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The Classroom as Site of Play and Imagination in Charles Baxter's Short Story "Gryphon"

This essay on Charles Baxter's short story "Gryphon" emphasizes the child narrator's perspective in interpreting the lessons the substitute teacher, Miss Ferenczi, shares with both the characters of the story and, by extension, the story's readers. These amount to an argument against binary thinking that helps Tommy, the narrator, become interested in learning.
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This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

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This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

More essays like this:

Not sure what I'd do without @Kibin
- Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University
Exactly what I needed.
- Jenna Kraig, student @ UCLA
Wow. Most helpful essay resource ever!
- Chris Stochs, student @ UC Berkeley

View other essays like this one:

Bridget's feedback:

"I appreciate how your discussion aligns with the story's focus on a child's point of view. (Personally, and from a more distant position, in a post-truth world, Miss Ferenczi's profundities become a little harder to swallow.) I mention this because at first I wondered if your interpretation purposefully eschews a different reading of the text, but as I reviewed the essay, I see that your opening establishes a consistent approach that is maintained across the paragraphs. While I still wonder if counterarguments would deepen the discussion, I think you're onto something in focusing on the positive impact on Tommy and noting the contrast between how the town is described and what the substitute brings.

I will recommend streamlining down the opening: introducing the story title and author more than halfway through the paragraph is a big demand for your reader. Help them find their feet earlier so they can focus on the discussion.

You show a good impulse in clarifying where you've sourced details from the text. You may not need each of those parentheticals; check your style guide for details: for example, if a sentence cites from the same page twice, you may be able to provide that information once at the end. As a final note, double-check your page numbers, as there seem to be some inconsistencies."

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