this case, our great literary masterpieces. And, I know, I know—I just asked you to digest Kathy’s excerpt, but that’s very different.  I’m asking you to digest it, not posturing that I already have.

            And now, as Brutus puts it to Cassius in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar,

                                 “Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this…”

Works Cited:

Cover Art: www.kalw.org