Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

The Prompt:
The Dinner Party tells a story about a social gathering in India. Read the
story. Then write an essay in which you discuss how the author uses the
characters in the story to express a message. Support your ideas with
examples and details from the story. Do not merely summarize the story.
Remember that your response will be evaluated in two wayson your
understanding of the story and on the quality of your writing.
The Model Essay:
Grace Under Pressure
In the short story The Dinner Party, Mona Gardner uses a small
gathering in India to get across her message that women can have every
bit as much nerve as men. The story includes a short conversation between
guests at a dinner party and a dangerous encounter with a cobra. As the
action unfolds, the author uses three of her characters to help get across
her important message about men and women.
An opinionated colonel introduces the storys theme. During his
debate with a young girl, he claims that a womans unfailing reaction in
any crisis is to scream, expressing a belief that women are weaker than
men. The young girl who argues with the colonel speaks out for women,
but the colonel has the last word: While a man may feel like [screaming],
he has that ounce more of nerve control than a woman has. And that last
ounce is what counts. With this friendly argument between two guests at
the dinner party, Gardner has set up a conflict between two ways of
viewing men and women.
At this point, the story shifts to an American guest at the dinner party.
This gentleman notices that his hostess, Mrs. Wynnes, is sitting as rigidly
as possible. Then, she quietly instructs a servant to put a bowl of milk out
on the veranda, and the Americanknowing that milk is a bait for
snakesrealizes that a cobra is in the room. His first impulse is to jump
back and warn the otherskind of like the impulse to scream mentioned
earlier by the colonel. But the American lives up to the colonels image of
Introduction
Title, author, and theme
Main-idea statement
BodyPoint 1
Literary evidence
Elaboration on meaning
Point 2
Literary evidence
Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
a man. He resists the impulse to panic and instead keeps the other guests
safe by challenging them to sit without speaking or moving while he
counts to 300. When the cobra slithers out to the bowl of milk, the
American slams the door to insure everyones safety. He seems to have
proven the colonel correctthat men do have that ounce more of nerve
control.
The story isnt over, though. The American wants to know how the
hostess knew there was a cobra in the room. As the guests shift their
attention to her, Mrs. Wynnes makes a startling admission. How did she
know the snake was in the room? Because it was crawling across my
foot. These are the storys last words, and with them Mrs. Wynnes has
revealed that ounce more of nerve control the colonel thought belonged
only to men.
By showing her readers how Mrs. Wynnes and the American behave
under pressure, Mona Gardner challenges the colonels old-fashioned
view of men and women. He might think that men are better under stress
than women, but this story seems to prove him wrong. Both the hostess
and her American guest have grace under pressure. Why not admire them
both?
Elaboration on meaning
Point 3
Literary evidence
Elaboration on meaning
Conclusion
Restatement of thesis
Clincher statement