midterm essay

Midterm Exam -- English 241 – Dr. McCrimmon – Fall 2015 Part One: Close Reading (60 pts.) Note: Don’t be thrown by the length of these instructions. I’m just trying to give you some good strategies for close reading. You might use some of these for your major essay, in fact. I would prefer that you do your work on this “take-home” exam independently. You should not have to use outside, secondary sources on this exam, although dictionaries such as the OED online (available as a database through our library) may help you to clarify certain word usages. My expectation is that you will generally be able to draw from the experience you have had thus far as a reader and writer in the course. You are being asked to perform a “close reading” of each passage below. First, take notes on each passage by carefully applying the following five analytical moves:

 suspend judgment (understand before you judge);

 define significant parts and how they’re related;

 look for patterns of repetition and contrast and anomaly;

 make the implicit explicit (convert to direct statement meanings that are suggested indirectly);

 keep reformulating questions and explanations. (Rosenwasser and Stephen, Writing Analytically, p. 41)

Then consider another set of questions as you continue to study and write about each passage closely:

 The question of evidence, or "How do we know what we know?"

 The question of viewpoint in all its multiplicity, or "Who's speaking?"

 The search for connection and patterns, or "What causes what?"

 Supposition, or "How might things have been different?"

 Why any of it matters, or "Who cares?" (Debbie Meier, “Habits of Mind”) Return to the Reader’s Toolkit on the wiki for any other techniques (besides the two above) that seem appropriate to the task of close reading. After you have thoroughly annotated these passages to your satisfaction, convert your notes into a response that addresses both form (style, structure, genre, voice, attitude toward audience and subject, etc.) and content (what's actually being said; how the substance of the passage relates and fits into the text as a whole; also how the content of the passage and text fits into the larger historical and cultural context). Don’t confuse the moves above with a recipe or a simple set of questions to answer. There is no perfect answer; your response will be assessed based on the extent to which you are able to sustain an interesting analysis of these passages in your own voice. The more analytical work you do on each passage, the better each answer will be. There are no prescribed length expectations or limitations on Part One or Part Two, but it’s generally a good idea not to hold anything back. If you have much to say, go ahead and say it. Each of the six close readings is worth 10 points, and the Part Two essay question is worth 40 points.

1. John Smith, “Description of New England” (Collection 1) Who can desire more content, that hath small means; or but only his merit to advance his fortune, than to tread, and plant that ground he hath purchased by the hazard of his life? If he have but the taste of virtue, and magnanimity, what to such a mind can be more pleasant, than planting and building a foundation for his Posterity, got from the rude earth, by God’s blessing & his own industry, without prejudice to any? If he have any grain of faith or zeal in Religion, what can he do less hurtful to any; or more agreeable to God, than to seek to convert those poor Salvages to know Christ, and humanity, whose labors with discretion will triple requite thy charge and pains? What so truly suits with honor and honesty, as the discovering things unknown? Erecting Towns, peopling Countries, informing the ignorant, reforming things unjust, teaching virtue; & gain to our Native mother-country a kingdom to attend her; find employment for those that are idle, because they know not what to do: so far from wronging any, as to cause Posterity to remember thee; and remembering thee, ever honor that remembrance with praise? 2. Anne Bradstreet, “To Her Father with Some Verses” (Collection 2)

Most truly honoured, and as truly dear, If worth in me or ought I do appear, Who can of right better demand the same Than may your worthy self from whom it came? The principal might yield a greater sum, Yet handled ill, amounts but to this crumb; My stock's so small I know not how to pay, My bond remains in force unto this day; Yet for part payment take this simple mite, Where nothing's to be had, kings loose their right. Such is my debt I may not say forgive, But as I can, I'll pay it while I live; Such is my bond, none can discharge but I, Yet paying is not paid until I die. 3. Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, Part II (Collection 3)

My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by mentioning several instances; I determined endeavouring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list) giving an extensive meaning to the word. I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing to be so or so; or it so appears to me at present. When another asserted something that I thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there appear'd or seem'd to me some

difference, etc. I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I engag'd in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos'd my opinions procur'd them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily prevail'd with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the right. And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me.

4. Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” (Collection 4)

I have heard it asserted by some, that as America has flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true; for I answer roundly that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power taken any notice of her. The commerce by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe. 5. Judith Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes” (Collection 5)

"But our judgment is not so strong--we do not distinguish so well." Yet it may be questioned, from what doth this superiority, in this discriminating faculty of the soul, proceed? May we not trace its source in the difference of education, and continued advantages? Will it be said that the judgment of a male of two years old, is more sage than that of a female's of the same age? I believe the reverse is generally observed to be true. But from that period what partiality! how is the one exalted and the other depressed, by the contrary modes of education which are adopted! the one is taught to aspire, and the other is early confined and limited. As their years increase, the sister must be wholly domesticated, while the brother is led by the hand through all the flowery paths of science. Grant that their minds are by nature equal, yet who shall wonder at the apparent superiority, if indeed custom becomes second nature; nay if it taketh place of nature, and that it doth, the experience of each day will evince. 6. Angelina Grimke, “Appeal to Christian Women of the South” (Collection 6) Respected Friends, It is because I feel a deep and tender interest in your present and eternal welfare that I am willing thus publicly to address you. Some of you have loved me as a relative, and some have felt bound to me in Christian sympathy, and Gospel fellowship; and even when compelled by a strong sense of duty, to break those outward bonds of union which bound us together as members of the same community, and members of the same religious denomination, you were generous enough to give me credit, for sincerity as a Christian, though you believed I had been most strangely deceived. I thanked you then for your kindness, and I ask you now, for the sake of former confidence, and former friendship, to read the following pages in the spirit of calm investigation and fervent prayer. It is because you have known me, that I write thus unto you. But there are other Christian women scattered over the Southern States, a very large number of whom have never seen me, and never heard my name, and who feel no interest whatever in me. But I feel an interest in you, as branches of the same vine from whose root I daily draw the principle of spiritual vitality.

7. Essay (40 pts.): BEST PRACTICES IN ARGUMENTATION Choose the writer we’ve read so far who, in your opinion, has been the most successful at persuasion/argument, given the original audience, purpose, and topic (e.g. rhetorical situation). Make sure you discuss and interpret these rhetorical factors at length before going on to defend your choice. Remember that persuasion/argument, as I've been defining it (after Aristotle's Rhetoric), is the attempt to use language in a strategic way in order to forge the most effective relationship between writer (or speaker), reader (or listener) and topic. Persuasion/argument, as you know from the Questions for Annotations and Blog Entries, can also be examined as the strategic use and balancing of four basic types of rhetorical appeals:

 Logos (reason, facts, logic, statistics, etc.)

 Pathos (emotion, fear, hope, etc.)

 Ethos (credibility and authority of the writer/speaker)

 Mythos (commonly shared cultural texts or values like religion or patriotism)

Feel free to use the brief definitions of these four appeals as you develop your response, citing examples from the text, if possible. In closing, you could discuss what lessons you’ve learned about persuasion in general from this writer’s model use of rhetoric. What “best practices” does this writer display that might be useful to you as a productive worker and student, as a citizen of a democracy, or as a member of a family? Note: As an alternative, you could choose the writer who you feel was least successful at persuasion and do the entire question for that person and text.