Um... my professor said my essay "lacks argument." I thought an argument was a fight? 😅 Help!

[Tommy]

Okay, so I got my first college essay back and... I don't even know what happened. In high school, I always got A's on my essays. I did the same thing here—introduced the topic, wrote five paragraphs about it, wrapped it up nicely. And my professor wrote in big red letters: "This is summary, not argument. Where is YOUR claim?"

I'm so confused . I thought the claim was, like, the topic? I wrote about symbolism in The Great Gatsby. Isn't that the argument? That the book has symbolism?

My roommate laughed at me and said "no, you have to actually argue something, not just describe what's in the book." But I don't get it. Argue what? Everyone knows the green light means something. What else is there to say?

I have to rewrite it and I'm panicking. How do you even "argue" about a book? Do I pick a fight with it? "Hey Gatsby, your parties are superficial and you're actually kind of pathetic?" Is that an argument?

Please tell me other freshmen are struggling with this. I feel so dumb right now.

 

[LaraFlores]

An argument = a claim that someone could reasonably disagree with.

"The Great Gatsby uses symbolism" = not arguable (everyone agrees).
"Gatsby's parties symbolize the emptiness of the American Dream" = arguable (someone could say they symbolize something else).

See the difference? You're not just describing what's there. You're INTERPRETING what it MEANS. And your interpretation might be different from someone else's.