PATTERNS PLUS

A Short Prose Reader

with Argumentation
PATTERNS PLUS
A Short Prose Reader
with Argumentation
Third Edition

Mary Lou Conlin

CuyahogaCommunityCollege

Houghton Mifflin Company Boston

Dallas Geneva, Illinois Palo Alto
Princeton, New Jersey
 Contents

Preface
1 The Basics of Paragraphs and Essays

2 Narration 11
Paragraphs
Geography Elizabeth Bishop 17
The writer remembers grade-school geography lessons
and her efforts to apply them to the real geography
around her.
Grandma's Last Day Ivan Doig 19
Grandma left life as she lived it: -friendly, involved,
and
The Discovery of Coca-Cola E. /. Kahn, Jr. 21
A chance discovery turns a new patent medicine into
America's favorite soft drink.
Through the Ice Deborah 24
Acknowledgments for reprinted materials begin on page 423.
The writer recounts her observations and sensations from
Cover art and photograph: Maria McCormick-Snyder, 1990. a childhood fall through the ice.
Freedom Iu-choi Chan (Student) 26
A young Chinese man tells of his desperate but unsucces-
Copyright © 1990 by Houghton Mifflin Company. AH rights reserved. ful attempt to achieve freedom and seek a better life.
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, Essays
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information
storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the copyright owner Learning to Write Russell Baker 28
unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. With the exception A renowned essayist remembers his first, bold answer to
of non-profit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin is not authorized to grant per- what would become his calling.
mission for further uses of copyrighted selections reprinted in this text without the per-
mission of their owners. Permission must be obtained from the individual copyright A Very Basic Decision Mary Mebane 32
owners as identified herein. Address requests for permission to make copies of Hough-
ton Mifflin material to College Permissions, Houghton Miffiin Company, One Beacon At an all-black college in the 1950s, a young woman
Street, Boston, MA 02108. struggles to overcome a surprising form of prejudice.
Printed in the U.S.A. The Jeaning of America—and the World Carin C. Quinn 36
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 89-80930 The world's favorite pants, after an amazing rise to s
have come to symbolize the American way of life.
ISBN: 0-395-51691-9
BCDEFGHIJ-B-96543210 Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? Paul Theroux 40
A world traveler meets a member of a younger generation
S
self-centered and opinionated troubles him.
 A Brother's Murder Brent Staples 47 The Monster Deems Taylor 87
A journalist covers a grim beat—the young, angry, poor, This man was probably as wicked as any man can be,
and violent dwellers of the inner city—and does so from but he was redeemed by one gift.
insider's sense of frustration. Rock of Ages Joan Didion 93
The Deli Carmen Machin (Student) 51 A visit to the legendary prison at Alcatraz several years
A woman writes of her firsthand experiences—both after it was closed, leaves this essayist with a curiously
expected and unexpected—of running a small food store peaceful feeling.
in a big-city neighborhood. This Man Has Expired Robert Johnson 97
Although witnessing a death is a disturbing and often
experience, the author allows the reader to observe the
3 Description 55 last moments of a convicted criminal's life.
Winter Donald Hall 101
Paragraphs
Hall describes the wonders—some terrible, some
A Baseball Annie Dillard tranquil—of winter.
A baseball is more than an object; it's part of the sensation
Limbo Rhonda S. Lucas (Student) 104
and excitement of the game.
Seeing familiar objects in a new setting after her parents'
The Stinging Cell John Hersey 64
divorce teaches this young woman a lesson about life.
Hersey describes an amazingly intricate and minute

The Coffee Plantation Isak Dinesen Examples 107

As Dinesen describes the work of growing coffee; she Paragraphs
makes us feel her love and pride in it. The Pencil Rack John Ciardi 111
The Subway Station Gilbert Highet A writer itemizes everything he finds in the catch-all
The author finds humanity's underside as fascinating pencil rack on his desk.
and vital as its more attractive surface. The Shoe as a Strategic Weapon Alison Lurk 113
The Sperm Whale Barry Holstun Lopez 71 The shoe is a weapon in the battle of the sexes, says,
Utilizing numbers as well as words, the author describes Lurie; her argument is startling but thought-provoking.
an awesome creature. Halloween Party Lillian Ross 115
The Carnival Edward Hoagland 73 Ross provides a tongue-in-cheek shopping list for her
Hoagland describes the dizzy world of such carnival son's Halloween party.
rides as the Octopus, the Round-up, and the Scrambler A Cowboy's Courage Gretel Erlich 117
Tumalo from The New Yorker 75 Erlich shows that a cowboy's courage and grit take some
Tumalo is a town you might say was nondescript, unless unexpected forms.
you looked closely.
Essays
Peace and Quiet Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) 77
Wrappings Andy Rooney 119
A young mother finds that the peace and quiet she thought
she wanted so much does not live up to her expectations We put layer upon layer of coverings on things to protect
them, then we add more coverings to protect the protec-
Essays tion, until everything is obscured in wrappings.
Dawn Watch }ohn Ciardi 79 Down with the Forests Charles Kuralt 122
A poet describes the beauty of morning's first hours when Some of the products we all use freely are contributing
the garden glows, and the wild things are not yet driven to the destruction of the forests we claim to love.
away by the noises of the day.
August Andrei Codrescu 124
I Love Washington David McCullough 84 Codrescu shows that August is a month when people
The writer describes Washington in intimate detail and, are delirious and sluggish, desperate, and complacent all
in the process, tells us something about himself. at once.
 Back to the Dump Russell Baker 126
Three Disciplines for Children John Holt 175
Baker regrets the necessity of having to constantly
Holt presents an organizational scheme for the iearning
relearn one's beliefs. experiences of childhood.
Television and Work Peggy Charren and Martin Sandier 130
Why Do People Own Handguns? Pete Shields 179
Television projects a vision of people at work that is false,
The author—whose son was murdered with a handgun—
but a vision that watchers believe.
takes a reasonable look at what he believes to be
The Family/Career Priority Problem Ellen Goodman 133 unreasonable behavior.
Is it possible to combine a successful career with a happy
family life?
My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137
6 C o m p a r i s o n a n d Contrast 187
A daughter details the boundless energy of her mother—
a Depression-era farmer and mother of eight—who, ac- Paragraphs
cording to society at large, "never worked." Children of Two Nations Brenda David 194
"never worked." A young woman who has taught both Italian and
American children compares their attitudes and abilities.
5 Classification and Division 143 Two Views of Time Robert Grudin 196
Grudin offers two intriguing perspectives on our percep-
Paragraphs tion of time.
The Three New Yorks E. B. White 149
The Natural Superiority of Women Ashley Montagu 198
This writer counts three ways of using America's largest Montagu argues the case that men may make better
city—to live, to work, and to dream. sprinters, but women are the marathoners in life.
Silence Beryl Markham 151 Civilization and Education James Baldwin 200
An adventurer, aviator, and chronicler of her own life Most of our actions and feelings can be classified as private
writes about the nuances of silence that she's known. or public, part of the family or part of the state.
The American Language Robert Hendrickson 153
Essays
How much of "American English" is pure Anglo-Saxon
English, and why? Two Towns in Delaware Charles Kuralt 202
155 This noted reporter explores how two completely different
No More Bad Bugs Colin McEnroe
towns developed from similar beginnings.
McEnroe spoofs the complex classification of "bad bugs."
Nursing Practices—England and America Mary Madden 204
Essays A nurse who has worked in hospitals in both England and
The Plot Against People Russell Baker 157 America discusses the pros and cons of the nursing profes-
There are three different kinds of inanimate objects, but sion in both countries.
they all have one goal—to frustrate the people who want The Difference Between a Brain and a Computer Isaac Asimov 208
to use them. The difference is getting smaller. Be prepared for some
Friends, Good Friends—and Such Good Friends Judith Viorst 160 surprises, says this well-known science writer.
From early childhood on, we divide real friends from Computers Lewis Thomas 211
school friends and best friends from just friends. Viorst now
Thomas assures us that computers won't supersede human
offers us a few more varieties in which to classify friendship.
beings, provided we don't abandon our humanness.
Fatigue Jane Brody 166
Through the One-Way Mirror Margaret Atwood 215
Fatigue may be a symptom of medical problems, but more A Canadian writer compares Canadian-American relations
often it is a symptom of the way we live. to a rather warped mirror reflection.
The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding Alice Kahn 170
Women and Men Scott Russell Sanders 219
Kahn provides today's "beast"-feeding mothers (and Sanders remembers the roles of men and women as he saw
fathers) with a new kind of nutritional system: the them during his youth, and he compares this perception to
seven basic junk food groups. the dialogue he hears between men and women today.
 Mistaken Ideas About College Kimberly Ordway (Student) 222 Why Eat Junk Food? Judith Wurtman 272
It is said you expect the worst and you will be surprised. Junk food tastes good—but Wurtman believes there's more
This student certainly expected the worst, and she was to its appeal.
astonished.
Scourge of the Budworm Tracy Kidder 274
The budworm epidemic has severe economic and environ-
7 Process 225 mental consequences.
Bonding at Birth Douglas A. Bernstein et al. 276
Paragraphs
Hospital procedures after a birth have a profound impact
Insert Flap "A" and Throw Away S. /. Perelman on the development of the bond between mother and infant.
Perelman recounts his desperate attempts to complete a
harrowing process: the assembly of a Jiffy-Cloz closet. On Being Unemployed Nelliejean Smith (Student) 278
A young woman tells from bitter experience what it means
Mastering Scrabble Barry Chamish 231 to lose a job.
No one is a natural scrabble master; it takes training and
memorization to create the crucial word connections. Essays
The Right Way to Eat an Ice-Cream Cone L. Rust Hills 233 It Took This Night to Make Us Know Bob Greene 280
Hills has obviously studied the problem for years, and After hearing about a brutal attack on young athletes at
now he offers the definitive method. the 1972 summer Olympics, a Jewish journalist thinks hard
about who he is and where he comes from.
The Cook Barbara Lewis (Student)
This student describes her complicated and hectic two-hour job. The Whoomper Factor Nathan Cobb 283
What happens to people when a big blizzard closes down
Essays their entire city?
Think Thin and Get Thin Junius Adams 237 My First Lesson in How to Live as a Negro Richard Wright 286
The author thinks that seven steps can help you lose Wright recalls his first experience of racial cruelty, and the
weight and keep it off. bitterness of its acceptance.
g Alone in Restaurants Bruce Jay Friedman 242 : The Bounty of the Sea Jacques Cousteau 289
The author of The Lonely Guy's Guide to Life explains how Cousteau describes the terrible effects the death of the oceans
to pull off the seemingly impossible—and do it with style. would have on the earth—a process that has already begun.
Obtaining Power Michael Korda 248 The Thirsty Animal Brian Manning 292
Here are five not-so-simple steps to getting what you A recovering alcoholic remembers his plunge into alcohol
in your work and in your life. abuse and describes the scars and symptoms that will
How to Put Off Doing a Job Andy Rooney 252 never go away.
The 60 Minutes humorist provides some guidelines for The Arctic Forest Barry Holstun Lopez 296
goofing off. Lopez finds some of the intricate connections of nature in
Portraits of a Cop N. R. Kleinfield 255 the lives of arctic trees.
Kleinfield observes a remarkable artist at work.
Pithing a Frog Irene Szurley (Student) 259
A student gives a new look to a process many students 9 Definition 299
take for granted. The author is angry, and she wants to make Paragraphs
us angry too.
The Ultimate Kitchen Gadget Robert Capon 304
There is one gadget that has not yet been advertised on
8 Cause and Effect 263 television.
"I Love You" Robert C. Solomon 306
Paragraphs
Solomon reminds us that those "three little words" can
A Momentous Arrest Martin Luther King, Jr. 270 have an extraordinary range of meanings.
The author, a great civil rights leader, remembers the A Cake of Corpses Scott Russell Sanders 308
courageous act of a tired woman who had had enough.
How is limestone like a layer cake of corpses?
 Grandparents Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) 310
Merrill believes we take grandparents too much for granted, Essays
and she tells us just how much these important people Excuses, Excuses Helen C. Vo-Dinh 354
enrich our Something is missing from American schoolrooms—
Essays the students.
Baseball's Hot Dogs Jim Kaplan 312 So That Nobody Has to Go to School if They Don't Want To
Roger Sipher 358
What is "hot-dogging" in sports? Is it bravado or flair,
or is it just a publicity stunt? Is compulsory schooling a right or an injustice? Sipher
315
thinks we're misusing society's resources, responsibilities,
Defining Success Michael Korda and goals.
The author of Power! and Success! promotes a controversial
Climbing at Its Best Galen Rowell 362
view of what it means to make it in today's world.
318
Climbing with ultimate concentration and exertion creates
It's Failure, Not Success Ellen Goodman an exceptional state of mind for the climber.
A newspaper columnist strongly disagreed with Korda's
The Spreading Use of Steroids Jane Brody 365
definition of success. From her own and others' research, Brody concludes that
322
What Is Intelligence, Anyway? Isaac Asimov steroids are widely used and exceedingly harmful to the user.
Perhaps intelligence should be defined by the practical ;/ Death to the Killers Mike Royko 369
ability to make things work and think things out, not by Royko considers the death penalty justified and suggests
the scores on a standardized test. those opposed to it discuss their feelings with the families
Migraines Joan Didion 325
of murder victims.
Migraines are misunderstood, maligned, and misjudged by 373
many peopie—especially by those who have never had them. -The Death Penalty Is a Step Back Coretta Scott King
Didion provides insight into this excruciating affliction. King argues for abolishing the death penalty, claiming
33C that when society kills its own people, it is ineffective,
What Is a Drug? Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen immoral;, and unjust.
The authors contend that a drug is determined to be good I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr. 376
or bad by a society's culture, not by the drug's effect on
the body. An inspiring voice calls on America to make the rights it
guarantees on paper a reality for all of its citizens.

335
10 Argumentation and Persuasion
11 Extra Readings 383
Paragraphs
344 Blue and Brew Philip Kopper 384
The Inflammable River Vine Deloria, Jr.
This river is a symbol for Deloria of the disastrous In giving his favorite recipe for cooking crabs, the writer
narrates, compares, classifies, and sounds as though he's
disregard non-Indians have had for the land that they having a good time.
"improved."
346 Ode to My Father Tess Gallagher 387
Beer Can John Updike Gallagher recalls her childhood and a later relationship
Updike bemoans the passing of the traditional beer can that develops with her father. Gallagher is allowing us to
and rejects its replacement. see the link between her childhood and the inspiration for
348 her poetry.
The Vandal and the Sportsman Joseph Wood Krutch
According to Krutch, hunting is vandalism under another How It Feels to Be Colored Me Zora Neale Hurston 391
name. Hurston implies that to be black is to be chalienged. Like
350 Richard Wright, Hurston sees a turning point in her life
Eliminate Cars from the National Parks Edwar-d Abbey
when she became conscious of being black; she develops
Abbey makes a strong case for expanding the space in a self awareness of herself that allows her to feel a part of
our national parks. 352 humanity rather than apart from it.
Why National Literacy Is Important E. D. Hirsch Lenses Annie Dillard 395
Hirsch believes literacy is more than reading and writing— The author guides us through a child's impression of the
it's communicating well world of microscopic animals.
 The Momist Manifesto Alice Kahn
Parenting creates a completely new set of concerns and
398
TRematlcTaHe
unites parents around those concerns.
The Dare Roger Hoffmann 402 of Contents
The writer remembers that when hee was young and
confused about his identity a dare turned into a rite of

Your Space Shell? Julius Fast 405

We all try to keep our distance—whatever "our distance"
may be. This writer tells us how and why. 1 Life in America
The First Appendectomy William A. Nolen, M.D. 408 The Discovery of Coca-Cola E. /, Kahn, Jr.
A surgeon tells the story of the first operation he ever 21
The Jeaning of America—and the World Carin C. Quinn 36
performed and of the disaster it nearly became.
Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? Paul Theroux 40
A Brother's Murder Brent Staples 47
Glossary 415
A Baseball Annie Dillard 62
The Carnival Edward Hoagland 73
423
Tumalo from The New Yorker 75
I Love Washington David McCullough 84
Index 429
Rock of Ages Joan Didion 93
This Man Has Expired Robert Johnson 97
Winter Donald Hal! 101
Halloween Party Lillian Ross 115
A Cowboy's Courage Crete! Erlich 117
August Andrei Codrescu 124
Television and Work Peggy Charren and Martin Sandier 130
The Family/Career Priority Problem Ellen Goodman 133
My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137
The Three New Yorks E. B. White 149
The American Language Robert Hendrickson 153
The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding Alice Kahn 170
Children of Two Nations Brenda David 194
Civilization and Education James Baldwin 200
Two Towns in Delaware Charles Kuralt 202
Through the One-Way Mirror Margaret Atwood 215
Women and Men Scott Russell Sanders 219
Portraits of a Cop JV. R. Kleinfield 255
A Momentous Arrest Martin Luther King, Jr. 270
Bonding at Birth Bernstein et al. 276
The Thirsty Animal Brian Manning 292
Baseball's Hot Dogs Jim Kaplan 312
The Inflammable River Vine Deloria, Jr. 344
Beer Can John Updike 346
Eliminate Cars from the National Parks Edward Abbey 350
Why National Literacy is Important E. D. Hirsch 352
 The Spreading Use of Steroids Jane E. Brody 365 Wrappings Andy Rooney 119
I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr. 376 The American Language Robert Hendrickson 153
Blue and Brew Philip Kopper 384 The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding Alice Kahn 170
Ode to My Father Tess Gallagher 387 The Difference Between a Brain and a Computer Isaac Asimov 208
The Dare Roger Hoffmann 398 Computers Lewis Thomas 211
The Momist Manifesto Alice Kahn 402 Insert Flap "A" and Throw Away S. J. Perelman 229
Mastering Scrabble Barry Chamish 231
The Right Way to Eat an Ice-Cream Cone L. Rust Hills 233
Personal Encounters
How to Put Off Doing a Job Andy Rooney 252
Grandma's Last Day Ivan Doig 19 Portraits of a Cop N. R. Kleinfield 255
Learning to Write Russell Baker 28 Beer Can John Updike 346
A Very Basic Decision Mary Mebanc 32 The Dare Roger Hoffmann 398
Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? Paul Theroux 40
A Brother's Murder Brent Staples 47
The Deli Carmen Machin (Student) 51
Racial and Ethnic Issues and Discrimination
This Man Has Expired Robert Johnson 97
Halloween Party Lillian Ross A Very Basic Decision Mary Mebane 32
115
August Andrei Codrescu 124 Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? Paul Theroux 40
137 A Brother's Murder Brent Staples 47
My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel
151 The Deli Carmen Machin (Student) 51
Silence Beryl Markham
The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding Alice Kahn 170 The Shoe as a Strategic Weapon Alison Lurie 113
Three Disciplines for Children John Holt 175 My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137
Through the One-Way Mirror Margaret Atwood 215 Three Disciplines for Children John Holt 175
and Men Scott Russell Sanders 219 Through the One-Way Mirror Margaret Atwood 215
of a Cop N. R. Kleinjield 255 Women and Men Scott Russell Sanders 219
A Momentous Arrest Martin Luther King, Jr. 270 A Momentous Arrest Martin Luther King, Jr. 270
Bonding at Birth Bernstein et al. 276 It Took This Night to Make Us Know Bob Greene 280
The Thirsty Animal Brian Manning 292 My First Lesson in How to Live as a Negro Richard Wright 286
"I Love You" Robert C. Soloman 306 I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr. 376
Baseball's Hot Dogs \im Kaplan 312 How It Feels to Be Colored Me Zora Neale Hurston 391
What Is Intelligence, Anyway? Isaac Asimov 322
Death to the Killers Mike Royko 369
Ode to My Father Tess Gallagher 387 5 The Individual and Society
Lenses Annie Dillard 395
398 Freedom Iu-choi Chan (Student) 26
The Dare Roger Hoffmann
402 Learning to Write Russell Baker 28
The Momist Manifesto Alice Kahn
A Very Basic Decision Mary Mebane 32
A Brother's Murder Brent Staples 47
I Love Washington David McCullough 84
3 Human Ingenuity
The Monster Deems Taylor 87
The Discovery of Coca-Cola E. /. Kahn, Jr. 21 This Man Has Expired Robert Johnson 97
Learning to Write Russell Baker 28 A Cowboy's Courage Gretel Erlkh 117
The Jeaning of America—and the World Carin C. Quinn 36 Down with the Forests Charles Kuralt 122
The Carnival Edward Hoagland 73 Television and Work Peggy Charren and Martin Sandier 130
The Pencil Rack John Ciardi 111 The Family/Career Priority Problem Ellen Goodman 133
Halloween Party Lillian Ross 115 My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137
 "iriree Disciplines ror children John tiolf 175 Down with the Forests Charles Kuralt 122
Why Do People Own Handguns? Pete Shields 179 August Andrei Codrescu 124
Civilization and Education James Baldwin 200 Silence Beryl Markham 151
Nursing Practices—England and America Mary Madden 204 No More Bad Bugs Colin McEnroe 155
Through the One-Way Mirror Margaret Atwood 215 Scourge of the Budworm Tracy Kidder 274
Women and Men Scott Russell Sanders 219 The Bounty of the Sea Jacques Cousteau 289
Eating Alone in Restaurants Bruce Jay Friedman 242 The Arctic Forest Barry Holstun Lopez 296
Obtaining Power Michael Korda 248 A Cake of Corpses Scoff Russell Sanders 308
Portraits of a Cop N. R. Kleinfield 255 The Inflammable River Vine Deloria, Jr. 344
A Momentous Arrest Martin Luther King, Jr. 270 Eliminate Cars from the National Parks Edward Abbey 350
Bonding at Birth Bernstein et al. 276 Climbing at Its Best Galen Rowell 362
On Being Unemployed NeHiejean Smith (Student) 278 Lenses Annie Dillard 395
It Took This Night to Make Us Know Bob Greene 280
The Whoomper Factor Nathan Cobb 283
My First Lesson in How to Live as a Negro Richard Wright 286 7 The Man-Made Environment
The Thirsty Animal Brian Manning 292
Baseball's Hot Dogs Jim Kaplan The Subway Station Gilbert Highet
312
Defining Success Michael Korda The Carnival Edward Hoagland 73
315
It's Failure, Not Success Ellen Goodman I Love Washington David McCullough 84
318
What Is Intelligence, Anyway? Isaac Asimov Rock of Ages Joan Didion 93
322
What Is a Drug? Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen The Three New Yorks E. B. White 149
330
The Vandal and the Sportsman Joseph Wood Krutch Two Towns in Delaware Charles Kuralt 202
348
Eliminate Cars from the National Parks Edward Abbey The Whoomper Factor Nathan Cobb 283
350
Why National Literacy Is Important E. D. Hirsch 352
Excuses, Excuses Helen C. Vo-Dinh 354
So That Nobody Has to Go to School if They Don't Want To
8 Animals and Humans
Roger Sipher 358 The Sperm Whale Barry Holstun Lopez 71
The Spreading Use of Steroids Jane E. Brody 365 Dawn Watch John Ciardi 79
Death to the Killers Mike Royko 369 A Cowboy's Courage Gretel Erlich 117
The Death Penalty Is a Step Back Coretta Scott King 373 No More Bad Bugs Colin McEnroe 155
I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr. 376 Insert Flap "A" and Throw Away S. J. Perelman 229
How It Feels to Be Colored Me Zora Neale Hurston 391 Pithing a Frog Irene Szurley (Student) 259
The Dare Roger Hoffmann 398 Scourge of the Budworm Tracy Kidder 274
The Momist Manifesto Alice Kahn 402 348
The Vandal and the Sportsman Joseph Wood Krutch
Where's Your Space Shell? Julius Fast 405 395
Lenses Annie Dillard

6 The Natural Environment

9 Expectations and Reality
Through the Ice Deborah Digges 24 Geography Elizabeth Bishop 17
The Stinging Cell John Hersey 64 Learning to Write Russell Baker 28
The Coffee Plantation Isak Dinesen 66
The Sperm Whale Barry Holstun Lopez
Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? Paul Theroux 40
71 A Brother's Murder Brent Staples 47
Dawn Watch John Ciardi 79
Winter Donald Hal! The Deli Carmen Machin (Student) 51
"101 Peace and Quiet Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) 77
A Cowboy's Courage Gretel Erlich 117 The Monster Deems Taylor 87
 Rock of Ages Joan Didion 93 Learning to Write Russell Baker 28
This Man Has Expired Robert Johnson 97 A Very Basic Decision Mary Mebane 32
The Pencil Rack John Ciardi 111 A Brother's Murder Brent Staples 47
A Cowboy's Courage Gretel Erlich 117 Peace and Quiet Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) 77
August Andrei Codrescu 124 This Man Has Expired Robert Johnson 97
Back to the Dump Russell Baker 126 Winter Donald Hall 101
Television and Work Peggy Charren and Martin Sandier 130 Limbo Rhonda S. Lucas (Student) 104
The Family/Career Priority Problem Ellen Goodman 133 The Pencil Rack John Ciardi 111
My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137 Back to the Dump Russell Baker 126
The American Language Robert Hendrkkson 153 My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137
No More Bad Bugs Colin McEnroe 155 Mistaken Ideas About College Kimberly Ordway (Student) 222
The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding Alice Kahn 170 A Momentous Arrest Martin Luther King, Jr. 270
Three Disciplines for Children John Holt 175 On Being Unemployed NelHejean Smith (Student) 278
Why Do People Own Handguns? Pete Shields 179 My First Lesson in How to Live as a Negro Richard Wright 286
Two Views of Time Robert Grudin 196 The Thirsty Animal Brian Manning 292
The Natural Superiority of Women Ashley Montagu 198 Grandparents Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) 310
Civilization and Education James Baldwin 200 Beer Can John Updike 346
Women and Men Scoff Russell Sanders 219 Ode to My Father Tess Gallagher 387
Mistaken Ideas About College Kimberly Ordway (Student) 222 How It Feels to Be Colored Me Zora Neale Hurston 391
Insert Flap "A"and Throw Away S. J. Perelman 229 Lenses Annie Dillard 395
Think Thin and Get Thin Junius Adams 237 The Dare Roger Hoffmann 398
Eating Alone in Restaurants Bruce Jay Friedman 242 The First Appendectomy William A. Nolen 408
How to Put Off Doing a Job Andy Rooney 252
It Took This Night to Make Us Know Bob Greene 280 11 Education
The Thirsty Animal Brian Manning 292
The Ultimate Kitchen Gadget Robert Capon 304 Geography Elizabeth Bishop 17
"I Love You" Robert C. Solomon 306 Learning to Write Russell Baker 28
Defining Success Michael Korda 315 -Three Disciplines for Children John Holt 175
It's Failure, Not Success Ellen Goodman 318 Civilization and Education James Baldwin 200
What Is Intelligence, Anyway? Isaac Asimov 322 Computers Lewis Thomas 211
l
Beer Can John Updike 346 AVomen and Men Scott Russell Sanders "^219
Excuses, Excuses Helen C. Vo-Dinh 354 Mistaken Ideas About College Kimberly Ordway (Student) 222
So That Nobody Has to Go to School if They Don't Want To Insert Flap "A" and Throw Away S. J. Perelman 229
Roger Sipher 358 Mastering Scrabble Barry Chamish 231
Climbing at Its Best Galen Rowel! 362 Bonding at Birth Bernstein et al. 276
I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr. 376 The Thirsty Animal Brian Manning 292
Ode to My Father Tess Gallagher 387 " What Is Intelligence, Anyway? Isaac Asimov 322
The Momist Manifesto Alice Kahn 402 Why National Literacy Is Important E. D. Hirsch 352
The First Appendectomy William A. Nolen 408 Excuses, Excuses Helen C. Vo-Dinh 354
So That Nobody Has to Go to School if They Don't Want To
Roger Sipher 358
10 Memories Lenses Annie Dillard 395

Geography Elizabeth Bishop 17

Grandma's Last Day Ivan Doig 19 12 Food for Thought
Through the Ice Deborah Digges 24 The Discovery of Coca-Cola E. /. Kahn, Jr. 21
 Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? Paul Theroux 40 14 Careers
Halloween Party Lillian Ross 115
151 Learning to Write Russell Baker 28
Silence Beryl Markham
170 The Coffee Plantation Isak Dinesen 66
The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding Alice Kahn
233 A Cowboy's Courage Gretel Erlich 117
The Right Way to Eat an Ice-Cream Cone L. Rust Hills
237 Television and Work Peggy Charren and Martin Sandier 130
Think Thin and Get Thin Junius Adams
242 The Family/Career Priority Problem Ellen Goodman 133
Eating Alone in Restaurants Bruce jay Friedman
384 My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137
Blue and Brew Philip Kopper
Nursing Practices—England and America Mary Madden 204
The Cook Barbara Lewis (Student) 235
13 Human Behavior Defining Success Michael Korda 315
It's Failure, Not Success Ellen Goodman 318
Learning to Write Russell Baker 28
The First Appendectomy William A. Nolen 408
The Monster Deems Taylor 87
This Man Has Expired Robert Johnson 97
101
Winter Donald Hall 15 Values
The Pencil Rack John Ciardi 111
The Shoe as a Strategic Weapon Alison Lurie 113 Freedom lu-choi Chan (Student) 26
Halloween Party Lillian Ross 115 Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? Paul Theroux 40
Down with the Forests Charles Kuralt 122 Dawn Watch John Ciardi 79
124 The Monster Deems Taylor 87
August Andrei Codrescu
126 This Man Has Expired Robert Johnson 97
Back to the Dump Russell Baker
137 A Cowboy's Courage Gretel Erlich 117
My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel
157 Back to the Dump Russell Baker 126
The Plot Against People Russell Baker
160 The Family/Career Priority Problem Ellen Goodman 133
Friends, Good Friends—And Such Good Friends Judith Viorst
166 My Mother Never Worked Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137
Fatigue Jane Brody
170 Three Disciplines for Children John Holt 175
The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding Alice Kahn
175 Why Do People Own Handguns? Pete Shields 179
Three Disciplines for Children John Holt
179 Civilization and Education James Baldwin 200
Why Do People Own Handguns? Pete Shields
194 Two Towns in Delaware Charles Kuralt 202
Children of Two Nations Brenda David
198 Nursing Practices—England and America Mary Madden 204
The Natural Superiority of Women Ashley Montagu
204 Computers Lewis Thomas 211
Nursing Practices—England and America Mary Madden
237 Through the One-Way Mirror Margaret Atwood 215
Think Thin and Get Thin Junius Adams 242 219
Eating Alone in Restaurants Bruce Jay Friedman Women and Men Scott Russell Sanders
248 231
Obtaining Power Michael Korda Mastering Scrabble Barry Chamish
259 248
Pithing a Frog Irene Szurley (Student) Obtaining Power Michael Korda
272 252
Why Eat Junk Food? Judith Wurtman How to Put Off Doing a Job Andy Rooney
280 255
It Took This Night to Make Us Know Bob Greene Portraits of a Cop N. R. Kleinfield
283 276
The Whoomper Factor Nathan Cobb Bonding at Birth Bernstein et al.
310 289
Grandparents Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) The Bounty of the Sea Jacques Cousteau
325 292
Migraines Joan Didion The Thirsty Animal Brian Manning
330 306
What Is a Drug? Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen 348 "I Love You" Robert C. Solomon
310
The Vandal and the Sportsman Joseph Wood Krutch 395 Grandparents Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) 312
Lenses Annie Dillard 405 Baseball's Hot Dogs Jim Kaplan 315
Where's Your Space Shell? Julius Fast Defining Success Michael Korda
 It's Failure, Not Success Ellen Goodman 318
The Inflammable River Vine Deloria, Jr.
The Vandal and the Sportsman Joseph Wood Krutch
344
348
Preface
Why National Literacy Is Important E. D. Hirsch 352
Excuses, Excuses Helen C. Vo-Dinh 354
So That Nobody Has to Go to School if They Don't Want To
Roger Sipher 358
The Spreading Use of Steroids jane E. Brody 365
Death to the Killers Mike Royko 369
The Death Penalty Is a Step Back Coretta Scott King 373
I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr. 376 Since its first edition in 1985, Patterns Plus: A Short Prose Reader with
The Dare Roger Hoffmann 398 Argumentation has offered students a variety of high-interest para-
graphs and essays, as well as exceptionally complete and clear study
apparatus. In this third edition, the aim is to preserve and enhance
16 A Humorous Approach the strengths of past editions.
Learning to Write Russell Baker 28
Tumalo from The New Yorker 75
The Pencil Rack John Ciardi 111
New to the Third Edition
Halloween Party Lillian Ross 115 Patterns Plus, Third Edition, strives to give students a variety of models
Wrappings Andy Rooney 119 for their own writing and the stimulus for lively classroom discussion.
Down with the Forests Charles Kuralt 122 Features of the new edition include:
August Andrei Codrescu 124
Back to the Dump Russell Baker 126 • 40 percent new selections. Selections by traditional favorites such
No More Bad Bugs Colin McEnroe 155 as Russell Baker, Elizabeth Bishop, and E. B. White are joined by
The Plot Against People Russell Baker 157 contemporary voices including Zora Neale Hurston, Annie Dillard,
Through the One-Way Mirror Margaret Atwood 215 and Scott Russell Sanders.
Insert Flap "A" and Throw Away S. J. Perelman 229
• Chapter introductions have been completely revised and expanded
The Right Way to Eat an Ice-Cream Cone L. Rust Hills 233
to provide fuller treatment of the writing process.
Eating Alone in Restaurants Bruce Jay Friedman 242
How to Put Off Doing a Job Andy Rooney 252
• End-of-selection apparatus (Questions About the Reading, Ques-
The Ultimate Kitchen Gadget Robert Capon 304 tions About the Writer's Strategy, and Writing Assignments) have
Baseball's Hot Dogs Jim Kaplan 312 been thoroughly revised. Questions now progress from basic com-
What Is Intelligence, Anyway? Isaac Asimov 322 prehension questions to questions with a more analytical focus.
Blue and Brew Philip Kopper 384 • The Glossary has been expanded to include rhetorical and literary
terms presented in the chapter introductions and in the end-of-se-
lection apparatus. Glossary items are now boldfaced throughout
the text for quick indentification.

An Overview of Patterns Plus

Chapter 1, an introductory chapter, describes the basics of paragraphs
and essays. In Chapters 2 through 10, the various techniques in devel-
oping the main idea—narration, description, examples, classification and
division, comparison and contrast, process, cause and effect, definition, and
argumentation and persuasion—are taken up in individual chapters. • The thematic table of contents groups the readings in the text by
These techniques are the traditional rhetorical modes—the strategies for themes such as "The Individual and Society," "Life in America,"
development that have proven effective in providing starting points and "Careers."
for many student writers. Chapter 11, "Extra Readings," contains es- • The Glossary provides definitions of all rhetorical and literary terms
says that illustrate the ways writers combine various modes of devel- boldfaced throughout the chapter introductions and end-of-selec-
opment within a single essay. tion questions.
Professional and student selections in Patterns Plus were specifically
chosen to build students' confidence by showing them that writing a
short, effective composition is within their reach. Selections range Support for Instuctors
from simple, accessible paragraphs to longer, more challenging essays. The Instructor's Manual for Patterns Plus offers instructors a wide vari-
The student writing included throughout the text will make students ety of supplemental materials:
aware of the level of skill they can realistically expect to acquire.
• Part I supplies teaching suggestions that will allow flexibility in de-
The breadth of reading selections also allows the instructor a wide
termining course content and stucture.
choice of topics—from serious and timely discussions about the moral-
• Part II provides suggested answers to the reading comprehension
ity of handguns and hidden racism to light-hearted pieces that reveal
and Writer's Strategies questions appearing at the end of each read-
human foibles. As a stimulus to discussion, two sides of a controver-
ing selection in Chapters 2 through 10.
sial subject are sometimes provided; students will probably respond
• Part III offers suggested questions and answers for the Extra Read-
quite differently to the definitions of success offered by Ellen Good-
ings that are included in Chapter 11.
man and Michael Korda and to views on capital punishment by Coret-
• Part IV includes a list of the reading levels according to the Fry and.
ta Scott King and Mike Royko.
Dale-Chall readability formulas. Reading levels are arranged by
chapter.
Apparatus
Patterns Plus offers a full range of study apparatus: Acknowledgments
I am indebted to the following persons for their help on the third edi-
• Headnotes provide context for each reading selection, helping stu-
tion of the text:
dents to understand and enjoy the selection more easily.
Rose Austin, North Harris County College—East Campus; TX
• "Words to Know" defines unfamiliar words and clarifies allusions
John Bell, New York City Technical College
that might be unfamiliar or regional.
Barbara Blaha, Plymouth State College; NH
• Exercises elicit various levels of thinking from the student:
Mary P. Boyles, Pembroke State University; NC
Questions About the Reading are designed to stimulate thinking Lee Brandon, Mt. San Antonio College; CA
about the selection's meaning— expressed and implied—and Aleeta Paulk Christian, Austin Peay State University; TN
help students gain fuller understanding of the writer's mes- Beverly Cotton, Cerritos College: Norwalk, CA
sage. Marghret DeHart, Trinity Valley Community College; TX
Questions About the Writer's Strategies ask students to discuss the Fannie M. Delk, LeMoyne-Owen College; TN
writer's thesis statement, mode of development, point of view, figura- Sarah L. Dye, Elgin Community College: Elgin, IL
tive language—or whatever strategy is particularly appropriate Marjorie S. Edelen, Harbor College; CA
to a given selection—and thereby promote analytical thinking. Dr. James D. Fullen, Central Ohio Technical College
Writing Assignments are related to the topic or mode of the read- Ursula Isfan, Merritt College; CA
ing selection and are designed to encourage the student to gen- Patricia Kowal, Blackburn College: Carlinville, IL
erate ideas and develop these ideas into paragraphs and essays. Jane Maher, Nassau Community College: Garden City, NY
Beatrice McKinsey, Grambling State University: Grambling, LA
E. Jane Melendez, East Tennessee State University
Gail Mowatt, West Valley College; CA
Betty Payne, Montgomery College: Rockville, MD
John W. Presley, Augusta College; IL
Dennis Sivack, Kingsborough Community College: Brooklyn, NY
Barbara J. Speidell, Southwestern College: Chula Vista, CA PATTERNS PLUS
Janet S. Streepey, Indiana University Southeast
Barbara P. Thompson, Columbus State Community College; OH A Short Prose Reader
Louise M. Tomlinson, University of Georgia with Argumentation
Edward A. Ulrich, Tulsa Junior College
Joyce S. Zaritsky, LaGuardia Community College; NY
Mary Lou Conlin
The Basics
of Paragraphs
and Essays

WRITING IS A way of communicating, and of course you

communicate all the time, mainly by talking to other peo-
ple. Whenever you talk to anyone—a friend, a teacher, an
employer—you want your listener to understand your
ideas as clearly as possible. Usually you make your main
point and then go on to provide some clear examples or
to tell a lively story that clarifies your idea. In any case,
you continue to explain or develop your main idea until
you feel your listener grasps the point you are making.
In your writing, your purpose is similar. You want
your reader to understand your idea—the main point you
are making. Suppose you have an idea that people should
participate in more sports themselves rather than just
watch professional athletes on television. From your own
experience, you think people would benefit from active
exercise rather than passive watching. You will want to
think of clear-cut examples to back up your statement, or
you may want to tell a story about your own energy level
since you began to play more sports and watch less televi-
sion. Perhaps you may want to write a comparison of
how you felt before and after you started playing more
tennis. In whatever way you choose to clarify your idea—
by an example, a story, or a comparison—you want to
state your main idea in a clear and effective manner.
Effective writing, however, is not just your spoken
words put on paper. In writing, you must pay special at-
tention to making your ideas clear and convincing. This

1
 In the sample paragraph that follows, the main idea (or
•book tells you about the strategies and techniques that
topic) of the paragraph is stated in the first sentence.
you can use to produce effective writing. It includes many
paragraphs and essays by other writers—both students Americans are probably the most pain-conscious people
and professionals—that you can study as models for your Topic sentence on the face of the earth. For years we have had it drummed
own writing. By studying the techniques and strategies into us—-in print, on radio, over television, in everyday con-
these writers use to communicate their ideas, and by versation—that any hint of pain is to be banished as though
it were the ultimate evil. As a result, we are becoming a na-
practicing in paragraphs and essays of your own, you can
tion of pill-grabbers and hypochondriacs, escalating the
develop the skill and confidence needed to write effec-
tively on many different subjects. slightest ache into a searing ordeal.
Norman Cousins,
It is important that you learn a variety of writing strat- Anatomy of an Illness
egies because you will find yourself, in school and after-
In the paragraph that follows, the writer has stated the
ward, writing for different purposes, to different types
of audiences, and for varied occasions. Your purpose topic in the first and second sentences.
might be to persuade (perhaps in a memo recommending For as far back as T can remember, people have been say-
a new procedure at work), to instruct (in a description ing the youth of the nation [are] getting soft and losing [their]
Topic sentences
of how you successfully handled a lab assignment), or to moral fiber. 1 just doubt it. They certainly aren't wearing as
inform (in a letter to the editor explaining errors in a much underwear, but I doubt if there's any less moral fiber.
newspaper article). Your audience, or reader, and the oc- Example 1 of I'll bet the very day Andy Robustelli put on his first jock-
main idea strap, some old athlete was saying athletes weren't what they
casion for your writing will vary too. In one situation, Example 2 of used to be. I'll bet the day little Ike Eisenhower was planting
your audience might be fellow students or friends and main idea that sweet corn, someone was saying kids wouldn't work
the occasion an informal activity. Or your audience could anymore.
be your economics or history professor and the occasion Andy Rooney,
"Youth"
an assigned essay or term paper. In each case, you will
need to make choices about the organization, content,
As you become more experienced, you may sometimes
and words you use in your paragraph or essay.
find it effective to place the topic sentence at the end of
As a student, you will have assignments that require the paragraph. In the following paragraph the writer has
you to write either a paragraph or an essay. Although
stated the topic in the last sentence.
such compositions may differ in their length and content,
a paragraph and an essay are alike in two important When a motorist, driving at 65 miles per hour, sights a
ways. First, each one should have a main idea. Second, sudden hazard, his foot moves sharply to the brake pedal.
the main idea should be fully explained or developed. In But, incredibly, the car has traversed another 70 feet between
the sighting and contact with the brake. Another 250 feet will
this text we will study the main idea and the explanation
be covered before the car is brought to a halt. The total pro- ff*"-"**-"
or development of the main idea. cedure [takesl a distance longer than a football field. So
Topic sentence
brakes are important and they deserve a checkup at least
The Main Idea twice a year.
Saturday Evening Post,
The main idea of a paragraph is called the topic. This January /February, 1975
topic is usually stated in a sentence, called a topic sen-
tence. The topic sentence, usually a general rather than As you study the student and professional writings
a specific idea, may be placed anywhere within the para- that follow, you will find that experienced writers do not
graph. As a student writer, however, you should try to always state outright the main idea of their paragraphs
state your main idea at the beginning of the paragraph. and essays. Instead, they may prefer to suggest or to
 Topic sentence Another no-package is the plastic bag used to hold laun-
imply the idea. Notice that the writer must provide of paragraph 5 L dry bleach or bluing. Tossed into the laundry, it dissolves be-
enough clues to allow the careful reader to determine the fore the washing is finished. But the prize will go to the scien-
main idea. In the following paragraph, for example, the tist who can come up with a container that is as successful
writer implies rather than states the idea that the man as the ice cream cone.
saw the berries reflected rather than actually floating in Suzanne Hilton,
How Do They Get Rid of it?
the water. The writer provides the clues the reader needs
by saying that the man struck the bottom of the river In addition to the thesis statement, notice how each para-
when he dived in and that he then looked up and saw graph has its own individual topic sentence.
the berries hanging over him. The thesis statement gives the essay its focus, and for
the essay to stay focused, the thesis must be clear and
While walking along the river, he saw some berries in the manageable. When you formulate a thesis statement, youj
water. He dived down for them, but was stunned when he "' will probably begin at a general level—for instance, you
unexpectedly struck the bottom. There he lay for quite a
while, and when he recovered consciousness and looked up, might decide that your thesis will have something to do
he saw the berries hanging on a tree just above him. with vegetable gardening. The next step will be to narrow
Paul Radin, your focus to, perhaps, pests in vegetable gardens. But
"Manbozho and the Berries" you cannot cover all garden pests in an essay of only a
few pages or formulate an effective thesis statement on
If you experiment with implying your main idea, be sure such a broad topic So you will have to continue to nar-
to give the reader enough clues to determine your row your focus until you arrive at something you can
meaning. handle. Perhaps, in the end, your thesis statement will be
In a longer piece of writing, such as an essay, the main something like "Some garden pests are as cute as they are
idea is called the thesis (rather than the topic). The thesis destructive." You will then have a manageable control-
is usually stated in one or more sentences called the ling idea—destructive garden pests that are cute, like
thesis statement. Like the topic sentence of a paragraph, chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels—that you can develop
the thesis statement is often placed near the beginning of clearly and fully.
an essay. In the sample essay that follows, the thesis is Experienced writers may place the thesis statement in
stated in the opening paragraph. later paragraphs or at the end of the essay. They may in-
deed, only imply the thesis. For your own writing, the im-' I
Scientists all agree that packages are very necessary. They portant point to remember is that an effective essay has
Thesis
also agree that packages are a problem. But they do not agree a clear thesis statement, just as a well-made paragraph
statement
on what to do about it.
There is the make-it-attractive group. These designers
has a topic sentence. When you are reading, your task is
Topic sentence
of paragraph 2 concentrate on making the package so interesting that the to discover the writer's thesis. When you are writing,
buyer cannot bring himself to part with it—thus keeping it your task is to make your own thesis as clear as possible
out of the trash. . . . to your reader. And your best strategy, initially, is to state
Topic sentence Next there are the no-package-package groups. They have your thesis at or near the beginning of your essay.
of paragraph 3 ideas like spraying a protein coating, derived from corn, on
foods to protect them against loss of vitamins and spoilage.
Development of the Main Idea
Topic sentence
In the no-package-package group is a new type of giass The second important way in which paragraphs and es-
of paragraph 4 that may be the answer to the 26 billion bottles thrown away says are alike is that their main ideas must be explained
every year. The glass is coated on the inside as well as on the or developed by the writer. Among the methods of devel-
outside by a water-resistant film. When the bottle is smashed,
the glass will dissolve in plain water. . . . opment most frequently used by writers are
 Keep in mind tnat a paragrapn is inoie man a group
narration of sentences. A paragraph must be unified, meaning that
description it must deal with one single idea (the main idea) and that
examples ^each sentence must be related to this idea. It must be co-
classification and division herent—that is, it must state the main idea clearly—and
comparison and contrast the sentences that develop the main idea must be ar-
process ranged according to some logical order that will allow the
cause and effect reader to follow your thoughts through the paragraph
definition without stumbling or backtracking. Finally, a paragraph
argumentation and persuasion must be complete. It should develop the main idea fully
These methods of developing the main idea are called enough so that the reader will understand and appreciate
modes of development. Although they have different what you are saying.
characteristics, the modes of development have a com- i An essay is a collection of paragraphs, but a composi-
mon purpose in written compositions. That purpose is tion of more than one paragraph is not necessarily an
to provide the reader with the specific information need- essay. In developing an essay, the writer starts with a
ed to support or clarify the main idea. As stated earlier, thesis statement, which is generally part of the introduc-
the main idea is a general statement; the development tion and may make up the whole first paragraph. Then
provides the details to support or explain the main idea. the writer develops the thesis in a series of related para-
In developing a paragraph^ the writer usually (1) be- graphs, usually called the body of the essay. Often, each
gins with a topic sentence, (2) develops the main idea by paragraph has its own individual topic sentence. The
a series of related sentences that explain the idea fully, conclusion, which may restate the thesis or summarize
and (3) concludes with a sentence that restates or summa- the essay's important points, is usually found in the final
rizes the main idea. Look at the diagram below and com- paragraph.
pare it with the development of an essay on page 7. Essay
Paragraph First paragraph thesis sentence

First sentence '•• topic sentence

paragraph 2

sentence 2
paragraph 3
Development: series
sentence 3 of related paragraphs
Development: series paragraph 4
of related sentences
sentence 4
paragraph 5 (or more)

Final paragraph concluding paragraph

•

Final sentence concluding sentence

 Notice that in the paragraph the development is car- do that. You will see that each chapter that follows deals /
ried out in a series of sentences. In the essay, the develop- with a single mode of development and brings together .
ment is carried out in a series of paragraphs. When you paragraphs and essays in which that mode dominates.
write an essay, keep in mind the concepts of unity, coher- Directly before each paragraph or essay, you will find
ence, order, and completeness. Each paragraph should be definitions of the words within the reading selection that
related to the thesis. The thesis and the main idea of each might be unfamiliar to you. Following each selection, you
paragraph should be expressed clearly. The paragraphs will find (1) questions to help you understand the read-
should be arranged in a logical order. And the thesis ing, (2) questions about the strategies used by the writer
should be developed fully enough so that your reader un- to develop his or her idea, and (3) suggestions for your
derstands the idea you are expressing. own writing assignments. The glossary at the back of the
A way to help maintain unity and logical flow in writ- book defines and explains the technical terms you will
ing is the use of transitions. Obviously, when you write learn to use, and these terms are boldfaced throughout
a paragraph or an essay, you will move from one point the text. If you encounter a boldfaced term and cannot
to another as you develop your main idea. The sentences recall what it means, turn to the glossary to refresh your
and paragraphs will be related to one another through memory.
their relevance to the main idea, but the specific thoughts The ability to state an idea and to develop it so that
you express may differ, or you may change contexts or it is clear to your reader is essential to all forms of writing.
points of view or modes of development from paragraph Mastery of the writing principles covered in this text will
to paragraph. Writers use transitions to help readers see help give you that ability. You can then apply it to the
the relationships among ideas in an essay or paragraph. many kinds of writing projects you will encounter both
At the sentence-to-sentence level, transitions are words now at school and later in your career or business.
or phrases that give the readers a signal about how ideas
are related. Examples are however, therefore, for example,
first, second, finally, and next. Sometimes, you might want
to use a sentence to create a transition between para-
graphs. An example is "Consider how these develop-
ments affected the Iowa farming community." In this case
the writer is moving from a descriptive paragraph to a
paragraph giving examples, and the guiding sentence
will help the reader make the transition.
Although the modes of development are often com-
bined in this and other ways, a single mode of develop-
ment will usually be dominant in a composition. For in-
stance, if you are writing a descriptive essay, that does
not mean you cannot use examples to illustrate your de-
scription, but it means that the essay's purpose and most
of the paragraphs will be descriptive. Of you might write
a cause-and-effect essay in which you narrate a series of
events that constitute a cause and another event that is
the effect. In general, though, you will learn to be com-
fortable with the modes of development if you first study
them individually, and this text is organized so you can
Narration

AT ONE TIME or another, you may have rushed a friend

to the hospital for 'emergency treatment or warned your
sleeping neighbors that their apartment was full of fire
and smoke—and they had to get out. If you later mention
one of these events to friends, they will probably want
to know more about it. What individual incidents made
up the event? How did it happen? At what time? Where
did it take place? On the spot, you become a narrator or
storyteller and try to give a clear and lively account of
the event. Thus you are already familiar with narration,
one of the modes of development that writers frequently
use to illustrate and explain their ideas. Using narration,
the writer hopes to interest the reader in a good story
while at the same time illustrating a particular idea
clearly.
Narration is frequently used to tell about personal ex-
periences. You have a variety of personal experiences ev-
ery day. Your car won't start, you miss the bus, and then
you are late for your interview. Such experiences, al-
though important to you, will not necessarily make an ef-
fective narrative. For a narrative to be effective, the writer
needs to have some goal in mind that will attract the
reader's interest. The goal might be to portray a unique
or exciting event that the reader has never experienced,
or it might be to stir the reader's emotions—a sad story,
or a funny story.
Most often,; the goal of narration is to describe an
experience that has some unusual meaning or signifi-
cance both for the writer and for the reader. Usually an
11
 experience is significant because it taught you—and may reader must be able to understand the order of the inci-
teach your reader—something new, something you never dents and not feel confused or unclear about what hap-
realized before about life. For example, in the following pened. In many cases, you may want to jot down the inci-
paragraph, the writer tells about a personal experience dents in a rough list to achieve the right order before you
that taught her about being responsible not only for mak- begin to write.
ing decisions but also for accepting the consequences of In the following sample paragraph, the writer uses
those decisions. narration to give a factual account of an event—the dis-
covery of Wheaties. Notice that this writer has chosen to
As I was growing up, my father and I sometimes dis-
explain the different incidents in a simple chronological
agreed about how I should spend my time. He began telling
me, "If you get yourself into it, you'll have to get yourself order.
out." But I learned what it meant to be responsible for the
Topic sentence Like gravity and penicillin, Wheaties was discovered by
consequences of my decisions only after I went to a weekend Topic sentence accident. In 1921, a health clinician named Minnenrode, in
Incident 1
party when T should have studied for a chemistry exam. I Minneapolis, was mixing up a batch of bran gruel for his pa-
needed a good grade on the exam to stay in the nursing pro- Incident 1 tients when he spilled some on a hot stove. He heard it
gram, and the consequences of my decision to go to the party crackle and sizzle, and had a taste. Delicious, he thought. He
Incident 2 were clear when I got my exam back with a notice that I was incident 2 took his cooled gruel to the Washburn Crosby Company,
on academic probation. I spent two semesters of almost which in 1928 would merge with three mills to become Gen-
Incident 3
Incident3
steady studying before I was back in good standing. Now, eral Mills. Favorably impressed, Washburn Crosby gave
whenever I have a difficult decision to make, I remind my- Incident 4
_ Minnenrode use of a laboratory. Alas, his flakes crumbled
Topic restated: self, "If you get yourself into it, you'll have to get yourself
too easily and turned to dust in a box. Exit Minnenrode, enter
significance of out." I've learned that making a decision means taking the Incidents George Cormack, Washburn Crosby's head miller. Cormack
narrative responsibility for its consequences.
tested 36 varieties of wheat. He cracked them, he steamed
Conclusion them, he mixed them with syrup, he cooked them, he dried
Effective narrative writing, like all good writing, is
_ them, he rolled them. Finally he found the perfect flakes.
carefully organized. Since a narrative describes events, its
Steve Wulf,
organization must be governed by some form of time or- "The Breakfast of Champions"
der. The writer often tells about events in the order in
which they took place. This method, called chronological Notice the details in this paragraph. In addition to rec-
order, ensures that the time and sequence of the incidents reating the incidents that are significant to his topic, the
will be logical. writer colors those incidents with details that help de-
Sometimes, though, a writer may reorder events to scribe what happened. Minnenrode's spilled gruel
achieve an effect that will increase the reader's interest. crackled and sizzled, but his flakes "turned to dust in a
Experienced writers, using what is called flashback style, box." By using words that provide descriptive detail, the
may start near the end of the narrative or even in the writer adds variety and clarity to his narrative. (Descrip-
middle and then work their way back to the beginning. tion, a mode of development in its own right, is the sub-
Or a writer may withhold a key event that preceded the ject of the next chapter.)
incidents in the narrative. Doing so can add emphasis to Notice, too, that this paragraph contains only the inci-
the narrative's main idea. Consider, for instance, what the dents or details that contribute directly to the story.
effect would have been if the writer of the above para- Avoiding irrelevant incidents and details is essential to
graph had first introduced her father's advice at the end effective narrative writing. Perhaps you have had some
of the paragraph instead of at the beginning. long-winded person tell you a story and have found
Student writers should probably avoid complicated yourself wishing that person would skip some of the triv-
time schemes like these, at least at first. But no matter at ial details. You should keep this in mind when you are
what point the' writer chooses to start a narrative, the writing and limit yourself to the details that are essential
 to the main idea of your narrative. In the following essay, ten explains the reactions—emotions and feelings—of the
for example, the writer does not include any incidents narrator and others involved. At other times, the writer
that happened before or after the robbery. He concen- may leave it to the reader to determine the narrator's feel-
trates on those incidents and details that explain his ac- ings and reactions.
tions and reactions only during key moments. As you In this and other ways, the writer establishes a particu-
read the essay, think about the details the writer provides lar point of view for the essay. Point of view refers to the
and try to form an image of the scene in your mind. person the writer uses (I/me, you, or hejshelitjthey), the time
(past, present, or future) in which the essay is set, and the
Recently I was unfortunate enough to be in a store when
a robbery took place. I learned from that experience that a
tone, or attitude, the writer adopts. The writer's point of
Thesis view thus establishes the setting for an essay and greatly
statement pointed gun makes people obey,
I had stopped at the store on my way home from work influences the essay's meaning and how the reader will
Incidents ar- to get a loaf of bread. I was at the check-out counter when interpret it. In a narrative essay, the point of view creates
ranged as they
occurred in time a man standing nearby pulled out a gun and yelled, "Every- the context for the incidents described.
one on the floor and away from the cash register!"
In narration and the other modes of development, an
My first reaction was fear. Around me, people dropped
Frozen in place
to the floor. But 1 felt frozen where I stood. important factor in point of view is whether the writer
As I hesitated, the robber pointed his gun at me and is being objective or subjective. An objective essay pres-
Gun pointed ents the facts—the basics of what occurred or what is be-
yelled again, "On the floor!" Then T felt angry. I was bigger
and stronger than he was. I was sure I could put him on the ing described—without including the writer's own inter-
floor in a fair fight. pretations or personal opinions of those facts. The writer
But the gun, small enough to be cradled in the palm of tries to portray the subject of the essay as truly as possible
F my hand, was bigger and stronger than I was. I sank obedi-
Sank to floor
L ently to the floor. and does not try to influence how the reader will react.
Robbery took All of us watched silently as the robber scooped money A subjective essay, by contrast, expresses how the writer
place out of the cash register into a paper bag. Then he ran out the feels and may try to get the reader to feel a certain way.
door, jumped into a car that was waiting, and the car raced It may give an opinion or reveal the writer's emotions,
away. or it may present facts in such a way that the reader will
Everyone stood up and started talking. A clerk called the
After robbery
L police, who asked if anyone could describe the robber or the
draw a conclusion favored by the writer. The Wheaties
car. No one could. story above is an example of objective writing; it presents
Then one man, blustering defensively, told the clerk just the facts without interpreting them. The other two exam-
Dialogue what T was thinking. "Listen. Tell them when a gun is ples above are written more subjectively, expressing the
Significance of pointed at me, it's all I'm looking at. One look and I'm going writers' own feelings about and interpretations of the
narrative restated to do whatever I'm told." events described.
Look at each paragraph in this essay. The first para- Often, writers give clues that indicate that they are be-
graph is an introduction in which the main idea or thesis ing subjective. Phrases like "in my opinion" or "I felt" or
of the essay is stated. Each successive paragraph deals "I learned" obviously signal a subjective interpretation.
with an incident or set of incidents in the narrative. Each (Just because an essay is written in the first person does
incident contributes key information to the essay, and not mean it is entirely subjective, however.) As you will
each incident moves the story forward in time. The final see in some of the selections in this text, writers may not
paragraph concludes the narrative by restating the main always tell you when they are being subjective. In fact,
significance of the essay. some writers may take an objective tone when they are
As you can see from the essay above, the narrative actually being quite subjective—perhaps, for instance, by
mode is used for more than just retelling what happened. presenting certain facts about a subject but not others. No
In addition to reporting the action, narrative writing of- matter what mode of development is used in an essay,
 you should try to make sure just how subjective or objec- Geography
tive the writer is being.
Narrative writing is called nonfiction if the story or Elizabeth Bishop
event is true and actually happened. All of the preceding
examples are nonfiction accounts. This kind of factual It is often obvious when a writer is using narration as a mode of development. But narra-
narrative is found in biography, history, and newspaper tion can also be subtle. In this paragraph, notice how Elizabeth Bishop uses sensory de-
writing. Narrative is also the mode used in short stories tails—what she sees, hears, and feels—to add appeal and color to an unspectacular event.
and novels. If a story is not true or did not actually occur,
it is called fiction. Words to Know
In fiction and nonfiction narrative writing, writers use recitation a student's oral delivery of prepared
dialogue to recreate what people or characters in the nar- materials
rative said. In the essay on the store robbery, notice that
the writer often tells you exactly what was said and en-
closes the statement using quotation marks to let you
know he is quoting word-for-word conversation. Quoted
o 'nly the third and fourth grades studied geography. On their side
of the room, over the blackboard, were two rolled-up maps, one of
dialogue can help the writer accurately express the inci-
Canada and one of the whole world. When they had a geography les-
dents in a narrative and can add variety and color. To
son, Miss Morash pulled down one or both of these maps, like window
practice working with dialogue, listen to your friends
shades. They were on cloth, very limp, with a shiny surface, and in
talking to one another and see if you can reproduce dia-
pale colors—tan, pink, yellow, and green—surrounded by the blue
logue something like their conversation in your own
that was the ocean. The light coming in from their windows, falling
narratives.
on the glazed, crackly surface, made it hard for me to see them proper-
Writers use narration to tell about personal experi- ly from where I sat. On the world map, all of Canada was pink; on
ences, about other people's lives and experiences, and the Canadian, the provinces were different colors. I was so taken with
about factual or historical events, such as the discovery the pull-down maps that I wanted to snap them up, and pull them
of Wheaties. Narration adds interest, suspense, and clar- down again, and touch all the countries and provinces with my own
ity to writing, as you will find in the reading selections hands. Only dimly did I hear the pupils' recitations of capital cities
that follow. Consequently, it is a writing skill well worth and islands and bays. But I got the general impression that Canada
mastering. was the same size as the world, which somehow or other fitted into
The questions and assignments at the ends of the read- it, or the other way around, and that in the world and Canada the sun
ings in this chapter will help you recognize and apply the was always shining and everything was dry and glittering. At the
principles of narration. They will give you practice with same time, I knew perfectly well that this was not true.
the concepts of chronological order, narrative detail, fic-
tion and nonfiction, subjective and objective writing, and
dialogue.
Questions About the Reading Grandma's Last Day
1. Was the writer herself in the third or fourth grade? How do you
know? Ivan Doig
2. Was the writer paying attention to the geography lesson? Explain
your answer. After his grandmother died, Ivan Doig set out to trace the events of her last day. He found
3. What type of essay do you think this paragraph comes from? What that her day had been filled with activity, work, and—most of all—life. The paragraph
do you think the writer's purpose was in composing the essay? below is from the last chapter o/This House of Sky, Doig's beautifully ivritten memoir
of growing up on the sheep and cattle ranches of Montana. In the paragraph, Doig tells
us the details of his grandmother's last day.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
1. What is the main idea of this paragraph? Is there a topic sentence? Words to Know
If so, where is it located? If not, where is the main idea expressed? thorned irritated, pained, aggravated
2. What makes this a narration paragraph? What are the incidents?
What.is the main event?
3. What else does the writer do besides narrate what happened? w onder built in me as I traced out her last day. The morning,
Grandma had spent working on a quilt, another of her rainbow-pan-
Writing Assignments eled splendors, for a helpful neighbor who looked in on her often.
1. Recall a situation from your childhood, or even from later years, Sometime she had telephoned to a friend at a ranch out of Ringling,
in which you used your imagination to keep yourself interested asking to be brought a fresh supply of eggs when the woman came
during what might seem a boring event. Write a narrative para- to town. At noon she was phoned by her son, and as usual in those
graph describing the situation and your mental reaction. checking calls, they talked for several minutes. In the afternoon a fu-
2. Pick an event that you think nobody would be interested in. In a neral was held for a member of one of the last families of the Sixteen
paragraph, try to narrate the event in a way that will hold your country: Grandma did not go to the rites, but at the coffee hour held
reader's interest. Try to think of active, colorful words to enhance afterward at the Senior Citizens Club she helped with the serving and
your narrative, and feel free to use humor if you like. chatted with friends for an hour or more. Someone had driven her
home, where she had her supper alone. In the evening, there was to
be the weekly card party back at the Senior Citizens Club, and she
phoned to ask for a ride with her best friend in the group—a woman
who had run one of the White Sulphur saloons that had so often
thorned Grandma's earlier life. They had nearly arrived at the card
party when, in the midst of something joked by one or the other of
them, Grandma cut off in the middle of a chuckle and slumped, chin
onto chest. The friend whirled the car to the hospital a block away. A
doctor instantly was trying to thump a heartbeat-rhythm into Grand-
ma, but could work no flicker of response from her. She had gone from
life precisely as she had lived it, with abruptness and at full pace.
 Questions About the Reading
Xhe Discovery of Coca-Cola
1. If the writer had not called the woman "Grandma," you would still
have some idea of her age. Which details indicate her age? £. /. Kahn, Jr.
2. On the surface, this paragraph appears to tell about a series of inci-
dents, but in the end it tells you a great deal about Grandma's char- }(ahn has written about the American scene for The New Yorker for over forty years.
acter. Which sentences tell you that Grandma was helpful to and He has written about America at war, about Frank Sinatra, about Harvard, and about
considerate of other people? burlesque. He has also discussed that most American of drinks, Coca-Cola, in a book titled
The Big Drink. In a paragraph from that book, he tells us of the invention of Coca-Cola
3. Did Grandma live in a town or in the country? Which details help
as a medicine and the discovery that led to its becoming a soft drink.
you decide where she lived? Did she live alone? Which details tell
you?
Words to Know
4. What are some conclusions you might draw about Grandma's char-
acter from the statements that "saloons . . . had so often thorned audit analyze, figure out, verify
Grandma's earlier life" and that a woman who had run one of the composition contents, ingredients
saloons was Grandma's best friend in the Senior Citizens' card concoction mixture of ingredients
group? dollop a large portion or serving
factotum employee
testimonially in honor of
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
1. What is the main idea of the paragraph?
2. What are the specific incidents or events that the writer uses to sup- I he man who invented Coca-Cola was not a native Atlantan, but
port the main idea of the paragraph? What words and phrases does on the day of his funeral every drugstore in town testimonially shut
he use to let you know the order in which incidents occurred? up shop. He was John Styth Pemberton, born in 1833 in Knoxville,
3. The writer left out some details about incidents and time. Which Georgia, eighty miles away. Sometimes known as Doctor, Pemberton
details are missing? Why do you think Doig did not include them? was a pharmacist who, during the Civil War, led a cavalry troop under
4. The writer says the friend "whirled" her car to the hospital. Would General Joe Wheeler. He settled in Atlanta in 1869, and soon began
turned be as effective a word? Why or why not? brewing such patent medicines as Triplex Liver Pills and Globe of
5. The point of view used by the writer indicates that he was not with Flower Cough Syrup. In 1885, he registered a trademark for something
his grandmother on her last day. Using the first three sentences as called French Wine Coca—Ideal Nerve and Tonic Stimulant; a few
an example, explain how you could change their wording to indi- months later he formed the Pemberton Chemical Company, and re-
cate that he was with her that day. cruited the services of a bookkeeper named Frank M. Robinson, who
not only had a good head for figures but, attached to it, so exceptional
Writing Assignments a nose that he could audit the composition of a batch of syrup merely
by sniffing it. In 1886—a year in which, as contemporary Coca-Cola
1. Write a narrative paragraph in which you tell about the daily activi-
officials like to point out, Conan Doyle unveiled Sherlock Holmes and
ties of a person you admire or, if you prefer, of a person you dislike.
Be sure the actions provide your reader with an understanding of France unveiled the Statue of Liberty—Pemberton unveiled a syrup
the character of that person. that he called Coca-Cola. It was a modification of his French Wine
Coca. He had taken out the wine and added a pinch of caffeine, and,
2. Think of someone who has influenced your life in some way. In a when the end product tasted awful, had thrown in some extract of cola
narrative paragraph, tell about several things that person did that (or kola) nut and a few other oils, blending the mixture in a
influenced you. Narrate the incidents in chronological order. three-legged iron pot in his back yard and swishing it around with
3. Write a narrative paragraph in which you tell about one single event an oar. He distributed it to soda fountains in used beer bottles, and
that was significant to a friend of yours.
Robinson, with his flowing bookkeeper's script, presently devised a
22 Chapter 2 / Narration The Discovery of Coca-Cola / E. J. Kahn, Jr. 23

label, on which "Coca-Cola" was written in the fashion that is still 5. The writer uses the words dollop and factotum in telling about the
employed. Pemberton looked upon his concoction less as a refresh- customer being served Coca-Cola in the drugstore in 1886. Why are
ment than as a headache cure, especially for people whose throbbing these words more effective than large serving and employee would
temples could be traced to overindulgence. On a morning late in 1886, be?
one such victim of the night before dragged himself into an Atlanta
drugstore and asked for a dollop of Coca-Cola. Druggists customarily Writing Assignments
stirred a teaspoonful of syrup into a glass of water, but in this instance
the factotum on duty was too lazy to walk to the fresh-water tap, a 1. Write a narrative paragraph in which you tell about an experience
couple of feet off. Instead, he mixed the syrup with some charged wa- or event that had an unexpected ending.
ter, which was closer at hand. The suffering customer perked up al- 2. Write a fictional narrative paragraph describing the incidents that
most at once, and word quickly spread that the best Coca-Cola was led to the discovery of fire or of the wheel.
a fizzy one. 3. Write a narrative paragraph in the first person telling about some-
thing you did to help a friend, relative, or organization. Try to show
how your action was significant to you.
Questions About the Reading
1. Why did the drugstores in Atlanta honor Pemberton by closing on
the day of his funeral?
2. How is Frank M. Robinson significant to the story of Coca-Cola's
origins?
3. Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective in a series of books written
by A. Conan Doyle, and the Statue of Liberty appeared in the same
year as Coca-Cola. Why would Coca-Cola officials like to point out
these facts?
4. The writer describes the way Pemberton mixed Coca-Cola and dis-
tributed it. What does the writer's explanation tell you about the
standards that existed in 1886 for the production and sale of patent
medicines? Which words and phrases help describe the standards?

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Is the main idea of the paragraph directly stated? If so, in which
sentence(s)? If not, state the idea in a sentence of your own.
2. What is the point of view in "The Discovery of Coca-Cola"? Could
the writer have used another point of view, such as first person?
Why or why not?
3. Does the writer include any details that are not essential to the idea
of the narrative? If so, why did he include them?
4. What tone does the writer achieve by his description of how Frank
M. Robinson checked a batch of syrup? What is the effect of using
the word nose? Why is the word audit appropriate?
24 Chapter 2 / Narration Through the Ice / Deborah Digges

Through the Ice Questions About the Reading

Deborah Digges 1. How do you think the fire started? Give reasons for your answer.
2. The writer says she doesn't remember "being afraid that I might
die." Do you think she means that she wasn't afraid during the ex-
Recalled later in life, memories of childhood experiences sometimes take on a special reality perience, or that she has forgotten that particular feeling? Explain
in which some details remain sharp while others have faded. In this paragraph, Deborah
Digges uses individual details to recreate a nearly disastrous event from her early years.
your answer.
3. What gives this paragraph a dreamlike quality? Try to identify spe-
Words to Know cific details that contribute to this quality.
4. The writer does not directly state the significance of her experience,
glimpse to look briefly but she makes it clear that the experience had a long-lasting and
important impact on her. What statements imply the nature of this
impact? Try to describe it in your own words.
1 he smell of the gasoline ruined the cold winter smell of the day,
but the blaze was beautiful as it caught, weed by weed, until one half Questions About the Writer's Strategies
of the pond was surrounded by a hedge of fire through which you
could glimpse the snowy hillside. It made a sound like wind or ocean 1. What are some of the descriptive words the writer uses to recreate
surf so that I didn't at first hear my mother shouting for us to get off the scene she is describing? Is her word choice effective? Why or
the ice. Then I heard only the panic in her voice as she watched me, why not?
the last one, who, in order to get to the shore not burning, had to come 2. What order does the writer use for her narrative?
all the way across. When you walk on a wet beach watching the 3. In what ways is this paragraph subjective? In what ways is it
ground, you can see how the impact of your steps on the sand darkens objective?
a moment, sometimes leaving a puddle where your foot was. The ice
gave under me in this way until it simply opened, like a door. I don't Writing Assignments
remember being afraid that I might die, but rather, the way the sun
1. In a paragraph, narrate a memorable event from your childhood.
looked from under the ice, like a dirty paper lantern over a weak bulb,
If you can, use dialogue to help relate what happened.
and the sound of my own voice under water, changed but familiar.
Years later I would try that again in the tub or hear it in dreams of 2. Write a narrative paragraph telling of an experience you had in
my children when I was away from them. And I remember one other which you were in grave danger. Try to describe what happened
thing, how each time I grabbed for a hold, it came off in my hands and the feelings you remember having.
as though the ladder I was climbing were sinking, rung by rung. 3. Think of a dream you had recently, or perhaps one that recurs from
time to time. Write a narrative paragraph describing the incidents
in your dream. Try to use descriptive words that express the
unusual, even bizarre, qualities that dreams have.
26 Chapter 2 / Narration freedom / Iu-choi Chan (Student) 27

Freedom Questions About the Reading

1. Which statement indicates the distance the young man lived from
Iu-choi Chan (Student)
the Hong Kong border?
2. Describe the border area between China and Hong Kong.
Sometimes a single event can tell us a great deal about a person, culture, or way of life. 3. Do many people try to leave mainland China and go to Hong Kong?
In the paragraph below a young Chinese man tells about his daring attempt to escape Which details support your answer?
from a country where he felt oppressed to a place where he could be free. Although this
attempt failed, Iu-choi Chan has since managed to come to the United States. He wrote
4. Why do you think the young man dressed like a farmer when he
this paragraph while he was a student at California State University in Bakersfield. tried to escape?
5. The writer says, "I had lost my freedom again." What does the word
Words to Know again tell you about what has happened to him before? Do you think
the sentence indicates his opinion of life in mainland
Hong Kong a British colony on the coast of China
China?
sentries persons or soldiers posted to guard an
area or position
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
1. Is the main idea of the paragraph directly stated? If so, in which
A wo years ago, I attempted to escape from mainland China to Hong sentence(s)? If not, state the main idea in a sentence of your own.
Kong. I planned and prepared well. I dressed up like a farmer and 2. In what order are the major incidents of the story arranged? Could
walked for two days from my village to the border between China and the order be changed? If so, in what way?
Hong Kong. That night, I was very excited and nervous, but I tried 3. The writer compares the return of the refugees to China to being
to keep calm. At the border there were a lot of sentries who tried to "driven like a herd of buffalo." Does this comparison help you see
catch people like me, so I put some mud on myself to avoid being not- his situation?
iced. It was not easy for me to pass through the sentries, but I bit my 4. What is the point of view in the narrative? Could another point of
tongue and climbed across the swampy area. Finally, I reached the riv- view be used? Using the first three sentences of the paragraph as
er that runs across the border. I plunged into it. It was icy cold, and an example, explain how you could change the point of view.
I used all my strength to swim as fast as I could. In about twenty min-
utes, I touched land. I had made it! My happiness was beyond descrip- Writing Assignments
tion. But when I stood up, a Hong Kong policeman was immediately
beside me. My dream was shattered. I was taken to a police station 1. Think of a goal you have set for yourself but that you have not yet
to wait for a truck that takes unsuccessful refugees back to China. The reached. Write a narrative paragraph in which you (1) state the goal,
police put me in the truck with a great many other people, and we (2) explain what has happened to prevent you from reaching the
were driven like a herd of buffalo back to China. I had lost my freedom goal, and (3) tell what you will do in the future to achieve the goal.
again. 2. Write a narrative paragraph in which you tell what you or another
person did to succeed in reaching a particular goal.
3. What career have you chosen for yourself? Write a narrative para-
graph in which you tell what you have done or what experiences
you have had that made you choose the career.
 Chapter 2 / Narration Learning To Write / Russell Baker 29

Learning To Write He constantly sprinkled his sentences with "don't you see." It 4
Russell Baker wasn't a question but an exclamation of mild surprise at our igno-
rance. "Your pronoun needs an antecedent, don't you see," he would
say, very primly. "The purpose of the Porter's scene, boys, is to provide
Russell Baker is a Pulitzer Prize winner noted for his humorous writing. However, al- comic relief from the horror, don't you see."
though this passage from his autobiographical book Growing Up is lighthearted, we learn
in the end that Baker is earnestly describing an event of serious, almost touching, personal Y Late in the year we tackled the informal essay. "The essay, don't you 5
importance. see, is the . . ." My mind went numb. Of all forms of writing, none
seemed so boring as the essay. Naturally we would have to write infor-
Words to Know mal essays. Mr. Fleagle distributed a homework sheet offering us a
choice of topics. None was quite so simpleminded as "What I Did on
antecedent the word to which a pronoun refers My Summer Vacation," but most seemed to be almost as dull. I took
listless without energy, boring the list home and dawdled until the night before the essay was due.
prim formal and neat, lacking humor Sprawled on the sofa, I finally faced up to the grim task, took the list
reminiscence memory of a past experience out of my notebook, and scanned it. The topic on which my eye
stopped was "The Art of Eating Spaghetti."
This title produced an extraordinary sequence of mental images. 6
V V hen our class was assigned to Mr. Fleagle for third-year English 1 Surging up out of the depths of memory came a vivid recollection of
I anticipated another grim year in that dreariest of subjects. Mr. Fleagle a night in Belleville when all of us were seated around the supper ta-
was notorious among City students for dullness and inability to in- ble—Uncle Allen, my mother, Uncle Charlie, Doris, Uncle Hal—and
spire. He was said to be stuffy, dull, and hopelessly out of date. To me Aunt Pat served spaghetti for supper. Spaghetti was an exotic treat
he looked to be sixty or seventy and prim to a fault. He wore primly in those days. Neither Doris nor I had ever eaten spaghetti, and none
severe eyeglasses, his wavy hair was primly cut and primly combed. of the adults had enough experience to be good at it. All the good hu-
He wore prim vested suits with neckties blocked primly against the mor of Uncle Allen's house reawoke in my mind as I recalled the
collar buttons of his primly starched white shirts. He had a primly laughing arguments we had that night about the socially respectable
pointed jaw, a primly straight nose, and a prim manner of speaking method for moving spaghetti from plate to mouth.
that was so correct, so gentlemanly, that he seemed a comic antique. Suddenly I wanted to write about that, about the warmth and good 7
I anticipated a listless, unfruitful year with Mr. Fleagle and for a 2 feeling of it, but I wanted to put it down simply for my own joy, not
long time was not disappointed. We read Macbeth. Mr. Fleagle loved for Mr. Fleagle. It was a moment I wanted to recapture and hold for
Macbeth and wanted us to love it too, but he lacked the gift of infecting myself. I wanted to relive the pleasure of an evening at New Street.
others with his own passion. He tried to convey the murderous feroc- To write it as I wanted, however, would violate all the rules of formal
ity of Lady Macbeth one day by reading aloud the passage that composition I'd learned in school, and Mr. Fleagle would surely give
concludes it a failing grade. Never mind. I would write something else for Mr.
. . . I have given suck, and know Fleagle after I had written this thing for myself.
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me. When I finished it the night was half gone and there was no time 8
I would, while it was smiling in my face, left to compose a proper, respectable essay for Mr. Fleagle. There was
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums. . . . no choice next morning but to turn in my private reminiscence of
Belleville. Two days passed before Mr. Fleagle returned the graded pa-
The idea of prim Mr. Fleagle plucking his nipple from boneless gums pers, and he returned everyone's but mine. I was bracing myself for
was too much for the class. We burst into gasps of irrepressible snick-
a command to report to Mr. Fleagle immediately after school for
ering. Mr. Fleagle stopped.
discipline when I saw him lift my paper from his desk and rap for the
"There is nothing funny, boys, about giving suck to a babe. It is the— 3 class's attention.
the very essence of motherhood, don't you see."
30
Chapter 2 / Narration Learning To Write / Russell Baker 31

"Now, boys/' he said, "I want to read you an essay. This is titled 9 Questions About the Reading
'The Art of Eating Spaghetti.' "
And he started to read. My words! He was reading my words out 10 1. Why did the writer not want to write an essay? What discovery
loud to the entire class. What's more, the entire class was listening. changed his mind?
Listening attentively. Then somebody laughed, then the entire class 2. Why did eating spaghetti so delight the people at the supper table?
was laughing, and not in contempt and ridicule, but with openhearted 3. What comment does the writer make on the role of formal rules in
enjoyment. Even Mr. Fleagle stopped two or three times to repress a writing?
small prim smile. 4. What is your opinion of Mr. Fleagle? How did it change during the
I did my best to avoid showing pleasure, but what I was feeling was 11 course of reading the essay?
pure ecstasy at this startling demonstration that my words had the 5. What was the significance of the essay's main event for the writer?
power to make people laugh. In the eleventh grade, at the eleventh
hour as it were, I had discovered a calling. It was the happiest moment Questions About the Writer's Strategies
of my entire school career. When Mr. Fleagle finished he put the final
seal on my happiness by saying, "Now that, boys, is an essay, don't 1. What is the main idea in this essay?
you see. It's—don't you see—it's of the very essence of the essay, don't 2. At what point in the essay did you begin to figure out what the
you see. Congratulations, Mr. Baker." main idea would be?
3. What order does the writer use in describing the incidents in his
narrative?
4. Is this essay written objectively or subjectively? Cite examples
from the essay to help explain your answer.

Writing Assignments
1. Write a narrative essay about the most important event you experi-
enced in school. Use chronological order to describe the event and
the incidents leading up to it.
2. Write a narrative essay on one of the following events in your own
life: leaving high school, learning to read a novel, using a computer
for the first time, learning to have confidence, learning not to jump
to conclusions, or controlling your temper. Try to indicate the signif-
icance that the event has had for you since it took place.
32 Chapter 2 / Narration A Very Basic Decision / Mary Mebane 33

A Very Basic Decision During my first week of classes as a freshman, 1 was stopped one 2
day in the hall by the chairman's wife, who was indistinguishable in
Mary Mebane color from a white woman. She wanted to see me, she said.
This woman had no official position on the faculty, except that she 3
Mary E. Mebane discovered that prejudice can exist within as well as between races when was an instructor in English; nevertheless, her summons had to be ob-
she attended a North Carolina college for blacks in the 1950s. The light-skinned, urban, eyed. In the segregated world there were (and remain) gross abuses
middle-class blacks who made up the faculty and most of the student body could not believe of authority because those at the pinnacle, and even their spouses, felt
that a dark-skinned black girl from a poor rural family could be a superior student. In that the people "under" them had no recourse except to submit—and
"A Very Basic Decision," a passage from Mary: An Autobiography, Mebane tells of
they were right, except that sometimes a black who got sick and tired
two meetings she had with the wife of the English department's chairman, a light-skinned
woman who was convinced that Mebane could not be as talented as her grades showed. of it would go to the whites and complain. This course of action was
But Mebane decided not to give up her quest for a college degree. She graduated at the severely condemned by the blacks, but an interesting thing hap-
top of her class and is now a college English professor. pened—such action always got positive results. Power was thought
of in negative terms: I can deny someone something, I can strike at
Words to Know someone who can't strike back, I can ride someone down; that proves
I am powerful. The concept of power as a force for good, for affirma-
appalled dismayed
tive response to people or situations, was not in evidence.
bolstered supported, propped up
criteria standards When I went to her office, she greeted me with a big smile. "You 4
defer submit, yield know," she said, "you made the highest mark on the verbal part of the
indistinguishable not able to be recognized or examination." She was referring to the examination that the entire
seen as different freshman class took upon entering the college. I looked at her but I
noncommittal to show no opinion or preference
didn't feel warmth, for in spite of her smile her eyes and tone of voice
nonplussed confused, perplexed, baffled
were saying, "How could this black-skinned girl score higher on the
pinnacle peak, top
verbal than some of the students who've had more advantages than
recourse choice, option
she? It must be some sort of fluke. Let me talk to her." I felt it, but I
managed to smile my thanks and back off. For here at North Carolina
College at Durham, as it had been since the beginning, social class and
color were the primary criteria used in determining status on the
N,orth Carolina College at Durham (it used to carry the words "for campus.
First came the children of doctors, lawyers, and college teachers. 5
Negroes" in its official title—it said so on the sign right on the lawn)
is located in the southern part of the town. Its immaculately groomed Next came the children of public-school teachers, businessmen, and
lawns and neat, squarish, redbrick classroom buildings and dormito- anybody else who had access to more money than the poor black
ries mark it as an oasis of privilege and ease. Looking at the postcard working class. After that came the bulk of the student population, the
scenes through the low-hanging branches of the surrounding trees, children of the working class, most of whom were the first in their
one would not have believed that this was six minutes away from some families to go beyond high school. The attitude toward them was:
of the worst slums in the South. The college hadn't forgotten their exis- You're here because we need the numbers, but in all other things defer
tence; it simply never acknowledged that they were there. The black to your betters.
dispossessed murmured against the "big dogs," and bided their time. The faculty assumed that light-skinned students were more intelli- 6
I often thought that if and when "the revolution" came and the black gent, and they were always a bit nonplussed when a dark-skinned stu-
masses in America awakened from their long sleep, their first target dent did well, especially if she was a girl. They had reason to be ap-
was going to be the black professional class and it would be a horren- palled when they discovered that I planned to do not only well but
dous bloodbath. . . . better than my light-skinned peers. . . .
 A Very Basic Decision / Mary Mebane 35
34 Chapter 2 / Narration

When the grades for that first quarter came out, I had the highest 7 Questions About the Writer's Strategies
average in the freshman class. The chairman's wife called me into her 1. Is the thesis of the essay directly stated? If so, in which sentence(s)?
office again. We did a replay of the same scene we had played during If not, state the thesis in a sentence of your own.
the first week of the term. She complimented me on my grades, but 2. Of the ten paragraphs of the essay, six actually deal with the narra-
her eyes and voice were telling me something different. She asked me tive incidents. Identify those paragraphs. Explain what happens in
to sit down; then she reached into a drawer and pulled out a copy of each of the paragraphs. What is the order in which the incidents
the freshman English final examination. She asked me to take the occur?
exam over again. 3. The other four paragraphs of the essay provide background infor-
At first I couldn't believe what she was saying. I had taken the 8 mation and details that help you understand the narrative. Identify
course under another teacher, and it was so incredible to her that I those four paragraphs. What is the main idea of each of the
should have made the highest score in the class that she was trying paragraphs?
to test me again personally. For a few moments I knew rage so intense 4. What time does Mebane establish as her point of view? Which
that I wanted to take my fists and start punching her. I have seldom words in the first sentence of the essay tell you that North Carolina
hated anyone so deeply. I handed the examination back to her and College at Durham still exists? Where does Mebane indicate the
walked out. time for the incidents in the essay?
She had felt quite safe in doing that to me. After all, she was the 9
chairman's wife, and so didn't that give her the right to treat the black
farm girl as she chose? (Life is strange. When in the mid 1960s the de- Writing Assignments
partment started hiring native-born whites, it was she who most bit- 1. Write an essay describing an experience that caused you to make
terly resented their presence.) a major decision about your life. Write this description in the first
It was that incident which caused me to make a very basic decision. 10 person and explain how you felt about the incidents involved (that
I was in the world alone; no one bolstered my ambitions, fed my is, be subjective).
dreams. I could not quit now, for if I did I would have no future. . . 2. Write an essay in which you tell about an important decision made
. If I was going to get through college, I would have to be bland, non- by a friend and explain the events that led to that decision. Write
committal. I would simply hang on. I needed a degree and I would this description in the third person (he, she) and try to be objective,
stay until I got it. describing the incidents and how your friend felt. Do not include
your own interpretations.
Questions About the Reading 3. Write a narrative essay in which a person shows favoritism to
another person and ends up harming that person as a result. For
1. The writer says she made "a very basic decision." In what way was example, you might think of an incident in which a teacher favored
the decision "basic" and also very significant for the writer? one student over the others and made the favored student disliked
2. The writer says that she would have to be "bland and noncommit- as a consequence. Or you might know of a case in which parents
tal" to get through college. Did she act in a noncommittal way when favored one child in the family and harmed the child as a result.
she handed the exam paper back to the chairman's wife?
3. Does the writer reveal that she has any prejudices or strong opin-
ions about any members of her own race? Explain and cite specific
statements to support your answer.
4. We learn what kind of person "the chairman's wife" is through the
writer's own subjective interpretation of events. Does Mebane
create a negative impression by narrating incidents or by explaining
them?
36 Chapter 2 / Narration The feaning of America—and the World / Carin C. Quinn
37

The Jeaning of America—and the World He was born in Bad Ocheim, Germany, in 1829, and during the 3
Carin C. Quinn European political turmoil of 1848 decided to take his chances in New
York, to which his two brothers already had emigrated. Upon arrival,
Levi soon found that his two brothers had exaggerated their tales of
In "The Jeaning of America—and the World/' Carin Quinn tells about Levi Strauss's an easy life in the land of the main chance. They were landowners,
development of blue jeans, the_slur_dy and reliable American pants that are now famous
worldwide. Quinn also explains some of the reasons for the popularity and success of blue
they had told him; instead, he found them pushing needles, thread,
jeans. pots, pans, ribbons, yarn, scissors, and buttons to housewives. For two
years he was a lowly peddler, hauling some 180 pounds of sundries
Words to Know door-to-door to_eke out a marginal living. When a married sister in
San Francisco offered to pay his way West in 1850, he jumped at the
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French aristo- opportunity, taking with him bolts of canvas he hoped to sell for
crat, traveler, and author; noted for his four-vol- tenting.
ume work, Democracy in America (1835-1840),
which was based on his travels in the United It was the wrong kind of canvas for that purpose, but while talking 4
States in 1831 to study the American penitentiary
with a miner down from the mother lode, he learned that pants—stur-
system and democracy.
dy pants that would stand up to the rigors of the diggings—were al-
most impossible to find. Opportunity beckoned. On the spot, Strauss
appropriated took over
measured the man's girth and inseam with a piece of string and, for
bureaucrats government officials, particularly
six dollars in gold dust, had [the canvas] tailored into a pair of stiff
those who follow rules and regulations rigidly but rugged pants. The miner was delighted with the result, word got
ensuing following, subsequent around about "those pants of Levi's," and Strauss was in business. The
idiosyncratic individual, unique company has been in business ever since.
mother [ode rich, original vein of ore
proletarian working class
When Strauss ran out of canvas, he wrote his two brothers to send 5
rigors hardships^ ct\j*^*e*1
more. He received instead a tough, brown cotton cloth made in Nimes,
ubiquitous seeming to be everywhere at the same
France—called serge de Nimes and swiftly shortened to "denim" (the
time
word "jeans" derives from Genes, the French word for Genoa, where
a similar cloth was produced). Almost from the first, Strauss had his
cloth dyed the distinctive indigo that gave blue jeans their name, but
it was not until the 1870s that he added the copper rivets which have
A his is the story of a sturdy American symbol which has now spread 1 long since become a company trademark. The rivets were the idea of
throughout most of the world. The symbol is not the dollar. It is not a Virginia City, Nevada, tailor, Jacob W. Davis, who added them to
even Coca-Cola. It is a simple pair of pants called blue jeans, and what pacify a mean-tempered miner called Alkali Ike. Alkali, the story goes,
the pants symbolize is what Alexis de Tocqueville called "a manly and complained that the pockets of his jeans always tore when he stuffed
legitimate passion for equality. . . ." Blue jeans are favored equally by them with ore samples and demanded that Davis do something about
bureaucrats and cowboys; bankers and deadbeats; fashion designers it. As a kind of joke, Davis took the pants to a blacksmith and had the
and beer drinkers. They draw no distinctions and recognize no classes; pockets riveted; once again, the idea worked so well that word got
they are merely American. Yet they are sought after almost every- around; in 1873 Strauss appropriated and patented the gimmick—and
where in the world—including Russia, where authorities recently hired Davis as a regional manager.
broke up a teenaged gang that was selling them on the black market
for two hundred dollars a pair. They have been around for a long time, By this time, Strauss has taken both his brothers and two broth- 6
ers-in-law into the company and was ready for his third San Francisco
and it seems likely that they will outlive even the necktie.
store. Over the ensuing years the company prospered locally and by
This ubiquitous American symbol was the invention of a Bavari- 2 the time of his death in 1902, Strauss had become a man of prominence
an-born Jew. His name was Levi Strauss. in California. F»r three decades thereafter the business
38 Chapter 2 / Narration The Jeaning of America—and the World / Carin C Quinn 39

profitable though small, with sales largely confined to the working Questions About the Reading
people of the West—cowboys, lumberjacks, railroad workers, and the 1. What reasons does Quinn give for the success of blue jeans? Identify
like. Levi's jeans were first introduced to the East, apparently, during the sentences that support your answer.
the dude-ranch craze of the 1930s, when vacationing Easterners re- 2. What are the main incidents in the development of blue jeans?
turned and spread the word about the wonderful pants with rivets. 3. Speculate about why Levi's brothers lied to him about their position
Another boost came in World War II, when blue jeans were declared in America. Why do you think the writer included this detail?
an essential commodity and were sold only to people engaged in de- 4. What conclusions can you draw about Strauss's character?
fense work. From a company with fifteen salespeople, two plants, and 5. How do you think Quinn feels about Levi's jeans and their popular-
almost no business east of the Mississippi in 1946, the organization ity?
grew in thirty years to include a sales force of more than twenty-two
thousand, with fifty plants and offices in thirty-five countries. Each
year, more than 250,000,000 items of Levi's clothing are sold—includ-
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
ing more than 83,000,000 pairs of riveted blue jeans. They have be- 1. What order does the writer use for paragraphs 3-6? What is the
come, through marketing, word of mouth, and demonstrable reliabil- purpose of the first paragraph of the essay? What is the purpose
ity, the common pants of America. They can be purchased pre-washed, of the last paragraph?
pre-faded, and pre-shrunk for the suitably proletarian look. They 2. Is the thesis of the essay stated? If so, in which sentence(s)? If not,
adapt themselves to any sort of idiosyncratic use; women slit them at state the thesis in a sentence of your own.
the inseams and convert them into long skirts, men chop them off 3. What are the main ideas in paragraphs 3, 4, 5, and 6? Are the main
above the knees and turn them into something to be worn while chal- ideas directly stated?
lenging the surf. Decorations and ornamentations abound. 4. What is the point of view in person, time, and tone in the essay?
The pants have become a tradition, and along the way have ac- 7 5. Could the first sentence in paragraph 5 be more than one sentence?
quired a history of their own—so much so that the company has Why or why not? Could the third sentence in paragraph 5 be made
opened a museum in San Francisco. There was, for example, the into more than one sentence? If so, how? If not, why not?
turn-of-the-century trainman who replaced a faulty coupling with a
pair of jeans; the Wyoming man who used his jeans as a towropg to Writing Assignments
haul his car out of a ditch; the Californian who found several pairs 1. Write a narrative essay in which you explain an achievement—eith-
in an abandoned mine, wore them, then discovered they were er your own or that of another person—resulting from one of the
sixty-three years old and still as good as new and turned them over following: working hard, being lucky, taking a risk, or being innova-
to the Smithsonian as a tribute to their toughness. And then there is tive. Describe the series of events that led to success.
the particularly terrifying story of the careless construction worker 2. Write a narrative essay about an important opportunity that you
who dangled fifty-two stories above the street until rescued, his sole once had. Explain how the opportunity arose, how you did or did
support the Levi's belt loop through which his rope was hooked. not take advantage of it, and what the results of your action were.
40 Health}/ Bodies, Healthy Minds? / Paul Theroux 41
Chapter 2 / Narration

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? man's table, but not speaking, a fat woman sneaked bites at a candy
bar. She did it guiltily, as if she feared that at any moment someone
Paul Theroux would shout, Put that thing away!
"You mind not smoking?" 2
Paul Theroux is a novelist, essayist, and world traveler. In The Old Patagonian Express, It was the girl with the bags and the stony gaze. 3
he wrote about his journey from the suburbs of Boston to the southern tip of South Ameri- I looked for a NO SMOKING sign. There was none. I said, "Is it bother- 4
ca—a journey that he took entirety by train. The essay below tells of an encounter he had ing you?"
during that journey with a young woman whose absorption with the health of her body
has closed her mind to thinking about other viewpoints.
She said, "It kills my eyes." 5
I put my pipe down and took a swig of beer. 6
Words to Know She said, "That stuff is poison." 7
Instead of looking at her I looked at her bags. I said, "They say pea- 8
betrothal promise to marry nuts cause cancer."
Buddhism a form of religion practiced principally She grinned vengefully at me and said, "Pumpkin seeds." 9
in eastern and central Asian countries I turned away. 10
commissar official of the Communist party "And these are almonds." 11
devoid absent, lacking I considered relighting my pipe. 12
effulgent splendid, glorious "And this is cashews." 13
Leopold Bloom character in Joyce's Ulysses Her name was Wendy. Her face was an oval of innocence, devoid 14
magnum about two-fifths of a gallon of any expression of inquiry. Her prettiness was as remote from my
Mahatma Gandhi Hindu spiritual leader idea of beauty as homeliness and consequently was not at all interest-
Marx Karl Marx, German-born founder of com- ing. But I could not blame her for that: it is hard for anyone to be inter-
munism esting at twenty. She was a student, she said, and on her way to Ohio.
pedantic boring and overlearned She wore an Indian skirt, and lumberjack boots, and the weight of her
savored enjoyed leather jacket made her appear round shouldered.
wraithlike like a ghost, not like a living person "What do you study, Wendy?" 15
Zen form of Buddhism "Eastern philosophy. I'm into Zen." 16
Oh, Christ, I thought. But she was still talking. She had been learn- 17
ing about the Hole, or perhaps the Whole—it still made no sense to
L here would be no food until Albany, when the New York section, me. She hadn't read all that much, she said, and her teachers were
with its diner, was hooked to this train. So I went into the lounge car lousy. But she thought that once she got to Japan or Burma she would
and had a beer. I packed my pipe and set it on fire and savored the find out a lot more. She would be in Ohio for a few more years. The
effulgent blur of lazy reflection that pipe smoke induces in me. I blew thing about Buddhism, she said, was that it involved your whole life.
myself a cocoon of it, and it hung in clouds around me, so comforting Like everything you did—it was Buddhism. And everything that hap-
and thick that the girl who entered the car and sat down opposite pened in the world—that was Buddhism, too.
seemed wraithlike, a child lost in fog. She put three bulging plastic "Not politics," I said. "That's not Buddhism. It's just crooked." 18
bags on her table, then tucked her legs under her. She folded her hands "That's what everyone says, but they're wrong. I've been reading 19
in her lap and stared stonily down the car. Her intensity made me alert. Marx. Marx is a kind of Buddhist."
At the next table a man was engrossed in a Matt Helm story, and near Was she pulling my leg? I said, "Marx was about as Buddhist as this 20
him, two linesmen—they wore their tools—were playing poker. There beer can. But anyway, I thought we were talking about politics. It's the
was a boy with a short-wave radio, but his racket was drowned by opposite of thought—it's selfish, it's narrow, it's dishonest. It's all half
the greater racket of the train. A man in a uniform—a train man—was truths and short cuts. Maybe a few Buddhist politicians would change
stirring coffee; there was an old greasy lantern at his feet. At the train things, but in Burma, where . . ."
 •43
42 Chapter 2 / Narration Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? / Paul Theroux

"Take this," she said, and motioned to her bags of nuts. "I'm a raw- 21 "The betrothal took place when he was seven years old. The mar- 40
foodist-nondairy vegetarian. You're probably right about politics be- riage sealed the bargain. They were both thirteen. . . ."
ing all wrong. I think people are doing things all wrong—I mean, com- Wendy pondered this. I decided to try again. H a d she, I asked, not- 41
pletely. They eat junk. They consume junk. Look at them!" The fat lady iced a falling off of her sexual appetite since her conversion to raw
was still eating her candy bar, or possibly another candy bar. "They're vegetables?
just destroying themselves and they don't even know it. They're smok- "I used to get insomnia," she began. "And sick—I mean, really sick. 42
ing themselves to death. Look at the smoke in this car." And I admit I lost my temper. I think meat does cause people to be
I said, "Some of that is my smoke." 22 hostile."
"It kills my eyes." 23 "But w h a t about sexual desire? Lechery, cravings—I don't know 43
" 'Nondairy/ " I said. "That means you don't drink milk." 24 quite how to put it."
"Right." 25 "You mean sex? It's not supposed to be violent. It should be gentle 44
"What about cheese? Cheese is nice. And you've got to have cal- 26 and beautiful. Kind of a quiet thing."
cium." Maybe if you're a vegetarian, I thought. She was still droning on 45
"I get my calcium in cashews," she said. Was this true? "Anyway 27 in her pedantic college student w a y
milk gives me mucus. Milk is the biggest mucus-producer there is." "I understand my body better now . . . I've gotten to know my body 46
"I didn't know that." 28 a whole lot better . . . Hey, I can tell when there's just a little difference
"I used to go through a box of Kleenex a day." 29 in my blood sugar level. I can sense it going up and down, my blood
"A box. That's quite a lot." 30 sugar level. When I eat certain things."
"It was the milk. It made mucus/' she said. "My nose used to run 31 I asked her whether she ever got violently ill. She said absolutely 47
like you wouldn't believe." not. Did she ever feel a little bit sick?
"Is that why people's noses run? Because of the milk?" 32 Her reply was extraordinary: "I don't believe in germs." 48
"Yes!" she cried. 33 Amazing. I said, "You mean, you don't believe that germs exist? 49
I wondered if she had a point. Milk drinkers' noses run. Children 34 They're just an optical illusion under the microscope? Dust, little
are milk drinkers. Therefore, children's noses run. And children's specks—that sort of thing."
noses do run. But it still struck me as arguable. Everyone's nose runs— "I don't think germs cause sickness. Germs are living things—small, 50
except hers, apparently. living things that don't do any harm."
"Dairy products give you headaches, too." 35 "Like cockroaches and fleas," I said. "Friendly little critters, right?" 51
"You mean, they give you headaches." 36 "Germs don't make you sick," she insisted. "Food does. If you eat 52
"Right. Like the other night. My sister k n o w s I'm a vegetarian. So 37 bad food it weakens your organs and you get sick. It's your organs
she gives me some eggplant parmyjan. She doesn't know I'm a non- that make you sick. Your heart, your bowels."
dairy raw foodist. I looked at it. As soon as I saw it was cooked and "But what makes your organs sick?" 53
had cheese on it, I knew that I was going to feel awful. But she spent "Bad food. It makes them weak. If you eat good food, like I do," 54
all day making it, so what else could I do? The funny thing is that I she said, gesturing at her p u m p k i n seeds, "you don't get sick. Like I
liked the taste of it. God, was I sick afterwards! And my nose started never get sick. If I get a runny nose and a sore throat, I don't call it
to run." a cold."
I told her that, in his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi stated that 38 "You don't?" 55
eating meat made people lustful. And yet at thirteen, an age at which "No, it's because I ate something bad. So I eat something good." 56
most American children were frolicking with the Little League team I decided to shelve my inquiry about sickness being merely a ques- 57
or concentrating on making spit balls, Gandhi had got married—and tion of a runny nose, and not cancer or the bubonic plague. Let's get
he was a vegetarian. down to particulars, I thought. What had she had to eat that day?
"But it wasn't a real marriage," said Wendy. "It was a kind of Hindu 39
ceremony."
 Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? / Paul Theroux 45
44 Chapter 2 / Narration

the kidneys he had for breakfast. I had shown a knowledge of Bud-

"This. Pumpkin seeds, cashews, almonds. A banana. An apple. 58
dhism and the eating habits of Bushmen in the Kalahari and Gandhi's
Some raisins. A slice of wholemeal bread—toasted. If you don't toast
early married life. I was a fairly interesting person, was I not? But not
it you get mucus."
once in the entire conversation had she asked me a single question.
"You're sort of declaring war on the gourmets, eh?" 59
She never asked what I did, where I had come from, or where I was
"I know I have fairly radical views," she said. 60
going. When it was not interrogation on my part, it was monologue
"I wouldn't call them radical," I said, "They're smug views, self-im- 61
on hers. Uttering rosy generalities in her sweetly tremulous voice, and
portant ones. Egocentric, you might say. The funny thing about being
tugging her legs back into the lotus position when they slipped free,
smug and egocentric and thinking about health and purity all the time
she was an example of total self-absorption and desperate self-adver-
is that it can turn you into a fascist. My diet, my bowels, my self—it's
tisement. She had mistaken egotism for Buddhism. I still have a great
the way right-wing people talk. The next thing you know you'll be rav-
affection for the candor of American college students, but she re-
ing about the purity of the race."
minded me of how many I have known who were unteachable.
"Okay," she conceded in a somersault, "I admit some of my views 62
are conservative. But so what?"
"Well, for one thing, apart from your bowels there's a big world out 63 Questions About the Reading
there. The Middle East. The Panama Canal. Political prisoners having
1. What is the writer's opinion of the girl? Does he state his opinion?
their toenails pulled out in Iran. Families starving in India."
This rant of mine had little effect, though it did get her onto the 64 If so, in which sentences particularly?
subject of families—perhaps it was my mention of starving Indians. 2. When the girl talks about wanting to teach other people about
She hated families, she said. She couldn't help it; she just hated them. foods, the writer says, "It was the voice of a commissar." Explain
I said, "What does a family make you think of?" 65 what he means. Would you want to be taught by the girl? Why or
"A station wagon, a mother, a father. Four or five kids eating ham- 66 why not?
burgers. They're really awful, and they're everywhere—they're all 3. Is there anything in the first paragraph to suggest that the writer
over the place, driving around." had already formed an opinion of the girl before she began to
"So you think families are a blot on the landscape?" 67 speak? Do you think his opinion of her changed during their
She said, "Well, yes." 68 conversation?
She had been at this college in Ohio for three years. She had never 69 4. Does the writer reveal himself as being almost as convinced of his
in that time taken a literature course. Even more interesting, this was own opinions as the girl is of hers? Support your answer by citing
the first time in her life that she had ever been on a train. She liked sentences and passages from the essay.
the train, she said, but didn't elaborate.
I wondered what her ambitions were. 70 Questions About the Writer's Strategies
"I think I'd like to get involved in food. Teach people about food. 71 1. The writer's principal strategy for creating an impression of the girl
W h a t they should eat. Tell them w h y they get sick." It w a s the voice is dialogue. Compare this strategy to the one used by Mary Mebane
of a commissar, and yet a m o m e n t later she said d r e a m i l y "Sometimes in "A Very Basic Decision," page 32.
I look at a piece of cheese. I k n o w it tastes good. I k n o w I'll like it. 2. What is the purpose of the first paragraph of the essay?
But I also k n o w that I'm going to feel awful the next d a y if I eat it." 3. Does the writer state the thesis of the essay? If so, in which sen-
I said, "That's w h a t I think w h e n I see a m a g n u m of c h a m p a g n e , 72 tence(s)? If not, state the thesis in a sentence of your own. What is
a rabbit pie, and a bowl of cream puffs w i t h hot chocolate sauce." the significant point the writer is making in this narrative?
At the time, I did not think Wendy w a s crazy in any important 73 4. The paragraphs of the essay are very short and often contain only
sense. But afterward, w h e n I r e m e m b e r e d our conversation, she one sentence. Why is the paragraphing appropriate to the principal
seemed to me profoundly loony. A n d profoundly incurious. I h a d ca- writing strategy that the writer uses in the narrative?
sually m e n t i o n e d to her that I h a d b e e n to U p p e r Burma a n d Africa.
I h a d described Leopold Bloom's love of "the faint tang of u r i n e " in
 Chapter 2 / Narration A Brother's Murder / Brent Staples 47

5. This essay touches on a great many subjects, but the main topic of
conversation is food. In this discussion, how is food used to repre- A Brother's Murder
sent a larger idea? Brent Staples

Writing Assignments Brent Staples grew up in the bleak, threatening environment that confronts so many poor
young blacks in America. Staples rejected that environment and became a successful jour-
1. Write a narrative essay about an interesting conversation you had nalist, but his younger brother was trapped and consumed by the inner-city culture
during a bus ride or a plane ride, while waiting in a long line, or around him. In this essay on his brother's death, Staples shows how narrative writing
in some similar situation. Use dialogue to recount what was said. can express the powerful emotional background behind a single tragic event.
2. Write a narrative essay describing an argument between two people
on some important issue, such as the death penalty, the nuclear Words to Know
freeze movement, acid rain, or teenage pregnancy. If you like, make ensconced comfortably settled
this an imaginary argument. machismo aggressive manliness
3. At some time a person has probably talked you into doing some- paranoia suspicion that others bear ill will
thing against your better judgment. Write a narrative essay about
that event.
I t has been more than two years since my telephone rang with the
news that my younger brother Blake—just twenty-two years old—had
been murdered. The young man who killed him was only twenty-four.
Wearing a ski mask, he emerged from a car, fired six times at close
range with a massive .44 Magnum, then fled. The two had once been
inseparable friends. A senseless rivalry—beginning, I think, with an
argument over a girlfriend—escalated from posturing, to threats, to
violence, to murder. The way the two were living, death could have
come to either of them from anywhere. In fact, the assailant had al-
ready survived multiple gunshot wounds from an accident much like
the one in which my brother lost his life.
As I wept for Blake I felt wrenched backward into events and cir-
cumstances that had seemed light-years gone. Though a decade apart,
we both were raised in Chester, Pennsylvania, an angry, heavily black,
heavily poor, industrial city southwest of Philadelphia. There, in the
1960s, I was introduced to mortality, not by the old and failing, but
by beautiful young men who lay wrecked after sudden explosions of
violence. The first, I remembered from my fourteenth year—Johnny,
brash lover of fast cars, stabbed to death two doors from my house
in a fight over a pool game. The next year, my teenage cousin, Wesley,
whom I loved very much, was shot dead. The summers blur. Milton,
an angry young neighbor, shot a crosstown rival, wounding him badly.
William, another teenage neighbor, took a shotgun blast to the shoul-
der in some urban drama and displayed his bandages proudly. His
brother, Leonard, severely beaten, lost an eye and donned a black
patch. It went on.
 Brother's Murder / Brent Staples 49
Chapter 2 / Narration

I recall not long before I left for college, two local Vietnam veter- 3 tough he wanted to be. But behind the dark glasses and the swagger,
ans—one from the Marines, one from the Army—arguing fiercely, I glimpsed the baby-faced toddler I'd once watched over. I nearly
nearly at blows about which outfit had done the most in the war. The wept. I wanted desperately for him to live. The young think them-
most killing, they meant. Not much later, I read a magazine article that selves immortal, and a dangerous light shone in his eyes as he spoke
set that dispute in a context. In the story, a noncommissioned officer— laughingly of making fools of the policemen who had raided his apart-
a sergeant I believe—said he would pass up any number of affluent, ment looking for drugs. He cried out as I took his right hand. A line
suburban-born recruits to get hard-core soldiers from the inner city. of stitches lay between the thumb and index finger. Kickback from a
They jumped into the rice paddies with "their manhood on their shotgun, he explained, nothing serious. Gunplay had become part of
sleeves/' I believe he said. These two items—the veterans arguing and his life.
the sergeant's words—still characterize for me the circumstances un- I lacked the language simply to say: Thousands have lived this for 7
der which black men in their teens and twenties kill one another with you and died. I fought the urge to lift him bodily and shake him. This
such frequency. With a touchy paranoia born of living battered lives, place and the way you are living smells of death to me, I said. Take
they are desperate to be real men. Killing is only machismo taken to some time away, I said. Let's go downtown tomorrow and buy a plane
the extreme. Incursions to be punished by death were many and mi- ticket anywhere, take a bus trip, anything to get away and cool things
nor, and they remain so: they include stepping on the wrong toe, liter- off. He took my alarm casually. We arranged to meet the following
ally; cheating in a drug deal; simply saying "I dare you" to someone night—an appointment he would not keep. We embraced as though
holding a gun; crossing territorial lines in a gang dispute. My brother through glass. I drove away.
grew up to wear his manhood on his sleeve. And when he died, he As I stood in my apartment in Chicago holding the receiver that 8
was in that group—black, male and in its teens and early twenties— evening in February 1984, I felt as though part of my soul had been
that is far and away the most likely to murder or be murdered. cut away I questioned myself then, and I still do. Did I not reach back
I left the East Coast after college, spent the mid- and late 1970s in 4 soon enough or earnestly enough for him? For weeks I awoke crying
Chicago as a graduate student, taught for a time, then became a jour- from a recurrent dream in which I chased him, urgently trying to get
nalist. Within ten years of leaving my hometown, I was overeducated him to read a document I had, as though reading it would protect him
and "upwardly mobile," ensconced on a quiet, tree-lined street where from what had happened in waking life. His eyes shining like black
voices raised in anger were scarcely ever heard. The telephone, like diamonds, he smiled and danced just beyond my grasp. When I
some grim umbilical, kept me connected to the old world with news reached for him, I caught only the space where he had been.
of deaths, imprisonings and misfortune. I felt emotionally beaten up.
Perhaps to protect myself, I added a psychological dimension to the
physical distance I had already achieved. I rarely visited my home-
town. I shut it out.
As I fled the past, so Blake embraced it. On Christmas of 1983, I 5
traveled from Chicago to a black section of Roanoke, Virginia, where
he then lived. The desolate public housing projects, the hopeless, idle
young men crashing against one another—these reminded me of the
embittered town we'd grown up in. It was a place where once I would
have been comfortable, or at least sure of myself. Now, hearing of my
brother's forays into crime, his scrapes with police and street thugs,
I was scared, unsteady on foreign terrain.
I saw that Blake's romance with the street life and the hustler image 6
had flowered dangerously. One evening that late December, standing
in some Roanoke dive among drug dealers and grim, hair-trigger los-
ers, I told him 1 feared for his life. He had affected the image of the
50
Chapter 2 / Narration The Deli / Carmen Machin (Student) 51

Questions About the Reading

1. At what time is Staples writing? At what time did the events he
The Deli
describes occur? Carmen Machin (Student)
2. The writer describes one main event by recounting several subordi-
nate events. What is the main event? And how many subordinate
Carmen Machin was a student at East Los Angeles College when she wrote this account
events are described?
of running a small food store in New York. She is especially effective at letting us see what
3. What reasons does the writer give for his brother's behavior? happened exactly as she saw it at the time. Her account gives us a good idea of her own
4. In paragraph 3, what does the expression "with 'their manhood on refreshing character—a bit wide-eyed and innocent, but ready to discover things, to learn,
their sleeves'" mean? and to take the world as it comes.

Words to Know
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
naivete innocence
1. What is the main idea of the essay? Is the main idea directly stated purloined stolen
or implied?
sorties entries, invasions
2. What order does the writer use for his narration? Is there more than
one order?
3. How does the writer let you know that this essay is about more than
his brother's death? What comment is he making on American IVJLy husband and I were about a year into wedded bliss, when we 1
society? were made an offer we couldn't refuse. There was a delicatessen
whose owner was anxious to sell. He was moving to another state. We
4. In paragraph 6, what details does the writer use to give the reader
an idea of his brother's character? could have the store at payments we could afford. We accepted. There
was an apartment behind and connected to it which was included in
the deal. We had no idea what the neighborhood was like, but with
Writing Assignments youthful energy and optimism, we moved in.
1. Write an essay narrating an event in which someone important to The first week was tragic. As the days passed and the end of the 2
you—a brother or sister, a friend, or a friend's child—did something month approached, we realized that if things continued as they were,
foolish or dangerous. Try to show the reader how you reacted to we would not only be unable to make the payments, but would prob-
the incident, ably have to close the doors. In the midst of this anxiety was the surly
2. Write a narrative essay recounting an event that made you happy attitude of the customers. One lady in particular seemed to relish my
or proud. Use chronological order to describe the event itself, but discomfort and attempts at self-control while she, on each of her sor-
feel free to write from a different point in time at the beginning or ties into the establishment, accused us, now of underweighing the cold
end of the essay. cuts and salads, or then, of miscounting her change. For weeks I re-
mained courteous and patient before her onslaught. I did not want to
alienate the very few customers that we had.
Then suddenly, we began to see new faces. Our business started a 3
definite upward swing. Even our first customers seemed more pleas-
ant. All, that is, except HER. The day came when I felt I could no longer
tolerate her attacks, and still smiling, I suggested that since we did not
seem to be able to satisfy her, that it might be a good idea if she went
elsewhere. She burst out laughing and in her thick Irish brogue, pro-
claimed to the other customers who were there at the time, that at last
she had made me show some "backbone." Then she turned to me and
said: "I wondered how long you'd be taking it." She went on to marvel
 Chapter 2 / Narration The Deli Carmen Machin (Student) 53

at the intestinal fortitude or innocence of two "spies" moving into an the first room behind the store. They ate to their hearts' content and,
Irish neighborhood. I stood there in complete awe, as the other cus- before they left, emptied their pockets, depositing each purloined ar-
tomers assured me that they had, at first, abandoned the store when ticle in its appointed place. No apologies were given, none were ex-
they heard that "spies was buying/' but that, thanks to Madeline Han- pected. But from that day on, we were protected, and the only pay-
non, for that was our tormentor's name, they had, one by one, come ment we ever made was that which we also received: friendship, trust,
back. and acceptance.
New York is a great big city; most folks call it unfriendly, and yet, 4
I never found it so. This area, from 96th Street to 100 Street, between
Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, was absolutely small townish.
Everyone knew everybody else and most were related in some way.
Questions About the Reading
Outsiders who moved in had to prove themselves worthy of accep- 1. Explain how the writer proved she was "worthy of acceptance." Did
tance or remain forever strangers. We were fortunate. Even the local she use the same method in each of the two incidents she tells about
gang, called "The Dukes," on whose turf our place was located, ac- in the narrative?
cepted us wholeheartedly. 2. What final conclusion can you draw about Madeline Hannon's
The "Dukes," unknown to us, had terrorized all the shopkeepers 5 character? Was she prejudiced? Were her friends prejudiced?
in the area. In order to be able to stay in business without being ha- 3. Why do you think Madeline and her neighbors behaved as they
rassed by vandalism, shoplifting, out and out robberies, and, in certain did?
cases, beatings, the Dukes were paid whatever they felt the traffic
could bear. In their opinion, we were to be no exception.
One day three of the young men swaggered into the store. At the 6
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
time, my husband was in the cellar arranging a shipment of merchan- 1. In paragraph 4, the writer says, "Outsiders who moved in had to
dise that had just arrived, and I, expecting him momentarily, was pre- prove themselves worthy of acceptance." What purpose does this
paring a sandwich which was to be my lunch. As I glanced up, I saw statement serve in the essay?
one of them quickly grab some Hostess Cupcakes and put them in his 2. What order does the writer use in explaining the incidents that took
pocket; another leaned against the fruit bin which was immediately place? Are there any paragraphs in which the writer seems to
minus an apple. Such was my naivete that I firmly believed the only change that order?
reason anyone stole food was hunger. My heart broke and at the same 3. What is the point of view of the narrative? If the writer had known
time opened and embraced them in the mother syndrome. They asked at the time of the incidents what she knew when she was writing,
to speak to my husband. "He's not here at the moment, but if you don't do you think the events would have proceeded in the same way
mind waiting, he should be back in a jiffy." They nodded. with the same outcomes?
As they started to turn to walk around the customer area, I pro- 7 4. The writer does not use very much dialogue in her narrative. Re-
ceeded to introduce myself and, at the same time, commenced making write paragraphs 6 and 7, changing some of the descriptive state-
three more sandwiches. While I made small talk (actually, it was a ments into quoted dialogue.
monologue), they stood silent, looking fiercely, albeit hungrily at the
masterpieces I was concocting: Italian rolls, piled high with juicy roast
pork and, on top, my husband's wonderful homemade cole slaw. I
Writing Assignments
placed them on paper plates along with pickles and plenty of potato 1. Write a narrative essay about an experience in which you did not
chips, then I said, "Come on, you'll have to eat in the kitchen, because fully understand what was happening until after the event—per-
we're not licensed to serve in the store. Do you want milk or soda?" haps, for instance, when you were the target of a practical joke, or
"Don't you know who we are?" "I've seen you around, but I don't when you misinterpreted a friendly gesture as a romantic overture.
know your names," I replied. They looked at me in disbelief, then 2. Write a narrative essay in which you tell about a person who
shrugging their shoulders, marched as one into the kitchen which was achieves a goal only after standing up to another person.
54
Chapter 2 / Narration

3. Write a narrative essay about a situation in which you were at a

serious disadvantage. Tell how you were able to work around that
disadvantage.
Description

BY USING DESCRIPTION, the writer can provide the reader

with a "word picture" of a specific person, the flavor of
a special place, or the look of a particular object. To help
the reader visualize the object, the writer chooses key de-
tails to develop the description: a certain liveliness in a
person's eyes, the movement of ocean waves, the design
of a favorite chair.
We saw in Chapter 2 that writers use descriptive words
to add color and vividness to the details they describe.
The specific descriptive words the writer chooses depend
on the particular impression the writer wants to create. For
example, the writer can create the impression of a person
who is likeable by describing the person's face as "friend-
ly" and "good-natured." The writer can create the oppo-
site impression by using such descriptive words as
"shifty" or "scowling." In the following paragraph, the
writer develops an effective impression of a chair by the
build-up of details and descriptive words that recreate
the object for the reader.

The chair was the one piece of furniture I wanted to take

Detail: with me when I closed up my parents' house for the final
Location time. To look at it, sitting in the same kitchen corner where
it had been for fifty years, you'd wonder how it could be my
Detail: favorite chair. It was nothing but a straight-backed wooden
appearance chair, its seat scratched here and there from the soles of a
small boy's shoes. The only thing unusual about it was the
Detail: intricate design carved into its back. But the carving was
appearance
what made the chair meaningful to me. I had sat in that chair
many times as punishment for errors in my ways. I suppose
my mother thought it was defiance that led me to sit
55
56 Chapter 3 / Description Chapter 3 / Description 57

cross-legged on the seat with my back to her in the kitchen. lish the connection between the items. Two similes in this
But it was not defiance. Rather, in that position my eyes and paragraph, for example, are that a porcupine "looks like
then my fingers could trace the intertwining leaves and flow- an uncombed head" and "floats like a cork." (Can you
Details: ers of the design carved in the back of the chair. Each time
decoration of I sat there I seemed to see lines and shapes I hadn't seen be- find another?) A figure of speech related, to the simile is
chair fore: a heart-shaped leaf, a budding rose, a blade of grass. the metaphor, which also compares unlike items, but
Perhaps that chair had something to do with my lasting in- does so without directly stating the connection with like
terest in well-made antique furniture. Who knows? I do or as. Metaphors may be used to express an idea that is
know that when I drove away on that last day, the chair, care- rather abstract, as in "the scales of justice." But they can
fully wrapped in several old quilts, lay tenderly cradled on
the back seat of my car. be used for other effects too, and they may only be im-
plied by the use of a certain verb—"The swimmer
Notice that the chair is described only as being a waddled across the sand."
straight-backed wooden chair with a scratched seat and Another technique the writer of the above paragraph
a design carved into its back. However, the writer creates uses is irony. Irony introduces an effect or a relationship
the dominant impression that the chair—in spite of being that is contradictory or unexpected. For instance, it is not
associated with childhood punishment—remained beau- normal to "attack backing up" or to "retreat going
tiful to him and probably influenced his lifelong interest ahead," and it is certainly not normal to "eat toilet seats."
in fine woods and antiques. The words intricate, tracing, But it is normal for the porcupine, and that is the irony.
intertwining, heart-shaped, and budding describe and help Writers frequently use irony to amuse the reader, but
the reader picture the design in the back of the chair. And ironic situations can also be instructive, sad, or
in the last sentence, the phrases carefully wrapped and ten- maddening.
derly cradled convey indirectly the writer's feelings about The organization of a description also contributes to
the chair. The reader must be given enough detail not its effectiveness. The writer may arrange the details in or-
only to picture an object but also to understand what der of importance, usually moving from the less impor-
touched or moved the writer to single it out. tant to the more important details. The details in the para-
In descriptive writing you will often find stylistic de- graph above are arranged so they build to the most
vices that help convey both the essential qualities of the significant point—the deeper meaning of the chair to the
subject and its significance to the writer. Consider the fol- writer. The writer may choose to arrange the details ac-
lowing paragraph. cording to space, called spatial order. When a description
is organized according to space, the writer takes a physi-
Erethizon dorsatus, an antisocial character of the northern U.S. cal position in a room or at a scene and then describes
and Canadian forest, commonly called a porcupine, looks what can be seen from that position, using some consis-
like an uncombed head, has a grumpy personality, fights tent order such as moving from left to right, from fore-
Details: with his tail, hides his head when he's in trouble, floats like
simile and irony a cork, attacks backing up, retreats going ahead, and eats toi- ground to background, or from top to bottom.
let seats as if they were Post Toasties. It's a sad commentary The following paragraph describes the quarters below
on his personality that people are always trying to do him deck in a mid-1800s passenger ship. It was to this area
in. that early immigrants to the United States were confined
during the long, slow crossing of the Atlantic. Notice that
In this paragraph, the writer uses a figure of speech the writer describes the area as he sees it from its entry-
called a simile to help enhance the description of the por-
way, looking down the middle aisle.
cupine. A simile takes items that are considered unlike
and then compares them in a way that shows an unex- In the fitful light, your eye will discover a middle aisle five
pected similarity. Usually, a simile uses like or as to estab- feet wide. It will be a while before you can make out the
58 Chapter 3 / Description Chapter 3 / Description 59

Ends of aisles separate shapes within it, the water closets at either end (for hands full of shopping bags with souvenirs and boxes of li-
Furnishings, the women; the men must go above deck), one or several Behavior quor, weary and exhausted, looking for a taxi back to the ship
objects cooking stoves, the tables. The aisle itself, you will see, is or hotel.
formed by two rows of bunks that run to the side of the ship. The next day, take a look down the beach. The wife wears t
Sides of aisles
Examine a bunk. One wooden partition reaches from floor a very conservative one-piece bathing suit with a matching
Specific articles of
to ceiling to divide it from the aisle, another stretches hori- clothing
cover-up and hat. The husband wears flowered trunks and
zontally from wall to aisle to create two decks. Within the Appearance and a matching shirt. They may just sit in folding chairs reading
Exact dimensions partitions are the boxlike spaces, ten feet wide, five long, less walk novels—with white cream covering their noses and cheeks.
within partitions than three high. For the months of the voyage, each is home Then they may decide to stroll along the beach and collect
for six to ten beings. shells. Because they didn't get to see much of the island on
Oscar Handlin, Behavior the safari bus, they rent a car to see it for themselves at their
The Uprooted own creepingly slow pace, Not only do they want to take in
all the sights, but they also think it is too dangerous to go
more than 15 miles per hour on the roads.
In a descriptive essay, the writer may devote a para- You are now familiar with some of the tourists' character- !
graph to each characteristic of the person or object being istics and activities. If you still fail to recognize one, they
described. In the essay that follows, the writer describes have one other outstanding characteristic: they are very
(paragraphs 2 through 5) the way American tourists naive. If you are ever approached by someone as if you were
dress and behave when they are sightseeing, shopping, the most foreign creature he had ever seen, and he speaks
to you as though you cannot understand English, it is very
enjoying the beach, driving, and speaking to the natives likely you are dealing with a tourist.
of St. Thomas Island. Some of the descriptive details, both Elizabeth Grammer (Student)
words and phrases, that are particularly useful in provid-
ing a picture of the tourists to the reader are In paragraph 2, you can picture to yourself the wife in
underlined. her pants suit with her curls and scarf, the husband in
his Bermuda shorts and camera. Notice how specific the
St. Thomas is considered one of the most beautiful islands descriptive words are.
in the Caribbean, and everyday we are visited by large num- Notice also that the descriptive details the writer pro-
bers of that strange group of people called "tourists." Once vides work together to create an overall impression of
you become familiar with some of their basic characteristics tourists. Although the writer is presenting a series of facts
and activities, they are easy to recognize. For our sample we
will use the average, middle-aged American couple.
about the sample tourists, she tells us at the start that
They are going on a guided tour of the island. The wife
tourists are a "strange group," and that is an opinion. In
is dressed in her polyester pants suit, carrying her white the introduction to Chapter 2 we talked about the differ-
purse. Her curled and sprayed-stiff hairdo is covered with ence between writing objectively or subjectively, and
Details of
clothing
what looks like a chiffon scarf. The husband wears a here we see that although the writer is writing in an ob-
short-sleeved shirt, Bermuda shorts, socks, sneakers, and a jective style, her choice of specific descriptive details and
straw hat, and, of course, he carries a pocket Instamatic cam-
era. They go around the entire island, sitting up in a crowded
words supports her own subjective opinion that tourists
Behavior safari bus, sightseeing and snapping away with the camera. are "strange" and "naive."
After the tour, the driver drops them off at Main Street. In creating a description, then, the writer must identify
Once they have paid the fare and turned in circles trying to the important characteristics of the object or scene being
Posture and
gestures find which way to go, they begin to walk down Main Street. described and then find the words—nouns and verbs, as
As they walk by the first store, they hesitantly peer inside well as adjectives and adverbs—that best express these
and step in. For curiosity's sake, they look around the whole
Behavior
store, and then they proceed to the next. But after they be-
characteristics. One method that writers use to help dis-
come tired of just looking, they become more selective and cover the important details and the best words for a de-
begin to buy. Give them a few hours, and you will see them, scription is a prewriting technique called brainstorming.
60 Chapter 3 / Description Chapter 3 / Description 61

In brainstorming for a description, the writer begins, be- ^Descriptive words and phrases are an essential tool for
fore starting to write, by listing all the features of the sub- effective writing. They can make an object concrete for
ject that come to mind and all the words that seem related the reader by describing how it looks, sounds, tastes,
to those features. The words and features need not be smells, or feels. They can create a distinct impression of
listed in any particular order and probably not all will be that which is described and thus help the reader visualize
used in the final composition.' The idea is just to get the writer's ideas. You will find specific descriptive
started thinking about the subject and to build up a sup- words and details in all the paragraphs and essays that
ply of details and words from which to choose effective follow. As you read, notice how experienced writers
ones that can contribute to the description. Brainstorm- select revealing details because, as with the incidents in
ing is a useful technique for other modes of development narrative writing, it is important to limit the details in de-
as well, and will be discussed again in later chapters. scriptive writing to those that really contribute to the
Descriptive details are often combined with other effectiveness of the description. In your own writing,
modes of development. The following paragraphs, for ex- select—as the following writers do—the most essential
ample, are from a narrative essay about a young man's qualities of whatever you describe.
visit to the Mexican town that he had left soon after he The questions and assignments at the end of each read-
was born. Notice his descriptions of the people and the ing in this chapter will help you learn to recognize what
Spanish architecture of the town. qualities really are essential, and they will give you prac-
tice in choosing the best words to express those
On my arrival at Morelia airport, I was greeted by the qualities.
Description: , most attractive architecture I had ever seen. All the buildings
Spanish L had a very strong Spanish influence. Was it possible I had
architecture taken the wrong plane and landed somewhere in Spain?
No, indeed; it was Morelia, and what a town! Its people
were very plain and small-townlike. I was amused by some
People and their very oddly dressed people who wore white cotton clothing.
clothing On their heads the men wore straw hats, and the women
wore large Spanish scarves called mantillas. I asked a ticket
agent about the oddly dressed people. He explained that they
were the native people, known as Tarascos. They were the
founders of the land, and even today they are very tradition-
al in their beliefs and ways.
I took a taxi to El Hotel Virrey de Mendoza, located in the
middle of the town square. The hotel was made of hewn
stone that was cut and shaped into the most captivating
three-story building I had ever seen. It was built in the tra-
Architectural ditional Spanish style, with a central open patio completely
features surrounded by the building. My room had a spacious view
of the town square and its cathedral. The cathedral was built
in the seventeenth century in a baroque style that was popu-
lar in Europe. Beside the cathedral was the municipal palace
and other government buildings, all in Colonial Spanish
style. The feeling I had from the view was that I was back
in the days when Spanish viceroys ruled the land, and the
Catholic priests taught religion to the native inhabitants.
Arturo E. Ramirez (Student)
"Back to Where the Seed Was Planted"
62 Chapter 3 / Description A Baseball / Annie Dillard 63

A Baseball Questions About the Reading

Annie Dillard 1. Why does the writer object to softballs? How is a baseball superior?
2. What does the writer mean when she says the baseball's features
"seemed to call forth a skill both easy and precise"?
Annie Dillard has written many perceptive observations about things that most people 3. Which features of the baseball made it simple? Which ones made
fail to notice or that they take for granted. In this paragraph from An American Child- it reliable?
hood, she uses descriptive writing to express the special significance that a baseball can
have for a youngster.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Words to Know
1. Can you identify a topic sentence in this paragraph? Is the main
lashed secured or bound as with a rope idea implied?
2. The writer says that "your heart cracked" at the sound of a batted
ball. Does she make you remember the feeling she describes? If not,
/ \ . baseball weighted your hand just so, and fit it. Its red stitches, can you imagine it?
its good leather and hardness like skin over bone, seemed to call forth 3. In the last sentence, the writer implies that the baseball is a living
a skill both easy and precise. On the catch—the grounder, the fly, the thing. Which word makes this implication?
line drive—you could snag a baseball in your mitt, where it stayed,
snap, like a mouse locked in its trap, not like some pumpkin of a soft- Writing Assignments
ball you merely halted, with a terrible sound like a splat. You could
1. Write a paragraph describing an object you encounter nearly every
curl your fingers around a baseball, and throw it in a straight line.
day but rarely think much about. For instance, you could write
When you hit it with a bat it cracked—and your heart cracked, too,
about your sunglasses, your favorite mug, your pillow, your key
at the sound. It took a grass stain nicely, stayed round, smelled good,
ring, or your dog's tail.
and lived lashed in your mitt all winter, hibernating.
2. Look out the window nearest you. Picking your subject quickly,
without thinking about how you will describe it, write a descriptive
paragraph about one of the things you see.
64 Chapter 3 / Description The Stinging Cell / John Hersey 65

The Stinging Cell Questions About the Reading

John Hersey 1. What causes pressure to increase in the bladder of the cell?
2. How big is a cell?
3. Why is the stinging cell a marvel?
John Hersey—renowned as a journalist and as an author of books and essays—has been
•writing fiction and nonfidion for more than five decades. In this paragraph, he uses intri-
cate details, expressed in simple language, to describe one of nature's tiniest marvels. Questions About the Writer's Strategies
1. Identify the topic sentence in this paragraph.
Words to Know
2. Besides description, what other mode of development does the
hypodermic needle a syringe—with a needle, a writer use?
hollow barrel, and a plunger—that is used to give 3. What is the main metaphor the writer uses to clarify his
injections description?
syringe a hollow bulb or tube from which liquid 4. Although the writer is describing something extraordinarily small,
is squirted out or drawn in through a small open- he uses terms from our everyday, human-sized world to do so. But
ing in the end, he reminds us that he is describing something tiny. How
does he remind us, and what is the purpose of this strategy.

've talked about marvels out here. Here's one for you: the stinging Writing Assignments
cell of the kind embedded by the hundreds in the tentacle of a jellyfish.
1. Think of a plant or animal that you find fascinating, funny, or gro-
It's really almost unbelievable that such a tricky device could grow in
tesque. Using a topic sentence like "The eye of a frog is a fascinating
a single cell. It has a mouth, beside which is a tiny hair, the trigger
mechanism" or "The mosquito is perfectly designed for its grue-
of the cell's explosive weapon. The latter consists of a kind of bladder,
some job," write a paragraph describing your chosen subject. Try
like a rubber syringe, filled with a poisonous fluid, running back from
to think of colorful verbs to describe what your subject does. (Re-
the mouth, with a pair of blades folded like scissors near the mouth
member that you can brainstorm to search for specific words as
and a long, flexible needle coiled inside. When the hair trigger comes
well as for larger ideas.)
into contact with anything edible, there is a sudden increase of pres-
2. Using a spatial order, write a paragraph describing an enclosed
sure inside the bulb, and out from the mouth first pop the scissors,
space, such as the inside of your car, your kitchen at home, one of
opening out to cut an incision in the victim's skin, then the long needle
your closets, the locker room at your school gym, or a snack bar
uncoils and shoots itself through it into the victim. When the needle
where you go sometimes. Concentrate on specific details of the
is fully extended and rigid, its tip bursts and the bladder shoots a para-
place, and try to find adjectives that will help make your description
lyzing drug into the victim. It's a hypodermic needle and its barrel,
accurate.
all built into a single cell.
 The Coffee Plantation / Isak Dinesen 67
66 Chapter 3 / Description

Questions About the Reading

The Coffee Plantation
1. Was the coffee factory efficient and smooth-running? Why did it
Isak Dinesen appeal to the writer?
2. What had to be done when the coffee in the dryer was dry?
Isak Dinesen was the pen name adopted by the Danish baroness Karen BHxen. The baron- 3. Do you think the writer herself did much work on the plantation?
ess lived in British East Africa from 1914 to 1931, managing a coffee plantation that she What sort of work do you think she did?
and her husband had purchased. Her stories of African life, published in Out of Africa
and Shadows on the Grass, with their wealth of exotic detail, appealed to many readers
and more recently, with the appearance of a movie based on Out of Africa, to moviegoers. Questions About the Writer's Strategies
In the paragraph that follows, she describes the beauty and toil of running the coffee
1. Identify at least two similes in the paragraph. Are they effective?
plantation.
Why or why not?
Word to Know
2. What order does the writer use to describe the plantation?
3. In what respects is this paragraph a narrative as well as a
Ethiope someone from the African country of description?
Ethiopia 4. Try to pick out some particularly effective details in the paragraph,
and analyze why they are effective. How do they help you visualize
what the writer is describing?
X here are times of great beauty on a coffee-farm. When the planta-
tion flowered in the beginning of the rains, it was a radiant sight, like Writing Assignments
a cloud of chalk, in the mist and the drizzling rain, over six hundred
acres of land. The coffee-blossom has a delicate slightly bitter scent, 1. Write a paragraph describing a job in which your whole family
like the blackthorn blossom. When the field reddened with the ripe pitched in to help. Try to include details that show how you felt
berries, all the women and the children, whom they call the Totos, about the job.
were called out to pick the coffee off the trees, together with the men; 2. Think about an outdoor location that is important to you. Pick one
then the wagons and carts brought it down to the factory near the river. season of the year and write a paragraph describing what this place
Our machinery was never quite what it should have been, but we had looks like during that time. Try to use order of importance. That is,
planned and built the factory ourselves and thought highly of it. Once begin with the details that seem most important to how this place
the whole factory burned down and had to be built up again. The big looks and feels. Then move on to lesser details.
coffee-dryer turned and turned, rumbling the coffee in its iron belly
with a sound like pebbles that are washed about on the sea-shore.
Sometimes the coffee would be dry, and ready to take out of the dryer,
in the middle of the night. That was a picturesque moment, with many
hurricane lamps in the huge dark room of the factory, that was hung
everywhere with cobwebs and coffee-husks, and with eager glowing
dark faces, in the light of the lamps, round the dryer; the factory, you
felt, hung in the great African night like a bright jewel in an Ethiope's
ear. Later on the coffee was hulled, graded and sorted, by hand, and
packed in sacks sewn up with a saddler's needle.
 The Subway Station I Gilbert Highet 69
68 Chapter 3 / Description

roof. As I looked up toward the sunlight, 1 could see more debris sift-
The Subway Station ing slowly downward, and making an abominable pattern in the slant-
Gilbert Highet ing beam of dirt-laden sunlight. I was going on to relish more features
of this unique scene: such as the advertisement posters on the walls—
here a text from the Bible, there a half-naked girl, here a woman wear-
For many years a professor at Columbia University in New York, Gilbert Highet was born ing a hat consisting of a hen sitting on a nest full of eggs, and there
in Scotland and became a U.S. citizen in 1951. The following paragraph, taken from his
book Talents and Geniuses, demonstrates the writer's appreciation of a place that many
a pair of girl's legs walking up the keys of a cash register—all scribbled
of us simply ignore. over with unknown names and well-known obscenities in black cray-
on and red lipstick; but then my train came in at last, I boarded it, and
Words to Know began to read. The experience was over for the time.
abominable hateful
congealed thickened, made solid Questions About the Reading
defilement made dirty 1. What words does Highet use to demonstrate his growing appreci-
dubious doubtful, suspect
ation of the subway?
encrusted covered with a thick crust
2. Highet seems to be appreciating the subway station for the first
meager scanty, not enough
perfunctory carelessly indifferent
time. Is this his first wait in a subway station, or does he ride the
vaulting an arched structure subway often? How can you tell?
zest keen enjoyment 3. At several points in the description, the writer creates the impres-
sion of squalor and disease. What are some of the words and
phrases that he uses to do so?
Standing in a subway station, I began to appreciate the place—al- Questions About the Writer's Strategies
most to enjoy it. First of all, I looked at the lighting: a row of meager
electric bulbs, unscreened, yellow, and coated with filth, stretched to- 1. In the second sentence, the writer uses a simile—"as though it were
ward the black mouth of the tunnel, as though it were a bolt hole in a bolt hole in an abandoned coal mine"—to describe the tunnel.
an abandoned coal mine. Then I lingered, with zest, on the walls and Find two other similes in the paragraph. Are they effective?
ceiling: lavatory tiles which had been white about fifty years ago, and 2. In what order does the writer present the description?
were now encrusted with soot, coated with the remains of a dirty liq- 3. What is the topic sentence of this paragraph? Where is it located?
uid which might be either atmospheric humidity mingled with smog 4. The paragraph is written in the past tense. Might it be more effec-
or the result of a perfunctory attempt to clean them with cold water; tive in the present? Rewrite the first three sentences in the present
and, above them, gloomy^yaulting from which dingy paint was peel- to see how they sound.
ing off like scabs from an old wound, sick black paint leaving a leprous 5. Why does the writer compare the floor of the subway station to the
white undersurface. Beneath my feet, the floor was a nauseating dark hallway of a condemned slum building?
brown with black stains upon it which might be stale oil or dry chew-
ing gum or some worse defilement; it looked like the hallway of a con- Writing Assignments
demned slum building. Then my eye traveled to the tracks, where two 1. Imagine that you are riding on the subway car the writer boarded
lines of glittering steel—the only positively clean objects in the whole at the end of the paragraph. Describe the people you might meet.
place—ran out of darkness into darkness above an unspeakable mass 2. Write a paragraph describing a public place, such as a shopping
of congealed oil, puddles of dubious liquid, and a mishmash of old mall, a parking lot, or a gas station. Use spatial order to organize
cigarette packets, mutilated and filthy newspapers, and the debris that
your description.
filtered down from the street above through a barred grating in the
 Chapter 3 / Description The Sperm Whale / Barry Holstun Lopez
71

3. Describe an object, place, or event that frightened you but that you The Sperm Whale
were still drawn to (for instance, a horror movie, a ride in an amuse-
ment park, or a deserted road). What frightened you? What kept Barry Holstun Lopez
you interested? Use specific details.
Sometimes a writer can be most effective by describing what cannot be seen, as well as
what can. In this paragraph from Crossing Open Ground, Barry Lopez helps us under-
stand his subject by creating a picture that includes more than meets the eye.

Words to Know
ambergris a waxy goo formed in the sperm
whale's intestine and collected from the ocean
surface or shore for use in making perfumes
aorta the main artery coming out of the heart
cacophony loud, harsh sound; racket
carnivore a meat-eating animal
corrugated shaped into folds or ridges
knots nautical miles per hour (one knot = 1.15
statute miles per hour)
rivulets small streams
subterranean underground
writhing twisting or struggling as in pain

X he sperm whale, for many, is the most awesome creature of the

open seas. Imagine a forty-five-year-old male fifty feet long, a slim,
shiny black animal with a white jaw and marbled belly cutting the sur-
face of green ocean water at twenty knots. Its flat forehead protects
a sealed chamber of exceedingly fine oil; sunlight sparkles in rivulets
running off folds in its corrugated back. At fifty tons it is the largest
carnivore on earth. Its massive head, a third of its body length, is
scarred with the beak, sucker, and claw marks of giant squid, snatched
out of subterranean canyons a mile below, in a region without light,
and brought writhing to the surface. Imagine a four-hundred-pound
heart the size of a chest of drawers driving five gallons of blood at a
stroke through its aorta: a meal of forty salmon moving slowly down
twelve-hundred feet of intestine; the blinding, acrid fragrance of a
two-hundred-pound wad of gray ambergris lodged somewhere along
the way; producing sounds more shrill than we can hear—like chil-
dren shouting on a distant playground—and able to sort a cacophony
of noise: electric crackling of shrimp, groaning of undersea quakes,
roar of upwellings, whining of porpoise, hum of oceanic cables. With
skin as sensitive as the inside of your wrist.
72 Chapter 3 / Description The Carnival / Edward Hoagland 73

Questions About the Reading The Carnival

1. Where do giant squid live? Edward Hoagland
2. Describe the type of audience you think Lopez is writing for.
3. How do you feel about the sperm whale after reading the para-
Here, Edward Hoagland paints a picture with words. In the material that appears just
graph? Sperm whales are endangered by several human activities.
prior to this paragraph; he describes the intricate interactions of the crowd at the carnival
Based on this paragraph, do you think we should try to alter our This paragraph goes on to describe the motion of the carnival itself, in which the details
activities to protect them? Why or why not? presented show us an active and complex scene.

Questions About the Writer's Strategies Words to Know

1. What is the topic sentence of the paragraph? aura the sense of a thing; how something feels
2. What metaphor does the writer use for the whale's heart? What is centripetal holding objects in a spin around a cen-
the simile in the final sentence? tral axis
3. It is more than just its size and power that makes the sperm whale convulsive marked by convulsions; agitated
"awesome." How does the writer convince you that there is another jibing shaking back and forth
side to the whale's awesomeness? roil a state of agitation or turbulence

Writing Assignments
X he carnival, operating with almost equal intricacy, had the same
1. In a paragraph, describe something from the inside out, say, a roast aura about it of participation in a grand design. The Octopus—six an-
turkey, a good book, an orange or a tomato, or some part of the gular arms with buckets on the ends—reeled in a circle round and
human anatomy. round, each bucket revolving on its own axis. The Round-up, a centrip-
2. Imagine that you are in your room or some other place with which etal device, started flat, like a potter's wheel, and then stood up on
you are very familiar, and that it is pitch dark. Write a paragraph edge, with the riders pressed hard against the rim. The Scrambler was
describing what you would experience as you felt your way around a thicket of buckets mixing and jibing at great speed. There were Bum-
the room in the dark. You will have to use sensory details other than per-cars; a carousel with a small but effective organ—tin-tin, tub-tub—
those gained through sight. and bleached but convulsive horses; a Tilt-a-whirl, which was a
rattling dizzy ride supervised by a broken-nosed movie star from Tex-
as; and my favorite, the Tip Top, a Humpty-Dumpty-like creation
which bounced on cushions and blasts of air while playing goofy
wheezy nursery music as it turned. The mechanical activity—big Al-
lis-Chalmers engines pistoning under a subtler, wider roil—gave the
carnival some of the sweeping majesty of a steamship which makes
shuttle crossings and doesn't register its significance by where it's go-
ing so much as by what's going on within its hub of lights. The roaring
rides, the string of pitch games and shooting galleries with feathery
prizes, the local Legionnaires offering their version of craps and rou-
lette, all amounted to a vast river-boat that was traveling slowly
through town. Sometimes the machines ran the men and sometimes
the men enjoyed their dominion over the machines, but though the
announcer for the hell drivers apologized to the crowd many times
74 Chapter 3 / Description Tumalo / From The New Yorker 75

for the fact that they weren't astronauts and seemed dejected on ac- Tumalo
count of the Moonshot, nobody who worked in the carnival felt in the
least eclipsed by this event. From The New Yorker
•-tvjAfX
Questions About the Reading Sometimes a writer may need to describe something that is not significant, or at least
does not appear so at first glance. In this paragraph, the writer makes it seem that all
1. What do you think the writer is referring to when he mentions "the the details about the topic can be fit into a single paragraph.
Moonshot"? What does he mean when he says none of the carnival
workers felt "eclipsed" by it? Word to Know
2. Try to draw a rough sketch of the Round-up based on the writer's consequence Significance; importance
description. '
3. What impression do you have of the people who work in the carni-
val? Cite specific details that contribute to your impression. umalo is a town of little consequence. Actually, Tumalo isn't even
an incorporated" town, and there is no post office. There's the eas sta-
Questions About the Writer's Strategies tion, along with a mini-market; the Tumalo Irrigation District Office;
1. What two similar metaphors does the writer use to refer to the a Presbyterian church; an animal hospital; the Tumalo Trading Post,
carnival? where a variety of hubcaps are for sale; and the Dames and Dudes Hair
2. What is the writer's point of view? From the paragraph, where Design Studio. Behind the gas station is a mobile-home lot where
does it feel like he is located? maybe five families live. If you were driving from one of the big cities
3. In the way it conveys the controlled chaos of the carnival, this para- in the Willamette Valley—say, from Eugene—to go skiing at Mt. Bache-
graph is more than the sum of its parts. How does the writer achieve lor or fly-fishing in the Deschutes River, you would pass Tumalo's gas
this effect? station, off Highway 20, and, down the road, you would pass the Tu-
malo Emporium, a restaurant with Old West decor, but unless you
were Hungry or needed gas the chances are you would pass through
Writing Assignments Tumalo without really noticing it.
1. In a paragraph, describe a scene you know well—possibilities might
be your family at the breakfast or dinner table or the hallways when
you come to class. Try to use dialogue to enhance your description.
2. Write a paragraph describing a scene that is full of sights and activi-
ties—for instance, a busy city street, the stands at an athletic event,
a cafeteria at lunch time, a parade, or a rock concert. Try to give a
sense of the variety of details in the scene. (Before doing this assign-
ment, you might want to observe such a scene and take notes listing
everything you see and hear.)
76 Chapter 3 / Description Dawn Watch / John Ciardi
79
Questions About the Reading Dawn Watch
1. The writer gives only one detail about the Tumalo Trading Post.
John Ciardi
What do you think some other details might be? What other things
might be for sale there?
2. Do people other than vacationers visit Tumalo? Judging from the How many things do we fail to see because we do not look? in this essay, poet and critic
John Ciardi describes in rich detail exactly what happens when the sun comes up in the
types of places located there, what sorts of people do you think live
morning.
around the town?
3. Is the writer making fun of Tumalo? Support your answer by citing Words to Know
details in the paragraph.
4. This paragraph is from a longer essay. Why do you think the writer bedraggled wet and limp
is describing Tumalo the way he does? From what place in the essay braggarts persons given to talking boastfully
do you think this paragraph is taken? buffet a meal at which guests serve themselves
grackles blackbirds
grate to make a rasping sound
Questions About the Writer's Strategies inured to become used to something undesirable
1. Why does the writer just give the names of several of the places in mulched covered with a protective covering of
Tumalo, rather than using more details to describe them? What im- leaves, manure, and so on
pression do the names have on you? phenomenon an unusual or unaccountable fact or
2. Is there a topic sentence in this paragraph? If so, where is it? Is the occurrence
main idea of the paragraph stated more than once? Where? pincer to work together like a clawlike grasping
3. What order does the writer use to describe the town? Does the para- tool
graph make you feel as if you were driving through Tumalo? How? spectrum a broad sequence or range of colors
4. Is the writer's description subjective or objective? Can you think sprawl to spread out awkwardly
of any people who might view Tumalo differently from the way the thickets dense growths of scrubs or underbrush
writer does?

Writing Assignments Unless a man is up for the dawn and for the half hour or so of first 1
1. Go out and go for a ride. Ride a bus, or drive a car, or ride your light, he has missed the best of the day.
bicycle. From all the things you see, select just a few details, and The traffic has just started, not yet a roar and a stink. One car at 2
then use them to describe your ride. Try to describe the details in a time goes by, the tires humming almost like the sound of a brook
a way that will give your reader an idea of your feelings on your a half mile down in the crease of a mountain I know—a sound that
ride. (If your ride was boring, don't be afraid to try to convey that.) carries not because it is loud but because everything else is still.
2. In a paragraph, describe what it means to be lonely—whether lone- It isn't exactly a mist that hangs in the thickets but more nearly the 3
ly in a crowd or in a place like Tumalo. ghost of a mist—a phenomenon like side vision. Look hard and it isn't
there, but glance without focusing and something registers, an exhala-
tion that will be gone three minutes after the sun comes over the
treetops.
The lawns shine with a dew not exactly dew. There is a rabbit bob- 4
bing about on the lawn and then freezing. If it were truly a dew, his
tracks would shine black on the grass, and he leaves no visible track.
 Dawn Watch / John Ciardi 81
Chapter 3 / Description

the tree is between me and the light. There must be others, but this
Yet, there is something on the grass that makes it glow a depth of green is the only tree I know whose leaves let the sun through in this way—
it will not show again all day. Or is that something in the dawn air? except, that is, when the fall colors start. Aspen leaves, when they first
Our cardinals know what time it is. They drop pure tones from the 5 yellow and before they dry, are transparent in this way. I tell myself
hemlock tops. The black gang of grackles that makes a slum of the pin it must have something to do with the red-yellow range of the spec-
oak also knows the time but can only grate at it. They sound like a trum. Green takes sunlight and holds it, but red and yellow let it
convention of broken universal joints grating uphill. The grackles
creak and squeak, and the cardinals form tones that only occasionally through.
sound through the noise. I scatter sunflower seeds by the birdbath for The damned crabgrass is wrestling with the zinnias, and I stop to 12
the cardinals and hope the grackles won't find them. weed it out. The stuff weaves too close to the zinnias to make the iron
My neighbor's tomcat comes across the lawn, probably on his way 6 claw usable. And it won't do to pull at the stalks. Crabgrass (at least
home from passion, or only acting as if he had had a big night. I sus- in a mulched bed) can be weeded only with dirty fingers. Thumb and
pect him of being one of those poolroom braggarts who can't get next forefinger have to pincer into the dirt and grab the root-center, Weed-
to a girl but who likes to let on that he is a hot stud. This one is too ing, of course, is an illusion of hope. Pulling out the root only stirs the
can-fed and too lazy to hunt for anything. Here he comes now, ignor- soil and brings new crabgrass seeds into germinating position. Take
ing the rabbit. And there he goes. a walk around the block and a new clump will have sprouted by the
As soon as he has hopped the fence, I let my dog out. The dog 7 time you get back. But I am not ready to walk around the block. I fill
charges the rabbit, watches it jump the fence, shakes himself in a a small basket with the plucked clumps, and for the instant I look at
self-satisfied way, then trots dutifully into the thicket for his morning them, the zinnias are weedless.
service, stopping to sniff everything on the way back. Don't look back. I dump the weeds in the thicket where they will 13
There is an old mountain laurel on the island of the driveway turna- 8 be smothered by the grass clippings I will pile on at the next cutting.
round. From somewhere on the wind a white morning-glory rooted On the way back I see the cardinals come down for the sunflower
next to it and has climbed it. Now the laurel is woven full of white seeds, and the jays join them, and then the grackles start ganging in,
bells tinged pink by the first rays through the not quite mist. Only in gatecrashing the buffet and clattering all over it. The dog stops chew-
earliest morning can they be seen. Come out two hours from now and ing his rawhide and makes a dash into the puddle of birds, which
there will be no morning-glories. splashes away from him.
Dawn, too, is the hour of a weed I know only as day flower—a 9 I hear a brake-squeak I have been waiting for and know the paper 14
bright blue button that closes in full sunlight. I have weeded bales of has arrived. As usual, the news turns out to be another disaster count.
it out of my flower beds, its one daytime virtue being the shallowness The function of the wire services is to bring us tragedies faster than
of its root system that allows it to be pulled out effortlessly in great we can pity. In the end we shall all be inured, numb, and ready for
handfuls. Yet, now it shines. Had it a few more hours of such shining emotionless programming. I sit on the patio and read until the sun
in its cycle, I would cultivate it as a ground cover, but dawn is its one grows too bright on the page. The cardinals have stopped singing, and
hour, and a garden is for whole days. the grackles have flown off. It's the end of birdsong again.
Then suddenly—better than song for its instant—a hummingbird 15
There is another blue morning weed whose name I do not know. 10
the color of green crushed velvet hovers in the throat of my favorite
This one grows from a bulb to pulpy stems and a bedraggled daytime
lily, a lovely high-bloomer I got the bulbs for but not the name. The
sprawl. Only a shovel will dig it out. Try weeding it by hand and the
lily is a crest of white horns with red dots and red velvet tongues along
stems will break off to be replaced by new ones and to sprawl over
the insides of the petals and with an odor that drowns the patio. The
the chosen plants in the flower bed. Yet, now and for another hour it
hummingbird darts in and out of each horn in turn, then hovers an
outshines its betters, its flowers about the size of a quarter and paler
instant, and disappears.
than those of the day flower but somehow more brilliant, perhaps be-
Even without the sun, I have had enough of the paper. I'll take that 16
cause of the contrast of its paler foliage.
hummingbird as my news for this dawn. It is over now. I smoke one
And now the sun is slanting in full. It is bright enough to make the 11 more cigarette too many and decide that, if I go to bed now, no one
leaves of the Japanese red maple seem a transparent red bronze when
 Dawn Watch / John Ciardi 83
82 Chapter 3 / Description

in the family need know I have stayed up for it again. Why do they Questions About the Reading
insist on shaking their heads when they find me still up for breakfast, 1. Why does the writer prefer the dawn to other hours of the day?
after having scribbled through the dark hours? They always do. They 2. Why does the writer choose not to look back after he finishes
seem compelled to express pity for an old loony who can't find his weeding?
own way to bed. Why won't they understand that this is the one hour 3. Although the writer is describing one specific day, which words in-
of any day that must not be missed, as it is the one hour I couldn't dicate that every day is like this day?
imagine getting up for, though I can still get to it by staying up? It 4. How will his family react to finding out that he has stayed up to
makes sense to me. There comes a time when the windows lighten and
the twittering starts. I look up and know it's time to leave the papers watch the sunrise again? Why?
in their mess. I could slip quietly into bed and avoid the family's head- 5. In the last paragraph, why won't the rabbit come back until the next
shakes, but this stroll-around first hour is too good to miss. Even my day?
dog, still sniffing and circling, knows what hour this is. 6. What does the writer mean when he says, "It's time to call it a day"?
Come on, boy. It's time to go in. The rabbit won't come back till 17 Questions About the Writer's Strategies
tomorrow, and the birds have work to do. The dawn's over. It's time
1. Which sentence states the thesis of the essay?
to call it a day.
2. Even though the essay appears to ramble from one description to
another, there is a very deliberate order in the essay. What is the
order the writer uses?
3. What tone does the writer use in his description? Is it formal or in-
formal?
4. What are the topics of paragraphs 8, 9, and 10? Could the para-
graphing be changed?
Writing Assignments
1. Write an essay describing a sunrise or sunset you have seen. Order
your description chronologically.
2. Spend some time looking out a window and write an essay describ-
ing what you see, hear, and smell. Concentrate on concrete details,
and try to order your description spatially.
3. Describe in great detail five minutes of your routine day and what
you see during those five minutes. For example, describe what you
see when you are waking up, leaving for work or school, finishing
your lunch, or arriving home at the end of the day.
84 Chapter 3 / Description / Love Washington / David McCullough

I Love Washington is no more beautiful entrance to any of our cities than the George
Washington Parkway which comes sweeping down the Virginia side
David McCullough of the Potomac. The views of the river gorge are hardly changed from
Jefferson's time. Across the river, on the towpath of the old C&O Ca-
Do you ever feel as though you like a place without knowing why? When you experience nal, you can start at Georgetown and walk for miles with never a sense
that feeling, try to think of this essay and the way David McCullough picks out individual of being in a city. You can walk right out of town, ten, twenty fifty
details that explain his affection for the city of Washington as a whole. miles if you like, more, all the way to Harpers Ferry where you can
'pick up the Appalachian Trail going north or south.
Words to Know Some mornings along thg towpath it is as if you are walking through 5
adjourns breaks for recess a Monet. Blue herons sfatlTthe water. You see deer prints. Once, in
the Mall a large parklike area running from the Glover Park, in the heart of the city, I saw a red fox. He stopped right
Capitol building toward the Washington Monu- in front of me, not more than thirty feet down the path, and waited
ment and the Lincoln Memorial, lined with a count or two before vanishing into the woods, as if giving me time
impressive buildings including the National Gal- to look him over, as if he wanted me never to wonder whether my eyes
lery and the Smithsonian Institution had played tricks.
Monet a French Impressionist painter Even the famous National Zoo is a "zoological park," a place to 6
walk, as specifically intended in the original plan by Frederick Law
Olmsted.
W ashington is a wonderful city. The scale seems right, more hu- i It was Olmsted also who did the magnificent Capitol grounds and 7
mane than other places. I like all the white^marble/arid green trees, who had the nice idea of putting identifying tags on the trees, giving
the ideals celebrated by the great monuments and memorials. I like their places of origin and Latin names. I like particularly the tulip trees
the climate, the slow shift of the seasons here. Spring, so Southern in (Liriodendron tulipifera); the tulip is one of the common trees of Wash-
feeling, comes early and the long, sweet autumns can last into Decem- ington, and it lines the main drive to the east front of the Capitol. There
ber. Summers are murder, equatorial—-no question; the compensation are red oak, white oak, silver linden, a tremendous spreading white
is that Congress adjourns, the city empties out, eases off. Winter eve- ash, sugar maples, five kinds of American magnolias, a huge Japanese
nings in Georgetown with the snow falling and the lights just coming pagoda tree. A spectacular willow oak on the west side has a trunk
on are as beautiful as any I've known. three men couldn't put their arms around. In spring the dogwood in
bloom all around the Capitol are enough to take your breath away.
I like the elegant old landmark hotels—the Willard, now restored 2
to its former glory, the Mayflower, with its long, glittering, palm-lined There are trees and there is sky, the immense, blessed overarching
lobby, the Hay-Adams on Lafayette Square, overlooking the White sky of the Mall. What city has anything to compare to the Mall? At
House. And Massachusetts Avenue, as you drive down past the British first light on a summer morning, before the rush hour, before the first
Embassy and over Rock Creek Park, past the Mosque and around jets come roaring out of National, the dominant sound is of crows and
Sheridan Circle. This is an avenue in the grand tradition, befitting a the crunch of your own feet along the gravel pathways. The air, still
world capital. cool from the night, smells of trees and damp grass, like a country
town. Floodlights are still on at the old red Smithsonian castle, bathing
The presence of the National Gallery, it seems to me, would be rea- 3
son enough in itself to wish to live here. it in a soft theatrical glow, like the backdrop for some nineteenth centu-
ry Gothic fantasy. The moon is up still, hanging in a pale, clear sky
In many ways it is our most civilized city. It accommodates its river, 4
beyond the Monument, which for the moment is a very pale pink.
accommodates trees and grass, makes room for nature as other cities •

don't. There are parks everywhere and two great, unspoiled, green
corridors running beside the Potomac and out Rock Creek where
Theodore Roosevelt liked to take his rough cross-country walks. There
86 The Monster / Deems Taylor 87
Chapter 3 / Description

Questions About the Reading The Monster

1. What does the writer mean when he says Washington "accommo- Deems Taylor
dates" its river, grass, and trees (paragraph 4)?
2. Who was Frederick Law Olmsted?
In this essay, Deems Taylor describes a totally unpleasant man. In each paragraph, he
3. What makes Washington unlike other cities, according to the piles detail upon detail until we find ourselves wondering, "How bad can one man be?"
writer? Then we read the next paragraph and we find out—he gets worse. Near the end, though,
4. What type of audience do you think the essay is directed toward? Taylor identifies his subject and offers some possible explanations—some surprising
People who know Washington? People who do not? Both? Cite ex- ones—for the "monster's" bad nature.
amples from the essay to support your answer.
Words to Know

Questions About the Writer's Strategies arrogance overbearing pride

Beethoven a German composer
1. Why do you think the writer saved the description of the Mall for
burlesquing mocking
last? What purpose does it serve in the essay?
callous unfeeling
2. What is the main idea of the essay? Is there a thesis statement? If
delusions false beliefs
so, where is it located?
harangue a long, pompous speech
3. Besides the dominant mode, description, what other modes of de-
infidelities unfaithful acts
velopment does the writer use in the essay? Cite one or two para-
libretto the text of an opera
graphs in which other modes are used.
mania an intense enthusiasm, craze
4. How do you suppose the writer went about choosing the details
monologue a long speech by one person
for his description? What criteria do you think he might have used?
Plato a Greek philosopher
Cite examples from the essay to help explain your answer.
rajah a prince in India
royalties money paid to a composer out of the
Writing Assignments proceeds from a performance
1. This writer identifies many details, but he really doesn't give very scrupulous conscientious, principled
many "details about the details." Write an essay in which you de- synopsis outline of a story
scribe an object of smaller scale, say one of the types of trees the trilogy a group of three works
writer identifies, or a park or river that you know about. Describe volubility ready, fluent speech
your subject thoroughly, including some of its specific
characteristics.
2. Write an essay describing your thoughts and feelings when you H e was an undersized little man, with a head too big for his body—
think of Washington. For example, does patriotism come to mind? a sickly little man. His nerves were bad. He had skin trouble. It was
Or perhaps you think of corruption, architecture, or fancy clothes agony for him to wear anything next to his skin coarser than silk. And
and limousines? Describe incidents and pictures that you have read he had delusions of grandeur.
about or seen in magazines or on TV that make you feel as you do. He was a monster of conceit. Never for one minute did he look at
the world or at people, except in relation to himself. He was not only
the most important person in the world, for himself; in his own eyes
he was the only person who existed. He believed himself to be one
of the greatest dramatists in the world, one of the greatest thinkers,
and one of the greatest composers. To hear him talk, he was Shakes-
peare, and Beethoven, and Plato, rolled into one. And you would have
 The Monster / Deems Taylor 89
Chapter 3 / Description

had no difficulty in hearing him talk. He was one of the most exhaust- He was almost innocent of any sense of responsibility. Not only did 7
ing conversationalists that ever lived. An evening with him was an he seem incapable of supporting himself, but it never occurred to him
evening spent in listening to a monologue. Sometimes he was brilliant; that he was under any obligation to do so. He was convinced that the
sometimes he was maddeningly tiresome. But whether he was being world owed him a living. In support to this belief, he borrowed money
brilliant or dull, he had one sole topic of conversation: himself. What from everybody who was good for a loan—men, women, friends, or
he thought and what he did. strangers. He wrote begging letters by the score, sometimes groveling
He had a mania for being in the right. The slightest hint of disagree- 3 without shame, at others loftily offering his intended benefactor the
ment, from anyone, on the most trivial point, was enough to set him privilege of contributing to his support, and being mortally offended
off on a harangue that might last for hours, in which he proved himself if the recipient declined the honor. I have found no record of his ever
right in so many ways, and with such exhausting volubility, that in paying or repaying money to anyone who did not have a legal claim
the end his hearer, stunned and deafened, would agree with him, for upon it.
the sake of peace. What money he could lay his hand on he spent like an Indian rajah. 8
It never occurred to him that he and his doing were not of the most 4 The mere prospect of a performance of one of his operas was enough
intense and fascinating interest to anyone with whom he came in con- to set him running up bills amounting to ten times the amount of his
tact. He had theories about almost any subject under the sun, including prospective royalties. On an income that would reduce a more scrupu-
vegetarianism, the drama, politics, and music; and in support of these lous man to doing his own laundry, he would keep two servants. With-
theories he wrote pamphlets, letters, books . . . thousands upon thou- out enough money in his pocket to pay his rent, he would have the
sands of words, hundreds and hundreds of pages. He not only wrote walls and ceiling of his study lined with pink silk. No one will ever
these things, and published them—usually at somebody else's ex- know—certainly he never knew—how much money he owed. We do
pense—but he would sit and read them aloud, for hours, to his friends, know that his greatest benefactor gave him $6,000 to pay the most
and his family. pressing of his debts in one city, and a year later had to give him
He wrote operas; and no sooner did he have the synopsis of a story, 5 $16,000 to enable him to live in another city without being thrown into
but he would invite—or rather summon—a crowd of his friends to his jail for debt.
house and read it aloud to them. Not for criticism. For applause. When He was equally unscrupulous in other ways. An endless procession 9
the complete poem was written, the friends had to come again, and of women marched through his life. His first wife spent twenty years
hear that read aloud. Then he would publish the poem, sometimes enduring and forgiving his infidelities. His second wife had been the
years before the music that went with it was written. He played the wife of his most devoted friend and admirer, from whom he stole her.
piano like a composer, in the worst sense of what that implies, and And even while he was trying to persuade her to leave her first hus-
he would sit at the piano before parties that included some of the finest
band he was writing to a friend to inquire whether he could suggest
pianists of his time, and play for them, by the hour, his own music,
some wealthy woman—any wealthy woman—whom he could marry
needless to say. He had a composer's voice. And he would invite emi-
nent vocalists to his house, and sing them his operas, taking all the for her money.
parts. He was completely selfish in his other personal relationships. His 10
liking for his friends was measured solely by the completeness of their
He had the emotional stability of a six-year-old child. When he felt 6 devotion to him, or by their usefulness to him, whether financial or
out of sorts, he would rave and stamp, or sink into suicidal gloom and artistic. The minute they failed him—even by so much as refusing a
talk darkly of going to the East to end his days as a Buddhist monk. dinner invitation—or began to lessen in usefulness, he cast them off
Ten minutes later, when something pleased him, he would rush out without a second thought. At the end of his life he had exactly one
of doors and run around the garden, or jump up and down on the sofa, friend left whom he had known even in middle age.
or stand on his head. He could be grief-stricken over the death of a He had a genius for making enemies. He would insult a man who 11
pet dog, and he could be callous and heartless to a degree that would disagreed with him about the weather. He would pull endless wires
have made a Roman emperor shudder. in order to meet some man who admired his work and was able and
 The Monster / Deems Taylor 91
Chapter 3 / Description

worst mistakes. Listening to his music, one does not forgive him for
anxious to be of use to him—and would proceed to make a mortal what he may or may not have been. It is not a matter of forgiveness
enemy of him with some idiotic and wholly uncalled-for exhibition It is a matter of being dumb with wonder that his poor brain and body
of arrogance and bad manners. A character in one of his operas was didn't burst under the torment of the demon of creative energy that
a caricature of one of the most powerful music critics of his day. Not lived inside him, struggling, clawing, scratching to be released, tear
content with burlesquing him, he invited the critic to his house and
ing shrieking at him to write the music that was m him The miracle
read him the libretto aloud in front of his friends.
is that what he did in the little space of seventy years could have been
The name of this monster was Richard Wagner. Everything I have 12
done at all, even by a great genius. Is it any wonder he had no time
said about him you can find on record—in newspapers, in police re-
ports, in the testimony of people who knew him, in his own letters, to be a man?
between the lines of his autobiography. And the curious thing about
this record is that it doesn't matter in the least.
Because this undersized, sickly, disagreeable, fascinating little man 13
was right all the time. The joke was on us. He was one of the world's
greatest dramatists; he was a great thinker; he was one of the most stu-
pendous musical geniuses that, up to now, the world has ever seen.
The world did owe him a living. People couldn't know those things
at the time, 1 suppose; and yet to us, who know his music, it does seem
as though they should have known. What if he did talk about himself
all the time? If he talked about himself for twenty-four hours every
day for the span of his life he would not have uttered half the number
of words that other men have spoken and written about him since his
death.
When you consider what he wrote—thirteen operas and music 14
dramas,, eleven of them still holding the stage, eight of them unques-
tionably worth ranking among the world's great musico-dramatic
masterpieces—when you listen to what he wrote, the debts and heart-
aches that people had to endure from him don't seem much of a price.
Edward Hanslick, the critic whom he caricatured in Die Meistersinger
and who hated him ever after, now lives only because he was carica-
tured in Die Meistersinger. The women whose hearts he broke are long
since dead; and the man who could never love anyone but himself has
made them deathless atonement, I think, with Tristan und Isolde. Think
of the luxury with which for a time, at least, fate rewarded Napoleon,
the man who ruined France and looted Europe; and then perhaps you
will agree that a few thousand dollars' worth of debts were not too
heavy a price to pay for the Ring trilogy.
What if he was faithless to his friends and to his wives? He had one 15
mistress to whom he was faithful to the day of his death: Music. Not
for a single moment did he ever compromise with what he believed,
with what he dreamed. There is not a line of his music that could have
been conceived by a little mind. Even when he is dull, or downright
bad, he is dull in the grand manner. There is a greatness about his
 93
Chapter 3 / Description Rock of Ages I Joan Didion

Questions About the Reading Rock of Ages

1. Was Wagner ever considerate of others? Give examples. Joan Didion
2. Why does the writer say that "the joke was on us"?
3. Does Wagner's great talent justify his behavior? A huge, barren rock surrounded by the icy waters of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island
4. Would you like to have known Wagner? Would you like to have was the site of a maximum security federal prison until 1963. Novelist and essayist Joan
attended one of his parties? Didion visited "the Rock" several years after the prison was dosed. She wrote this descrip-
tion of the nearly empty island and included it in her book Slouching Towards
Questions About the Writer's Strategies Bethlehem.

1. What is the dramatic purpose for concealing the name of the com- Words to Know
poser until paragraph 12? ambivalent having conflicting feelings
2. Is there any deliberate order to the presentation of examples? barge to bring by a long, flat-bottomed freighter
3. What effect do the detailed, numerous examples have on the way impediment hindrance, obstruction
the reader views Wagner? Is the reader led to think there is anything moat a wide, deep ditch filled with water, sur-
positive about his behavior? rounding a medieval town or fortress
4. In paragraphs 3 and 6, the writer uses colorful words to enliven his perfunctory routinely done without interest or
descriptive examples. Identify five particularly effective adjectives
care
in those paragraphs, and five effective verbs.
penology the study of prison management
5. Napoleon was a tyrant but also a military genius who changed the
pro forma as a matter of form
course of Western history Why do you think the writer mentions
scrimshaw carving on ivory
him in paragraph 14?
surveillance close observation of something
suspicious
Writing Assignments
1. Do you know someone who is extremely good at what he or she
does but is impossible to live with? Describe that person in an essay. irxlcatraz Island is covered with flowers now: orange and yellow 1
2. Using order of importance to organize your essay describe one of nasturtiums, geraniums, sweet grass, blue iris, black-eyed Susans.
the following: your best friend, your worst enemy, your favorite (or Candytuft springs up through the cracked concrete in the exercise
most boring) professor, or the best pet you ever had. yard. Ice plant carpets the rusting catwalks. "WARNING! KEEP OFF! U.S.
3. Think of a movie, television, or sports personality whose personal PROPERTY," the sign still reads, big and yellow and visible for perhaps
behavior is disagreeable or in some way unacceptable. Write an a quarter of a mile, but since March 21, 1963, the day they took the
essay using detailed examples to describe how that person's behav- last thirty or so men off the island and sent them to prisons less expen-
ior influences your opinion of his or her professional achievements. sive to maintain, the warning has been only pro forma, the gun turrets
empty, the cell blocks abandoned. It is not an unpleasant place to be,
out there on Alcatraz with only the flowers and the wind and a bell
buoy moaning and the tide surging through the Golden Gate, but to
like a place like that you have to want a moat.
I sometimes do, which is what I am talking about here. Three people 2
live on Alcatraz Island now. John and Marie Hart live in the same
apartment they had for the sixteen years that he was a prison guard;
they raised five children on the island, back when their neighbors were
the Birdman and Mickey Cohen, but the Birdman and Mickey Cohen
94 Chapter 3 / Description Rock of Ages I Joan Didion 95

are gone now and so are the Harts' children, moved away, the last mar- (there is no water at all on Alcatraz, one impediment to development),
ried in a ceremony on the island in June 1966. One other person lives and the rest to heat two apartments and keep some lights burning. The
on Alcatraz, a retired merchant seaman named Bill Doherty, and, be- buildings seem quite literally abandoned. The key locks have been
tween them, John Hart and Bill Doherty are responsible to the General ripped from the cell doors and the big electrical locking mechanisms
Services Administration for maintaining a twenty-four-hour watch disconnected. The tear-gas vents in the cafeteria are empty and the
over the twenty-two-acre island. John Hart has a dog named Duffy, paint is buckling everywhere, corroded by the sea air, peeling off in
and Bill Doherty has a dog named Duke, and although the dogs are great scales of pale green and ocher. I stood for a while in Al Capone's
primarily good company they are also the first line of defense on Alca- cell, five by nine feet, number 200 on the second tier of B Block, not
traz Island. Marie Hart has a corner window which looks out to the one of the view cells, which were awarded on seniority, and I walked
San Francisco skyline, across a mile and a half of bay, and she sits there through the solitary block, totally black when the doors were closed.
and paints, "views" or plays her organ, songs like "Old Black Joe" and "Snail Mitchel," read a pencil scrawl on the wall of Solitary 14. "The
"Please Go 'Way and Let Me Sleep." Once a week the Harts take their only man that ever got shot for walking too slow." Beside it was a cal-
boat to San Francisco to pick up their mail and shop at the big Safeway endar, the months penciled on the wall with the days scratched off,
in the Marina, and occasionally Marie Hart gets off the island to visit May, June, July, August of some unnumbered year.
her children. She likes to keep in touch with them by telephone, but Mr. Scott, whose interest in penology dates from the day his office 4
for ten months recently, after a Japanese freighter cut the cable, there acquired Alcatraz as a potential property, talked about escapes and
was no telephone service to or from Alcatraz. Every morning the KGO security routines and pointed out the beach where Ma Barker's son
traffic reporter drops the San Francisco Chronicle from his helicopter, Doc was killed trying to escape. (They told him to come back up, and
and when he has time he stops for coffee. No one else comes out there he said he would rather be shot, and he was.) I saw the shower room
except a man from the General Services Administration named Tho- with the soap still in the dishes. I picked up a yellowed program from
mas Scott, who brings out an occasional congressman or somebody an Easter service (Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here,
who wants to buy the island or, once in a while, his wife and small but is risen.) and I struck a few notes on an upright piano with the ivory
son, for a picnic. Quite a few people would like to buy the island, and all rotted from the keys and 1 tried to imagine the prison as it had been,
Mr. Scott reckons that it would bring about five million dollars in a with the big lights playing over the windows all night long and the
sealed-bid auction, but the General Services Administration is power- guards patrolling the gun galleries and the silverware clattering into
less to sell it until Congress acts on a standing proposal to turn the a bag as it was checked in after meals, tried dutifully to summon up
island into a "peace park." Mr. Scott says that he will be glad to get some distaste, some night terror of the doors locking and the boat pull-
Alcatraz off his hands, but the charge of a fortress island could not ing away. But the fact of it was that I liked it out there, a ruin devoid
be something a man gives up without ambivalent thoughts. of human vanities, clean of human illusions, an empty place reclaimed
I went out there with him a while ago. Any child could imagine a 3 by the weather where a woman plays an organ to stop the wind's
prison more like a prison than Alcatraz looks, for what bars and wires whining and an old man plays ball with a dog named Duke. I could
there are seem perfunctory, beside the point; the island itself was the tell you that I came back because I had promises to keep, but maybe
prison, and the cold tide its wall. It is precisely what they called it: it was because nobody asked me to stay.
the Rock. Bill Doherty and Duke lowered the dock for us, and in the
station wagon on the way up the cliff Bill Doherty told Mr. Scott about
small repairs he had made or planned to make. Whatever repairs get
made on Alcatraz are made to pass the time, a kind of caretaker's
scrimshaw, because the government pays for no upkeep at all on the
prison; in 1963 it would have cost five million dollars to repair, which
is why it was abandoned, and the $24,000 a year that it costs to main-
tain Alcatraz now is mostly for surveillance, partly to barge in the
400,000 gallons of water that Bill Doherty and the Harts use every year
96 Chapter 3 / Description This Man Has Expired / Robert Johnson 97

Questions About the Reading This Man Has Expired

1. What details does the writer give about Bill Doherty and the Harts? Robert Johnson
Judging from these details, how would you describe these people
and their lives on the island?
Do you favor the death penalty or oppose it? Do you think about it very much? Be warned
2. In paragraph 3, the writer implies that Alcatraz is not very much that once you have read this sensitive and disturbing description of the final minutes before
"like a prison." What does she mean? Does she really think the an execution, you may find it hard to stop thinking about it. You will encounter readings
Rock was not like a prison? on the death penalty again in the chapter on argumentation and persuasion. Try to wait
3. What is it about the island that the writer liked? What do you think until you have read the selections there before forming a final opinion about the issue.
she means by the final sentence?
4. Why is it necessary to keep a twenty-four-hour watch on the island? Words to Know
What is the irony in this necessity? En route on the way to
malice ill will toward others
Questions About the Writer's Strategies paradoxically surprisingly contrary to common

1. The first paragraph is made up almost entirely of descriptive de- sense

tails. What is the effect of those details and what words help achieve
that effect? What is the purpose of the paragraph?
2. What is it that the writer wants us to remember most from her de- VV e entered the witness area, a room within the death chamber, and 1
scription of Alcatraz Island? Where does she state this idea? took our seats. A picture window covering the front wall of the witness
3. Throughout the description, Didion contrasts what the prison was room offered a clear view of the electric chair, which was about twelve
like in the past with what the island is like today, concluding that feet away from us and well illuminated. The chair, a large, high-back
it is "an empty place reclaimed by the weather." List some of these solid oak structure with imposing black straps, dominated the death
contrasts. chamber. Behind it, on the back wall, was an open panel full of coils
and lights. Peeling paint hung from the ceiling and walls; water stains
4. The writer uses not only description, but also narration and exam-
from persistent leaks were everywhere in evidence.
ples to fill out the picture of Alcatraz. Give some examples of her
use of these other modes. Two officers, one a hulking figure weighing some 400 pounds, stood 2
alongside the electric chair. Each had his hands crossed at the lap and
wore a forbidding, blank expression on his face. The witnesses gazed
Writing Assignments at them and the chair, most of us scribbling notes furiously. We did
1. Describe what you imagine Alcatraz to have been like when it was this, I suppose, as much to record the experience as to have a distrac-
an occupied prison. Try to use descriptive details and examples to tion from the growing tension. A correctional officer entered the wit-
make your essay effective. ness room and announced that a trial run of the machinery would be
2. What would your daily routine be like if you were the only person undertaken. Seconds later, lights flashed on the control panel behind
living on Alcatraz Island? Write an essay describing the things you the chair indicating that the chair was in working order. A white cur-
would do. Use chronological order, spatial order, or order of im- tain, opened for the test, separated the chair and the witness area. Af-
portance to organize your essay. ter the test, the curtain was drawn. More tests were performed behind
3. Pick out an old or abandoned property you see often. Describe what the curtain. Afterwards, the curtain was reopened, and would be left
it might have been like when it was new. Such a place might be an open until the execution was over. Then it would be closed to allow
old factory, hotel, or farm. the officers to remove the body.
A handful of high-level correctional officers were present in the 3
death chamber, standing just outside the witness area. There were two
regional administrators, the director of the Department of Corrections,
98 Chapter 3 / Description This Man Has Expired / Robert Johnson 99

and the prison warden. The prisoner's chaplain and lawyer were also secure the condemned man's body, the chaplain, who appeared to be
present. Other than the chaplain's black religious garb, subdued grey upset, leaned over him and placed his forehead in contact with the
pinstripes and bland correctional uniforms prevailed. All parties were prisoner's, whispering urgently. The priest might have been praying,
quite solemn. but I had the impression he was consoling the man, perhaps assuring
At 10:58 the prisoner entered the death chamber. He was, I knew 4 him that a forgiving God awaited him in the next life. If he heard the
from my research, a man with a checkered, tragic past. He had been chaplain, I doubt the man comprehended his message. He didn't seem
grossly abused as a child, and went on to become grossly abusive of comforted. Rather, he looked stricken and appeared to be in shock.
others. I was told he could not describe his life, from childhood on, Perhaps the priest's urgent ministrations betrayed his doubts that the
without talking about confrontations in defense of a precarious sense prisoner could hold himself together. The chaplain then withdrew at
of self—-at home, in school, on the streets, in the prison yard. Belittled the warden's request, allowing the officers to affix the death mask.
by life and choking with rage, he was hungry to be noticed. Paradoxi- The strapped and masked figure sat before us, utterly alone, wait- 9
cally, he had found his moment in the spotlight, but it was a dim and ing to be killed. The cap and mask dominated his face. The cap was
unflattering light cast before a small and unappreciative audience. nothing more than a sponge encased in a leather shell with a metal
"He'd pose for cameras in the chair—for the attention," his counselor piece at the top to accent an electrode. It looked decrepit and re-
had told me earlier in the day. But the truth was that the prisoner sembled a cheap, ill-fitting toupee. The mask, made entirely of leather,
wasn't smiling, and there were no cameras. appeared soiled and worn. It had two parts. The bottom part covered
The prisoner walked quickly and silently toward the chair, an escort 5 the chin and mouth, the top the eyes and lower forehead. Only the
of officers in tow. His eyes were turned downward, his expression a nose was exposed. The effect of the rigidly restrained body, together
bit glazed. Like many before him, the prisoner had threatened to stage with the bizarre cap and the protruding nose, was nothing short of
a last stand. But that was lifetimes ago, on death row. In the death grotesque. A faceless man breathed before us in a tragicomic trance,
house, he joined the humble bunch and kept to the executioner's waiting for a blast of electricity that would extinguish his life. Endless
schedule. He appeared to have given up on life before he died in the seconds passed. His last act was to swallow, nervously, pathetically,
chair. with his Adam's apple bobbing. I was struck by that simple movement
En route to the chair, the prisoner stumbled slightly, as if the mo- 6 then, and can't forget it even now. It told me, as nothing else did, that
mentum of the event had overtaken him. Were he not held securely in the prisoner's restrained body, behind that mask, lurked a fellow
by two officers, one at each elbow, he might have fallen. Were the rou- human being who, at some level, however primitive, knew or sensed
tine to be broken in this or indeed any other way, the officers believe, himself to be moments from death.
the prisoner might faint or panic or become violent, and have to be
forcibly placed in the chair. Perhaps as a precaution, when the prisoner
reached the chair he did not turn on his own but rather was turned,
firmly but without malice, by the officers in his escort. These included
the two men at his elbows, and four others who followed behind him.
Once the prisoner was seated, again with help, the officers strapped
him into the chair.
The execution team worked with machine precision. Like a disci- 7
plined swarm, they enveloped him. Arms, legs, stomach, chest, and
head were secured in a matter of seconds. Electrodes were attached
to a cap holding his head and to the strap holding his exposed right
leg. A leather mask was placed over his face. The last officer mopped
the prisoner's brow, then touched his hand in a gesture of farewell.
During the brief procession to the electric chair, the prisoner was 8
attended by a chaplain. As the execution team worked feverishly to
100 Chapter 3 / Description Winter / Donald Hall 101

Questions About the Reading Winter

1. Why was the writer attending the execution?
Donald Hall
2. If the curtain was open during the execution, why would it be
closed "to allow the officers to remove the body"? Is there any irony
in this situation? In New England, winter is a time of stark beauty that often breeds much pride of place.
In this essay, Donald Hall describes his relationship with the frigid world of January and
3. Explain the routine described in paragraph 6. What was the pur- February in New Hampshire.
pose of the officers' actions?
4. Do you think the writer is fully opposed to the death penalty or just Words to Know
did not like attending the execution? Or is he unsure? Cite examples
from the essay to support your answer. delirium frenzied irrationality
facets the flat, polished surfaces cut on a gem
respite break; reprieve
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
1. What is the writer's purpose in this essay? When you read the later
essays on the death penalty, you will see that the writers use the I anuary thaw is dazzling, but it is a moment's respite. If this were
direct methods of argumentation and persuasion to try to sway the January in England we would soon expect snowdrops; here we know
reader. What method does this writer use? What details contribute enough to expect replacement battalions of snow's troopers following
to his purpose? on coldness that freezes the melt, covering it with foot upon foot of
2. Which statements in the essay most clearly express the main idea? furry whiteness and moon-coldness. We return to the satisfactions of
Why do you think the writer located them where they are? winter, maybe even to the deliverance and delirium of a full moon.
3. What order does the writer use for his description? In New Hampshire the full moon is remarkable all year long, be - 2
4. Besides description, what is the main mode of development the cause we suffer relatively little from garbage-air and even less from
writer uses? background light. The great cloudless night of the full moon is were-
5. This essay is of course very subjective. But it also has objective ele- wolf time, glory of silver-pale hauntedness whenever it happens—but
ments. What techniques and details add objectivity to the in winter it is most beautiful. I set the internal alarm, maybe three or
description? four nights in a row, and wander, self-made ghost, through pale rooms
in the pewter light while the moon magnifies itself in bright hayfields
Writing Assignments and reflects upward, a sun from middle earth, onto shadowy low ceil-
ings. High sailing above, higher than it has a right to, bigger, the Feb-
1, In an essay, describe an extremely unpleasant experience you have
ruary full moon, huge disc of cold, rides and slides among tatters of
had. Use specific details to help your reader understand what was
cloud. My breathing speeds, my pulse quickens; for half an hour I
so disturbing about the situation.
wander, pulled like a tide through the still house in the salty half-light,
2. Write an essay describing what you imagine jail to be like. Try to more asleep than awake, asleep not in house or nightshirt in 1985 but
describe the actual effects you think being confined would have on
you. in moon, moon, moon . . . What old animal awakens and stretches in-
side the marrow of the bones? What howls? What circles, sniffing for
prey?
It's no winter without an ice storm. When Robert Frost gazed at 3
bent-over birch trees and tried to think that boys had bent them play-
ing, he knew better: "Ice storms do that." They do that, and a lot more,
trimming disease and weakness out of the tree—the old tree's friend,
as pneumonia used to be the old man's. Some of us provide life-sup-
102 Chapter 3 / Description Winter / Donald Hall 103

port systems for our precious shrubs, boarding them over against the Questions About the Reading
ice; for the ice storm takes the young or unlucky branch or birch as 1. Explain what the writer means by "garbage-air" and "background
well as the rotten or feeble. One February morning we look out our light" in the first sentence of paragraph 2.
windows over yards and fields littered with kindling, small twigs and 2. What happens to the writer during a full moon? What is he refer-
great branches. We look out at a world turned into one diamond, ten ring to in the final sentences of paragraph 2?
thousand karats in the line of sight, twice as many facets. What a 3. Why is it "worth your life to go for the mail" (paragraph 3)?
dazzle of spinning refracted light, spider webs of cold brilliance at- 4. Describe in your own words how the writer feels about winter. Use
tacking our eyeballs! All winter we wear sunglasses to drive, more examples from the essay to support your description.
than we do in summer, and never so much as after an ice storm with
its painful glaze reflecting from maple and birch, granite boulder and
stonewall, turning electric wires into bright silver filaments. The snow
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
itself takes on a crust of ice, like the finish of a clay pot, that carries 1. What is the main idea in this essay? Is it directly stated in a thesis
our weight and sends us swooping and sliding. It is worth your life statement? If so, where? If not, how does the writer express it?
to go for the mail. Until sand and salt redeem the highway, Route 4 2. What is the purpose of this essay? Do you think the writer wrote
is quiet; we cancel the appointment with the dentist, stay home, and it for people inside or outside New England? Support your answer
marvel at the altered universe, knowing that midday sun will strip ice by citing features of the essay.
from tree and roof and restore our ordinary white winter world. 3. What tone does the writer use for his description?
4. In what tense is the essay written? Why do you suppose the writer
used that tense?
5. What is the metaphor in paragraph 1? Interpret what it means.
What is the double meaning of "foot upon foot"?

Writing Assignments
1. Write an essay describing the sky under different weather condi-
tions. Brainstorm for details and ideas, and try to think of meta-
phors and similes to enhance your description. For instance, is
there a cloud that looks like it has a snake in it? Do the colors you
see remind you of anything?
2. In a fictional essay, describe what it would be like to be caught out
in the wild in a blizzard. Use your imagination, and don't worry
if you have never seen snow. Just try to imagine what the conditions
would be like. You might want to combine your description with
narration and tell how you would find your way to safety.
 105
104 Chapter 3 / Description Limbo I Rhonda S. Lucas

into good, and committed the good ones to my mind. Still, I felt as
Limbo vacant as the house inside.
Rhonda S. Lucas (Student) A workbench to my right stood disgustingly empty. Not so much 4
as a nail had been left behind. I noticed, for the first time, what a dull,
A new experience, a change in our lives, can make us see familiar objects in a new light. lifeless green it was. Lacking the disarray of tools that used to cover
And a new location can make an old possession—a piece of furniture, an article of clo- it, now it seemed as out of place as a bathtub in the kitchen. In fact,
thing—look strange. Rhonda S. Lucas, a student at East Los Angeles College, discovered as I scanned the room, the only things that did seem to belong were
both these things one day as she sat in a garage full of packing boxes and old furniture. the cobwebs in the corners.
She describes what she saw in this essay.
A group of boxes had been set aside from the others and stacked 5
Words to Know in front of the workbench. Scrawled like graffiti on the walls of dilapi-
dated buildings were the words "Salvation Army." Those words
cryptic secret, mystifying
caught my eyes as effectively as a flashing neon sign. They reeked of
dilapidated fallen into a state of disrepair
irony. "Salvation—was a bit too late for this family," I mumbled sarcas-
elegy a mournful poem, often lamenting the dead
futility having no useful result, ineffectual
tically to myself.
irony the use of words to convey the opposite of The houseful of furniture that had once been so carefully chosen 6
their meaning to complement and blend with the color schemes of the various rooms
limbo an intermediate place or state; a region or was indiscriminately crammed together against a single wall. The un-
condition of oblivion or neglect
coordinated colors combined in turmoil and lashed out in the greyness
of the room.
tubular having the form of a tube
I suddenly became aware of the coldness of the garage, but I didn't 7
want to go back inside the house, so I made my way through the boxes
M.y parents' divorce was final. The house had been sold and the 1
to the couch. I cleared a space to lie down and curled up, covering
myself with my jacket. I hoped my father would return soon with the
day had come to move. Thirty years of the family's life was now
truck so we could empty the garage and leave the cryptic silence of
crammed into the garage. The two-by-fours that ran the length of the
parting lives behind.
walls were the only uniformity among the clutter of boxes, furniture,
and memories. All was frozen in limbo between the life just passed
and the one to come.
The sunlight pushing its way through the window splattered 2
against a barricade of boxes. Like a fluorescent river, it streamed down
the sides and flooded the cracks of the cold, cement floor. I stood in
the doorway between the house and garage and wondered if the sun-
light would ever again penetrate the memories packed inside those
boxes. For an instant, the cardboard boxes appeared as tombstones,
monuments to those memories.
The furnace in the corner, with its huge tubular fingers reaching out 3
and disappearing into the wall, was unaware of the futility of trying
to warm the empty house. The rhythmical whir of its effort hummed
the elegy for the memories boxed in front of me. I closed the door, sat
down on the step, and listened reverently. The feeling of loss trans-
formed the bad memories into not-so-bad, the not-so-bad memories
106 Chapter 3 / Description

Questions About the Reading

1. Why is the title of this essay "Limbo"? Between which two stages
Examples
of life is the writer?
2. How does the writer feel about moving out of the house?
3. Why does the writer view the empty workbench as disgusting?
4. Why didn't she want to go back inside the house?
5. What does Lucas mean in the last line by the "cryptic silence" of
the house?

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Although she never actually says it, the writer is saddened by her WRITERS OFTEN USE one or more examples to explain or
parents' divorce and the subsequent need to move. What details illustrate their main idea.
does she use to convey this feeling?
2. In what ways is this an extremely subjective essay? In this century, the president is much more cut off from con-
tact with the people than in earlier times. Ordinary citizens,
3. Give your impression of the writer's life before her parents' divorce. |for example, could get to see Abraham Lincoln directly in the
What methods does she use to suggest this impression? White House and make their requests to him in person.
4. What is the thesis statement in the essay? Which paragraphs are
used to develop the thesis statement? Is there a concluding Some writers announce their strategy outright by the
paragraph? words "for example," or "for instance." Other writers
5. What is the purpose of the metaphor in the last sentence of para- may include several examples without announcing them
graph 2? In which sentence of paragraph 3 is the metaphor so directly and thereby expect the reader to notice that
repeated? they are indeed specific examples.
To make a clear case, the writer usually wants to give
Writing Assignments several examples, often to show several sides of an idea.
The writer of the example above might want to add an
1. Write an essay describing your favorite room in the house where example about Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan and how
you live now or the one where you grew up. Try to use examples they visited private citizens in their homes or invited
from your life to give meaning to the objects you describe. them to special ceremonies. Or perhaps the writer might
2. Write an essay describing a walk through your neighborhood or want to add an example of another type of president—
another one with which you are familiar. Describe the things that how Nixon was hard to reach, even by his own staff.
most interest you or that you think you will remember best in the As you learned in Chapter 1, the topic sentence states
future. the main idea of a paragraph and the thesis statement
states the main idea of an essay. Both are usually general
statements that must be clarified through the writer's
mode of development. Sometimes, without concrete ex-
amples, the reader will have only a vague idea of what
the writer's topic sentence or thesis statement means. In
the following paragraphs, notice how the examples illus-
trate and clarify the topic sentences.
107
 Chapter 4 / Examples Chapter 4 / Examples
109
Topic sentence The American colonists used a variety of goods in place
of money. These goods included beaver pelts, grain, musket sis, but also of several that work against it, you might
Examples balls, and nails. Some colonists, especially in the tobac- want to revise your thesis and develop an objective essay
co-growing colonies of Maryland and Virginia, circulated re- presenting both sides of the issue.
Examples ceipts for tobacco stored in warehouses. Indian wampum,
_ which consisted of beads made from shells, was mainly used In addition to providing concrete support for the the-
for keeping records. But Indians and colonists also accepted sis, examples can be used in other ways to enliven and
it as money. clarify writing. In a description, for instance, examples
Topic sentence The colonists also used any foreign coins they could get. can give concrete details in a way that adds variety and
.English shillings, Spanish dollars, and French and Dutch interest. A single example may also be extended through-
Examples coins all circulated in the colonies. Probably the most com- out an essay to illustrate the thesis, as in the following
mon coins were large silver Spanish dollars called pieces_oj_
essay about the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company. No-
eight. To make change, a person could chop the coin into
Examples of eight pie-shaped pieces called bits. Two bits were worth a tice, too, that minor examples are also used within the
Spanish dollars quarter of a dollar, four bits a half dollar, and so on. We still essay, as in paragraphs 2 and 3, for instance, to explain
use the expression two bits to mean a quarter of a dollar. the topic sentences of some paragraphs.
World Book Encyclopedia, 1982

In essays, an example sometimes appears at the very Thesis By 1880 several hundred medicine shows were traveling
beginning of the essay to introduce the thesis. The selec- L in the United States, giving performances varying from sim-
Major extended ple magic acts to elaborate "med-presentations." Among the
tion that follows illustrates the use of an introductory ex- example—from
here to end of largest of such operations from 1880 to 1910 was the Kicka-
ample—chosen to spark the reader's interest.
essay L poo Indian Medicine Company, "The King of Road Shows."
Founded by two veteran troupers, John E. "Doc" Healy and
In many ways, Dick Quillen appears to have it made. Still Charles H. "Texas Charlie" Bigelow, the Kickapoo Company
in his thirties, he heads his own data-processing company, maintained a large headquarters building, "The Principal
housed in an attractive five-room suite with wall-to-wall car- Wigwam," in New Haven, Connecticut, and from there sent
Examples used to peting and modern equipment, including a $500,000 comput- out shows, as many as twenty-five at a time, to cities and vil-
introduce essay er. When I talked with him recently across a gleaming direc-
lages throughout the country.
tors' table in his book-lined conference room, he exuded
Minor examples Doc Healy hired performers, both Indian and
confidence, know-how, and success. of performers who
were hired white—dancers, singers, jugglers, fire-eaters, acrobats, com-
What is not enviable about Quillen is his legal status. He
L edians, fiddlers—and Texas Charlie managed the medicine
is a convicted murderer, serving a life sentence. And his of-
business and trained the "Doctors" and "Professors" who
fices are in the state prison at Framingham, Massachusetts.
Thesis statement gave "Medical Lectures."
Quillen's company highlights a significant trend: the ar-
rival of free enterprise in our correctional system.... All troupe members were distinctively garbed. The In-
dians—including Mohawks, Iroquois, Crees, Sioux, and
Reader's Digest, June 1979 Blackfeet—billed as "all pure-blooded Kickapoos, the most
Minor examples noted of all Indian Medical People," were adorned with col-
Examples in an essay can both illustrate and support of distinctively ored beads and feathers and loaded down with primitive
garbed troupe
the thesis. That is, if a writer makes a claim or a point in members weapons; they trailed great strings of unidentified hairy ob-
the thesis statement and then provides evidence in the jects. Some lecturers wore western-style leather clothes and
form of actual situations that illustrate the thesis, it will boots with silver-capped toes, others fancy silk shirts, frock
coats, and high silk hats. One of the most colorful Kickapoo
help convince the reader that the thesis is valid. When
figures was smooth-talking Ned T. Oliver—"Nevada Ned,
you write, you should also search for examples as a way the King of Gold"—who wore an enormous sombrero from
to test your thesis. For example, if you formulate a thesis |_ the brim of which dangled 100 gold coins, and a fancy suit
but cannot think of a single example that supports it, it loaded with buttons made of gold pieces.
is likely you will want to rethink your main idea. Or if The Kickapoo shows were presented under canvas at
you can think of several examples that support your the- "Kickapoo Camps" during the summer and in opera houses
and town halls in winter. On many nights the show was free
 Chapter 4 / Examples The Pencil Rack / John Ciardi 111

to all, on others each adult was charged 10tf. The money

poured in from medicine sales. The Pencil Rack
The wonder-working Kickapoo concoctions were "com-
pounded according to secret ancient Kickapoo Indian tribal John Ciardi
formulas" from "blood root, feverwort, spirit gum, wild
poke berries, sassafras, slippery elm, wintergreen, white oak In this paragraph, by poet John Ciardi, we see how an experienced writer can push himself
bark, yellow birch bark, dock root, sarsaparilla, and other to begin writing. This inventory of Ciardi's pencil rack, the little trough at the front of
Natural Products." The medicines were made in the Connec- his desk drawer, gives the reader a colorful and amusing portrait of the ordinary litter
ticut factory in vats so huge the "mixers" had to perch on
of day-to-day living.
ladders and wield long paddles. The leader of the Kickapoo
line was Sagwa, which sold at 50<t and $1 per bottle—"Sag-
wa, the wonderful remedy for catarrh, pulmonary consump- Words to Know
tion, and all ills that afflict the human body. It is made from obscure not easily seen or understood
roots, barks, gums, leaves, oils, and berries gathered by little
Kickapoo children from God's great laboratory, the fertile unsubstantiated unproven
fields and vast forests. Sagwa, Nature's own great secret
cure, now available to all mankind!"
Long after the Kickapoo Company was dissolved, a worn- I V l o v e d by what might be called an obscure impulse (to obscure my
an who had worked in the medicine factory recalled that one average reluctance to get to work), I recently fell to taking inventory
of the ingredients of Kickapoo Cough Syrup was Jamaica of my average pencil rack and came up with the following itemization:
rum. Could this "cure" have been the inspiration for the
"Kickapoo Joy Juice" Al Capp featured in his popular comic
two red pencils (unsharpened), one black grease pencil, one ball point
strip? and one fountain pen (both broken), one mailing sticker that had
curled up into a small tube and which I unrolled to find that I had
Peggy Robbins, once printed on it with some care my social security number
"The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company"
(032-10-1225), one purchaser's receipt for a money order in the amount
In this essay, the writer's use of concrete examples gives of $7.15, one theater ticket stub (R 108) for the opening night of The
us a clear picture of the Kickapoo medicine show. In addi- Rise ofArturo Ui, one second-best (and therefore unused) letter opener,
tion, the great number and variety of minor examples one spool of J. & P. Coats black thread (15£, 125 yards, number 60,
give us a good idea of the crazy-quilt nature of medicine origin and purpose unknown), one dentist's tool (broken, but obvious-
shows in general. ly useful for picking things out of things if I had anything of that sort
When using examples in your own writing, brain- to pick related things out of), two nail files, one pair of cuff links, one
storm for possibilities (as described in Chapter 3) and se- metal pill box (empty, origin and purpose unknown), one glass marble
lect those that illustrate your idea most accurately. In (probably a souvenir of a visit from Benn), one four-for-a-quarter-
choosing among possibilities, favor those that you sense while-you-wait-press-the-button photo taken, as I recall, at, then, Idle-
your reader will respond to as convincing and colorful. wild Airport and showing Jonnel and me looking at one another in
Several well-chosen examples will often hold your read- some sort of fond but unsubstantiated pride, one twenty-cent stamp
er's interest and add credibility to your main idea. (1938 Presidential issue, James A. Garfield), two rubber bands, one
In the readings that follow, you will see the many ways pocket comb, a litter of paper clips, one 1889 quarter (to give to the
in which experienced writers use examples to illustrate kids for their collection as soon as I am sure that they will not spend
and develop their ideas. Try to watch for the effects that it on candy), one Canadian dime and one British halfpenny (to be giv-
individual examples have on you and analyze why they en to them any time), one air-mail sticker, two six-penny nails, three
affect you as they do. The questions and writing assign- thumb tacks, two match folders, one broken tie clip (probably repair-
ments at the ends of the readings will help you in this able), one small screw driver (in case any small screws show up to be
analysis and will give you practice in choosing effective driven?), one pocket pack of Kleenex, one pair of paper scissors, one
examples to incorporate them in paragraphs and essays. staple remover, assorted grit.
112 Chapter 4 / Examples The Shoe as a Strategic Weapon / Alison Lurie 113

Questions About the Reading The Shoe as a Strategic Weapon

1. Why do you think the writer saved all of these things? Is a reason
implied? Alison Lurie
2. Who do you think Benn and Jonnel are? Give reasons for your
answer. Clothing doesn't simply keep us warm and dry. What we wear and how we wear it can
3. Does the writer ever use the dentist's tool? How do you know? tell people a lot about who we are. In this selection taken from The Language of Clothes,
Alison Lurie gives examples of another use of clothing: to stop women from moving about
4. What thoughts did you have when you finished reading this para- quickly.
graph? What do you think the writer wants you to conclude about
the contents of his pencil rack? Words to Know

gait a way of moving on foot

Questions About the Writer's Strategies hampering making something difficult
1. Examine the arrangement of examples in this paragraph. See if you lotus foot Chinese practice of binding women's
can detect any obvious or implied order in their arrangement. feet to make them smaller
2. Besides being a paragraph of examples, in what sense is this a de-
scriptive paragraph?
3. One could say that this paragraph is just a list of junk. How does
the writer hold your interest and keep you reading?
A .ttempts to limit female mobility by hampering locomotion are an-
cient and almost universal. The foot-binding of upper-class Chinese
girls and the Nigerian custom of loading women's legs with pounds
Writing Assignments of heavy brass wire are extreme examples, but all over the world simi-
lar stratagems have been employed to make sure that once you have
1. We all save some things we do not need or use, sometimes without
caught a woman she cannot run away, and even if she stays around
even knowing why. Write a paragraph giv'mg examples of such
she cannot keep up with you. What seems odd is that all these devices
things—your own possessions or those of your friends—and try to
have been perceived as beautiful, not only by men but by women. The
describe some of the reasons for keeping them.
lotus foot, which seems to us a deformity, was passionately admired
2. In a paragraph, use examples to describe the contents of the average
in China for centuries, and today most people in Western society see
refrigerator, garage, attic, or some other place where things tend to
nothing ugly in the severely compressed toes produced by modern
collect and be forgotten. Try to include examples that will interest
footwear. The high-heeled, narrow-toed shoes that for most of this cen-
or amuse your reader.
tury have been an essential part of woman's costume are considered
sexually attractive, partly because they make the legs look longer—an
extended leg is the biological sign of sexual availability in several ani-
mal species—and because they produce what anthropologists call a
"courtship strut." They also make standing for any length of time
painful, walking exhausting and running impossible. The halting, tip-
toe gait they produce is thought provocative—perhaps because it
guarantees that no woman wearing them can outrun a man who is
chasing her. Worst of all, if they are worn continually from adolescence
on, they deform the muscles of the feet and legs so that it becomes even
more painful and difficult to walk in flat soles.
 Chapter 4 / Examples Cowboy's Courage / Gretel Erlich 117

Questions About the Reading

A Cowboy's Courage
1. Why have cultures attempted to limit female mobility?
2. What is the writer implying about modern Western society? Gretel Erlich
3. Do you agree with what Lurie says about high-heeled shoes? Why
or why not?
The popular image of the cowboy has been a constant feature in American life since the
1800s. Yet over the decades that image has undergone several changes. In this paragraph,
Questions About the VVriter's Strategies Grete! Erlich portrays the cowboy as someone whose strength comes from gentleness, com-
passion, and commitment to hard work. In the process she points to inaccuracies in the
1. What is the topic sentence of the paragraph? Where is it located? popular stereotype.
2. Does the writer use many examples, one extended example, or a
combination of the two strategies? Words to Know
3. What mode of development does the writer use? Does she use more iconic characterized by symbolic objects and em-
than one mode?
blems
maternalism mothering, taking care of like a
Writing Assignments mother
1. Do you own any clothing that limits mobility or is uncomfortable perverted twisted, misinterpreted
but that you wear anyway, like a formal suit or dress, a snug pair
of jeans, or, as in Lurie's paragraph, an uncomfortable pair of shoes?
In a paragraph, use examples to show how the article of clothing cowboy is someone who loves his work. Since the hours are
restricts you, and other examples to show why you wear it. long—ten to fifteen hours a day—and the pay is $30 he has to. What's
2. Write a paragraph giving several examples of customs or habits that required of him is an odd mixture of physical vigor and maternalism.
are familiar to you but that someone from another country might His part of the beef-raising industry is to birth and nurture calves and
find odd. take care of their mothers. For the most part his work is done on horse-
back and in a lifetime he sees and comes to know more animals than
people. The iconic myth surrounding him is built on American notions
of heroism: the index of a man's value as measured in physical cour-
age. Such ideas have perverted manliness into a self-absorbed race for
cheap thrills. In a rancher's world, courage has less to do with facing
danger than with acting spontaneously—usually on behalf of an ani-
mal or another rider. If a cow is stuck in a boghole he throws a loop
around her neck, takes his dally (a half hitch around the saddle horn),
and pulls her out with horsepower. If a calf is born sick, he may take
her home, warm her in front of the kitchen fire, and massage her legs
until dawn. One friend, whose favorite horse was trying to swim a lake
with hobbles on, dove under water and cut her legs loose with a knife,
then swam her to shore, his arm around her neck lifeguard-style, and
saved her from drowning. Because these incidents are usually linked
to someone or something outside himself, the westerner's courage is
selfless, a form of compassion.
118 Chapter 4 / Examples Wrappings / Andy Rooncy 119

Questions About the Reading Wrappings

1. What does the writer mean by "acting spontaneously"? Andy Rooney
2. Why do cowboys help animals and other people? Speculate based
on the examples in the paragraph.
3. What is the writer's idea of courage? Do hard work and self-sacri- Andy Rooney, who appears on the television show "Sixty Minutes," is known for his opin-
ions. Rooney has his own ideas—and gives them freely—on just about every topic, from
fice take courage? women's handbags to the air force's use of glue. Here, he speaks his mind on our national
mania for wrappings.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Words to Know
1. What is the main idea of this paragraph? Is it stated in a topic sen-
tence or is it implied? antimacassars chair covers
2. In the third sentence the writer reminds us that the cowboy is part silicone a kind of water-resistant plastic
of an "industry." Why do you think she mentions it?
3. In what ways does the writer's portrait contradict the popular
image of the cowboy? What specific statements and examples does
she give to support this contradiction?
D'epending on what mood I'm in, I find it either irritating, funny 1
or civilized when I think about how we protect protective coverings
4. Analyze the .examples in the paragraph. How do they reveal the in this country.
grueling nature of the cowboy's work? How do they make you feel When I come home from the grocery store and start to unpack, I 2
about the cowboy? What kind of person does it take to be a cowboy? am always unfavorably impressed with the layers of protective or dec-
orative wrappings we cover our food with.
Writing Assignments There is hardly anything we buy that doesn't come in at least two 3
wrappings, and then several of them are assembled by the cashier at
1. Write a paragraph using examples from the popular media to show the checkout counter and put into a small bag. Then several of the
how Americans usually visualize the cowboy. small bags are grouped together and put into a big bag. If you have
2. In a paragraph, show what hard work is by using an extended ex- several big bags with small bags in them, they give you a cardboard
ample of some profession or task with which you are familiar. box to put the packages-in-the-little-bags-in-the-big-bags in.
3. Write a paragraph in which you use examples to explain the term A lot of things we buy wouldn't really need any protective wrap- 4
compassion.
ping at all. The skin of an orange protects an orange pretty well for
most of its natural life, but we aren't satisfied with what nature has
given it. We wrap ten of them in plastic or put them in a net bag, and
we put the plastic bag in a paper bag. The orange inside the skin, in-
side the plastic which is in a paper bag, must wonder where it is.
A box of cookies or crackers often has waxed paper next to the cook- 5
ies, a cardboard box holding the cookies and then waxed paper and
a decorative wrapping around the cardboard box. What seems to be
called for here is some stiff, decorative waxed paper.
We have always wrapped our cars in an incredible number of pro- 6
tective layers. We put fenders over the wheels to protect ourselves
from flying dirt. Then we put bumpers front and back to protect the
fenders. We proceed from there to put chrome on the bumpers to pro-
tect them from rust, and we undercoat the fenders to protect them from
the dirt they're protecting us from.
120 Chapter 4 / Examples Wrappings / Andy Rooney 121

We paint the car to protect the metal, wax the paint to protect that 7 Questions About the Reading
and then we build a two-car garage to protect the whole thing. If it
1. In the first sentence the writer uses the word civilized. What types
was a child, it would be spoiled.
of protective wrappings might seem civilized? Does Rooney give
I'm laughing, but I'm a protector of things myself. I use wood pre- 8
any examples in the essay on wrappings that might be viewed that
server before I paint lumber, and when I buy a raincoat I always spray
way?
it with Scotchgard or some other silicone water resister. Over the years,
I'll bet I've spent more on Scotchgard than I have on raincoats. 2. Do you think the writer approves of all the wrappings and protec-
A good book is designed with a hard cover to protect its contents. 9 tive coverings Americans use? Support your answer with an
The hard cover is protected from dirt and abuse by a dust jacket. A example.
lot of people who are very careful with books cover the dust jacket 3. What does the writer mean by stating that if a car "was a child, it
with a plastic cover of its own. would be spoiled"?
A relative of ours bought a new couch recently because she liked 10
the fabric it was covered with. She liked it so much she didn't want Questions About the Writer's Strategies
it to get dirty, so she bought a slipcover to put over it and she laid little 1. What is the tone of this essay?
oblong pieces of cloth over the arms where the wear is heaviest to pro- 2. Is the thesis stated or implied? If it is stated, where is it stated? If
tect the slipcover. She called them antimacassars. it is implied, state it in your own words.
We may never again see the fabric she's protecting. 11 3. The writer uses a number of examples to make his point. Would
the essay have been as effective if he had used one extended
example?
4. How does Rooney use language to amuse the reader?

Writing Assignments
1. Are protective wrappings ever useful? Write an essay that gives ex-
amples of protective wrappings that are necessary.
2. Although Rooney presents it humorously, his topic also has a seri-
ous side: The use of too many protective wrappings can be wasteful
and uses up scarce natural resources. Write an essay that gives ex-
amples of other ways in which our society is wasteful. Use a serious
tone.
3. Think of another aspect of our society that is good or bad, right or
wrong. Form a thesis statement to express your opinion and then
write an essay using examples to support your thesis.
122 Chapter 4 / Examples Down with the Forests / Charles Kuralt 123

Down with the Forests The eggs came, with little paper packages of salt and pepper. I fin- 6
ished breakfast, put the paper under my arm, and left the table with
Charles Kuralt its used and useless paper napkin, paper place mat, paper salt and
pepper packages, paper butter and marmalade wrappings, paper sug-
Charles Kuralt roams the highways and byways of America in a mobile home, covering ar envelope, and paper cream holder, and I walked out into the morn-
(and discovering) offbeat stories for his Dateline America series on CBS-TV and radio. ing wondering how our national forests can ever survive our
In this one, he laments the disappearance of our great forests, all the while sneakily offering breakfasts.
us examples ofwhat:we have done, what we have used, what we demand, that make the
trees come down. ,'
Questions About the Reading
Word to Know 1. Why does the writer describe his breakfast in so much detail?
•v., 1

habitat the place where something normally lives 2. Suggest some possible reasons why no one voted against the
clear-cutting bill.
3. What does the writer want us to realize about our part in the de-
B ALTIMORE, MARYLAND. I was waiting for breakfastfin a coffee shop struction of the forests?
the other morning and reading the paper. The paper had sixty-six
pages. The waitress brought a paper place mat and a paper napkin Questions About the Writer's Strategies
and took my order, and I paged through the paper. 1. Is there a specific sentence in the essay that states the thesis, or is
The headline said, "House Panel Studies a Bill Allowing Clear-Cut- the thesis implied?
ting in U.S. Forests." 2. How do the quotes from the newspaper develop Kuralt's main
I put the paper napkin in my lap, spread the paper out on the paper idea?
place mat, and read on: "The House Agriculture Committee," it said, 3. Why does the writer use the word paper twenty-six times?
"is looking over legislation that would once again open national 4. What is the tone of the essay? What would the tone have been if
forests to the clear-cutting of trees by private companies under gov- the lumber industry had written the article?
ernment permits."
The waitress brought the coffee. I opened a paper sugar envelope
and tore open a little paper cup of cream and went on reading the
Writing Assignments
paper: "The Senate voted without dissent yesterday to allow clear-cut- 1. Each of us is to blame for the destruction of our forests. Write an
ting," the paper said. "Critics have said clear-cutting in the national essay illustrating with examples what individuals can do to reduce
forests can lead to erosion and destruction of wildlife habitats. Forest their consumption of paper.
Service and industry spokesmen said a flat ban on clear-cutting would 2. Our society has become obsessed with the idea of throwaway pack-
bring paralysis tojhe lumber/industry." And to the paper industry, I I aging. Write an essay developing this idea through the use of
thought. Clear-cutting a forest is one way to get a lot of paper, and examples.
we sure seem to need a lot of paper. 3. Plastic has become a substitute for paper in many throwaway prod-
The waitress brought the toast. I looked for the butter. It came on ucts, but we now know that the manufacture of many plastics is
a little paper tray with a covering of paper. I opened a paper package harmful to the earth's ozone layer. Write an essay using examples
of marmalade and read on: "Senator Jennings Randolph, Democrat of to illustrate other drawbacks to using disposable plastic products.
West Virginia, urged his colleagues to take a more restrictive view and
permit clear-cutting only under specific guidelines for certain types
of forest. But neither he nor anyone else voted against the bill, which
was sent to the House on a 90 to 0 vote."
 124
Chapter 4 / Examples August / Andrei Codrescu 125

August through her files and had several people I didn't like moved to August.
Andrei Codrescu She caught me. I pleaded humidity. I don't think she's forgiven me yet.

Some people look forward with dread to the sweltering dog days of summer. Andrei Co-
Questions About the Reading
drescu is one of them. In this essay, he uses examples to show how heat and humidity 1. In what way is August "dramatic"?
can alter his outlook and behavior.
2. What sense can you make of paragraph 3? How do the ideas there
Words to Know
relate to each other?
3. Why does the writer hang around town in August? Why doesn't
complacent unconcerned with improving itself he take a vacation in the country?
delirious crazed, in a frenzy and out of touch 4. Why did the writer want his wife to leave August out? What good
with reality would it do?
indolent unmotivated, lazy
primeval belonging to the earliest of ages Questions About the Writer's Strategies
prostrate incapacitated, collapsed
1. What is the main idea in this essay? Where is it most clearly
expressed?
2. What is the tone of the essay? Speculate about whether the writer
.ugust is a dramatic month. Humidity is a form of madness. Writ- 1 composed it in summer or during the cooler months.
ing is a form of suicide. The temptation to talk like this, in short clips,
is overwhelming. Short sentences are like raindrops: loud, splashy, and 3. Identify the simile in paragraph 1. Is it effective? Why or why not?
desirable. 4. In paragraphs 4 and 5, besides examples, what mode of develop-
ment does the writer use?
August, the most complacent month. Laziness, humidity, and utter 2
lack of thought are its chief characteristics. Sluggish and indolent, we
drag our bodies through its sweaty middle like primeval crawlers. Writing Assignments
I saw a guy, prostrate from heat, staring at an empty parking lot 3 1. Write a fictional account of some situation that is maddening, un-
downtown. "There are more leaves on the trees this year," he said. I comfortable, funny, or all three, using examples as your main mode
looked at the expanse of steaming cement before us and agreed. That of development. For instance, you might want to make up a day
was an August encounter and that man an August character. An am- when everything went wrong for a police officer, a veterinarian, a
bassador of Humidity. The reason why so many people die in August cab driver, or an elementary schoolteacher.
is that nobody is really awake. All Death has to do is pluck the unalert 2. In an essay, use examples to explain what you like or dislike about
from the planet like overripe peaches. attending college.
If you are poor and hot like me, one way to escape August is to visit 4
showrooms. Not only are they airconditioned, they are educational.
I went to an IBM computer showplace and a dear lady paraded me be-
fore the friendly pastels of a thousand keyboards. It was like ice cream.
Looking over the Augusts of my life, I find all sorts of delirious phe- 5
nomena. Once I was mugged in a hallway. I was too irritated by the
heat to pay. I screamed at the guy and he only took half the money.
A few years ago, my wife produced a wonderful calendar full of useful
and wonderful facts, a^ well as the birthdays of all our friends. I tried
to talk her into leaving August out. When she wouldn't listen, I went
126 Chapter 4 / Examples Back to the Dump / Russell Baker 127

counter with a ticking bomb, and contemplated behaving like a fool,

Back to the Dump but rejected the impulse because we weren't married.
Russell Baker "What do you think you're doing?" she asked as I fled. I told her 11
that someday I wanted to be half of a couple as ideal as Franklin and
When our society changes, we often have to change our personal beliefs and habits as well. Eleanor Roosevelt.
In this humorous essay, noted essayist Russell Baker gives examples of beliefs he has had "Are you mad?" she replied. 12
to discard. No, not mad. I had been out to lunch during another of life's revi- 13
sions and, so, had missed the disclosure that Eleanor didn't get along
Words to Know well with Franklin and that Franklin fooled around when she was out
contemplated considered of town. Another part of my youthful education went to the dump,
interrogator questioner but too late. By then, age had brought its inevitable energy crisis and
Svengalis people with irresistible hypnotic powers I had begun to prefer napping to behaving like a fool.
(from a character in the novel Trilby by George Perhaps it was not age that defeated me, though. Maybe it was fa- 14
du Maurier) tigue caused by the constant trips to the dump to discard everything
swinish like a pig I'd learned in the first half of my life. Life seemed to be an educator's
practical joke in which you spent the first half learning and the second
half learning that everything you learned in the first half was wrong.
w. hen I was a boy everybody urged me to get plenty of sunshine, 1
so I got plenty of sunshine for a long time. One day while I was absorb-
The trips to the dump became more and more frequent. There I 15
lugged the old precept that a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs was
ing July sun as fast as I could, a doctor asked what I thought I was good for me.
doing. I also hauled away the old lesson that it was racist to refer to people 16
"Getting plenty of sunshine," I said. 2 of African ancestry as "black." One windy night, I hoisted up the cher-
"Are you mad?" he replied. 3 ished teaching that every American had a duty to drive a two-ton,
No, I was not mad, just slow to catch up with life's revisions. Get- 4 eight-cylinder automobile with room enough inside for a steamer
ting plenty of sunshine had been declared dangerous while I was out trunk and the whole darn family, and staggered off to the dump. That
to lunch. I revised my store of knowledge. Now I get only small drop- was a heavy night's work and left me bent in spine and spirit.
pers of sunshine extracted from the half hour just before sunset. At about this time, movie actors began running for President, astro- 17
When I was old enough to notice that girls were pleasantly different 5 nauts began flying around the planet to get from one desert to another,
from boys, my mother told me the fact of life. "You must always treat and people began renting one-bedroom apartments for $2,000 a
a woman like a lady," she said. So for a long time I went through life month. Out to the dump went important fragments of my education
treating women like ladies. which had made me believe that movie actors existed to be browbeat-
One day while I was helping a woman into her coat, another wo- 6 en by Congressional investigators, that if you've seen one cactus
man asked me what I thought I was doing. you've seen them all, and that $2,000 a month ought to buy you a con-
"Treating a woman like a lady," I said. trolling interest in the Gritti Palace Hotel.
"Are you mad?" she replied. No wonder I was tired. And then, a terrible fear seized me. If every- 18
No, I was not mad, but my interrogator was furious. I had been out 9 thing I'd learned in life's first half had to go to the dump, wasn't it
to lunch during one of life's revisions and missed the announcement inevitable that everything I was learning in the second half would also
that it was swinish to treat a woman like a lady. I discarded another have to go?
piece of my childhood education. Now I treat women like ticking A crushing thought. I'm not getting any younger. I've had the stami- 19
bombs. na so far to heave out everything I learned in youth, but if everything
When I was 17 and for many years afterward, I admired Franklin 10 I've learned since has to go in the next 25 years I'll be too feeble for
and Eleanor Roosevelt as the ideal couple. One evening I had an en- the job.
 Back to the Dump / Russell Baker 129
128 Chapter 4 / Examples

I'm sitting here right now wondering what present certainties might 20 Questions About the Reading
have to be junked before the century is out. My conviction that Presi- 1. What does the writer mean when he states, "I had an encounter
dent Reagan is a nice guy for instance. Will some whippersnapper with a ticking bomb"?
someday say, "If you hadn't been out to lunch again, old-timer, you'd 2. What was Baker afraid would eventually happen?
have read the recent book reporting that Reagan had to be dosed on 3. In what way is the writer's brain being "manipulated"?
jolly pills to control his passion for kicking orphans"?
And there's my present fear that the nuclear weapons race could 21 Questions About the Writer's Strategies
kill us all. Some people already say I wouldn't have that fear if the
Russians hadn't manipulated my brain. I think that's silly right now. 1. What is the tone of this essay?
Considering all the other people I know are manipulating my brain, 2. Is there a direct thesis statement in this essay? If not, state the thesis
I don't see how the Russians could get a crack at it. But you never in your own words. How well do the examples support the thesis?
3. "The dump" is a metaphor. Interpret what it refers to.
know. Someday I might have to learn that I wasn't really afraid of nu-
clear war at all, but only under the sway of Moscow Svengalis. 4. In the first half of the essay, the writer uses repetition extensively.
It wouldn't surprise me. Live long enough and you'll eventually be 22 What is the effect of this strategy?
wrong about everything.
Writing Assignments
Think of a popular or highly publicized idea that you do not agree
with—say, that success is more important than being considerate,
that hunting is inhumane, that nuclear power plants are (or are not)
dangerous, or that students entering college today are (or are not)
poorly educated. Write an essay in which you use examples to per-
suade your readers that you are right.
2. Imagine what your city will be like in the year 2010, and write an
essay that describes it, using examples to show how it will differ
from the way it is now.
3. Write an essay giving examples of beliefs you have had to discard
as you have grown older.
 Television and Work / Peggy Charren and Martin Sandier 131
130 Chapter 4 / Examples

Television and Work law enforcers, what of the bad guys who never get caught? Where are
they on TV? (You can find them on "Hill Street Blues," which may
Peggy Charren and Martin Sandier account for its growing popularity.)
The typical action-adventure shows that feature private detectives, 5
The television is on for more than seven hours each day in most American homes. But police, or other law enforcement agencies are put together by highly
what are people really seeing when they watch TV? According to Peggy Charren and skilled writers, producers, and technicians. Actual police or FBI build-
Martin Sandier, what they are not seeing—people who work at real-life jobs—is even more ings are shown. Locales around the world are used and identifiable
important. landmarks are featured. Official badges and uniforms are common-
place. Often we are told that the episode is based on some actual case
Words to Know (only the names have been changed to protect the innocent), and at
amorous passionate the end of some of these programs we are even informed as to what
annals a record of events sentence was given to the "actual criminals." All of this gives an air
misconceptions mistaken ideas of authenticity to these series, increasing problems for viewers who
mundane routine, daily have difficulty distinguishing between the truth and the fantasy world
resolutions solutions of TV.
unprecedented not done before These misconceptions cause trouble in the real world of lawyers' 6
offices and courtrooms. Lawyers around the country report increased
difficulty conveying to clients just what they as lawyers can and can-
J. he world of television is one in which, according to a study by 1 not accomplish. If Perry Mason can wrap up a case successfully in an
George Gerbner, policemen, doctors, lawyers, judges and law-breakers hour, why can't they? And many legal officials are concerned that ju-
outnumber all other working people combined. On TV there are al- rors will expect clearcut resolutions of cases as a result of TV lawyers'
most no clerical workers, salespeople, artists, or engineers. And blue freeing their clients by breaking down witnesses on the stand and then
collar workers, the largest segment of the working force in the real pointing to the actual criminal before the startled eyes of judge and
world, are nearly invisible. The result is that heavy TV-watchers and jury.
children come to know more about spies, coroners, and small-town
sheriffs than they do about those who carry out the basic tasks in
American society.
Television relies heavily on authority figures. Policemen, doctors, 2
lawyers, and judges fill the bill. TV doctors are wise, fatherly (women
on TV are not doctors; they are nurses), and right most of the time.
In the world of television, police and private detectives alike fill , a
their days with devil-may-care car chases, shoot-ups, and amorous ad-
ventures. The real world is far less glamorous: police handle plenty
of traffic violations and domestic problems, and private detectives
chase debtors, look for missing people, and shadow straying husbands
and wives. Television's private eyes regularly solve crimes and bring
criminals to justice; most real private detectives have little to do with
the actual solving of major crimes.
And, of course, TV's men in blue always get their man, with a speed 4
unprecedented in the annals of real life, since loose ends must be neat-
ly tied by the close of the thirty- or sixty-minute segment. What of the
long hours, mundane tasks, and many frustrations that plague real-life
132
Chapter 4 / Examples The Family / Career Priority Problem / Ellen Goodman 133

Questions About the Reading

The Family / Career Priority Problem
1. What details make television shows seem more realistic?
2. What problems are caused by the realism of police-adventure Ellen Goodman
shows?
3. What can real lawyers accomplish? Why do the misconceptions How do today's successful people find time for both family and career? Pulitizer prize-win-
caused by television give lawyers trouble? ning columnist Ellen Goodman's answer: They may sacrifice one for the other. Goodman
4. What kinds of workers are rarely seen on TV? looks at many hard-working, fast-rising, successful people she knows—women and men—
and is surprised, and a little frightened, by what she finds.
5. What do the writers claim is true about television? Give specific
examples.
Words to Know

Questions About the Writers' Strategies capitulated gave up, gave in

inherent natural, inevitable, basic
1. Do the writers use other modes of development in addition to ex- merged combined
amples? If so, in which paragraphs are the other modes used? precludes prevents, does not allow
2. Is the thesis directly stated or implied? If directly stated, in which prototypical model, standard to be used or
sentence or sentences is it found? followed
3. The writers cite a study in the first paragraph of the essay. What
effect on the reader does this have?
4. In paragraph 2 the writers mention doctors, but most of the essay
w n e day last week Ed Koch left his Greenwich Village apartment 1
concerns law enforcers and lawyers. Why do the writers concen-
to take the M-6 bus downtown. About the same time he was being
trate on these professions?
sworn in as mayor of New York City, my friend Carol was turning
down a job as a top executive of a New York corporation.
Writing Assignments On the surface, these two events seem to be totally unrelated, except 2
1. This essay was written in 1983. Has television changed since then? for the fact that they took place in the same city. But I don't think they
Write an essay on this topic, using examples of past and current tele- are. You see, Ed Koch is a bachelor, and my friend Carol is married
vision shows to support your thesis. and a parent, and there's a difference.
2. Are there any benefits to watching TV? Answer this question in an No, this isn't a story that ends with a one-line complaint from Carol: 3
essay, using examples to support your answer. "If it hadn't been for you, I would have been a star." (Or a mayor, for
3. Spend a Saturday morning watching children's cartoons on TV. that matter.) Nor is it a story of discrimination. Her husband didn't
Then write an essay explaining that cartoons are either good or bad put his.foot down. Her parents didn't form a circle around her shout-
for children. Use examples from the shows you watched to support/' ing, "Bad mother, badl" until she capitulated.
your explanation. Carol chose. She wanted the promotion so much she could taste it. 4
But the job came with weekends and evenings and traveling attached,
and she didn't want to miss that time with her husband and sons. She
couldn't do both. Knowing that didn't make it any easier.
Carol isn't the only one I know making these decisions. Another 5
friend refused to move up a rung on the professional ladder because
it would have meant uprooting his family and transferring his wife
out of a career of her own. A third couple consciously put their careers
on the back burner in order to spend time with the family they'd
merged out of two previous marriages.
 The Family j Career Priority Problem / Ellen Goodman 135
134 Chapter 4 / Examples

These were not bitter choices, but tough ones. As Carol said, it isn't 6 The irony is that we need decisionmakers who care and understand 14
possible to give overtime at work and decent time at home. about children and private lives. And I wonder how we will find them
Once it was normal for a man to devote his energy entirely to his 7 if the room at the top becomes a bachelor pad.
work, while his family was taken care of by his wife. Once men led
the public lives and women the private lives. Now that gap is closing, Questions About the Reading
and another one is growing between family people and single people.
Everywhere it seems that men and women who care the most about 1. In paragraph II, the writer speaks of "movements" and legislation.
their private lives are living them that way, while the single people What is she referring to?
have become the new upwardly mobile. 2. Politics figures in most of the essay's examples, even though Carol
In Washington you can see the difference. There, a twenty- 8 worked for a corporation. Why do you think the writer focuses on
eight-year-old bachelor such as White House aide David Rubinstein politics?
works more than sixteen hours a day and eats vending-machine meals, 3. Do you think Goodman favors family-first people or work-first peo-
while a guy like Representative Lloyd Meeds (D-Washington) decides ple? Who does she think is stronger? Is she neutral? Cite examples
not to take his family through another congressional election fight, from the essay to support your answer.
and drops out. There, despite the attempts of the Carters to encourage 4. Does Goodman believe all work must lead to a choice between work
family time, the government still runs on excess. As one observer puts and family? Support your answer with statements from the essay.
it, the only way to get the work done is to be single or to have a lousy
marriage.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
In New York the successful politicians (aside from Koch) now in- 9
elude Carol Bellamy, the single head of the city council, and Andrew 1. What is the purpose of the first five paragraphs? Why does the writ-
Stein, the divorced borough president. The governor is a widower, the er present the example of her friend first rather than elsewhere in
lieutenant governor is legally separated. the essay?
All around us the prototypical workaholics are single, with Ralph 10 2. Could the first sentence in paragraph 7 be made into two sentences?
Nader leading the Eastern division, and Jerry Brown bringing up the If so, how? If not, why not?
West. And in the U.S. Senate last year there were enough divorces to 3. In paragraph 12, Goodman asks, "How do you divide the pie of
justify legal insurance. your life . . . ?" In terms of the essay, what does she mean by the
I don't think that this is something "movements" or legislation can 11 "pie of your life"?
solve. I am reminded of the moment in the movie The Turning Point 4. What is the main idea of the essay? Pick out three sentences, each
when Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine realize that they both of which expresses all or part of the main idea.
wanted it all. These two women hadn't chosen in their lives between
work and family in the classic sense, but between workaholism and
family: between the sort of success that demands single-minded devo-
Writing Assignments
tion to a goal and the sort of "balanced" life that includes family and 1. Do you agree with the writer's opinion about the family/career
work, but precludes overachieving. In the end the star was a bachelor. problem? Write an essay in which you state how you view the fami-
The decisions they faced are the rock-bottom ones, the toughies. 12 ly/career problem. Use examples to develop and explain your view.
How do you divide the pie of your life—your own time and energy? 2. Consider the last two sentences of the essay. Rewrite the idea they
Today, the cast of characters is changing. It isn't only men in high- 13 express in your own words and, using that idea as your thesis, write
powered work lives and women at home. But the choices have an essay that uses examples to show how having a family might
remained the same. There seems to be an inherent contradiction influence the decisions of someone in high political office. You may
between the commitment to become number one, the best, the first, want to use examples based on a real political figure or hypothetical
and the commitment to a rich family life. A contradiction between (fictional) examples.
family-first people and work-first people.
136 Chapter 4 / Examples My Mother Never Worked / Bonnie Smith-Yackel 137

3. You probably know people who successfully balance careers and My Mother Never Worked
family life. Write an essay in which you use such persons as exam-
Bonnie Smith-Yackel
ples to support the idea that people can manage both careers and
family life.
Bonnie Smith-Yackel's family survived on a farm during the Depression, a time when both
the weather and the economy made the hardships of farm life nearly overwhelming. In
this personal essay, Smith-Yackel uses the example of her mother's life to reveal the unfair-
ness in American society's attitudes toward women and the work they do to keep their
families going.

Words to Know
cholera a contagious, often fatal disease, usually
restricted to farm animals in this country
reciprocated returned
sustenance nourishment, support for life
widow's pension the Social Security payments
given to a widow, based on her deceased hus-
band's eligibility, who is not eligible herself for
Social Security

"Q
\J ocial Security Office." (The voice answering the telephone sounds 1
very self-assured.)
"I'm calling about . . . I . . . my mother just died . . . I was told to 2
call you and see about a . . . death-benefit check, I think they call it.
"I see. Was your mother on Social Security? How old was she?" 3
"Yes . . . she was seventy-eight. . . . " 4
"Do you know her number?" 5
"No . . . I, ah . . . don't you have a record?" 6
"Certainly. I'll look it up. Her name?" 7
"Smith. Martha Smith. Or maybe she used Martha Ruth Smith. 8
. .. Sometimes she used her maiden name .. . Martha Jerabek Smith."
"If you'd care to hold on, I'll check our records—it'll be a few 9
minutes."
"Yes " 10
Her love letters—to and from Daddy—were in an old box, tied with 11
ribbons and stiff, rigid-w.ith-age leather thongs: 1918 through 1920;
hers written on stationery from the general store she had worked in
full-time and managed, single-handed, after her graduation from high
school in 1913; and his, at first, on YMCA or Soldiers and Sailors Club
stationery dispensed to the fighting men of World War I. He wooed
138 Chapter 4 / Examples My Mother Never Worked / Bonnie Smith-Yackel 139

her thoroughly and persistently by mail, and though she reciprocated the harvested crop, they couldn't afford to haul it into town. They
all his feelings for her, she dreaded marriage. . . . burned it in the furnace for fuel that winter.
"It's so hard for me to decide when to have my wedding day—that's 12 In 1934, in February, when the dust was still so thick in the Minneso-
all I've thought about these last two days. I have told you dozens of ta air that my parents couldn't always see from the house to the barn,
times that I won't be afraid of married life, but when it comes down their fifth child—a fourth daughter—was born. My father hunted rab-
-.to getting the date and then picturing myself a married woman with bits daily, and my mother ste_wed them, fried them, canned them, and
half a dozen or more kids to look after, it just makes me sick. . . . I wished out loud that she could taste hamburger once more. In the fall
am weeping right now—I hope that some day I can look back and say the shotgun brought prairie chickens, ducks, pheasant, and grouse. My
how foolish I was to dread it all." mothepplucked each bird, carefully reserving the breast feathers for
They married in February, 1921, and began farming. Their first baby, 13 pillows.
a daughter, was born in January, 1922, when my mother was 26 years In the winter she sewed night after night, endlessly, begging cast-off 18
old. The second baby, a son, was born in March, 1923. They were rent- clothing from relatives, ripping apart coats, dresses, blouses, and trou-
ing farms; my father, besides working his own fields, also was a hired sers to remake them to fit her four daughters and son. Every morning
man for two other farmers. They had no. capital initially, and had to and every evening she milked cows, fed pigs and calves, cared for
gain it slowly, working from dawn until midnight every day. My chickens, picked eggs, cooked meals, washed dishes, scrubbed floors,
town-bred mother learned to set hens and raise chickens, feed pigs, and tended and loved her children. In the spring she planted a garden
•> — • — * ''•-.....-' 1. tJ
once more, dragging pails of water to nourish and sustain the vegeta-
milk cows, plant and harvest a garden, and can every fruit and vegeta-
bles for the family. In 1936 she lost a baby in her sixth month.
ble she could scrounge. She carried water nearly a quarter of a mile
from the well to fill her wash boilers in order to do her laundry on In 1937 her fifth daughter was born. She was 42 years old. In 1939 19
a scrub board. She learned to shuck grain, feedjhreshers, shock and a second son, and in 1941 her eighth child—and third son.
husk corn, feed corn pickers. In September, 1925, the third baby came, But the war had come, and prosperity of a sort. The herd of cattle 20
and in June, 1927, the fourth child—both daughters. In 1930, my par- had grown to 30 head; she still milked morning and evenirlg. Her gar-
ents had enough money to buy their own farm, and that March they den was more than a half acre—the rains had come, and by now the
moved all their livestock and belongings themselves, 55 miles over Rural Electricity Administration and indoor plumbing. Still she
rutted, muddy roads. sewed—dresses and jackets for the children, housedresses and aprons
In the summer of 1930 my mother and her two eldest children re- 14 for herself, weekly patching of jeans, overalls, and denim shirts. Still
claimed a 40-acre field from Canadian thistles, by chopping them all she made pillows, using the feathers she had plucked, and quilts every
out with a hoe. In the other fields, when the oats and flax began to year—intricate patterns as well as patchwork, stitched as well as
head out, the green and blue of the crops were hidden by the bright tied—all necessary bedding for her family. Every scrap of cloth too
yellow of wild mustard. My mother walked the fields day after day, small to be used in quilts was carefully saved and painstakingly sewed
pulling each mustard plant. She raised a new flock of ba^" together in strips to make rugs. She still went out in the fields to help
chicks—500—and she spaded up, planted, hoed, and harvested a with the haying whenever there was a threat of rain.
half-acre garden. In 1959 my mother's last child graduated from high school. A year 21
During the next spring their hogs caught cholera and died. No cash 15 later the cows were sold. She still raised chickens and ducks, plucked
that fall. feathers, made pillows, baked her own bread, and every year made
And in the next year the drought hit. My mother and father trudged 16 a new quilt—now for a married child or for a grandchild. And her
from the well to the chickens, the well to the calf pasture, the well to garden, that huge, undying symbol of sustenance, was as large and
the barn, and from the well to the garden. The sun came out hot and cared for as in all the years before. The canning, and now freezing,
bright, endlessly, day after day. The crops shriveled and died. They continued.
harvested half the corn, and ground the other half, stalks and all, and In 1969, on a June afternoon, mother and father started out for town 22
fed it to the cattle as fodder. With the price at four ceTits a bushel for so that she could buy sugar to make rhubarb jam for a daughter who
 My Mother Never Worked / Bonnie Smith-Yackel 141
140 Chapter 4 / Examples

lived in Texas. The car crashed into a ditch. She was paralyzed from 4. Describe the writer's point of view in the essay. How does she use
the waist down. time? Does her tone change during the essay?
In 1970 her husband, my father, died. My mother struggled to re.z 23 5. Why does the writer give so few details about her father and the
_gain some competence and dignity and order injier life. At the rehabil- family's children?
itation institute, where they gave her physical therapy and trained her
to live usefully in a wheelchair, the therapist told me: "She did fifteen Writing Assignments
pushups today—fifteen! She's almost seventy-five years old! I've never 1. Write an essay giving examples of the obstacles women have to
known a woman so strong!"
overcome in today's society.
From her wheelchair she canned pickles, baked bread, ironed 24
2. Think of an extraordinary person you know, and write an essay us-
clothes, wrote dozens of letters weekly to her friends and her "half
ing examples to show what makes that person extraordinary and
dozen or more kids," and made three patchwork housecoats and one
cjpuilt. She made balls and balls of carpet rags—enough for five rugs. why he or she is important to others.
And kept all her love letters. 3. Write an essay using examples, or one extended example, to show
"I think I've found your mother's records—Martha Ruth Smith; 25 what the term sacrifice means.
married to Ben F. Smith?"
"Yes, that's right." 26
"Well, I see that she was getting a w i d o w ' s pension. . . ." 27
"Yes, that's right." 28
"Well, your mother isn't entitled to our $255 death benefit." 29
"Not entitled! But w h y ? " 30
The voice on the telephone explains patiently: 31
"Well, you see—your mother never worked." 32

Questions About the Reading

1. Why didn't the writer's mother want to get married?
2. How old was the writer's mother when she had her eighth child?
How old was she when she was paralyzed?
3. In her later years, how do you think Mrs. Smith's attitude had
changed from the one she expressed in the letter quoted in para-
graph 12. What had become of her fears of marriage?
4. Why did Mrs. Smith do the pushups, and why did she continue f J
work in her final years, when she really didn't have to?
5. Speculate about why Mrs. Smith kept her love letters. Why do you
think the writer mentions the fact in paragraph 24?

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. What is the thesis in this essay? Where is it expressed?
2. How well do the writer's examples support her thesis?
3. Aside from the extended example of her mother's life, what other
mode of development does the writer use in the essay?
Classification
and Division

SUPPOSE YOU ARE looking over the clothing in your closet,

trying to sort out the confusion. You decide to classify
your clothing into several categories: good clothes for
looking your best on the job; older clothes for weekends
and informal occasions; and very old clothes that have
some stains and holes (but that you can still use when you
wash the car or the dog). You have now classified all your
clothes into three orderly categories, according to their
various uses. You may even want to expand your classifi-
cation by adding a fourth category, clothes that are no
longer useful and should be thrown away. You may have
washed the dog in them once too often.
The purpose of classification is to take many of the
same type of thing—clothing, school papers, presidents,
recipes, music—and organize this large, unsorted group
into categories. You may decide to classify your group of
similar things, such as food processors, into such catego-
ries as
• most useful, moderately useful, not useful
• reliable, less reliable, least reliable, unreliable
• best quality, good quality, fair quality, poor quality
You should organize your categories by some quality or
characteristic that the items share in common. In each
case, you will have to search for the categories that will
help you classify an unsorted group of items.
In the following example, which is from a textbook, the
writer classifies mothers of handicapped children accord-
ing to categories marked by three attitudes.
143
 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division 145
144 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division

Researchers note three frequent attitudes among mothers of Often classification and division are used together. For
Classification
handicapped children. The first attitude is reflected by those example, you might want to divide a group into its sub-
mothers who reject their child or are unable to accept the groups and then evaluate the subgroups. You might take
child as a handicapped person. Complex love-hate and ac- your neighborhood and first divide it into sections (north,
ceptance-rejection relationships are found within this group.
south, west). You might then classify the sections by how
Rejected children not only have problems in adjusting to
Category 1: themselves and their disabilities, but they also have to much noise and traffic are present in each—noisy, rela-
rejection contend with disturbed family relationships and emotional tively quiet, and quiet. The purpose of classification and
insecurity. Unfortunately, such children receive even less en- division is to categorize a complex whole into simple,
couragement than the normal child and have to absorb more useful categories or subdivisions.
criticism of their behavior.
In the following example, the writer establishes two
A second relationship involves mothers who overcom-
pensate in their reactions to their child and the disorder.
general types of wood sill construction and then divides
Category 2: They tend to be unrealistic, rigid, and overprotective. Often, each class into its components.
overcompensation such parents try to compensate by being overzealous and
giving continuous instruction and training in the hope of es- The two general types of wood sill construction used over
L tablishing superior ability. Classification the foundation wall conform either to platform or balloon
The third group consists of mothers who accept their chil- framing. The box sill is commonly used in platform construc-
dren along with their disorders. These mothers have gained tion. It consists of a 2-inch or thicker wooden board, called
Category 3: the ability to provide for the special needs of their handi- a plate, anchored to the top of the foundation wall over a sill
acceptance capped children while continuing to live a normal life and Category 1: sealer. The plate provides support and fastening for the
tending to family and home as well as civic and social obliga- components joists, the large boards that support the floor, and the header
tions. The child's chances are best with parents who have ac- at the ends of the joists into which they are nailed. . . .
|_ cepted both their child and the defects. Balloon-frame construction uses a 2-inch or thicker wood
sill upon which the joists rest. The studs, which form the inte-
Janet W. Lerner,
Learning Disabilities, Fifth Edition Category 2: rior of the walls, also rest on this sill and are nailed both into
components the floor joists and the sill. The subfloor is laid diagonally
Classification and division are very common in textbooks or at right angles to the joists, and a firestop, a wood block
because they offer the writer a convenient way to sepa- that restricts air flow within the wall, is added between the
studs at the floorline. When diagonal subfloor is used, an ex-
rate a complex idea or group of facts into simpler, more tra board for nailing is normally required between joists and
manageable units. Watch for classification and division studs at the wall lines.
in the reading you do for your other courses. You will find Adapted from L. O. Anderson,
this mode of development is useful in writing reports and Wood-Frame House Construction
essays assigned as course work.
Whereas you sort many things in classification, the Whether using classification or division the writer has
purpose of division is to take one thing and divide it iriio to give some thought to making the categories logical and
its component parts. In division, you would deal with one appropriate, with as little overlap between categories as
particular car and separate it into its components (motor, possible. If you are classifying chocolate desserts, you do
transmission, power brakes, tires, seat belts, and so not want to add vanilla custard to your list. You will also
forth). In classification, you would take many cars and want to make your categories reasonably complete. You
separate them into categories (economy cars, moderately would not want to leave out chocolate cake in your classi-
priced cars, and expensive cars). You might add truly ex- fication of chocolate desserts.
pensive custom-built cars if you are knowledgeable about If you are groping for a method of classification, you
them. You would not want to add to this classification a first may want to think of several ways of categorizing the
category called battery-operated cars because your cate- same information. In this situation, you want to be care-
gories are based on cost—not on power. ful to find the most efficient or productive category. In
 146 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Chapter 5 / Classification and Division 147

our first example of organizing the closet, you may have miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints
preferred to classify your clothes according to color (red and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though
it might seem too good for human life, this is what—at last—
clothes, brown clothes, blue clothes). Or you may have I have found.
decided to arrange them by type: all pants together; all With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have
jackets together; all shirts together—and so forth. Category 2: wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to
Experienced writers often use classification or division Knowledge know why the stars shine. . . . A little of this, but not much,
or both to organize a composition. In the paragraph be- I have achieved.
low, the writer uses classification to discuss the different Love and knowledge, as far as they were possible, led up-
Category 3: pity
ward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back
kinds (categories) of book owners. to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Chil-
Topic sentence: dren in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old
classification L There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of
Category 1: standard sets and best-sellers—unread, untouched. (This de- loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human
nonreaders L luded individual owns woodpulp and ink, not books.) The life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but 1 cannot, and
Category 2: second has a great many books—a few of them read through, I too suffer.
occasional most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny This has been my fife. I have found it worth living, and
readers _ as the day they were bought. (This person would probably would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false re-
Category 3: Bertrand Russell,
spect for their physical appearance.) The third has a few The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell: 1872-19U
devoted readers books or many—-every one of them dog-eared and dilapi-
dated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and Although the organization of the essay above is devel-
L scribbled in from front to back. (This man owns books.) oped primarily by classification, notice that the writer has
Mortimer J, Adler, also used description and examples within the para-
"How to Mark a Book"
graphs. In paragraph 2, the writer uses descriptive details
Notice, too, in the paragraph above that the topic sen- to explain why he sought love. In paragraph 3, he uses
tence clearly tells the reader to expect to read about three examples of the knowledge he has looked for. In para-
kinds of book owners and that the words first, second, and graph 4, he uses both descriptive details and examples
third are used to identify them. to explain his pity for the suffering of humankind.
In the essay below, the writer explains the passions that Writers often use topic sentences such as "A safe city
have governed his life. The three passions he explains— street has three main qualities" or "The treatment pre-
longing for love, search for knowledge, and pity for suf- scribed for the disease was aspirin, bed rest, and fluids"
fering mankind—are the categories of the classification. to indicate the categories that will follow in the body of
a paragraph or essay. Following "A safe city street has
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have three main qualities/7 the writer would explain the three
Thesis statement:
classification
governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowl- specific qualities that make a city street safe. Following
L edge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. "The treatment prescribed for the disease was aspirin,
These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and
thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish,
bed rest, and fluids," the writer would probably explain
reaching to the very verge of despair. the reasons for prescribing aspirin, bed rest, and fluids.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy—ecstasy Usually, too, writers will follow the same order in dis-
so great that 1 would often have sacrificed all the rest of life cussing the divisions (or categories) that they used in first
Category 1: love for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it introducing them. For instance, suppose the topic is
relieves loneliness—that terrible loneliness in which one's
shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into "Four methods can be used to cook fish: broiling, baking,
the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, poaching, and frying." Ordinarily the writer would ex-
because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic plain (1) boiling; then (2) baking; (3) poaching; and
148 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division The Three New Yorks / E. B. White 149

(4) frying. Listing the categories and explaining them in The Three New Yorks
order can make the composition easier for the reader to
understand. E. B. White
Classification and division both will require some pre-
planning before you begin to write. Again, it is useful to There is, of course, only one New York. But our largest city presents a different face to
brainstorm by jotting down many ideas and making each person who experiences it. E. B. White, who died in 7985, was a student of the city.
rough lists. Do not skimp on planning and prewriting In this paragraph, he finds that there are three ways of looking at New York, and that
work. Finding a workable, well-designed scheme of clas- these are also, in a way, three ways of using New York—to live, to work, and to dream.
sification or division is the key to this type of writing. The
questions at the ends of the readings that follow will help Words to Know
you recognize how experienced writers use classification continuity existence over a long period
and division, and the writing assignments will let you Consolidated Edison Company the power compa-
plan and compose classifications and divisions of your ny serving New York City
own. deportment behavior, conduct
solidarity wholeness
turbulence agitation, disturbance

X here are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of
the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted
and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Sec-
ond, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured
by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New
York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New
York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest
is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this
third city that accounts for New York's high-strung disposition, its
poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable
achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives
give it solidarity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion. And
whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store
in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi
to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy
arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a
pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with
the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the
fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf
the Consolidated Edison Company.
150 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Silence / Beryl Markham 151

Questions About the Reading Silence

1. Which of the New Yorks does White think is the greatest? Why? Beryl Markham
Support your answer with statements from the paragraph.
2. What do the people who make up the first New York contribute to
Born in 1902 in England, Beryl Markham spent most of her life in East Africa. An adven-
it? Which statements tell you?
turer and skillful aviator, she was the first to fly solo from east to west across the Atlantic.
3. What is the meaning of the essay's final clause ("each generates heat In this paragraph from her book West with the Night, she shows that classification and
division can be used not only to categorize concrete objects and ideas but also to give form
to abstract sensations and .emotions.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Words to Know
1. Does the paragraph have a topic sentence? If so, identify it. If not,
state the topic in a sentence of your own. emanate to come out of, arise
2. What transitions does White use to help the reader identify the rela- raucous noisy, unrestrained
tion of ideas?
3. Identify the metaphor in the essay's third sentence and interpret
what it means. 1 here are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different
4. Is the paragraph developed by classification, division, or both? thing. There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and
this is different from the silence of a sleeping city. There is silence after
a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There
Writing Assignments
is the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt.
1. Write a paragraph in which you classify the different groups of peo- There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from
ple in the town where you grew up. a chair lately used, or from a piano with old dust upon its keys, or
2. Write a paragraph in which you identify and classify at least three from anything that has answered to the need of a man, for pleasure
groups of people in your school or place of work. or for work. This kind of silence can speak. Its voice may be melan-
3. Suppose you are getting ready to do your laundry. Write a para- choly, but it is not always so; for the chair may have been left by a
graph in which you explain how you sort the clothes for washing. laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been raucous
and gay. Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its
quality may linger in the silence that follows. It is a soundless echo.
152 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division The American Language / Robert Hendrickson 153

Questions About the Reading The American Language

1. Pick two or three of the silences the writer describes and, in your
Robert Hendrickson
own words, explain how they differ from one another.
2. What does the writer mean by "silence"?
3. What is it that gives silences their different qualities? If asked what language is spoken in the United States, most of us would say English,
without even thinking about it. Here, Robert Hendrickson suggests that this response con-
siderably oversimplifies matters.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
1. Identify the topic sentence in this paragraph. Word to Know
2. Read this paragraph aloud to yourself, and then describe the effects infusion putting into; introducing
of sound the writer achieves with the words she uses.
3. The basic contradiction, or irony in this paragraph is summarized
in the term "soundless echo." Describe this contradiction in a few
sentences of your own.
o ne British traveler, with a snobbery bordering on self-destructive-
ness, complained more than a century ago that American was not
"pure enough Anglo-Saxon English." The American language, with
Writing Assignments its numerous native terms or Americanisms (from 14,000 to 100,000
1. In a paragraph, classify or divide the qualities or types of some ab- of them, according to various estimates) deriving from local conditions
stract concept, such as life, truth, courage, beauty, hate, fear, or and the infusion of so many foreign tongues, would obviously differ
greed. If you can, choose examples from your own experience to from Received Standard British English on that score alone, not to
include in your classification or division. mention the effect of these tongues on American pronunciation. Per-
2. Write a paragraph classifying the sounds you hear during a routine haps a hundred languages are spoken in the United States in addition
day to English. The top six, according to the 1970 Census, are German (6
million speakers), Italian (4 million), French (2.5 million), Polish (2.5
million), Yiddish (1.5 million), and Scandinavian languages (1.2 mil-
lion). Of Native American languages Navaho is spoken by more peo-
ple (100,000) than any other, with Ojibwa, or Chippewa, next (30,000)
and Sioux, or Dakota, third (20,000). Indian languages alone have con-
tributed a great number of words to our vocabulary, and obviously
these and other Americanisms have become part of the true universal
English language, just as have words from the scores of languages that
influenced British English over a much longer period of time. . . . In
truth, no such thing as Anglo-Saxon English exists anymore, if it ever
did. There are well over a million Latin scientific names for animals
used by English-speaking people, a million for insects, a million for
flowers. That alone totals over 3 million English words with a foreign
base. It seems clear that only a small portion of the 8 to 10 million
English words (including technical terms and slang) were native-born
in the British Isles.
154 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division No More Bad Bugs / Colin McEnroe 155

Questions About the Reading No More Bad Bugs

1. Why did the British traveler's snobbery border on "self-destructive- Colin McEnroe
ness"? Where do you think the traveler was when the words were
written?
Colin McEnroe writes humorous columns for the Hartford Courant. In this passage,
2. One non-English language spoken widely in the United States is
he uses classification and division to mock our tendency to classify and divide things.
conspicuously absent from the writer's list. What is it? Why do you
think it is not included? Words to Know
3. List words you can think of that originated in a language other than
English. (If you have trouble thinking of any, scan the dictionary exude ooze forth
for a while and list the ones you find.) panoply huge collection
serrated saw-toothed

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Is this a paragraph of classification, division, or both? Support your JL OU may remember reading, as a child, in the Golden Wonder Book 1
answer. of the Living World of Exciting and Fun Bugs, about the thrilling panoply
2. Is there a topic sentence in this paragraph? If so, where is it? If not, of roughly 9 jillion species of insect, each as marvelously different from
state the main idea in your own words. one another as snowflakes.
3. What audience do you think the writer had in mind for the para- Don't believe it. 2
graph? What is his purpose? About whom or what is he making Bugs would like nothing better than for us humans to waste enor- 3
a statement? mous bundles of time classifying them. A much more useful way of
4. What is the writer's tone? Does it change during the course of the understanding bugs involves breaking them down into four
paragraph? easy-to-remember categories.
1. Bugus horrificus: bugs with massive, serrated, flesh-tearing jaws 4
Writing Assignments 2. Bugus terribilis: bugs with massive, hooked, flesh-puncturing sting- 5
1. In a paragraph, classify some of the kinds of writing you do—for ers full of disease-causing venom
example, letters, essay exams, compositions for English class, notes 3. Bugus disgustibus: bugs which exude toxic, germ-infested, nauseat- 6
to remind yourself to do things, or writing in journals. Explain the ing rabid purple slime
differences and similarities among the different kinds of writing. 4. Bugus invisibilis: bugs so tiny you can't see them at all but which 7
You might want to indicate certain words that you would use in can bite the bejabbers out of you
some but not in other kinds of writing.
That's it. Anyone tells you there are other kinds of bugs, chances 8
2. Write a paragraph about the state where you live. Divide it into
are he's on their payroll. Look into it.
parts and describe some characteristics you associate with each
part. This doesn't have to be based on firsthand experience. If you
haven't been to all the parts of your state, base your descriptions
on impressions you have formed from other sources, like newspa-
pers, television, or word of mouth.
156 The Plot Against People / Russell Baker 157
Chapter 5 / Classification and Division

Questions About the Reading The Plot Against People

1. Why do bugs want us to waste our time classifying them? Russell Baker
2. What is the writer's overall attitude toward bugs?
3. Is the writer making fun of science? What does he imply about the
Russell Baker's humorous and Hghthearted columns appear regularly in the Sunday mag-
usefulness of science in our everyday encounters with insects? azine section of the New York Times. Here he claims that objects we depend on in every-
day life frustrate us intentionally by not working, breaking down, or getting lost.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Words to Know
1. In the descriptions of his four classes, the writer uses exaggeration
to create humor. Analyze his method. attain achieve, reach
2. In the first sentence the writer implies a comparison between bugs conciliatory tending to make peace
and snowflakes. What is the effect of this suggestion? What term cunning shrewdness, slyness
could be used to describe it? inanimate not living
3. What is the main idea of the passage? Is the main idea directly plausible believable
stated or implied?

Writing Assignments w, ashington, June 17—Inanimate objects are classified scientifically

into three major categories—those that don't work, those that break
1
1. In an essay, choose one of McEnroe's categories and classify it fur- down and those that get lost.
ther, identifying the different classes of biting bugs, stinging bugs, The goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately to 2
or whatever. Make this essay humorous or informative (or both), defeat him, and the three major classifications are based on the method
whichever you prefer.
each object uses to achieve its purpose. As a general rule, any object
2. Write a paragraph classifying people into two or three categories capable of breaking down at the moment when it is most needed will
according to the way they behave when they are attacked by bugs. do so. The automobile is typical of the category.
For example, some people try to sneak their hand up quietly to With the cunning typical of its breed, the automobile never breaks 3
swat, some just shoo the bug away, and so on. down while entering a filling station with a large staff of idle mechan-
ics. It waits until it reaches a downtown intersection in the middle of
the rush hour, or until it is fully loaded with family and luggage on
the Ohio turnpike.
Thus it creates maximum misery, inconvenience, frustration and ir- 4
ritability among its human cargo, thereby reducing its owner's life
span.
Washing machines, garbage disposals, lawn mowers, light bulbs, 5
automatic laundry dryers, water pipes, furnaces, electrical fuses, tele-
vision tubes, hose nozzles, tape recorders, slide projectors—all are in
league with the automobile to take their turn at breaking down when-
ever life threatens to flow smoothly for their human enemies.
Many inanimate objects, of course, find it extremely difficult to 6
break down. Pliers, for example, and gloves and keys are almost totally
incapable of breaking down. Therefore, they have had to evolve a dif-
ferent technique for resisting man.
158 The Plot Against People / Russell Baker 154
Chapter 5 / Classification and Division

They get lost. Science has still not solved the mystery of how they i They have truly defeated man by conditioning him never to expect 16
do it, and no man has ever caught one of them in the act of getting anything of them, and in return they have given man the only peace
lost. The most plausible theory is that they have developed a secret he receives from inanimate society. He does not expect his barometer
method of locomotion which they are able to conceal the instant a hu- to work, his electric locomotive to run, his cigarette lighter to light or
man eye falls upon them. his flashlight to illuminate, and when they don't it does not raise his
It is not uncommon for a pair of pliers to climb all the way from 8 blood pressure.
the cellar to the attic in its single-minded determination to raise its He cannot attain that peace with furnaces and keys, and cars and 17
owner's blood pressure. Keys have been known to burrow three feet women's purses as long as he demands that they work for their keep.
under mattresses. Women's purses, despite their great weight, fre-
quently travel through six or seven rooms to find hiding space under Questions About the Reading
a couch.
1. What contradictory qualities does the writer ascribe to inanimate
Scientists have been struck by the fact that things that break down g
virtually never get lost, while things that get lost hardly ever break objects?
down. 2. According to the writer, when is an object most likely to break
down? Why?
A furnace, for example, will invariably break down at the depth of 10
3. What is the "highest state possible for inanimate objects"?
the first winter cold wave, but it will never get lost. A woman's purse,
which after all does have some inherent capacity for breaking down,
hardly ever does; it almost invariably chooses to get lost. Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Some persons believe this constitutes evidence that inanimate ob- 11 1. What is the function of paragraph 6?
jects are not entirely hostile to man, and that a negotiated peace is pos- 2. What is the irony in paragraph 14?
sible. After all, they point out, a furnace could infuriate a man even 3. Do scientists really study the problems described in the essay? Why
more thoroughly by getting lost than by breaking down, just as a glove does the writer refer to science and scientists?
could upset him far more by breaking down than by getting lost. 4. What is the tone of the essay? How does the clear classification
Not everyone agrees, however, that this indicates a conciliatory atti- 12 structure contribute to the tone?
tude among inanimate objects. Many say it merely proves that fur- 5. Although the writer uses structure and wording that make his ideas
naces, gloves and pliers are incredibly stupid. seem logical and objective, the essay really just expresses his own
The third class of objects—those that don't work—is the most curi- 13 imaginative opinion. How does he let the reader know, early in the
ous of all. These include such objects as barometers, car clocks, ciga- essay, that he is presenting a subjective interpretation of reality?
rette lighters, flashlights and toy-train locomotives. It is inaccurate, of
course, to say that they never work. They work once, usually for the Writing Assignments
first few hours after being brought home, and then quit. Thereaff°r,
they never work again. 3 1. Write an essay in which you classify household tasks according to
In fact, it is widely assumed that they are built for the purpose of 14 the amount of work or trouble they are to you.
not working. Some people have reached advanced ages without ever 2. Write an essay in which you classify household appliances accord-
seeing some of these objects—barometers, for example—in working ing to their work-saving qualities. If you prefer, classify tools or
order. yard equipment according to their work-saving or efficiency
Science is utterly baffled by the entire category. There are many 15 qualities.
theories about it. The most interesting holds that the things that don't 3. Write your own humorous essay in which you use classification as
work have attained the highest state possible for an inanimate object, your mode of development. Try to be absurd. Possible topics might
the state to which things that break down and things that get lost can include dorm food, dogs or cats, winter weather, housekeeping
still only aspire. styles, or types of laziness.
 161) Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Friends, Good Friends—and Such Good Friends / Judith Viorst I 61

Friends, Good Friends—and Such Good Friends Convenience friends are convenient indeed. They'll lend us their
cups and silverware for a party. They'll drive our kids to soccer when
Judith Viorst we're sick. They'll take us to pick up our car when we need a lift to
the garage. They'll even take our cats when we go on vacation. As we
Friendship is not a subject we give a lot of thought to. As the saying goes, we know who will for them.
r, our friends are. But we've probably never considered the difference between, say, "con- But we don't, with convenience friends, ever come too close or tell
a
^F venience friends" and "crossroads friends." Judith Viorst has, and the classification of too much; we maintain our public face and emotional distance.
friends she outlines here will probably ring true to you. "Which means," says Elaine, "that I'll talk about being overweight but
not about being depressed. Which means I'll admit being mad but not
Words to Know blind with rage. Which means I might say that we're pinched this
month but never that I'm worried sick over money."
ardor intensity, emotion, passion
But which doesn't mean that there isn't sufficient value to be found
calibrated checked, adjusted, standardized
in these friendships of mutual aid, in convenience friends.
Ingmar Bergman Swedish screenwriter and
director
2. Special-interest friends. These friendships aren't intimate, and
they needn't involve kids or silverware or cats. Their value lies in some
nonchalant casual, offhand
interest jointly shared. And so we may have an office friend or a yoga
sufficient enough, adequate
friend or a tennis friend or a friend from the Women's Democratic
Club.
"I've got one woman friend," says Joyce, "who likes, as I do, to take 10
omen are friends, I once would have said, when they totally love 1 psychology courses. Which makes it nice for me—and nice for her. It's
and support and trust each other, and bare to each other the secrets fun to go with someone you know and it's fun to discuss what you've
of their souls, and run—no questions asked—to help each other, and learned, driving back from the classes." And for the most part, she
tell harsh truths to each other (no, you can't wear that dress unless says, that's all they discuss.
you lose ten pounds first) when harsh truths must be told. "I'd say that what we're doing is doing together, not being together," 11
Women are friends, I once would have said, when they share the 2 Suzanne says of her Tuesday-doubles friends. "It's mainly a tennis re-
same affection for Ingmar Bergman, plus train rides, cats, warm rain, lationship, but we play together well. And I guess we all need to have
charades, Camus, and hate with equal ardor Newark and Brussels a couple of playmates."
sprouts and Lawrence Welk and camping. I agree. 12
In other words, I once would have said that a friend is a friend all 3 My playmate is a shopping friend, a woman of marvelous taste, a 13
the way, but now I believe that's'a narrow point of view. For the friend- woman who knows exactly where to buy what, and furthermore is a
ships I have and the friendships I see are conducted at many levels woman who always knows beyond a doubt what one ought to be buy-
of intensity, serve many different functions, meet different needs and ing. I don't have the time to keep up with what's new in eyeshadow,
range from those as all-the-way as the friendship of the soul sisters hemlines and shoes and whether the smock look is in or finished al-
mentioned above to that of the most nonchalant and casual playmates. ready. But since (oh shame!) I care a lot about eyeshadow, hemlines
Consider these varieties of friendship: 4 and shoes, and since I don't want to wear smocks if the smock look
? 1. Convenience friends. These are the women with whom, if our 5 is finished, I'm very glad to have a shopping friend.
paths weren't crossing all the time, we'd have no particular reason to 3. Historical friends. We all have a friend who knew us when .. . 14
be friends: a next-door neighbor, a woman in our car pool, the mother maybe way back in Miss Meltzer's second grade, when our family
of one of our children's closest friends or maybe some mommy with lived in that three-room flat in Brooklyn, when our dad was out of
whom we serve juice and cookies each week at the Glenwood Co-op work for seven months, when our brother Allie got in that fight where
Nursery. they had to call the police, when our sister married the endodontist
 162 Friends, Good Friends—and Such Good Friends / Judith Viorst 163
Chapter 5 / Classification and Division

from Yonkers and when, the morning after we lost our virginity, she In our daughter role we tend to do more than our share of self-reve- 22
was the first, the only friend we told. lation; in our mother role we tend to receive what's revealed. It's
K The years have gone by and we've gone separate ways and we've 15 another kind of pleasure—playing wise mother to a questing younger
little in common now, but we're still an intimate part of each other's person. It's another very lovely kind of friendship.
past. And so whenever we go to Detroit we always go to visit this 6. Part-of-a-couple friends. Some of the women we call our friends 23
friend of our girlhood. Who knows how we looked before our teeth we never see alone—we see them as part of a couple at couples' par-
were straightened. Who knows how we talked before our voice got ties. And though we share interests in many things and respect each'
unBrooklyned. Who knows what we ate before we learned about arti- other's views, we aren't moved to deepen the relationship. Whatever
chokes. And who, by her presence, puts us in touch with an earlier the reason, a lack of time or-—and this is more likely—a lack of chemis-
part of ourself, a part of ourself it's important never to lose. try, our friendship remains in the context of a group. But the fact that
"What this friend means to me and what I mean to her," says Grace, 16 our feeling on seeing each other is always, "I'm so glad she's here" and
"is having a sister without sibling rivalry. We know the texture of each the fact that we spend half the evening talking together says that this
other's lives. She remembers my grandmother's cabbage soup. I re- : too, in its own way, counts as a friendship.
member the way her uncle played the piano. There's simply no other (Other part-of-a-couple friends are the friends that came with the 24
friend who remembers those things." marriage, and some of these are friends we could live without. But
4. Crossroads friends. Like historical friends, our crossroads friends .17 sometimes, alas, she married our husband's best friend; and some-
are important for what was—for the friendship we shared at a crucial, r times, alas, she is our husband's best friend. And so we find ourself
now past, time of life. A time, perhaps, when we roomed in college ••'- dealing with her, somewhat against our will, in a spirit of what I'll call
together; or worked as eager young singles in the Big City together; ' reluctant friendship.)
or went together, as my friend Elizabeth and I did through pregnancy, 7. Men who are friends. I wanted to write just of women friends, 25
birth and that scary first year of new motherhood. but the women I've talked to won't let me—they say I must mention
U- Crossroads friends forge powerful links, links strong enough to en- 18 man-woman friendships too. For these friendships can be just as close
'"dure with not much more contact than once-a-year letters at Christ- and as dear as those that we form with women. Listen to Lucy's de-
mas. And out of respect for those crossroads years, for those dramas scription of one such friendship:
and dreams we once shared, we will always be friends. "We've found we have things to talk about that are different from 26
5. Cross-generational friends. Historical friends and crossroads ,19 what he talks about with my husband and different from what I talk
friends seem to maintain a special kind of intimacy—dormant but ''' about with his wife. So sometimes we call on the phone or meet for
always ready to be revived—and though we may rarely meet, lunch. There are similar intellectual interests—we always pass on to^,>C^-
whenever we do connect, it's personal and intense- Another kind of each other the books that we love—but there's also something tender
^ ^ T intimacy exists in the friendships that form across generations in what and caring too." 1
one woman calls her daughter-mother and her mother-daughter In a couple of crises, Lucy says, "he offered himself, for talking and 27
relationships. for helping. And when someone died in his family he wanted me
Evelyn's friend is her mother's age—"but I share so much more 20 there. The sexual, flirty part of our friendship is very small, but some—
than I ever could with my mother"—a woman she talks to of music, just enough to make it fun and different." She thinks—and I agree—
of books and of life. "What I get from her is the benefit of her experi- that the sexual part, though small is always some, is always there when
ence. What she gets—-and enjoys—from me is a youthful perspective. a man and a woman are friends.
It's a pleasure for both of us." It's only in the past few years that I've made friends with men, in 28
I have in my own life a precious friend, a woman of 65 who has 21 the sense of a friendship that's mine, not just part of two couples. And
lived very hard, who is wise, who listens well; who has been where achieving with them the ease and the trust I've found with women
I am and can help me understand it; and who represents not only an friends has value indeed. Under the dryer at home last week, putting
^VJK ultimate ideal mother to me but also the person I'd like to be when on mascara and rouge, I comfortably sat and talked with a fellow
I grow up. named Peter. Peter, I finally decided, could handle the shock of me
164 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Friends, Good Friends—and Such Good Friends / Judith Viorst 165

minus mascara under the dryer. Because we care for each other. Be- Questions About the Reading
cause we're friends. :, .&;,uu
1. What was Viorst's original definition of women friends? How does
8. There are medium friends, and pretty good friends, and very 29
the definition within the essay differ from her original definition?
good friends, indeed, and these.friendships are defined by their level
2. How many kinds of friends does Viorst identify? Support your an-
of intimacy. And what we'll reveal at each of these levels of intimacy
swer with statements from the reading.
is calibrated with care. We might tell a medium friend, for example,
3. Why does the writer refer to special-interest friends as playmates?
that yesterday we had a fight with our husband. And we might tell
4. Explain in your own words what the writer means in her descrip-
a pretty good friend that this fight with our husband made us so mad
tion of the importance of historical friends.
that we slept on the couch. And we might tell a very good friend that
5. How are special-interest friends like part-of-a-couple friends?
the reason we got so mad in that fight that we slept on the couch had
something to do with that girl who works in his office. But it's only
to our very best friends that we're willing to tell all, to tell what's going Questions About the Writer's Strategies
on with that girl in his office. 1. What purpose do the quotations in the essay serve?
The best of friends, I still believe, totally love and support and trust 30 2. How does the writer indicate that her dominant mode of develop-
each other, and bare to each other the secrets of their souls, and run— ment will be classification? How does she introduce the classifica-
no questions asked—to help each other, and tell harsh truths to each tions she will use?
other when they must be told. 3. Are the last three statements of the last paragraph complete sen-
But we needn't agree about everything (only 12-year-old girl friends 31 tences? Why or why not?
agree about everything) to tolerate each other's point of view. To accept \v 4. Why do you think Viorst uses the order she does in discussing differ-
without judgment. To give and to take without ever keeping score. $# ent kinds of friends? What is the order that she uses—time, space,
And to be there, as I am for them and as they are for me, to comfort < or importance?
our sorrows, to celebrate our joys. .- "V" • 5. Does the writer use other modes of development in addition to clas-
sification? If so, give examples from the essay.

Writing Assignments
1. Classify some of the people you know based on some category—
perhaps study methods, sense of humor (or lack of it), taste in
clothes, or levels of physical fitness. Use examples to clarify your
classifications.
2. Classify the kinds of Christmas gifts you received when you were
little or that you receive now. Again, use examples to clarify your
classifications.
3. Classify at least three types of music that you and your friends listen
to. Use description to explain your classifications.
166 Fatigue / Jane Brody 167
Chapter 5 / Classification and Division

Fatigue "I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I've been so col- 5
lapsed that I haven't made a proper meal for the family in weeks.
Jane Brody
We've been living on TV dinners and packaged mixes. I was finally
forced to do a laundry because the kids ran out of underwear."
Despite the number of labor-saving devices and convenient means of transportation avail- The causes of modern-day fatigue are diverse and only rarely re- 6
able today, fatigue is one of the most common complaints heard by doctors. When so few lated to excessive physical exertion. The relatively few people who do
people do hard physical labor, why do so many people feel tired? In the following essay, heavy labor all day long almost never complain about being tired, per-
noted health expert fane Brody tells us why. And she also tells us what we can do
about it. haps because they expect to be. Today, physicians report /t tiredness is
more likely a consequence of underexertion than of wearing yourself
Words to Know down with overactivity^In fact, increased physical activity is often pre-
scribed as a cure for sagging energy.
defense mechanism an involuntary mental mecha-
nism that prevents one from dealing with uncom-
fortable feelings
Kinds of Fatigue
disorder a disease or ailment There are^three main categories of fatigue. These are physical fatigue, 7
induced caused pathological fatigue, and psychological fatigue.
manifestation display
metabolic of the physical and chemical processes
Physical. This is the well-known result of overworking your 8
involved in maintaining life muscles to the point where metabolic waste products—carbon dioxide
pathological diseased or disease-related and lactic acid—accumulate in your blood and sap your strength. Your
precipitate bring on, cause muscles can't continue to work efficiently in a bath of these chemicals.
repressed suppressed, held back (Physical fatigue is usually a pleasant tirednessj, such as that which you
requisite needed might experience after playing a hard set of tennis, chopping wood,
tedium boredom or climbing a mountain. The cure is simple and fast. You rest, giving
your body a chance to get rid of accumulated wastes and restore
muscle fuel.
.Fatigue is one of the most common complaints brought to doctors, 1
friends, and relatives. You'd think in this era of labor-saving devices Pathological. Here fatigue is a warning sign or consequence of 9
and convenient transportation that few people would have reason to some underlying physical disorder, perhaps the common cold or flu
be so tired. But probably^more people complain of fatigue today than or something more serious like diabetes or cancer. Usually other symp-
in the days when hay was baled by hand y and laundry scrubbed on toms besides fatigue are present that suggest the true cause.
a washboard. Witness these typical complaints: Even after an illness has passed, you're likely to feel dragged out 10
• "It doesn't seem to matter how long I sleep—I'm more tired when 2 for a week or more. Take your fatigue as a signal to go slow while your
I wake up than when I went to bed." body has a chance to recover fully even if all you had was a cold. Push-
"Some of my friends come home from work and jog for several 3 ing yourself to resume full activity too soon could precipitate a relapse
miles or swim laps. I don't know how they do it. I'm completely ex- and almost certainly will prolong your period of fatigue.
hausted at the end of a day at the office." Even though illness is not a frequent cause of prolonged fatigue, it's 11
"I thought I was weary because of the holidays, but now that they're 4 very important that it not be overlooked. Therefore, anyone who feels
over, I'm even worse. I can barely get through this week, and on the drained of energy for weeks on end should have a thorough physical
weekend I don't even have the strength to get dressed. I wonder if I'm checkup. But even if nothing shows up as a result of the various medi-
anemic or something." cal tests, that doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with you.
168
Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Fatigue / Jane Brody 169

Unfortunately too often a medical work-up ends with a battery of 12 that of conflicting roles and responsibilities and guilt over leaving the
negative test results, the patient is dismissed, and the true cause of children, often with an overlay of genuine physical exhaustion from
serious fatigue goes undetected. As Dr. John Bulette, a psychiatrist at trying to be all things to all people.
the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, tells it, Emotionally induced fatigue may be compounded by sleep distur- 17
this is what happened to a Pennsylvania woman who had lost nearly bance that results from the underlying psychological conflict. A person
fifty pounds and was "almost dead—so tired she could hardly lift her may develop insomnia or may sleep the requisite number of hours but
head up." The doctors who first examined the woman were sure she fitfully, tossing and turning all night, having disturbing dreams, and
had cancer. But no matter how hard they looked, they could find no awakening, as one woman put it, feeling as if she "had been run over
sign of malignancy or of any other disease that could account for her by a truck."
wasting away. Finally, she was brought to the college hospital, where Understanding the underlying emotional problem is the crucial first 18
doctors noted that she was severely depressed. step toward curing psychological fatigue and by itself often results in
They questioned her about her life and discovered that her troubles 13 considerable lessening of the tiredness. Professional psychological
had begun two years earlier, after her husband died. Once treated for help or career or marriage counseling may be needed.
depression, the woman quickly perked up, gained ten pounds in just
a few weeks, then returned home to continue her recovery with the Questions About the Reading
aid of psychotherapy. 1. How can you cure physical fatigue?
2. What is "tired housewife syndrome"?
Psychological. Emotional problems and conflicts, especially de- 14 3. Why might physical activity help cure some types of fatigue?
pression and anxiety, are by far the most common causes of prolonged 4. How does fatigue act as a safety valve?
fatigue. Fatigue may represent a defense mechanism that prevents you
from having to face the true cause of your depression, such as the fact
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
that you hate your job. It is also your body's safety valve for expressing
repressed emotional conflicts, such as feeling trapped in an ungratify- 1. Is the thesis directly stated or implied? If it is implied, state it in
ing role or an unhappy marriage. When such feelings are not your own words. If it is stated directly, where is it found?
expressed openly, they often come out as physical symptoms, with 2. Does the writer use classification, division, or both?
fatigue as one of the most common manifestations. /'Many people who 3. Does the writer use any other modes of development? Support
are extremely fatigued""dorrt even know they're depressed/ Dr. Bu- your answer with examples.
lette says. "They're so busy distracting themselves or just worrying 4. What is the tone of this essay?
about being tired that they don't recognize their depression." 5. What is the purpose of paragraphs 12 and 13?

One of these situations is so common it's been given a name—tired 15

Writing Assignments
housewife syndrome. The victims are commonly young mother., v^ho
day in and day out face the predictable tedium of caring for a home 1. Write an essay in which you identify and describe at least three acti-
and small children, fixing meals, dealing with repairmen, and general- vities that would cause physical fatigue.
ly having no one interesting to talk to and nothing enjoyable to look 2. Everyone feels bored now and again. Write an essay in which you
forward to at the end of their boring and unrewarding day. The tired classify the types of situations that make you bored. Describe each
housewife may be inwardly resentful, envious of her husband's job, type to show why it is boring.
and guilty about her feelings. But rather than face them head-on, she 3. Using division as your mode of development, write an essay de-
becomes extremely fatigued. scribing one of your favorite things—perhaps a good book, a useful
Today, with nearly half the mothers of young children working out- 16 tool, an enjoyable activity, or a tasty meal. Try to include details that
side the home, the tired housewife syndrome has taken on a new twist, show why your subject appeals to you.
170 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding / Alice Kahn 171

The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding It became gospel that a child who got off to a good start by consum- 4
ing nothing but healthy breast milk would be hooked for life on simple
Alice Kahn natural foods. But has a truly scientific study ever shown that any
child (or adult, for that matter) who spends long hours at the breast
As a contemporary parent, Alice Kahn is confronted by the many theories being publicized is any more intelligent for the experience?
today about health and child care. This essay from her book My Life as a Gal introduces Nevertheless, a generation of well-educated, busy women devoted 5
us to her notions about how parents can influence what their children eat or, to look at themselves to breast-feeding. We nursed them in offices, we nursed
it another way, how children can influence their parents to give them what they want
them on buses, we nursed them at tax accountants except when the
to eat.
trauma made our milk dry up. Once I actually saw a bride coming
Words to Know
down the aisle nursing her baby. We pumped our milk and saved it
lest we deprive our child while on the job. We bared our breasts as
conscientious governed by conscience well-meaning fathers-in-law self-consciously shouted, "Chow bag!"
empirical gained through experiment or And what did we get for our effort? Offspring who, as soon as they 6
observation could talk, demanded "Jell-O Pudding Pops—now."
fomented proposed, supported Well, we tried. Maybe we tried too hard. Maybe it's hopeless, in this 7
indistinguishable without distinctive qualities crazy Ronald McDonald world, to think you can do something as sim-
La Leche Spanish for milk ple as feed children well. Christ, I hardly know what to feed myself
morphology structure between low-fat, high-fiber, calcium-rich, iron-rich, nonadulterated
nonadulterated uncontaminated—free of preserva- foods. Vitamin pills, that's what most adults take to feel wholesome
tives, for example these days—pills.
There are several theories on how to handle the unmistakable lust 8
for consuming junk that seems to be epidemic in our youth. There is
LJ s parents, we have a hell of a time feeding our kids these days. How the hard-line approach: Eat it and weep. Most of us parents are simply
simple it was in the olden days when people knew nothing of the sci- too wimpy for that. There is the bribery approach: Eat the chicken and
ence of nutrition and the little darlings had to eat their porridge, swal- vegetable and then you can have the cookies and ice cream and bubble
low their spinach, and lap up their stew with its juices while keeping gum. And finally there is the Little Bo-peep approach: Leave them
their yaps shut. alone and they will come home wagging their tails behind them.
Today, it's not untypical to sit down to dinner and hear, "Oh, no, The Bo-peep Plan or the non-nutrisystems approach allows the 9
not steak again" or "I hate quiche Lorraine" or "Yuck—homemade tor- child to self-select foods. There have been scientific studies showing
tellini with pesto." In my family, two girls, tyrannicus girlus, have di- that if allowed to pick at random, a baby will eventually select all it
vided up the known food world so that dining is virtually impossible. needs to satisfy its nutritional needs. A similar approach can be taken
One hates Chinese, the other hates Mexican. One won't eat chicken, with older children, but it is best done if the parent provides some
the other won't eat meat. They have achieved unity on fish and French structure. Here, some education is necessary so that the child can
cuisine—neither will eat either. choose from the Seven Basic Junk Food Groups. A well-balanced meal
Concern about what the children eat naturally follows the returned would include something from each of the following:
importance of breast-feeding as fomented by those Friends of the
Breast, the La Leche League. The League, which I always suspected
THE SEVEN BASIC JUNK FOOD GROUPS
grew out of the French obsession with the mammary gland (so evident
in their art and their postcards), wrote a pamphlet, "The Womanly Art 1. The Chip Group. Like any conscientious parent, I try to steer my 10
of Breast Feeding," which urged women not only to nurse their babies little heifers toward the healthier chips—the pure, natural potato chip
but to do it in public. They were aided in this effort by a male support as opposed to cheese puffs or sour cream and onion. I skip barbecued
group, the Le Lechers League. anything. The children will enjoy exercising choice concerning the
172 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division The Womanly Art of Beast Feeding / Alice Kahn 173

morphology of the chip—ruffled versus flat—-as well as selecting a variety of treats from plain carob chips to honey-soaked granola ce-
among corn, potato, and the newer nacho chips that provide an oppor- real (said to have nine times more sweetener than a Hershey bar).
tunity to become acquainted with a different culture. Some traditional foods here include the yogurt-covered nuts, and
2. The Nitrate/Nitrite Group. There is a growing body of empirical 11 some stores even have mint-flavored yogurt-covered nuts. Those little
evidence that children are born with an innate need for nitrates and bright green balls are my favorite natural food. To find out which ones
nitrites. Whether it is due to a missing gene or a result of mutation your child likes, just have him reach in the bins, squeeze a few pieces,
is unclear. But no child's lunch is complete without the protein portion and eat a bunch of each one right out of his hands.
consisting of salami, bologna, bacon, hot dog, and so on. Further evi- 7. The Drink Group. Choosing a drink used to be a battle. Children 16
dence of the biological need for nitrates is seen in the child's refusal always wanted Coke or Pepsi. But today's sophisticated kid is reach-
to eat nitrate-free versions of these products amid claims that these ing out for natural-flavored soft drinks or oddities like cola-flavored
adulterated foods taste "gross." Even children's normal intolerance of Calistoga water. Exciting developments in fruit drinks go beyond the
ambiguity in food is held in check as they select mysterious items like traditional teeth-rotting apple juice to a whole range of drinks that
"luncheon meat." boast of being fruit-flavored. One orange drink label brags "20% Real
3. The Grainless Bread Group. Thanks to modern marketing, a 12 Fruit Flavoring!"
wide variety of grainless breads are now available, from the traditional The wise parent will simply stand back and let the child choose 17
Wonder to the historic San Francisco sourdough. And because of im- among these groups. In fact, this is a process that may already be oc-
proved food technology one can even purchase a variety of whole curring in your house, but it's nice to read about it from an expert like
wheat bread that is indistinguishable in flavor and texture from white. myself so you can tell a friend that you saw an article saying it was
Don't ask me how they do it. No doubt some truth-in-labeling law re- okay to do this.
quires that for every ton of processed flour one actual whole grain
must be dropped in the mix. At any rate, either bread will do very
nicely to hold the catsup, mustard, or mayo that accompanies the ni-
trite filler.
4. The Fruitoid Group. Children quickly learn that there's a whole 13
world of fruit-related products that are much sweeter and more inter-
estingly packaged than actual fruit. These range from canned fruits
that save wear and tear on teeth and jaws to fruit rolls in which the
uninteresting pulp portion of the fruit is removed, leaving only the
important sugar portion. This is arranged in a leathery substance that
sticks to the teeth as well as the ribs. Since the addition of artificial
fluorides have rendered much of modern dentistry unnecessary, these
products are useful for restoring the natural balance between the tootl.
enamel and Mr. Cavity.
5. The Cake and Cookie Group. Although a balanced meal, one that 14
includes all the basic junk food groups, makes it less difficult to get
through the rest of the crap so one can come to the finale, the addition
of a treat is always welcome. Most children prefer a sandwich-style
cookie so the filling can be scraped off and the remaining cookie can
still be traded with a friend for something else.
6. The Health Food Group. Most supermarkets now include a 15
health food section where delicious snacks are displayed in large old-
fashioned wooden bins to which you help yourself. Here one can find
 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Three Disciplines for Children / John Holt 175

Questions About the Reading

Three Disciplines for Children
1. Why does the writer call her children tymnnicus girlus?
2. In paragraph 12, the writer says, "Don't ask me how they do it." John Holt
Who are "they"?
3. How does the writer feel about so-called health food? Classification or division can be useful in helping us understand how life works. In reading
4. How does the writer feel about contemporary child-rearing advice? this essay, try to think back to your own childhood. Can you apply the writer's categories
to what you experienced as you grew up?
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Word to Know
1. What is the main idea in this essay? Is there a thesis statement? If
impotent powerless; weak
so, where is it? If not, how does the writer express the main idea?
2. Describe the contrast the writer uses to introduce her essay in para-
graphs 1 and 2.
3. In addition to classification and division, what are some other child, in growing up, may meet and learn from three different
modes of development that the writer uses in the essay? kinds of disciplines. The first and the most important is what we might
4. What is the irony in the writer's classification of "basic junk food call the Discipline of Nature or of Reality. When he is trying to do
groups"? something real, if he does the wrong thing or doesn't do the right one,
he doesn't get the result he wants. If he doesn't!pile .tone block right
Writing Assignments on top of another, or tries to build on a slanting surface, his tower falls
down. If he hits the wrong key, he hears the wrong note. If he doesn't
1. In an essay, classify the ways people behave at the table when they hit the nail squarely on the head, it bends, and he has to pull it out
eat. For example, your categories might be "wolfers," "pickers/' and start with another. If he doesn't measure properly what he is try-
and "chewers." To illustrate each category, use an example, either ing to build, it won't open, close, fit, stand up, fly, float, whistle, or
of someone you know or of a fictional person eating the way you do whatever he wants it to do. If he closes his eyes when he swings,
are describing. he doesn't hit the ball. A child meets this kind of discipline every time
2. Write an essay dividing the human body into three or more parts. he tries to do something, which is why it is so important in school to
Explain how each part works and some of the important things it give children more chances to do things., instead of just reading or lis-
does. (Or, if you like, take one part of the body and divide that into tening to someone talk {or pretending to). This discipline is a great
its components.) teacher. The learner never has to wait long for his answer; it usually
comes quickly, often instantly. Also it is clear, and very often points
toward the needed correction; from what happened he cannot only
see what he did was wrong, but also why, and what he needs to do
instead. Finally, and most important, the giver of the answer, call it
Nature, is impersonal, impartial, and indifferent. She does not give
opinions, or make judgments; she cannot be wheedled, bullied, or
fooled; she does not get angry or disappointed; she does not praise
or blame; she does not remember past failures or hold grudges; with
her one always gets a fresh start, this time is the one that counts.
The next discipline we might call the Discipline of Culture, of Sod- 2
ety, of What People Really Do. Man is a social, a cultural animal.
Children sense around them this culture, this network of agreements,
customs, habits, and rules binding the adults together. They want to
176 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Three Disciplines for Children / John Holt 177

understand it and be a part of it. They watch very carefully what peo- is locked into babyhood. There is no way for him to grow up, to learn
ple around them are doing and want to do the same. They want to to take responsibility for his life and acts. Most important of all, we
do right, unless they become convinced they can't do right. Thus chil- should not assume that having to yield to the threat of our superior
dren rarely misbehave seriously in church, but sit as quietly as they force is good for the child's character. It is never good for anyone's
can. The example of all those grownups is contagious. Some mysteri- character. To bow to superior force makes us feel impotent and cow-
ous ritual is going on, and children, who like rituals, want to be part ardly for not having had the strength or courage to resist. Worse, it
of it. In the same way, the little children that I see at concerts or operas, makes us resentful and vengeful. We can hardly wait to make someone
though they may fidget a little, or perhaps take a nap now and then, pay for our humiliation, yield to us as we were once made to yield.
rarely make any disturbance. With all those grownups sitting there, No, if we cannot always avoid using the Discipline of Superior Force,
neither moving nor talking, it is the most natural thing in the world we should at least use it as seldom as we can.
to imitate them. Children who live among adults who are habitually
courteous to each other, and to them, will soon learn to be courteous. Questions About the Reading
Children who live surrounded by people who speak a certain way will
speak that way, however much we may try to tell them that speaking 1. What makes the Discipline of Nature a "great teacher"?
that way is bad or wrong. 2. In paragraph 2, the writer says children "want to do right, unless
they become convinced they can't do right." What are the implica-
The third discipline is the one most people mean when they speak 3 tions of this statement? What happens to the children who are con-
of discipline—the Discipline of Superior Force, of sergeant to private, vinced they can't do right?
of "you do what I tell you or I'll make you wish you had." There is
3. What is wrong with the Discipline of Superior Force? Why should
bound to be some of this in a child's life. Living as we do surrounded
we use it as seldom as possible? Why must we use it sometimes?
by things that can hurt children, or that children can hurt, we cannot
4. As a young adult, you probably remember experiencing many
avoid it. We can't afford to let a small child find out from experience
kinds of discipline while you were growing up. Can you think of
the danger of playing in a busy street, or of fooling with the pots on
any classes besides the ones the writer identifies? Try to describe
the top of a stove, or of eating up the pills in the medicine cabinet.
some different types of discipline.
So, along with other precautions, we say to him, "Don't play in the
street, or touch things en the stove, or go into the medicine cabinet,
or I'll punish you." Between him and the danger too great for him to Questions About the Writer's Strategies
imagine we put a lesser danger, but one he can imagine and maybe 1. What primary mode of development does the writer use for each
therefore want to avoid. He can have no idea of what it would be like paragraph of the essay?
to be hit by a car, but he can imagine being shouted at, or spanked, 2. This essay is clearly structured, with one paragraph for each class
or sent to his room. He avoids these substitutes for the greater danger of discipline. In what order are the paragraphs presented? Explain
until he can understand it and avoid it for its own sake. But we ought your answer.
to use this discipline only when it is necessary to protect the life!- 3. What is the thesis statement in the essay? What is the topic sentence
health, safety, or well-being of people or other living creatures, or to of each paragraph? How is the main idea expressed?
prevent destruction of things that people care about. We ought not to 4. Reread the writer's description of Nature at the end of paragraph
assume too long, as we usually do, that a child cannot understand the 1. In a few words, describe the method he uses, and explain why
real nature of the danger from which we want to protect him. The it is or is not effective.
sooner he avoids the danger, not to escape our punishment, but as a 5. Why is paragraph 3 the longest one in the essay?
matter of good sense, the better. He can learn that faster than we think.
In Mexico, for example, where people drive their cars with a good deal
of spirit, I saw many children no older than five or four walking unat- Writing Assignments
tended on the streets. They understood about cars, they knew what 1. Discipline means many things. It isn't just a way to teach or to con-
to do. A child whose life is full of the threat and fear of punishment trol misbehavior. Write an essay classifying different meanings of
178 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Why Do People Own Handguns? / Pete Shields 179

discipline. Use examples, or one extended example, to illustrate Why Do People Own Handguns?
each class. Your categories might include things like academic disci-
pline (study habits); the discipline needed for athletics, drama, or Pete Shields
dance; moral discipline; the discipline needed to do your part in
your family, and so on. Pete Shields does a good job here of classifying the reasons people give for owning hand-
2. Write an essay in which you identify different classes of parental guns. Shields also does a good job of refuting the arguments behind these reasons. This
style, such as stern, friendly, playful, immature, supportive, or should come as no surprise. He has been an outspoken advocate of gun control since his
aloof. Create a single fictional example to illustrate each category, own son was murdered by a man with a handgun in 1974, and he is now the chairman
of Handgun Control, Inc.
but base it on parents you know, if you like.
Words to Know

aggravated assault violent attack on a person

felony a serious crime, such as murder, burglary,
or rape
lethal deadly
might strength, power
proponent someone who supports something

A .nswers to the question "Why do people own or acquire hand- 1

guns?" are entirely different from answers to the question "Why do
people own rifles and shotguns?"
It is not at all difficult to explain why people own firearms other 2
than handguns. From southern Florida to northern Michigan, and
from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, men and women have
been using rifles and shotguns for hunting and for sport for as long
as this country has been a country—and before. Their use of fire-
arms—rifles and shotguns—is not part of the problem. . . .
It is important to understand that our organization, Handgun Con- 3
trol, Inc., does not propose further controls on rifles and shotguns.
Rifles and shotguns are not the problem; they are not concealable.
Why do people own and acquire handguns? That's the hard ques- 4
tion. There are many answers to it. Some are perfectly logical, others
questionable, and a few downright hard to figure.

Criminal Activity
After the handgun, the criminal's next weapon of choice is the knife, 5
but it is such a far second that guns used in crime outnumber knives
used in crime by at least three to one. The handgun, especially one with
a relatively short barrel, is the preferred weapon of crime because itis
both so lethal and so easily concealed. Stuck inside the belt, only the
180 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division Why Do People Own Handguns? / Pete Shields 181

grip or handle is visible, and a jacket or suitcoat or sweater can easily In street crime, the use of a handgun for self-defense is extremely 13
cover that small bulge. Also, the handgun slips easily into a coat, jacket risky, with the defender often losing the weapon and having it used
pocket or purse. The inside of an automobile offers any number of against him. The handgun owner seldom even gets the chance to use
handy hiding spots. . . . his or her weapon because the element of surprise is always with the
In the American Handgun War, the small, easily concealable hand- 6 attacker. In fact, trying to use a handgun to ward off someone bent
gun in the wrong hands is the enemy. For despite what the pro-pistol on aggravated assault makes the risk of death quite a bit higher.
lobby says, guns do kill people. One person every fifty minutes. For the ordinary citizen, using a handgun is seldom helpful for 14
self-defense on the street. And, in the home, about the only way to get
real protection from a personal handgun would be to have it always
Self-Defense at the ready, perhaps in hand every time there is a knock on the door,
The frightening rise in crimes of violence throughout the country has 7 loaded and ready to fire. That is not exactly the American way. Or my
caused more and more well-intentioned people to arm themselves. idea of a civilized society.
They buy guns to protect their homes and to carry with them for per- One question should be asked of anyone who says he or she would 15
sonal protection when traveling. Many, many people now carry hand- be willing to use a handgun to keep from being robbed: Are you sure
guns in their cars. Perhaps we should not have been so startled by an you want to take a life-and-death risk just to keep from losing some
incident at the height of the gasoline crisis a few years ago, when one replaceable property?
motorist shot and killed another who had cut in front of him in a fill- The Southland Corporation, which operates the more than 5,000 16
ing-station line. "7-11" stores, has ordered its managers and employees not to try and
Unfortunately, instead of protection, what the new handgun owner 8 defend themselves against a handgun robbery attempt. The
too often gets is personal tragedy. As I found out in my original read- Employee's Workbook, in its Violence Prevention Procedures section,
ing, and as research in the area of self-defense has borne out ever since, says pointedly, "DON'T USE WEAPONS. Southland policy forbids guns or
a handgun does not protect the American home very well. other weapons in stores. Weapons breed violence; it's dangerous to even
The home handgun is far more likely to kill or injure family mem- 9 have them in the store. The robber's weapon is already one too
bers and friends than anyone who breaks in, and is especially harmful many." . . .
to young adults and to children.
Because 90 percent of burglaries take place when no one is home, 10 Hunting and Target-Shooting
the handgun bought for self-defense is very often stolen. According In my opinion, there is only one legitimate handgun sport and that 17
to law-enforcement authorities, each year an estimated 100,000 hand- is target-shooting. It is practiced at target ranges which are properly
guns are stolen from law-abiding citizens. These guns then enter the supervised and usually quite safe. Only certain handguns are true
criminal underworld and are used in more crimes. Thus, inadvertent- "sporting weapons," recognized as such by the sport's adherents.
ly, the solid citizen is helping to arm the criminal class. On the other hand, "plinking"—shooting at tin cans and other small 18
As a New York City police sergeant recently pointed out to a home^ 11 targets—in one's backyard is not and should not be considered a seri-
owner who asked if he should buy a handgun to protect his home, ous sport. When uncontrolled and unsupervised, it can be a very dan-
too often it is the homeowner himself who ends up getting shot and gerous practice.
killed, because he most often warns the robber by saying something Some opponents of handgun control have claimed that we are out 19
like "Stop!" or "What do you think you're doing?" Alerted, the thief to stop all hunting and that controlling the handgun would severely
turns and fires. affect hunting. That is simply untrue. Handgun control would in no
Another reason the handgun is not essential for home protection 12 way abridge the freedom of the true hunter. Few if any knowledgeable
is that citizens in their homes don't need the one feature which most hunters consider the handgun an effective hunting weapon.
appeals to and attracts the criminal to the handgun—its concealability. There are a few hunters who do hunt with handguns, but most 20
The shotgun is far more intimidating to the intruder. states place restrictions on the type of guns that can be used in hunt-
182 Why Do People Own Handguns? / Pete Shields 183
Chapter 5 / Classification and Division

ing, the reason being that killing of game should be done in as humane The five cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the 25
a manner as possible. Small-caliber handguns are more likely to Second Amendment are: U.S. v. Cruickshank (1875); Presser v. Illinois
wound the animal rather than kill it outright. Realistically, only long (1886); Miller v. Texas (1894); U.S. v. Miller (1939); and U.S. v. Tot
guns, rifles and shotguns are effective firearms for hunting. (1942)
People must understand that handguns and hunters are distinctly 21
separate issues. Because the vast majority of hunters use a rifle or a The "Macho" Image Argument
shotgun, there is no reason why their pursuit of game (and sport)
should be affected by handgun control. Mixing anti-hunting sentiment To many handgun buyers, owning a gun is a carry-over from the days 26
with the handgun issue confuses the killing of animals with the killing of the Wild West, the frontier days, when the six-shooter made might,
of people. and might made the man. And in that era, one of the mightiest or most
macho of men was Wyatt Earp—at least that is what many of today's
Two further reasons have been advanced to show why people 22 handgun owners believe. Yet few of these present-day tough guys
should be allowed to own or acquire handguns without restriction. know that Earp was in fact an early proponent of handgun control.
The first of the two, the Second Amendment argument which the NRA He went so far as to ban them inside the city limits. There was a law
[National Rifle Association] has worked so hard and spent so much in Dodge City that no one but law-enforcement officers was allowed
time and money to implant in our minds, is that there is a constitution- to carry a six-shooter in public. Earp arrested anyone who broke this
al right to own any type of firearm. Actually, I consider their argument
an excuse rather than a reason. The other "reason," the "macho" image law.
argument, is more properly an explanation of an attitude or point of Psychiatrists tell us that the great frontier still lives in the minds of 27
view which sheds some light on why certain types of people own, ac- men who buy handguns believing the weapon will give them a strong-
quire, and use handguns. er sense of masculinity. The deadly nature of a handgun can make the
smallest man bigger than the biggest unarmed man.
As we have seen time and time again, a loaded handgun in the pos- 28
The Second Amendment Argument session of someone driven by emotion is a time bomb ready to ex-
To understand the supposed constitutional argument it is essential 23 plode. Examples are provided by almost any newspaper on almost any
that the reader be familiar with the full and complete wording of the day.
Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It reads: Clarksville, Tennessee: "RUSSIAN ROULETTE GAME PROVES FATAL"
"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free A u s t i n , Texas: "FRIENDS TRIED TO STOP HIM, HE TRIED RUSSIAN ROU-
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be in- LETTE—AND HE LOST"
fringed." It would be interesting to take a poll of Americans and see C h i c a g o , Illinois: "CHICAGO BOX % DIES IN CLUB'S 'RUSSIAN ROU-
how many have forgotten, or never knew, the Amendment's initial LETTE' INITIATION"
twelve words. Certainly the pro-pistol lobby has not seen fit to clarify' I n d i a n a p o l i s , I n d i a n a : "DRIVER SHOT TO DEATH ON FREEWAY FOL-
that point. The "militia" of the Amendment is what we all know today LOWING RIGHT-OF-WAY DISPUTE" . . .
as the National Guard.
On five separate occasions, the Supreme Court of the United States 24 When asked by a psychologist why they had used or obtained 29
has ruled that the Second Amendment was intended to protect mem- handguns, inmates of a Florida prison told him that the main reason
bers of a state militia from being disarmed by the federal government. was for "protection," and that if the felony they were about to commit
In addition to those five Supreme Court decisions, the American Bar carried a prison term of ten to twenty years, they didn't worry about
Association stated, in 1975, at its annual convention, that "every feder- the extra three years they might get because they had used a handgun.
al court decision involving the amendment has given the amendment Another common answer was that they had obtained a handgun be-
a collective, militia interpretation and/or held that firearms-control cause they would rather take the chance of getting caught by the police
laws enacted under a state's police power are constitutional." for carrying an illegal weapon than have their friends and associates
 Why Do People Own Handguns? / Pete Shields 185
184 Chapter 5 / Classification and Division

find them without one. Apparently, it is not macho to be Writing Assignments

unarmed. . . . 1. Think of a group of people who have some habit or activity in com-
I would like to underline a point about the extent of violence in 30 mon—for instance, smokers, joggers, professional basketball play-
America today. It concerns the effect that all of these crimes have on ers. Write an essay describing categories or types of people who
us—whether we realize it or not. make up the larger group.
It is said, and certainly my own experience bears it out, that until 31 2. Write an essay on how much noise should be tolerated in certain
the violence touches you, no matter how great your concern may be, types of public places, such as dormitories, libraries, and public
it still remains concern and not action. transportation.
We all deplore the statistics, and we shudder as we read the latest 32 3. Write a classification essay in which you identify and explain at
horror story in the newspaper or see the interview with the grieving least three actions for which a person should be cited for exception-
survivors, but until we are touched personally we seldom take action. al bravery.
But the point is we already are personally touched by the amount 33
of violence in this country.
If you love to walk in the evening but aren't doing so because your 34
neighborhood isn't "as safe as it once was," or you avoid seeing certain
old friends because of where they live, or if you find yourself getting
up in the middle of the night to double-check doors and windows,
then you are already a casualty, already a victim of the American
Handgun War.

Questions About the Reading

1. Why, according to the writer, is a handgun in the home often a
tragedy?
2. Why is the Second Amendment argument "an excuse rather than
a reason"?
3. The writer never explicitly defines the term "macho image." Based
on the essay, define the term in your own words.
4. In what ways do the criminal activity and self-defense categories
overlap?

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Does the writer use classification, division, or both? Support your
answer with statements from the essay.
2. Does the writer use any other modes of development? If so, what
are they? Where in the essay do they occur?
3. In what person is the essay written? Cite examples from the essay
to support your answer.
4. In what ways is the essay subjective? In what ways is it objective?
5. Which paragraphs develop the thesis of the essay? Which make up
the conclusion?
Comparison
and Contrast

To COMPARE IS to show how items are alike. To contrast

is to show how items are different. Thus comparison and
contrast involve pointing out the similarities or differ-
ences between two (or more) items. Birdwatchers, for
instance, may compare bird A with bird B by certain
distinguishing marks, colors, and features.
In the preceding chapter, you learned about the mode
of development called classification and division, and
the comparison and contrast mode is related. In deciding
what to compare or contrast, you will want to make sure
that both items share points in common. Thus, the items
compared are usually the same kind or class of things,
and in comparing or contrasting them, you essentially es-
tablish two or more categories, showing the differences
or similarities between them. For instance, you can com-
pare two passenger cars—a Ford and a Chevrolet—with
more precision than you can compare a Ford and a heli-
copter. Fords are compared with Chevrolets because they
share many features in common—features that you can
pinpoint. Similarly, you can usually compare two paint-
ings more precisely than you can compare a novel and
a painting. (If you wish to make a humorous comparison,
however, you might choose two items that are not in the
same category, creating the opportunity for humorous
irony based on surprising and contradictory connec-
tions.)
Once you have picked out two closely related items,
you will want to explain as clearly as possible the ways
in which the items are alike or different. In any given
187
188 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast 189

piece of writing, you may want to use comparison only— is superior to others in the same class. The writer of the
or contrast only. Or you may decide to use some of both second paragraph above, for instance, could have used
in the same essay. These three possibilities are illustrated her information to support an opinion, as in the following
in the following paragraphs. Notice, in each case, how the revised paragraph.
writer compares or contrasts specific points.
The twins are as different as two people can be. Sally, who
has black hair, brown eyes, and an outgoing, flighty person-
Comparison ality, is always hoping someone will have a party. She fritters
away her time and money shopping for the latest clothes, and
A Buick and a Cadillac, both built by General Motors, she dreams of being an actress or a popular singer. But until
are alike in many ways. A Buick, which measures over 200 she settles down and applies her energy to something useful,
Opinion
inches in length and weighs over 3,000 pounds, is large and she will probably not be successful at anything. Susan, more
holds the road well. A Cadillac is similar in length and serious and studious, has blonde hair, blue eyes, and a some-
weight. Like a Buick, a Cadillac gets relatively low gas mile- what shy manner. Since she works hard and makes good use
age compared with smaller economy cars made by the same of her time, she has done well in all her classes in graphic
manufacturer. The Buick provides an unusually comfortable
ride, especially on cross-country trips on the highway, as F arts and math. She plans to become an architect or an engi-
Opinion
does a Cadillac. And both cars enjoy a certain status as a L neer and will no doubt be a good one.
luxury automobile.
As you plan a comparison-and-contrast composition,
it is again very useful to brainstorm for items of compari-
Contrast son. That is, as described in Chapter 3, think about the
subjects of your composition and jot down briefly what-
The twins are as different as two people can be. Sally, who
is always hoping someone will have a party, has black hair, ever comes to mind about them. You can then pick and
brown eyes, and an outgoing personality. She wants to be an choose from your list in deciding on the contents of your
actress or a popular singer. Susan, more serious and studi- comparison.
ous, has blonde hair, blue eyes, and a somewhat shy manner.
Since she has done well in all her classes in graphic arts and
math, she plans to become an architect or an engineer.
Organization
Mixed Comparison and Contrast You should organize your comparison (or contrast) by
whichever method suits your material best. One simple
Most Americans would say it is not really possible to estab- method is to explain one characteristic of item A, perhaps
lish an ideal society. But time after time, a small dedicated its cost, and then compare it immediately with the cost
group of people will drop out of the mainstream of American
society to try, once more, to live according to the group's con-
of item B—and then go on to compare the two items point
cept of an ideal society. Most of these groups have believed by point. For example, in contrasting two chocolate cakes,
in holding their property in common. Most have used the you may first want to say cake A is more expensive to
word family to refer to all members of the group. Many of prepare than cake B. Second, you may say that cake A,
these groups, however, have differed widely in their atti- requiring more steps and ingredients, takes more time
tudes toward sex and marriage.
than cake B. Third, cake A is richer—almost too rich—
and sweeter than cake B. You may conclude by saying
Notice that all three of these paragraphs supply infor-
you recommend cake B. In this manner, the writer moves
mation but do not try to claim that one of the compared
items is "better" or "worse" than the other. Notice, too, back and forth mentioning the specific differences be-
the objective tone of these paragraphs. However, writers tween cake A and cake B in an orderly manner.
also use comparison and contrast to support their opin- When the writer compares (or contrasts) two objects
ions about subjects or to show how a certain thing or idea item by item, it is called the alternating or point-by-point
190 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast
Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast 191

method. The following diagram shows how this method Block method
works in the earlier paragraph comparing Buicks and Ca-
dillacs (page 188). Topic sentence: "The twins are as different as two people can be."
Block 1:
Sally:
Alternating (or point-by-point) method
point 1: appearance
Topic sentence: "A Buick and a Cadillac are alike in many ways.' point 2: personality
point 3: career
Point 1: Buick :
length and Block 2:
width
Cadillac: Susan:
point 1: appearance
point 2; personality
point 3: career
Point 2: . Buick
mileage
Cadillac
A third, "mixed" method is useful when the writer
wants to both compare and contrast in the same para-
graph. All the similarities of the two items may be ex-
Point 3: Buick plained first and then all the differences. (Of course, if the
comfort writer chooses, the differences may be explained first and
Cadillac then the similarities.) The following diagram shows this
third method of organization, which was used in the
paragraph on ideal societies (page 188).
Buick
Point 4:
status
Cadillac
Mixed comparison-and-contrast method
Topic sentence: ".. . people drop out of the mainstream of Ameri-
can society . . . to live according to the group's concept of an ideal
If the writer prefers a second type of organization, the society."
block method, he or she explains all the characteristics of Block 1:
the first item together in a block and then explains all the comparisons
characteristics of the second item in a corresponding
block. The paragraph contrasting the twins Sally and Su-
san (page 188) is organized in this block method.

Block 2:
contrast
 192 193
Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast

You will want to use these same three methods in writ- Comparison and contrast, like classification and divi-
ing longer essays. In the following essay, the writer uses sion, is a useful mode of development for writing on the
the alternating method of organization to contrast types academic subjects you will study in college courses. You
of people. Notice, too, that Andy Rooney usually devotes will encounter it in textbooks and, again, if you become
a paragraph to each point. comfortable with this mode, it will come in handy in your
writing for other courses. Be alert, for example, to essay
There are only two types of people in the world, Type A and
assignments and exam questions that begin "Compare
Type Z. It isn't hard to tell which type you are. How long
before the plane leaves do you arrive at the airport? and contrast. . . ."
Early plane-catchers, Type A, pack their bags at least a day In the readings that follow, you will find the alternat-
Point 1: catching in advance, and they pack neatly. If they're booked on a flight ing, block, and mixed methods of organizing compari-
a plane that leaves at four in the afternoon, they get up at 5:30 that son-and-contrast development. You will also see the
morning. If they haven't left the house by noon, they're wor-
ried about missing the plane.
variety of ideas that writers express through comparison
Late plane-catchers, Type Z, pack hastily at the last min-
and contrast. The questions and assignments at the ends
__ ute and arrive at the airport too late to buy a newspaper. of the readings will help you understand the principles
What do you do with a new book? Type A reads more underlying this mode of development, so that you can ap-
Point 2: reading a
book
carefully and finishes every book, even though it isn't any ply them in your own writing.
good.
Type Z skims through a lot of books and is more apt to
. write in the margins with a pencil.
Point 3: eating
breakfast Type A eats a good breakfast; Type Z grabs a cup of coffee.
Type As turn off the lights when leaving a room and lock
the doors when leaving a house. They go back to make sure
they've locked it, and they worry later about whether they
Point 4: turning left the iron on or not. They didn't.
off lights
Type Zs leave the lights burning and if they lock the door
at all when they leave the house, they're apt to have forgotten
their keys.
PointS: seeing Type A sees the dentist twice a year, has an annual physi-
the dentist cal checkup and thinks he may have something.
Type Z has been meaning to see a doctor.
Type A squeezes a tube of toothpaste from the bottom,
Point 6: using rolls it very carefully as he uses it and puts the top back on
toothpaste every time.
Type Z squeezes the tube from the middle, and he's lost
the cap under the radiator.
Point 7: other
characteristics Type Zs are more apt to have some Type A characteristics
than Type As are apt to have any Type Z characteristics.
Point 8: marriage Type As always marry Type Zs.
Type Zs always marry Type As.
Andy Rooney,
"Types"

The comparison and contrast mode of development gives

Rooney a framework for making use of irony and show-
ing both Type As and Type Zs in a somewhat unflattering
light—another type of judgmental comparison.
 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Children of Two Nations / Brenda David 195

Children of Two Nations

Questions About the Reading
Brenda David
1. What does the writer mean when she says all young children are
a "clean slate"?
Brenda David spent several years in Milan, Italy, working at a school for American and 2. Why, according to the writer, do American children score higher
Italian children. At the school she observed some interesting differences among the chil- in technical subjects? Why do Italian children score higher in cultur-
dren, which she attributes to the differing priorities and values of Americans and Italians. al subjects?
Since her return to the United States, Brenda David has been studying piano, flying air-
planes, and teaching English as a second language. 3. What does the writer imply about the influence of environment on
a child?
Words to Know

inquisitive curious Questions About the Writer's Strategies

passive quiet, inactive 1. What is the main idea of the paragraph?
priority order of importance 2. Is the writer's mode of development comparison, contrast, or both?
3. What organizational method does the writer use? Draw a diagram
of the organization. (See pages 190-191.)
.11 young children, whatever their culture, are alike in their charm 4. The writer uses some transitional words to help you identify the
and innocence—in being a clean slate on which the wonders and ways points she makes in the paragraph. Identify these expressions.
of the world are yet to be written. But during the three years I worked
in a school in Milan, I learned that American and Italian children are Writing Assignments
different in several ways. First, young American children tend to be
1. Write a paragraph comparing and contrasting high school students
active, enthusiastic, and inquisitive. Italian children, on the other
and college students. Use point-by-point organization.
hand, tend to be passive, quiet, and not particularly inquisitive. They
usually depend on their parents to tell them what to do. Second, 2. Write a paragraph comparing and contrasting people from two dif-
American children show their independence while their Italian coun- ferent neighborhoods near your home. Use the block method of or-
terparts are still looking to their parents and grandparents to tell them ganization.
what to do or not do. Third, and most important to those who question 3. Write a paragraph comparing and contrasting parents who are per-
the influence of environment on a child, the American children gener- missive and parents who are strict.
ally surpass their Italian schoolmates in math, mechanical, and scien-
tific abilities. But American children are overshadowed by their Italian
counterparts in their languages, literature, art, and music courses. Per-
haps the differences, which those of us at the school confirmed in an
informal study, were to be expected. After all, what priority do Ameri-
cans give to the technological skills? And what value do Italians—with
the literature of poets and authors like Boccaccio, the works of Michel-
angelo, and the music of the world-famous La Scala opera at Milan—
place on the cultural arts?
196 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Two Views of Time / Robert Grudin 197

Two Views of Time Questions About the Reading

Robert Grudin 1. Which view of time do you prefer? Why?
2. What does the writer imply is useful about each view of time?
3. How old is the cosmos? (Don't grab your calculator. Just give a
Is time a single entity, always having the same meaning? Hardly, says Robert Grudin rough estimate in your own words.)
in this passage. Time, he indicates, can be viewed in sharply contrasting ways, suggesting-
quite different realities.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Word to Know 1. What method did the writer use to organize the passage?
cosmos the universe 2. What primary mode of development does the writer use for his
contrast? Does he use more than one?
3. What is the main idea of this contrast? Where is the thesis state-
I magine that you spent your whole life at a single house. Each day ment?
at the same hour you entered an artificially-lit room, undressed and
took up the same position in front of a motion picture camera. It pho- Writing Assignments
tographed one frame of you per day every day of your life. On your 1. Write a paragraph contrasting the amount of time it takes to do two
seventy-second birthday, the reel of film was shown. You saw yourself different things; for example, eating a pizza versus brushing your
growing and aging over seventy-two years in less than half an hour teeth, writing a paragraph versus reading a paragraph, jogging a
(27.4 minutes at sixteen frames per second). Images of this sort, though mile in the rain versus walking home from class on a pleasant day.
terrifying, are helpful in suggesting unfamiliar but useful perspectives Try to give a sense of how time feels in each situation.
of time. They may, for example, symbolize the telescoped, almost mo- 2. In a paragraph, compare and contrast your views of time now with
mentary character of the past as seen through the eyes of an anxious those you remember having as a child. Think, for instance, about
or disaffected individual. Or they may suggest the remarkable brevity the value you attach to time now versus the value you attached
of our lives in the cosmic scale of time. If the estimated age of the cos- then, or about how quickly time seems to pass now versus then.
mos were shortened to seventy-two years, a human life would take
about ten seconds.
But look at time the other way. Each day is a minor eternity of/over
86,000 seconds. During each second, the number of distinct molecular
functions going on within the human body is comparable to the num-
ber of seconds in the estimated age of the cosmos. A few seconds are
long enough for a revolutionary idea, a startling communication, a
baby's conception, a wounding insult, a sudden death. Depending on
how we think of them, our lives can be infinitely long or infinitely
short.
198 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast The Natural Superiority of Women / Ashley Montagu
199

The Natural Superiority of Women Questions About the Reading

Ashley Montagu 1. What does the writer mean by the "steady hand at the helm"? What
connections is the writer suggesting between the hand at the helm
Who do you think are superior: men or women ? Myth has it that men are, but anthropolo-
and the hand that rocks the cradle?
gist Ashley Montagu disagrees. In the following paragraph, taken from his controversial 2. What influences many of the diseases from which men suffer?
book The Natural Superiority of Women, Montagu provides evidence that women are 3. Why do you think the writer states that men are not stronger than
superior to men. women, even though they are physically more powerful?
Words to Know
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
chestnut an old story or joke
constitutional concerned with the body's health
1. Does the writer use comparison, contrast, or a combination of the
two to develop his paragraph?
and strength
rigors harshness
2. What is the topic of this paragraph? Where is the topic sentence
located?
Y-chromosome in genetics, the part of a cell re-
sponsible for transmitting male characteristics
3. Does the writer use the point-by-point method or the block method
to organize his paragraph?

Writing Assignments
JL hysically and psychically women are by far the superior of men.
The old chestnut about women being more emotional than men has 1. Think of one male friend and one female friend. Which do you think
been forever destroyed by the facts of two great wars. Women under is stronger? Why? Using comparison and/or contrast as your mode
blockade, heavy bombardment, concentration camp confinement, and of development, explain your answer in a paragraph.
similar rigors withstand them vastly more successfully than men. The 2. Is there someone with whom you are often compared, such as a sis-
psychiatric casualties of civilian populations under such conditions ter, a brother, or a friend? Write a paragraph in which you compare
are mostly masculine, and there are far more men in our mental hospi- yourself with this person. Are the similarities superficial, or are you
tals than there are women. The steady hand at the helm is the hand really alike? How are you different? Is there a good reason for you
that has had the practice at rocking the cradle. Because of their greater to be compared?
size and weight, men are physically more powerful than women— 3. In a paragraph, compare and contrast the cafeteria at your school
which is not the same thing as saying that they are stronger. A man with a restaurant at which you like to eat. Use examples to show
of the same size and weight as a woman of comparable background similarities and differences.
and occupational status would probably not be any more powerful
than a woman. As far as constitutional strength is concerned, women
are stronger than men. Many diseases from which men suffer can be
shown to be largely influenced by their relation to the male Y-chromo-
some. More males die than females. Deaths from almost all causes are
more frequent in males of all ages. Though women are more frequently
ill than men, they recover from illnesses more easily and more fre-
quently than men.
200 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Civilization and Education / James Baldwin 201

Civilization and Education Questions About the Reading

fames Baldwin 1. What does the writer mean by civilized?
2. In your own words, describe the differences between the uppercase
terms and the lowercase terms the writer is contrasting.
James Baldwin, who died in 1988, is one of America's most noted black writers. Here he 3. Speculate on what the writer is implying about the state.
implies a disturbing contrast between separate meanings of two important concepts.

Words to Know Questions About the Writer's Strategies

exacts demands; extorts 1. What is the main idea of the paragraph? Is there a topic sentence?
obtain prevail 2. What examples does the writer use to help clarify his contrast?
3. Is this paragraph written subjectively or objectively? Support your
answer.
Every human being born begins to be civilized the moment he or she
is born. Since we all arrive here absolutely helpless, with no way of Writing Assignments
getting a decent meal or of moving from one place to another without 1. Write a paragraph or essay classifying teachers according to their
human help (and human help exacts a human price), there is no way attitudes toward students (or, if you like, students according to their
around that. But this is civilization with a small c. Civilization with attitudes toward teachers).
a large C is something else again. So is education with a small e differ- 2. In a paragraph, describe the categories of power or advantage peo-
ent from Education with a large E. In the lowercase, education refers ple derive from education. As one of your categories, use the type
to the relations that actually obtain among human beings. In the up- of power you think Baldwin refers to.
percase, it refers to po.wer. Or, to put it another way, my father, mother,
brothers, sisters, lovers, friends, sons, daughters civilize me in quite
another way than the state intends. And the education I can receive
from an afternoon with Picasso, or from taking one of my nieces or
nephews to the movies, is not at all what the state has in mind when
it speaks of Education.
202 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Two Towns in Delaware / Charles Kuralt 203

Two Towns in Delaware Questions About the Reading

1. Were New Castle and Wilmington founded before or after the
Charles Kuralt
American Revolution? How do you know?
2. In paragraph 2, in the next to last sentence, what does the writer
Two things—in this case, towns—started out the same way. at the same time. Over the mean by "New Castle slumbered"?
years they developed vast differences. What arc the differences? How did they come about? 3. How old, approximately, are the houses in New Castle?
What do they mean in our lives? In this look at Wilmington and New Castle, Delaware,
Charles Kuralt tries to answer these questions. 4. What does the writer mean by an "important" city or town?
5. What does the writer think of Wilmington? What does he think of
New Castle?
N ew Castle, Delaware: During the first half of the seventeenth cen- 1
tury, when the nations of Europe were squabbling over who owned Questions About the Writer's Strategies
the New World, the Dutch and the Swedes founded competing villages 1. Identify the metaphors in paragraph 3.
ten miles apart on the Delaware River. Not long afterward, the English 2. Is the writer's mode of development comparison, contrast, or
took over both places and gave them new names, New Castle and Wil- mixed? Support your answer.
mington. , : 3. What method of organization does Kuralt use in comparing the two
For a century and a half the two'villages grew apace, but gradually 2 cities? Does he follow one method exclusively? (See pages 190-191.)
Wilmington gained all the advantages. It was a little closer to Philadel- 4. The thesis statement is not presented in the first paragraph of this
phia, so when new textile mills opened, they opened in Wilmington, essay. Where is it presented? What is the thesis statement? Rewrite
not in New Castle. There was plenty of water power from rivers and it in your own words. Is the same idea expressed anywhere else in
creeks at Wilmington, so when young Irenee DuPont chose a place for the essay? If so, wliere?
his gunpowder mill, it was Wilmington he chose, not New Castle. Wil- 5. The writer concludes the essay by saying "Poor New Castle. Lucky
mington became a town and then a city—a rather important city, much Wilmington." What tone is the writer using?
the largest in Delaware. And New Castle, bypassed by the highways
and waterways that made Wilmington prosperous? New Castle slum- Writing Assignments
bered, ten miles south on the Delaware River. No two villages with
such similar pasts could have gone such separate ways. And today no 1. Compare the city or town in which you live with another city or
two places could be more different. ; ; / ,~ . town nearby. How does each place look? What educational and so-
Wilmington, with its expressways and parking lots and all its other 3 cial outlets does it provide? What services does it provide? In which
concrete ribbons and badges, is a tired old veteran of the industrial town or city would you prefer to live?
wars and wears a vacant stare. Block after city block where people 2. Think of a town or neighborhood where you lived when you were
used to live and shop is broken and empty. growing up. Write an essay comparing and contrasting what that
New Castle never had to make way for progress and therefore never 4 place was like then with what it is like now. How has it changed?
had any reason to tear down its seventeenth- and eighteenth-century How has it stayed the same?
houses. So they are still here, standing in tasteful rows under ancient
elms around the original town green. New Castle is still an agreeable
place to live. The pretty buildings of its quiet past make a serene set-
ting for the lives of 4,800 people. New Castle may be America's loveli-
est town, but it is not an important town at all. Progress passed it by.
Poor New Castle.
Lucky Wilmington.
204
Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast
Practices—England and America / Man.' Madden 205

Nursing Practices—England and America Furthermore, the nurse is a member of the health team who sees 5
Mary Madden the patient most frequently. To the patient she is the most familiar per-
son in the strange hospital world.
In the United States, the patient is likely to be under the care of the 6
Mary Madden contrasts the way the important profession of nursing is practiced in En- same doctor in and out of the hospital, so the doctor is the person the
gland and in the United States. Her approach is a generous one. Until the last paragraph, patient knows best and the one in whom he confides most easily. But
she concentrates on the positive features of a nurse's life and work in each country. She
leaves the drawbacks of working in each country unstated—though she implies them though the patient's treatment and care are discussed with the nursing
clearly. staff, a nurse is not allowed much freedom to advise a patient. Also,
I have seen doctors visit patients without a word of communication
Words to Know to the nurse. Personally I think it difficult to be ignored when a pa-
tient's care is concerned and I think it prevents full utilization of the
restrictions limitations nurse's knowledge and skills.
vocation a regular occupation or profession I myself found nursing practice easier, in a way, under the so-called 7
"socialized medicine" of Great Britain than the more individual type
of medical care found in the United States. It involved much less
writing and left me at the patient's bedside, where 1 am happiest.
J. left my native Ireland after I had completed a high school educa- 1
There was no need to vvrire several charges and requests for the needs
tion. I studied to become a nurse and midwife in England, and I even-
of the patient. Stocks oi drugs and other medicines were kept on each
tually came to the United States of America. Because I have worked
ward, so that when medication was ordered, it was at hand. All
five years in hospitals in England and the U.S.A., my friends frequent- charges were met by "National Health"—including all supplies and
ly ask about differences, as I see them, in the practice of nursing on equipment used on the ward- The nurse tends a person who is free
both sides of the Atlantic. from much anxiety and hence more easily cared for while he is an
Until I realized how different the licensing laws of Great Britain are 2 inpatient.
from those in the United States, I was surprised at the number of re- On the other hand, 1 found that my introduction to an American 3
strictions placed on a nurse's actions in this country. A nurse licensed hospital was a hacDv experience. As a new nurse, 1 was guided by an
in Britain may practice anywhere in the British Isles and in some coun- orientation program given by another nurse and quickiy found my
tries abroad; in the United States, the nurse must apply in every state place on the patient care team. I had never experienced such an orien-
in which she hopes to work. tation in England.
In Britain, a nurse is a deeply respected, devoted woman, entrusted 3 Policy, drug reference, and procedure books at the nurses' station 9
with a vast amount of responsibility. The patients place unquestioned provide a ready reference where a nurse may check facts when she
confidence in her judgment and advice. The doctor relies on her report is in doubt, and she can instruct a new nurse on the staff without con-
of her observations, and he seldom interferes in what is considered fusion. The active U.S. nurse, while working, can keep informed about
a nursing duty. new trends, discoveries, and inventions in a rapidly changing world
of medicine.
The nurse decides when the patient is allowed out of bed or what 4
Here in the United States the nurse is regarded as an individual per- 10
type of bath he may have. I do not recall ever seeing an order on a
son and her personal life outside the hospital is given consideration.
physician's chart such as "OOR in 24 hours" or "may take a shower." She develops interests in arts, sport or a creative hobby; she is encour-
The nurse judges when a wound is healed and when sutures may be aged to further her education. Time and means are available to her to
removed. She is always consulted about the patient's requirements expand her horizons and to enrich her personality. Many nurses com-
and his progress. And because of the structure of most hospitals in bine marriage and a career very ably in this country, but not in Eng-
England, the nurse is in view of the patient constantly. Whenever he land or Ireland. All this tends to involve her more with people other
needs attention, the nurse is there in the ward, and she may observe
him, too, unobtrusively.
 Nursing Practices—England and America I Mary Madden 207
106 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast

than the sick. She is an interesting, informed, and happy person and Questions About the Reading
at the bedside she can show understanding and perception. 1. What is the relationship between nurse and patient in the United
In Britain, like most nurses, I lived in a nurses' home on the hospital States? How does this relationship differ from that found in Great
grounds and was thus isolated in a special hospital community. Theo- Britain?
retically I worked eight hours each day that I was on duty. But these 2. Does the writer suggest that nurses in the United States are not re-
hours were so arranged that one went to work twice in one day. One spected by doctors? Cite statements in the essay to support your
might work four hours in the morning, have a iew hours free, and then
answer.
o-o back to the ward for the evening. This schedule demands most of
one's waking hours, and so mingling in the larger community outside 3. How does Great Britain's "socialized" health-care system affect
the hospital was quite limited. The nurse was expected to find full sat- nursing practice?
isfaction in her vocation, and thoughts of increases in salary were con- 4. Based on what the essay says about the nursing profession in the
sidered unworthy. Now, such attitudes are beginning to change and two countries, in which do you think patients would receive better
the winds of unrest are blowing through nursing in England, ruffling care? Why do you feel this way?
many a well-placed cap.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
1. Does the writer express opinions on whether it is better to work as
a nurse in the United States or in England? Are the writer's opin-
ions directly stated or implied?
2. Is the essay as a whole organized according to the point-by-point
method, the block method, or the mixed comparison-and-contrast
method?
3. Do you think the writer's main purpose in the essay is to supply
information or to judge the quality of English nursing care versus
care in the United States?
4. In your own words, state the thesis of this essay.

Writing Assignments
1. Write an essay comparing and contrasting the teaching styles of two
college instructors. Use the point-by-point method to organize your
essay.
2. Using the block method of organization, write an essay comparing
and contrasting one of the following pairs: older brothers/older sis-
ters, houses/dormitories, riding the bus/walking, or high school
classes /college classes.
208 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast The Difference Between a Brain and a Computer / Isaac Asimov 209

The Difference Between a them do. One must remember that human beings also can only do
what they are "programmed" to do. Our genes "program" us the in-
Brain and a Computer stant the fertilized ovum is formed, and our potentialities are limited
Isaac Asimov by that "program."
Our "program" is so much more enormously complex, though, that 6
we might like to define "thinking" in terms of the creativity that goes
Most scientists and knowledgeable observers agree that computers will change our lives
more completely than the automobile did, than television did, or than any technological into writing a great play or composing a great symphony, in conceiv-
innovation has so far. How far can computers go? Science writer Isaac Asimov here com- ing a brilliant scientific theory or a profound ethical judgment. In that
pares the computer with the human brain. His conclusions may frighten you. They're sure sense, computers certainly can't think and neither can most humans.
to make you stop and think. Surely, though, if a computer can be made complex enough, it can 7
be as creative as we. If it could be made as complex as a human brain,
Words to Know
it could be the equivalent of a human brain and do whatever a human
components individual parts brain can do.
conceiving forming an idea To suppose anything else is to suppose that there is more to the hu- 8
mammal the class of animals, including human man brain than the matter that composes it. The brain is made up of
beings, that have backbones and controlled body cells in a certain arrangement and the cells are made up of atoms and
temperature and nurse their young molecules in certain arrangements. If anything else is there, no signs
neurons nerve cells of it have ever been detected. To duplicate the material complexity of
program a set of directions, instructions, or rules the brain is therefore to duplicate everything about it.
But how long will it take to build a computer complex enough to 9
duplicate the human brain? Perhaps not as long as some think. Long
T he difference between a brain and a computer can be expressed in 1 before we approach a computer as complex as our brain, we will per-
a single word: complexity. haps build a computer that is at least complex enough to design anoth-
The large mammalian brain is the most complicated thing, for its 2 er computer more complex than itself. This more complex computer
size, known to us. The human brain weighs three pounds, but in that could design one still more complex and so on and so on and so on.
three pounds are ten billion neurons and a hundred billion smaller In other words, once we pass a certain critical point, the computers 10
cells. These many billions of cells are interconnected in a vastly compli- take over and there is a "complexity explosion." In a very short time
cated network that we can't begin to unravel as yet. thereafter, computers may exist that not only duplicate the human
Even the most complicated computer man has yet built can't com- 3 brain—but far surpass it.
pare in intricacy with the brain. Computer switches and components Then what? Well, mankind is not doing a very good job of running 11
number in the thousands rather than in the billions. What's more, the the earth right now. Maybe, when the time comes, we ought to step
computer switch is just an on-off device, whereas the brain cell is itself gracefully aside and hand over the job to someone who can do it better.
possessed of a tremendously complex inner structure. And if we don't step aside, perhaps Supercomputer will simply move
Can a computer think? That depends on what you mean by "think." 4 in and push us aside.
If solving a mathematical problem is "thinking," then a computer can
"think" and do so much faster than a man. Of course, most mathemati-
cal problems can be solved quite mechanically by repeating certain
straightforward processes over and over again. Even the simple com-
puters of today can be geared for that.
It is frequently said that computers solve problems only because 5
they are "programmed" to do so. They can only do what men have
210 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Computers / Lewis Thomas 211

Questions About the Reading

Computers
1. What makes the human brain more complex than a computer?
2. Can a computer be built that would duplicate the human brain? Ex- Lewis Thomas
plain your answer.
3. What processes of the human brain can be duplicated by a In the preceding essay, Isaac Asimov identifies complexity within the human brain as the
computer? unique quality that distinguishes us from computers. In this essay, Lewis Thomas focuses
on a broader, external complexity that characterizes the human race—and can never char-
4. Can a computer be creative? Explain your answer.
acterize computers.
5. What might happen to humanity if a computer were built that
could surpass the human brain? Words to Know

aggregation mass collection

Questions About the Writer's Strategies fallibility a tendency to make mistakes
1. In your own words, explain the thesis of this essay. millennium a 1,000-year period
2. What does the writer think of human beings? Which sentences ex- syncytium cells fused into a mass of living
press his attitude? material
3. Which paragraphs provide information primarily on the computer?
Which paragraphs deal mainly with the human brain? Which does
Asimov spend more time describing? Why? X ou can make computers that are almost human. In some respects 1
4. Besides comparison and contrast, what primary mode of develop- they are superhuman; they can beat most of us at chess, memorize
ment does the writer use in forming his paragraphs? whole telephone books at a glance, compose music of a certain kind
and write obscure poetry, diagnose heart ailments, send personal invi-
Writing Assignments tations to vast parties, even go transiently crazy. No one has yet pro-
1. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the human grammed a computer to be of two minds about a hard problem, or
memory with the memory of a computer. Do you think each can to burst out laughing, but that may come. Sooner or later, there will
remember the same kinds of things? Is each equally capable of re- be real human hardware, great whirring, clicking cabinets intelligent
membering things? enough to read magazines and vote, able to think rings around the rest
2. At the end of the essay, Asimov suggests that a supercomputer of us.
could one day move in and push people aside. Write an essay com- Well, maybe, but not for a while anyway. Before we begin organiz- 2
paring a person's everyday life with life in a supercomputer society. ing sanctuaries and reservations for our software selves, lest we vanish
3. Asimov maintains that there is nothing more to the human brain like the whales, here is a thought to relax with.
than its material substance—that the brain is just "atoms and mol- Even when technology succeeds in manufacturing a machine as big 3
ecules in certain arrangements. If anything else is there, no signs as Texas to do everything we recognize as human, it will still be, at
of it have ever been detected." Do you agree? Write an essay in best, a single individual. This amounts to nothing, practically
which you compare and contrast Asimov's description of the brain speaking. To match what we can do, there would have to be 3 billion
with your own views. of them with more coming down the assembly line, and I doubt that
anyone will put up the money, much less make room. And even so,
they would all have to be wired together, intricately and delicately, as
we are, communicating with each other, talking incessantly listening.
If they weren't at each other this way, all their waking hours, they
wouldn't be anything like human, after all. I think we're safe, for a
long time ahead.
 hapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast
Computers I Lewis Thomas 213

It is in our collective behavior that we are most mysterious. We 4

won't be able to construct machines like ourselves until we've under- evolution would then grind to a standstill, and we'd be stuck in
stood this, and we're not even close. All we know is the phenomenon: today's rut for a millennium.
we spend our time sending messages to each other, talking and trying Much better we work our way out of it on our own, without gover- 8
to listen at the same time, exchanging information. This seems to be nance. The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to
our most urgent biological function; it is what we do with our lives. any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can get.
By the time we reach the end, each of us has taken in a staggering Most of all, we need to preserve the absolute unpredictability and total
store, enough to exhaust any computer, much of it incomprehensible, improbability of our connected minds. That way we can keep open
and we generally manage to put out even more than we take in. Infor- all the options, as we have in the past.
mation is our source of energy; we are driven by it. It has become a It would be nice to have better ways of monitoring what we're up 9
tremendous enterprise, a kind of energy system on its own. All 3 bil- to so that we could recognize change while it is occurring, instead of
lion of us are being connected by telephones, radios, television sets, waking up as we do now to the astonished realization that the whole
airplanes, satellites, harangues on public-address systems, newspa- century just past wasn't what we thought it was, at all. Maybe comput-
pers, magazines, leaflets dropped from great heights, words got in ers can be used to help in this, although I rather doubt it. You can make
edgewise. We are becoming a grid, a circuitry around the earth. If we
simulation models of cities, but what you learn is that they seem to
keep at it, we will become a computer to end all computers, capable
be beyond the reach of intelligent analysis; if you try to use common
of fusing all the thoughts of the world into a syncytium.
sense to make predictions, things get more botched up than ever. This
Already, there are no closed, two-way conversations. Any word you 5 is interesting, since a city is the most concentrated aggregation of hu-
speak this afternoon will radiate out in all directions, around town mans, all exerting whatever influence they can bring to bear. The city
before tomorrow, out and around the world before Tuesday, accelerat- seems to have a life of its own. If we cannot understand how this
ing to the speed of light, modulating as it goes, shaping new and works, we are not likely to get very far with human society at large.
unexpected messages, emerging at the end as an enormously funny Still, you'd think there would be some way in. Joined together, the 10
Hungarian joke, a fluctuation in the money market, a poem, or simply great mass of human minds around the earth seems to behave like a
a long pause in someone's conversation in Brazil. coherent, living system. The trouble is that the flow of information is
We do a lot of collective thinking, probably more than any other 6 mostly one-way. We are all obsessed by the need to feed information
social species, although it goes on in something like secrecy. We don't in, as fast as we can, but we lack sensing mechanisms for getting any-
acknowledge the gift publicly, and we are not as celebrated as the in- thing much back. I will confess that I have no more sense of what goes
sects, but we do it. Effortlessly, without giving it a moment's thought, on in the mind of mankind than I have for the mind of an ant. Come
we are capable of changing our language, music, manners, morals, en- to think of it, this might be a good place to start.
tertainment, even the way we dress, all around the earth in a year's
turning. We seem to do this by general agreement, without voting or
even polling. We simply think our way along, pass information
around, exchange codes disguised as art, change our minds, transform
ourselves,

Computers cannot deal with such levels of improbability, and.it is 7

just as well. Otherwise, we might be tempted to take over the control
of ourselves in order to make long-range plans, and that would surely
be the end of us. It would mean that some group or other, marvelously
intelligent and superbly informed, undoubtedly guided by a comput-
er, would begin deciding what human society ought to be like, say
over the next five hundred years or so, and the rest of us would be
persuaded, one way or another, to go along. The process of social
 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Through the One-Way Mirror / Margaret Atwood 215
214

Questions About the Reading Through the One-Way Mirror

1. What is the main difference between human beings and computers, Margaret Atwood
according to the writer?
2. In your own words, explain what makes human beings mysterious, Margaret Atwood is a novelist who lives in Toronto. She has strong opinions about the
in the writer's view. unequal relationship between Canada and the United States, and in this essay she expres-
3. In paragraph 4 the writer says, "Information is our source of ener- ses them with wit and contempt. Although she pokes fun at her own country, the bulk
gy." Think of some examples to illustrate this statement. of her criticism is leveled at the United States.
4. Reread paragraph 5. What is the writer talking about? What is the
point of the paragraph? Words to Know
bunion-toed having a large painful bump on the,
Questions About the Writer's Strategies inside of the big toe , ;
construe interpret
1. What is the main idea of the essay? Is it directly stated in a thesis
decipherable understandable
statement? If so, where? If not, in which sentence or sentences is
Mr. Magoo a cartoon character—a funny little,
it most clearly expressed?
extremely nearsighted man
2. What type of audience do you think the writer had in mind when
myopia nearsightedness
he wrote this essay—philosophers? essayists? you and me? Do you
protoplasmic having the formless, goopy quality,
think his purpose in writing it was similar to Asimov's in his essay?
of the stuff of which living cells are made
Why or why not?
3. Is this essay clearly organized? Can you detect any purpose to the
organization?
T he noses of a great many Canadians resemble Porky Pig's. This 1
4. Would you characterize this essay as subjective or objective? Do
comes from spending so much time pressing them against the longest
you think the writer is expressing approval or disapproval of com-
undefended one-way mirror in the world. The Canadians looking
puters? How about of people?
through this mirror behave the way people on the hidden side of such •
mirrors usually do: they observe, analyze, ponder, snoop and wonder
Writing Assignments what all the activity on the other side means in decipherable human
1. Write an essay comparing or contrasting Asimov's view of people terms.
with Thomas's view. To illustrate your thesis, restate points from The Americans, bless their innocent little hearts, are rarely aware 2
both essays in your own words. that they are even being watched, much less by the Canadians. They
2. Compare or contrast Asimov's and Thomas's views on computers. just go on doing body language, playing in the sandbox of the world,
Use quotations from the essays to illustrate. bashing one another on the head and planning how to blow things up,
same as always. If they think about Canada at all, it's only when things
get a bit snowy or the water goes off or the Canadians start fussing
over some piddly detail, such as fish. Then they regard them as unpa-
triotic; for Americans don't really see Canadians as foreigners, not like
the Mexicans, unless they do something weird like speak French or
beat the New York Yankees at baseball. Really, think the Americans,
the Canadians are just like us, or would be if they could.
Or we could switch metaphors and call the border the longest unde- 3
fended backyard fence in the world. The Canadians are the folks in
216 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Through the One-Way Mirror / Margaret Atwood 217

the neat little bungalow, with the tidy little garden and the duck pond: and at events like international writers' congresses, where the Cana-
The Americans are the other folks, the ones in the sprawly mansion dians often find they have more to talk about with the Australians,
with the bad-taste statues on the lawn. There's a perpetual party, or the West Indians, the New Zealanders and even the once-loathed
something, going on there—loud music, raucous laughter, smoke bil- snooty Brits, now declining into humanity with the dissolution of em-
lowing from the barbecue. Beer bottles and Coke cans land among the pire, than they do with the impenetrable and mysterious Yanks.
peonies. The Canadians have their own beer bottles and barbecue But only sometimes. Because surely the Canadians understand the 8
smoke, but they tend to overlook it. Your own mess is always more Yanks. Shoot, don't they see Yank movies, read Yank mags, bobble
forgivable than the mess someone else makes on your patio. round to Yank music and watch Yank telly, as well as their own, when
The Canadians can't exactly call the police—they suspect that the 4 there is any?
Americans are the police—and part of their distress, which seems per- Sometimes the Canadians think it's their job to interpret the Yanks 9
manent, comes from their uncertainty as to whether or not they've to the rest of the world; explain them, sort of. This is an illusion: they
been invited. Sometimes they do drop by next door, and find it exciting don't understand the Yanks as much as they think they do, and it isn't
but scary. Sometimes the Americans drop by their house and find it their job.
clean. This worries the Canadians. They worry a lot. Maybe those But, as we say up here among God's frozen people, when Washing- 10
Americans will want to buy up their duck pond, with all the money ton catches a cold, Ottawa sneezes. Some Canadians even refer to their
they seem to have, and turn it into a cesspool or a water-skiing capital city as Washington North and wonder why we're paying those
emporium. guys in Ottawa when a telephone order service would be cheaper. Ca-
It also worries them that the Americans don't seem to know who 5 nadians make jokes about the relationship with Washington which the
the Canadians are, or even where, exactly, they are. Sometimes the Americans, in their thin-skinned, bunion-toed way, construe as
Americans call Canada their backyard, sometimes their front yard, anti-American (they tend to see any nonworshipful comment coming
both of which imply ownership. Sometimes they say they are the from that gray, protoplasmic fuzz outside their borders as anti-Ameri-
Mounties and the Canadians are Rose Marie. (All these things have, can). They are no more anti-American than the jokes Canadians make
in fact, been said by American politicians.) Then they accuse the Cana- about the weather: it's there, it's big, it's hard to influence, and it affects
dians of being paranoid and having an identity crisis. Heck, there is your life.
no call for the Canadians to fret about their identity, because everyone Of course, in any conflict with the Dreaded Menace, whatever it 11
knows they're Americans, really. If the Canadians disagree with that, might be, the Canadians would line up with the Yanks, probably, if
they're told not to be so insecure. they thought it was a real menace, or if the Yanks twisted their arms
One of the problems is that Canadians and Americans are educated 6 or other bodily parts enough or threatened a "scorched-earth policy"
backward from one another. The Canadians—except for the Quebe- (another real quote). Note the qualifiers. The Canadian idea of a men-
cois, one keeps saying—are taught about the rest of the world first and ace is not the same as the U.S. one. Canada, for instance, never broke
Canada second. The Americans are taught about the United States off diplomatic relations with Cuba, and it was quick to recognize Chi-
first, and maybe later about other places, if they're of strategic impor- na. Contemplating the U.S.-Soviet growling match, Canadians are apt
tance. The Vietnam War draft dodgers got more culture shock in Cana- to recall a line from Blake: "They became what they beheld." Certainly
da than they did in Sweden. It's not the clothing that is different, it's both superpowers suffer from the imperial diseases once so notewor- •
those mental noises. thy among the Romans, the British and the French: arrogance and my-
Of course, none of this holds true when you get close enough, where 7 opia. But the bodily-parts threat is real enough, and accounts for the
concepts like "Americans" and "Canadians" dissolve and people are observable wimpiness and flunkiness of some Ottawa politicians. No-
just people, or anyway some of them are, the ones you happen to ap- body, except at welcoming-committee time, pretends this is an equal
prove of. I, for instance, have never met any Americans I didn't like, relationship.
but I only get to meet the nice ones. That's what the businessmen think Americans don't have Porky Pig noses. Instead they have 12
too, though they have other individuals in mind. But big-scale national Mr. Magoo eyes, with which they see the rest of the world. That would
mythologies have a way of showing up in things like foreign policy,
 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Women and Men / Scott Russell Sanders 219
218

not be a problem if the United States were not so powerful. But it is, Women and Men
so it is.
Scott Russell Sanders
Questions About the Reading
Scott Russell Sanders grew up among poor farmers, laborers, and factory workers. The
1. Why do Canadians "suspect that the Americans are the police" men in this world faced endless toil. But Sanders was also exposed as a boy to soldiers
(paragraph 4)? on military bases, and he came to view soldiering as the only available alternative to a
2. In paragraph 8, what comment is the writer making about Cana- life of toil—the warrior, faced not with toil, but with waiting, killing, and death. As he
explains in this essay, when Sanders reached college and learned that men were viewed
dian culture? as oppressors by the women there, it was not easy for him to relate that idea to his experi-
3. In paragraph 10, what is meant by the expression, "When Washing- ence of what manhood meant.
ton catches a cold, Ottawa sneezes"?
4. What is the "Dreaded Menace" (paragraph 11)? Word to Know
5. In the writer's view, what is the American attitude toward Canada?
fretted worried
Briefly state her opinion in your own words.

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

J. was slow to understand the deep grievances of women. This was 1
1. What is the earlier metaphor (the one from which she is switching) because, as a boy, I had envied them. Before college, the only people
that the writer refers to in paragraph 3? I had ever known who were interested in art or music or literature,
2. Which paragraphs make up the introduction in this essay? Which the only ones who read books, the only ones who ever seemed to enjoy
ones form the body? And which ones are the conclusion? a sense of ease and grace were the mothers and daughters. Like the
3. What is the main contrast between Canadians and Americans? Try menfolk, they fretted about money, they scrimped and made-do. But,
to isolate and put in your own words the writer's main point. when the pay stopped coming in, they were not the ones who had
4. Do you. think the writer's presentation is fair to the United States? failed. Nor did they have to go to war, and that seemed to me a blessed
Does it include as much information as it should about the issues fact. By comparison with the narrow, ironclad days of fathers, there
the writer raises? was an expansiveness, I thought, in the days of mothers. They went
to see neighbors, to shop in town, to run errands at school, at the li-
Writing Assignments brary, at church. No doubt, had I looked harder at their lives, I would
1. Think of two cities or two states. Write an essay describing how they have envied them less. It was not my fate to become a woman, so it
are alike. Use the point-by-point method to organize your compari- was easier for me to see the graces. Few of them held jobs outside the
son. (If you have ever been to a foreign country, you might prefer home, and those who did filled thankless roles as clerks and wait-
to describe points of similarity between that country and the United resses. I didn't see, then, what a prison a house could be, since houses
States.) seemed to me brighter, handsomer places than any factory. I did not
2. Write a comparison-and-contrast essay on two kinds of food, such realize—because such things were never spoken of—how often wom-
as Chinese food and Italian food, food of the southern and north- en suffered from men's bullying. I did learn about the wretchedness
eastern United States, Mexican food and Greek food, or food from of abandoned wives, single mothers, widows; but I also learned about
some other pair of cooking traditions. Try to write a mixed compari- the wretchedness of lone men. Even then I could see how exhausting
son and contrast, identifying similarities as well as differences. it was for a mother to cater all day to the needs of young children.
But if I had been asked, as a boy, to choose between tending a baby
and tending a machine, I think I would have chosen the baby. (Having
now tended both, I know I would choose the baby.)
 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast Women and Men / Scott Russell Sanders 221
220

So I was baffled when the women at college accused me and my 2 Questions About the Reading *
sex of having cornered the world's pleasures. I think something like 1. Why did the writer envy women when he was a boy?
my bafflement has been felt by other boys (and by girls as well) who 2. Explain the "bafflement" the writer feels and believes others feel
grew up in dirt-poor farm country, in mining country, in black ghettos, (paragraph 2).
in Hispanic barrios, in the shadows of factories, in Third World nations 3. In addition to women and men, what other groups is the writer
—any place where the fate of men is as grim and bleak as the fate of comparing and contrasting here? What overlaps are there among
women. Toilers and warriors. I realize now how ancient these identi- the different groups?
ties are, how deep the tug they exert on men, the undertow of a thou- 4. Which of the groups that he describes does the writer identify with
sand generations. The miseries I saw, as a boy, in the lives of nearly ' most closely? Cite statements from the essay to support your an-
all men I continue to see in the lives of many—the body-breaking toil, swer.
the tedium, the call to be tough, the humiliating powerlessness, the
5. Because he received a scholarship, Sanders was able to go to a uni-
battle for a living and for territory.
versity attended by students from wealthy families. What was his
When the women I met at college thought about the joys and privi- 3 attitude toward these students? Why do you think he chose an elite
leges of men, they did not carry in their minds the sort of men I had university over a less prestigious one?
known in my childhood. They thought of their fathers, who were
bankers, physicians, architects, stockbrokers, the big wheels of the big
cities. These fathers rode the train to work or drove cars that cost more Questions About the Writer's Strategies
than any of my childhood houses. They were attended from morning 1. Identify the introduction, body, and conclusion in this essay.
to night by female helpers, wives and nurses and secretaries. They 2. What is the main idea of the essay? Is there a thesis statement? If
were never laid off, never short of cash at month's end, never lined so, where is it? If not, state the main idea in your own words.
up for welfare. These fathers made decisions that mattered. They ran 3. Is this essay written objectively or subjectively? Identify objective
the world. or subjective elements, or both, in the writer's presentation.
The daughters of such men wanted to share in this power, this glory. 4 4. Is the writer being judgmental? What does he imply about the
So did I. They yearned for a say over their future, for jobs worthy of groups he compares and contrasts?
their abilities, for the right to live at peace, unmolested, whole. Yes,
I thought, yes yes. The difference between me and these daughters was Writing Assignments
that they saw me, because of my sex, as destined from birth to become
like their fathers, and therefore as an enemy to their desires. But I 1. Compare or contrast two or more social groups at your school, for
knew better. I wasn't an enemy, in fact or in feeling. I was an ally. If instance, jocks, nerds, fraternity or sorority types, business majors,
I had known, then, how to tell them so, would they have believed me? art majors, party-goers, or social activists.
Would they now? 2. Look again at the examples essay "My Mother Never Worked" on
page 137. Contrast Sanders's view of the women of his childhood
with the view presented by Smith-Yackel. In doing so, feel free to
offer opinions about each writer's attitude toward women.
 Mistaken Ideas About College / Kimberly Ordway 223
222 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast

of being alone, with my old friends far away and no new ones here.
Mistaken Ideas About College Again, I was wrong. When I finally got to college, I discovered that
Kimberly Ordway (Student) most students felt exactly as I did. They were as uneasy with me as
I was with them, and as we started to open up, we began to trust one
another. We began to become curious about each others' backgrounds
Before she came to college, this student was prepared for the worst: bossy upper-classmen,
frightening professors, and disastrous exams. Now, she has learned not to jump to conclu-
and interests; the differences among us actually became attractions.
sions. In the essay that follows, she contrasts her old, mistaken ideas about college with We laughed, for example, at our comparative pronunciations of "car"
a more realistic view. "' - - "• n A^~fJ^- - - ^ as "cah" or "car" and I learned that "Get down" means "Feel good"
in Boston. And no one seemed to think that I was fat, shy, ugly, cow-
Words to Know ardly, or dumb!
harassing tormenting These weren't all of my worries, though. I was also frightened by 4
inaudible unable to be heard the classes and especially by the teachers. 1 imagined myself lost in
pessimist someone with a gloomy outlook a two-hundred-seat lecture hall, desperately scratching down pieces
of notes preached from a great distance by a tiny, inaudible male pro-
fessor with white hair and little gold-rimmed glasses. 1 was convinced
he'd have no patience with my stupid questions, so I'd be perpetually
D efore I came to college, I was sure I knew all about it. I had talked 1 lost. Wrong here too. Most of my classes had only thirty to forty stu-
to guidance counselors, I had met some college students, I had looked dents (some were smaller) and the professors, male and female, looked
at some catalogues, and I had seen more than my share of old "college" downright ordinary. One teacher had prematurely grey hair and none
movies where the heroes belonged to "jock" fraternities and the her- of them had gold-rimmed glasses. I did find myself desperately
oines to sophisticated sororities. I knew all about it. Or so I thought. scratching down notes, but I also had plenty of chances to ask ques-
But, now, after one semester as a college student, many of my old ideas tions and even to take part in discussions. In the one-to-one meetings
have changed completely. after class, I came to appreciate the teachers even more. They were
I used to imagine bossy upper-classmen, for example. I thought they 2 actually interested in teaching me!
would be know-it-all rulers of the campus who got their kicks from I changed my mind about other things too. I had expected home- 5
harassing freshmen. 1 pictured being directed to the wrong clas- work to be a book-filled nightmare as I burned the midnight oil until
srooms, being snubbed because I was too young, and eating lunch two A.M., fighting off a headache which would keep me from meeting
standing up because older students wouldn't allow me at their tables. due dates, and eventually send me back to the corner store. Actually,
But, in fact, the upper-classmen (when I could tell them from the fresh- I got most of my homework done well before midnight and I met all
men) turned out to be quite civilized. They didn't even notice me, but my due dates. And even the examinations were not a total disaster.
if I did need help, they were willing to give it. In the beginning, more They were not three-hour tests crammed into one hour, nor were they
experienced students helped me to choose my professors and courses made up of many pages of single-spaced typed questions exclusively
and to find my rooms, and later they encouraged me to stick with my on details I had overlooked. Oh yes, I did have some awful tests; I did
tough courses (even calculus) and they tried (unsuccessfully) to teach break out in a clammy sweat, develop a stomach upset and a gigantic
me how to stay cool during examinations. No harassment here. headache; and I did spend finals week on Pepto-Bismol, but contrary
The upper-classmen weren't the only ones 1 worried about. I was 3 to expectations, 1 passed all of my exams with good grades.
also concerned about the other freshmen. I was afraid they might think I've always been a pessimist. Then if the worst happens, I'm ready 6
I was too fat, too shy, too ugly, too cowardly, or even too dumb to both- for it. For at least three and a half more years, I plan to live by this
er with. I thought their backgrounds and interests would be much philosophy, but even with this, I know I won't be as negative as I was
more exciting than mine; I wondered who would care about a before I got to college. Not all schools would be the same, but this one
small-town girl whose typical pastime was strolling to the corner store turned out to be much better than I thought it would be—a good les-
for penny candy, popsicles, and Pepsi. And, most of all, 1 was afraid son in not jumping to conclusions. And, being a pessimist, I had the
224 Chapter 6 / Comparison and Contrast

extra fun of discovering just how much better it could be. No doubt
my attitude toward college will shift still more as I go on, but I know Process
I'll never be as far off as I was before I got here.

Questions About the Reading

1. Where did the writer get her mistaken ideas about college?
2. Why was the writer afraid of being lonely?
3. Why has the writer always been a pessimist? How has her attitude
changed?

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

IF YOU WANT to learn to make coffee in your new percola-
1. What is the writer contrasting? What method does she use to orga- tor, you will probably follow the directions provided by
nize the items she is contrasting? the manufacturer to explain the whole process. A process
2. What is the thesis of this essay? Is it directly stated? If so, where is a method of doing a task or a job, usually in orderly
is it located? steps, to achieve a desired result. For example, directions
3. Apart from comparison and contrast, what other mode of develop- and recipes are both detailed explanations of processes.
rhent does the writer use to develop her essay? So are all articles and essays that tell "how to" prepare
for a job interview, how to assemble a stereo system, how
Writing Assignments to dress for success, or how to operate a microcomputer.
So, too, are essays that describe how someone else used
1. Have you ever anticipated an event (such as a date, a vacation, or
a process to accomplish something or complete a task.
a lecture) with great excitement and then been disappointed by the
actual event? Mite an essay that describes the event and contrasts In an essay explaining how to carry out a process, the
your expectations with how the event actually turned out. writer tries to give clear and accurate guidance or direc-
2. Do you feel more comfortable about writing now than you did at tions, making the steps as simple as possible for the read-
the start of this course? Contrast the way you approached and wrote er to follow. To do this, the writer must decide exactly
your first college writing assignment with the way you handled a what the reader already knows and what he or she needs
more recent one. Have your methods or your attitude changed? to be told. The burden is on the writer to provide com-
plete information to enable the reader to perform the
3. Has an important event or period in your life greatly changed your
task. If the writer forgets to mention how long the cookies
outlook on life? If so, write a paper describing the event and con-
should bake, the cook may be left with burned chocolate
trasting the attitudes you held before with those you hold now.
chip cookies and disappointed friends.
The written explanation of such a process must be
organized with particular care, Each step or part of the
directions should be discussed in the same order as it oc-
curs in the process. The following sample paragraph is
a recipe for shrimp—one you might want to try. Notice
that the writer begins with the purchase of the shrimp
and then proceeds, step by step, through preparing,
cooking, and serving the shrimp.
225
226 Chapter 7 / Process Chapter 7 / Process 227

Topic sentence C When fresh shrimp can be had, have it. What size? Medium she felt her usual fear. She knew he shouldn't drive after he'd
for reasons of economy and common sense. Huge shrimps been drinking heavily.
Step 1: are magnificently expensive while small ones come in such But then she turned, went to the linen closet, and took out
choose size numbers per pound that shelling them becomes slave labor. Step 1: prepara- a clean towel. She spread the towel out on her neatly made
tion _ bed. She hesitated a moment, looking at his rumpled unmade
Step 2: C Buy two pounds of fresh shrimp and shell them. First, with
choose quantity a thumbnail pinch the tail shell hard crosswise (so the tail bed with his pajamas thrown in a ball across the pillow. Be-
segments will come out intact), then handle the headless ani- Step 2: tidying up side his bed, in a heap where he'd stepped out of them, were
Step 3: shell _ the clothes he wore last night. One last time, she sighed, then
mals like so many pea pods; split them lengthwise, save the
shrimp
_ contents, and throw the husks away. Saute the shrimp with hung up the clothes and made his bed.
three crushed garlic cloves in two-thirds of a stick of butter. Next, she got her overnight bag from the closet and put
When the shrimp turn pink, add a 12-ounce can of Italian it carefully on the towel on her bed. She looked at it a mo-
Step 3: finding
tomatoes (which taste better than the fresh supermarket suitcases ment, then got another larger suitcase from the closet and put
Step 4: cooking kind), two bay leaves, a teaspoon of dried oregano, a _ it on the towel beside the other bag.
directions half-cup of dry white wine, and the juice of a lemon. Simmer Methodically, she took neatly folded underwear, stock-
for ten minutes, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve ings, and nightgowns from her drawers and packed them in
with rice. neat rows in the two bags. One set in the overnight bag, and
Philip Kopper, five in the larger suitcase. She laid aside a nightgown with
"Delicacies de la Mer" a matching robe to pack last.
Next, she lifted dresses and suits, carefully hung on the
Because this paragraph is telling the reader what to do, hangers and buttoned up so they wouldn't wrinkle, from her
it is written in the second person (you), present tense closet. She took a package of tissue paper from under the
(come, buy, save, throw, and so forth), but the word you is jumble of his belts and socks in the bottom dresser drawer.
She folded the tissue paper inside her clothes so they
unstated, which makes the paragraph seem to address
wouldn't wrinkle. Two extra blouses and a dress went into
the reader even more directly. This tone is commonly the overnight bag. She'd wear the suit she had on. Two suits,
used in process writing that instructs the reader. two blouses, and two dresses went into the larger bag.
Not all process essays are such clear-cut models of She brought plastic bags from the kitchen and put her
"process" writing as the paragraph above. In some cases, shoes into them. One pair went into the overnight bag; two
a paragraph or essay describing a process may serve a pairs, one for the dresses and one for the suits, went into the
larger bag. Then she put her bedroom slippers and the night-
purpose similar to that of a narrative or a description. gown with the matching robe on top of the other clothes in
That is, whereas strictly process writing is intended pri- the overnight bag. She would take only the overnight bag
marily to instruct, process writing can also be adapted _ into her parents' house, at least at first. No need for them to
to situations in which the writer wants mainly to inform know right away that this time was for more than one night.
or describe. In such cases, a process is often combined They'd always said that she wasn't going to change him and
with narration and description, as in the following exam- that the marriage wouldn't last.
She sighed again, closed the suitcases, carried them out
ple. Notice that in describing the process—the way the
to her car, and then went back into the house for one last look
woman packs her suitcases and leaves the house—the around. She checked to see that the appliances were turned
writer describes her character. You also know, by the con- Step 5: final off, disconnected the TV, and turned off the hot water heater.
trast between her habits and those of her husband, that check and look If this time was like all the other times, he wouldn't be back
around for at least three days. No need to take any chances on fire
her basic character differs sharply from his. By detailing
or to run up the electric bill. He'd be angry when he came
the process of packing and combining it with other narra-
back and found it turned off, but . . .
tive details, the writer tells you indirectly what has pre-
Almost ready, she took her coat from the hall closet,
viously happened in the woman's life. folded it carefully over her arm, and took a last look at his
shoes and socks left beside his chair and the newspaper flung
Introduction—nar- F He slammed the door angrily behind him, and she heard the across the couch where it would leave newsprint on the up-
rative
I squeal of the tires as he raced off in the car. For a moment, holstery. She left the shoes and socks but couldn't resist
228 Chapter 7 / Process Insert Flap "A" and Throw Away / S. J. Perelman 229

folding the newspaper and putting it on a table. Finally, she Insert Flap "A" and Throw Away
went out, closed the door silently behind her, got into her car,
and drove quietly and slowly away. S. J. Perelman
As you started reading this essay, you probably real-
ized right away that it would be more descriptive and in- Have you ever tried to assemble something you bought, only to find out the instructions
formative than instructive. Two signals that alerted you provided seem to match neither the product nor the process required to put it together?
In this paragraph, S. /. Perelman describes the process that can result from bad process
are that the writing is in the third person (she) and in the writing.
past tense (took, packed, lifted, laid, and so on). Think, for
a minute, about how you would go about writing a clear Words to Know
instructive process description in that person and tense.
Experienced writers may use varying points of view in capricious unstable and unpredictable
process writing, but for clear point-by-point instructions, convulsively in a fit, thrashing around
second person (you), present tense (take, pour, measure), dolorous miserable, pained
and a straightforward tone are the most common. procurable available for purchase
purgatory temporary suffering
Although a process approach can sometimes be useful
in writing narratives and descriptions that deal with sig-
nificant activities or accomplishments, you will usually
use process in writing assignments that involve giving di- U n e stifling summer afternoon last August, in the attic of a tiny
rections, describing how a mechanical gadget works, or stone house in Pennsylvania, I made a most interesting discovery: the
reporting science experiments. In these situations you shortest, cheapest method of inducing a nervous breakdown ever per-
may combine process with other modes like definition fected. In this technique (eventually adopted by the psychology de-
(Chapter 9), examples (Chapter 4), and cause and effect partment of Duke University, which will adopt anything), the subject
(Chapter 8). Always remember that three factors are es- is placed in a sharply sloping attic heated to 340cF. and given a moth-
sential to an effective process essay. First, be sure that the proof closet known as the Jiffy-Cloz to assemble. The Jiffy-Cloz, pro-
steps or procedures are carefully organized, step by curable at any department store or neighborhood insane asylum, con-
step—usually in the same order as they should be carried sists of half a dozen gigantic sheets of red cardboard, two plywood
out—so that the reader can understand and follow your doors, a clothes rack, and a packet of staples. With these is included
explanation. Second, be sure that you include any infor- a set of instructions mimeographed in pale-violet ink, fruity with
mation that the reader needs about any special materials phrases like "Pass Section F through Slot AA, taking care not to fold
or preliminary steps. And, third, include all the specific tabs behind washers (see Fig. 9)." The cardboard is so processed that
steps in the process. as a subject struggles convulsively to force the staple through, it sud-
The following selections will show you how experi- denly buckles, plunging the staple deep into his thumb. He thereupon
enced writers use process writing to instruct and inform springs up with a dolorous cry and smites his knob (Section K) on the
their readers. As you read, try to pick out each step in rafters (RR). As a final demonic touch, the Jiffy-Cloz people cunningly
the process described. The questions at the ends of the omit four of the staples necessary to finish the job, so that after inde-
readings will help you pick out and analyze the writers' scribable purgatory, the best the subject can possibly achieve is a
techniques, and the writing assignments will give you sleazy, capricious structure which would reduce any self-respecting
practice in applying the principles of process writing. moth to helpless laughter. The cumulative frustration, the tropical
heat, and the soft, ghostly chuckling of the moths are calculated to un-
seat the strongest mentality.
230 Chapter 7 / Process Mastering Scrabble / Barry Chamish 231

Questions About the Reading Mastering Scrabble

1. What is the person in the paragraph trying to do? Why? Barry Chamish
2. What do you think laughing moths sound like? Why does the writer
refer to moths, in particular? Scrabble is a game that offers a fun way to increase your vocabulary. But according to
3. Is the writer ultimately successful in accomplishing his task? this paragraph, becoming a true expert at the game requires painstaking memorization.

Questions About the Writer's Strategies Words to Know

1. Identify some points of irony in this paragraph. hoarding the act of saving a hidden store of items
2. What does "smites his knob" mean? Why does the writer use this OSPD Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary
language?
3. What is the controlling metaphor in this paragraph? That is, the
writer is describing the situation as if it were something it is not. J\. scrabble master is not born; like the alphabet he uses, he is made.
What is the substitute situation he is using? (Hint: An important An enormous amount of training lies behind his apparent gift. First,
clue is the word subject.) all of the OSPD's two-letter words must be memorized. Also learned
are which ones can be pluralized and which ones cannot. For instance,
Writing Assignments ka can take an s but xu can't. Next, all three-letter words are learned
by heart, both those that hook to two-letter words, like kab, and those
1. Write a paragraph of advice to the writer of this paragraph. Using that stand alone, like neb. After this, all four-letter words that hook
a process format, explain how to successfully follow step-by-step to three-letter words (for example, rani and taro) must be memorized.
instructions without becoming impatient or frustrated. Try to illus- Then all four-letter words are memorized. Short words are not a ma-
trate the process by pointing out some things the writer did wrong. jority of all words in the language, but they are disproportionately im-
2. In a process paragraph, explain how to wash a casserole dish left portant in Scrabble. In a typical game they account for three quarters
on the counter overnight, clean up a Coke or Pepsi spilled on the of the words put down and for more than half the points scored.
floor, freshen up a pair of smelly sneakers, clean a greasy engine, Knowing these two-, three-, and four-letter words makes possible the
or perform some other unattractive task. Be humorous if you can. dumping of unwanted letters and the hoarding of important ones. This
is known as rack management.
232 Chapter 7 / Process The Right Way to Eat an Ice-Cream Cone / L. Rust Hills 233

Questions About the Reading

The Right Way to Eat an Ice-Cream Cone
1. What are ka and xu?
2. What is "rack management"? I. Rust Hills
3. Why are short words so important in Scrabble?
4. Do you think Scrabble is a creative game for the Scrabble master? Rust Hills was fiction editor of Esquire and The Saturday Evening Post, and is now
Why or why not? a freelance writer. In this paragraph, taken from his book How to Do Things Right, he
explains his technique, which was perfected through years of taking his children to ic"e-
cream cone stands. Having given us the preliminary pitfalls—melted ice cream on car
Questions About the Writer's Strategies upholstery, choosing a flavor, holding more than one cone at once—he delivers the ultimate
1. What is the main idea of this paragraph? Which sentence(s) state instructions on eating the cone.
it?
2. What order does the writer use to describe the process? Words to Know
3. Identify three transitions in the paragraph. forgoing deciding against
jostling bumping together
Writing Assignments molecules very small particles
stance way of standing
1. We all learn new things. Write a paragraph describing the steps by
which you learned an important skill, such as driving a car or oper-
ating a personal computer.
2. Write a process paragraph describing the procedure you follow if \ J J rasp the cone with the right hand firmly but gently between
you want to remember how to spell a difficult word. thumb and at least one but not more than three fingers, two-thirds of
the way up the cone. Then dart swiftly away to an open area, away
from the jostling crowd at the stand. Now take up the classic
ice-cream-cone-eating stance: feet from one to two feet apart, body
bent forward from the waist at a twenty-five-degree angle, right elbow
well up, right forearm horizontal, at a level with your collarbone and
about twelve inches from it. But don't start eating yet! Check first to
see what emergency repairs may be necessary. Sometimes a sugar cone
will be so crushed or broken or cracked that all one can do is gulp at
the thing like a savage, getting what he can of it and letting the rest
drop to the ground, and then evacuating the area of catastrophe as
quickly as possible. Checking the cone for possible trouble can be done
in a second or two, if one knows where to look and does it systemati-
cally. A trouble spot some people overlook is the bottom tip of the
cone. This may have been broken off. Or the flap of the cone material
at the bottom, usually wrapped over itself in that funny spiral con-
struction, may be folded in a way that is imperfect and leaves an open-
ing. No need to say that through this opening1—in a matter of perhaps
thirty or, at most, ninety seconds—will begin to pour hundreds of
thousands of sticky molecules of melted ice cream. You know in this
case that you must instantly get the paper napkin in your left hand
under and around the bottom of the cone to stem the forthcoming flow,
or else be doomed to eat the cone far too rapidly. It is a grim moment.
234 235
Chapter7/PrOce Cook./ Barbara Lewis (Student)

No one wants to eat a cone under that kind of pressure, but neither The Cook
does anyone want to end up with the bottom of the cone stuck to a
messy napkin. There's one other alternative—one that takes both skill garbara Lewis (Student)
and courage: Forgoing any cradling action, grasp the cone more firmly
between thumb and forefinger and extend the other fingers so that Barbara Lezuis takes us through the process of preparing dinner at a busy restaurant. She
they are out of the way of the dripping from the bottom, then increase iuQvles meat, potatoes, and a seemingly endless stream of sauces and other delectables
the waist-bend angle from twenty-five to thirty-five degrees, and then ,-,; a two-hour race with the dinner bell. And she does all this after a day of classes at
eat the cone, allowing it to drip out of the bottom onto the ground in Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.
* front of you! Experienced and thoughtful cone-eaters enjoy facing up y
to this kind of sudden challenge. Words to Knoiv

au jus natural unthickened juices or gravy

Questions About the Reading escargots snails
requisition a formal written order
1. How many ways are there to eat an ice-cream cone? saute to fry food quickly in a little tat
2. With all the problems with ice-cream cones, does the writer like to scampi slirimp
eat them?
3. Why is it necessary to be so careful and systematic when eating an
ice-cream cone?
JL reparing food for the saute line at the restaurant where I work is
a hectic two-hour job. 1 come to work at 3:00 P.M. knowing that every-
Questions About the Writer's Strategies thing must be done by 5:00 P.M. The first thing I do is to check the requi-
1. Which words or phrases in this paragraph have a "scientifio" preci- sition for the day and order my food. Then I have to clean and season
sion that makes this process clear to the reader? five or six prime rib roasts and place them in the slow-cooking oven.
2. Why does the writer take such a serious tone in writing the para- After this, I clean and season five trays of white potatoes for baking
graph? Isn't eating an ice-cream cone supposed to be fun? What and put them in the fast oven. Now I have two things cooking, prime
will happen to someone who eats an ice-cream cone incorrectly? ribs and potatoes, at different times and temperatures, and they both
3. This writer describes a number of problems associated with have to be watched very closely. In the meantime, I must put three
ice-cream cones. Which words or phrases does he use to help the trays of bacon in the oven. The bacon needs very close watching, too,
reader know when he is about to identify those problems? because it burns very easily. Now I have prime ribs, potatoes, and ba-
4. Which words or phrases does the writer use to make eating an ice- con all cooking at the same time—and all needing constant watching.
cream cone seem more important than it really is? Next, I make popovers, which are unseasoned rolls. These also go-into
an oven for baking. Now I have prime ribs, baking potatoes, bacon,
Writing Assignments . and popovers cooking at the same time and all of them needing to be
closely watched. With my work area set up, I must make clarified^but-^
1. Imagine that you are sitting down to a heaping plate of spaghetti ter and garlic butter. The clarified butter is for cooking liver,' veal, and
and meatballs while wearing a brand-new white suit or dress. In fish. The garlic butter is for stuffing escargots. I have to make ground
a process paragraph, describe how you would eat the meal. meat stuffing also. Half of the ground meat will be mixed with wild
2. Choose some simple, everyday activity such as making a bed or r
ice and will be used to stuff breast of chicken. The other half of the
brushing your teeth and write a paragraph describing the process. ground meat mixture will be used to stuff mushrooms. I have to pre-
Use a serious, authoritative tone. pare veal, cut and season scampi, and clean and saute mushrooms and
onions. In the meantime, I check the prime ribs and potatoes, take the
bacon and the popovers out of the oven, and put the veal and chicken
 Get Thin / Junius Adams 237
Chapter 7

into the oven. Now I make au jus, which is served over the prime ribs Think Thin and Get Thin
make the soup for the day, and cook the vegetables and rice. Then I
heat the bordelaise sauce, make the special for the day, and last of a]] junius Adams
cook food for the employees. This and sometimes more has to be done
by five o'clock. Is it any wonder that I say preparing food for the saute junius Adams wants to tell you how to lose weight effectively. It's a topic many experts
line at the restaurant where I work is a very hectic two-hour job! have written countless books on. Few are as simple as Adams's instructions here.

Questions About the Reading Words to Know

aversion an intense dislike

1. Run through the cook's list again. About how many people do you
think she is preparing food for? immune not susceptible to a certain condition
2. Classify the food the cook is responsible for. perpetuity eternity
3. Do you think the cook likes her job? Explain your answer. sedentary remaining seated most of the time
solace something that eases or relieves
subside stop
Questions About the Writer's Strategies unanimous agreeing completely
1. Where is the topic sentence of the paragraph? Does the writer re-
state the topic sentence anywhere in the paragraph? If so, where?
Does the sentence then serve a second purpose? What is that x"V t times, it seems that almost everybody I know is desperately try- i
purpose? ing, without success, to lose weight. But there are a lucky few who have
2. Do you think hectic is an effective word for describing this job? found a way to slim down and stay thin. What's their secret?
3. The cook states at the beginning that she has two things t,o watch To find out, I interviewed dieters, doctors, psychologists and- other 2
carefully. The list of things she watches continues to grow during weight-control .authorities. I quizzed "naturally thin" people to see
the paragraph. Identify the sentences where she re-emphasizes this why they're immune from weight problems. Though not all the an-
point. Does this help support her statement that the job is hectic? swers were unanimous, a number of points were clear: Yes, it is possi-
4. What order does the writer use to organize her information in the ble to become thin. Yes, you can choose a diet and stay on it. Yes, you
paragraph? can remain slender .after losing weight.
Reducing, however, is not just a matter of clipping a diet out of a 3
Writing Assignments magazine. It isn't even a matter of following the diet to the technical
letter. The diet takes place more in your head than at the table. You
1. We all have moments when we feel under pressure. Write a process
paragraph illustrating one of your busy days. have to learn how to "think thin." Here are seven ways:
2. Imagine that the restaurant has decided to hire a helper for the cook 1. You Must Want to Be Thin. Jean Mayer, one of the world's fore- 4
and that you are to be that helper. Write a process paragraph ex-
most authorities on overweight, says that a major factor ir^rejiuciiig
plaining the steps you would take to assist the cook and how you
would blend your activities with hers. ~is 'Tugh motivation." This became obvious to me as I talked with un-
successfuTdieters. Typically, they had tried this or that diet and found '
that "it didn't work" or "it made me uncomfortable." They seemed
to put too much responsibility on the diet, relying on it to make them
slim rather than on themselves to become slim through the diet.
The lucky dieters are, of course, the ones who have a built-in moti- 5
vation. But what about the rest of us?/A frequent complaint of dieters
is: J don't have the will power^ Rather than saying that^t's better to say:
 My dftdrp for food seems to he. stronger than my desire to lose weight. Thi s this step, you'll see how you get through a full day's activities
puts the problem in a more useful perspective^ without nourishment. Again, ^study all your reactions, both
| physical and emotional^-
2. Be Less Food-Centered Much of an infant's life is centered on • • Step four—experiment zvithjin^erfeeding yourselfjStart eating less .13
nourishment, and babies feed-with great intensity. That's their job: t0 all the time so that you feel a slight hunger around the clockj
eat and grow. For an adult to be similarly food-centered, however, is The idea is to stop eating while you still experience a faint edge
inappropriate. Yet many of us are like infants, usually because frustra- of hunger. This exercise should be continued for a week orjwo,
tion has caused us to revert to infantile patterns.! We eat when we are but if you start feeling really deprived, have an occasional full
unhappy, worried, frightened; when we're feeling lonely, unloved or mealw You're experimenting with hunger, not condemning
depressed, food is our solacej yourself to be hungry in perpetuity.
How can you become less food-centered? For one thing you can 7
find alternatives to eating,. Draw up a_l_ist_of at least five, and preferably
a~3ozen or more, activities that please you going for a walk in the 4. Work on Your Body Image. Which is the "real" you—the slender 14
country, sailing, talkingjo your best friend, reading the latest mystery one or the overweight one? answer to that question is extremely
novel, whatever. Make sure that the list contains several things that important/No one can become thin who doesn't believe that he can be
are as easy to do as eating. Now, every time you have a desire to eat, thiry Your body image is the "you" that you identify with, either con-
do sornething from your list firsts sciously or unconsciously, the one that feels natural and proper.
Another way you can become less food-centered is tc^sjeparate eat- a- If you're trying to reduce, you should have a definite idea of just 15
ingfrom other behavior. When you eat, devote yourself entirely and how thinj/ouwant to_be, how you want to look, how you want to feel. _
exclusively to the food/Don't combine eating with any other activity Picture your new body image often, vividly and graphically, until it
such as watching television, listening to music, reading or working^ becomes clear and strongs This is not mere daydreaming. You are clari-
j T h i s strategy,]' says Israel Goldiamond, a behavior-modification spe- fying your desires and ambitions, creating an emotional reality that
cialist, "brings eating behavior under the control of food alone^S If you can serve as a blueprint for change.
firmly refuse to combine eating with any other activity, then other acti-
vities will lose their power to make you want to eat. . 5. Set Achievable Goals;. Unsuccessful dieters often fail because 16
they set overly ambitions goals for themselves. {"I'm going to lose 30
3. Tolerate Hunger, Many overweight people fear hunger as if it
pounds in two months.") Don't be i n a h u r r y and invite discourage-—
were a disease./One young woman I know is terrified at just the
rnejiL Set yourself a manageable subgoal—losing 2 pounds or 5
thought of missing a meal. "I even have nightmares about not being
instead of 15 or 30. Once you've achieved one subgoal, you'll find it
fed," she told me. If you are afraid of hunger, here's an experiment
to help you tolerate it: easier to go on to the nexh Success breeds success.

• • Step one—postpone a meal ^Choose any meal and delay it for a 6. Increase Your Physical Activity. The standard unit for measur- 17
wHTle beyond the usual time] You are doing this not to diet, ing foodenergy is the calorie. One pound of body fat equals approxi-
but to study hunger. Notice how you feel. mately 3,500 calories.)^The more energy you expend, the more calories
Step two—skip a meal. What you're doing now is trying to test you bum up. Thus, exercising is extremely important if you're trying
your reactions to hunger. Does it keep increasing as the hours to reduced A sedentary person eating the same amount of food as a
go by or does it rise to a peak and then subside? What about physically active individual will take much longer to burn off one
your emotions—does not eating make you feel unhappy, de- pound of fat.
prived or scared, or do you remain cheerful? So trytry to rev
to rev up your
up your energy
energy output.
output Jogging,
jogging, bicycletennisg
bicycle riding? riding,
Step threes—fast all day. Eat nothing until_dinnertimef not even playing and calisthenics are all fine, but it's also important to raise
diet sodas or sugarless gum. If you're thirsty, drink waterjln your overall level of activity. If you sit most of the day, d / t i i H l ^ f e
 Think Thin and Get Thin / Junius Ad 241
Chapter 7 / Process

Squirm, stretch, tap your feet, move around in your chair. When you Questions About the Reading
walk, \valk quickly. Welcome every opportunity to move, exert your- 1. Does the writer feel that all people can be thin?
self, expenct energy. Increasing your^tolal daily physical activity, min- 2. Why must a person "want to be thin" to succeed at reducing? What
ute by minute, will do more to help you lose weight than jogging three methods could a person use to increase his or her motivation to be
times around the park every morning thin?
7. Make Up "Head Tricks:" successful dieters cievelopjheir 19 3. The writer gives four steps to tolerating hunger. What are they? Do
own ploys for "thinking thin". For exapmle, a friend of mine began they sound reasonable? Do you think it is reasonable and safe for
a reducing campaign by gorging himself on chocolate sundaes and' everyone to try these steps? Why or why not?
telling himself with every bite that the stuff was making him ill, flood- 4. Explain "aversion therapy" in your own words.
ing his body with sugar, giving him an ugly gut. He can now scarcely
bear the sight of chocolate. And a very slender woman I know always Questions About the Writer's Strategies
recites to herself the names of a dozen unattractively fat people before 1. What methods does the writer use to make himself seem authorita-
sitting down to dinner. tive on his subject? Cite examples from the essay.
You can even invent your own "averasion therapy". Choose a food 20 2. Could the writer have used another order in listing his points? Does
you are addicted tiTbuTwould like to phase out of your life—let's say he list his points in order of importance?
it's chocolate-chip cookies. Now pick some experience you would find
3. Does the writer restate the thesis in the concluding paragraph? If
especially horrifying or repulsive—for instance, witnessing a dreadful
so, identify the sentence(s) in which it is stated.
highway accident. Think about'the two together once or twice a day
until the food you selected has become firmly identified with unpleas-
antness and no longer appeals to you. (Twenty to thirty repetitions of Writing Assignments
this exercise, according to behavior-modification psychologists, are 1. Some people suffer from being underweight. Write a how-to essay
enough to cure even the most stubborn food addiction.) titled "Think Fat."
Now, where do you go from here? Perhaps you've learned and been 21
2. Along with losing weight, most experts recommend an exercise
able to apply the secrets of successful reducing to the point that you
don't even need a formal diet. But if you do still need one, make sure program to keep fit. Write a process essay describing three ways
not to fall into the "right person, wrong diet" trap. Suppose you're of becoming more physically fit through exercise.
not terribly keen for meat. Don't choose a high-protein regimen that 3. Write a process essay on how someone might increase his or her
will give you too much of what you don't care for and not enough of will power.
what you desire.
Of course, some people like diets that are hard to follow. They want 22
to be heroic, perform feats of sacrifice and self-denial. If that's what
you want, fine; but remember that a crashdiet cannot be followed in
definitely without injury to your health. To.stay thin, you should have
apermanent diet in mind, for use ~aTfer the initial weight reduction.
No matter what kind of diet you choose, remember that losing weight
begins with a state of mind. We could call it simply mind over fat. "1
242 Chapter 7 / Process Eating Alone in Restaurants / Bruce Jay Friedman 243

Eating Alone in Restaurants Sniffed at by headwaiters, an object of scorn and amusement to 7

couples, the solitary diner is the unwanted and unloved child of Res-
Bruce Jay Friedman taurant Row. No sooner does he make his appearance than he is
whisked out of sight and seated at a thin sliver of a table with barely
The human mind is inventive and analytical. If you looked hard enough, you could prob- enough room on it for an hors d'oeuvre. Wedged between busboy sta-
ably find careful, precise instructions for doing just about anything. Bruce Jay Friedman's tions, a hair's breadth from the men's room, there he sits, feet lodged
writing here is tongue-in-cheek. That should be evident from the title of the book this essay in a railing as if he were in Pilgrim stocks, wondering where he went
appeared in: The Lonely Guy's Book of Life. But he's also telling us something useful: wrong in life.
with the right attitude, you can pull off anything. In a sense, this piece is telling us how
to have that attitude. Rather than face this grim scenario, most Lonely Guys would prefer 8
to nibble away at a tuna fish sandwich in the relative safety of their
Words to Know high-rise apartments.
What can be done to ease the pain of this not only starving but silent 9
audacious daring minority—to make dining alone in restaurants a rewarding experi-
conviviality the quality of being warm and festive ence? Absolutely nothing. But some small strategies do exist for mak-
disdain despise, look down upon ing the experience bearable.
foreboding a feeling that something bad will hap-
pen
Feydeau French writer of bedroom comedies and Before You Get There
farces Once the Lonely Guy has decided to dine alone at a restaurant, a sense 10
gaucho cowboy of terror and foreboding will begin to build throughout the day. All
hors d'oeuvre appetizer the more reason for him to get there as quickly as possible so that the
imperiously arrogantly, domineeringly experience can soon be forgotten and he can resume his normal life.
inconspicuous not noticeable Clothing should be light and loose-fitting, especially around the
Pilgrim stocks wooden frames for punishment neck—on the off chance of a fainting attack during the appetizer. It
ploys tricks is best to dress modestly, avoiding both the funeral-director-style suit
scenario outline of a plan as well as the bold, eye-arresting costume of the gaucho. A single cock-
suffice be sufficient tail should suffice; little sympathy will be given to the Lonely Guy who
tumbles in, stewed to the gills. (The fellow who stoops to putting mor-
phine in his toes for courage does not belong in this discussion.) En
JTl-unched over, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, a solitary 1 route to the restaurant, it is best to play down dramatics, such as
diner slips into a midtown Manhattan steakhouse. No sooner does he swinging the arms pluckily and humming the theme from The Bridge
check his coat than the voice of the headwaiter comes booming across on the River Kwai.
the restaurant.
"Alone again, eh?" 2
As all eyes are raised, the bartender, with enormous good cheer, 3 Once You Arrive
chimes in: "That's because they all left him high and dry." The way your entrance comes off is of critical importance. Do not skulk 11
And then, just in case there is a customer in the restaurant who isn't 4 in, slipping along the walls as if you are carrying some dirty little se-
yet aware of the situation, a waiter shouts out from the buffet table: cret. There is no need, on the other hand, to fling your coat arrogantly
"Well, we'll take care of him anyway, won't we fellas!" at the hatcheck girl, slap the headwaiter across the cheeks with your
Haw, haw, haw, and a lot of sly winks and pokes in the ribs. 5 gloves and demand to be seated immediately. Simply walk in with a
Eating alone in a restaurant is one of the most terrifying experiences 6 brisk rubbing of the hands and approach the headwaiter. When asked
in America. how many are in your party, avoid cute responses such as "Jes HI ol'
244 Chapter 7 / Process Eating Alone in Restaurants / Bruce Jay Friedman 245

me." Tell him you are a party of one; the Lonely Guy who does not wave of the hand in return. It is unfair to imply that you have come
trust his voice can simply lift a finger. Do not launch into a story about to help them throw off their chains.
how tired you are of taking out fashion models, night after night, and When the headwaiter arrives to take your order, do not be bullied 16
what a pleasure it is going to be to dine alone. into ordering the last of the gazelle haunches unless you really want
It is best to arrive with no reservation. Asked to set aside a table 12 them. Thrilled to be offered anything at all, many Lonely Guys will
for one, the restaurant owner will suspect either a prank on the part say "Get them right out here" and wolf them down. Restaurants take
of an ex-waiter, or a terrorist plot, in which case windows will be unfair advantage of Lonely Guys, using them to get rid of anything
boarded up and the kitchen bombswept. An advantage of the "no res- from withered liver to old heels of roast beef. Order anything you like,
ervation" approach is that you will appear to have just stepped off the although it is good to keep to the light and simple in case of a sudden
plane from Des Moines, your first night in years away from Marge and attack of violent stomach cramps.
the kids.
All eyes will be upon you when you make the promenade to your 13
table. Stay as close as possible to the headwaiter, trying to match him Some Proven Strategies
step for step. This will reduce your visibility and fool some diners into Once the meal is under way, a certain pressure will begin to build as 17
thinking you are a member of the staff. If you hear a generalized snick- couples snuggle together, the women clucking sympathetically in your
ering throughout the restaurant, do not assume automatically that you direction. Warmth and conviviality will pervade the room, none of it
are being laughed at. The other diners may all have just recalled an encompassing you. At this point, many Lonely Guys will keep their
amusing moment in a Feydeau farce. eyes riveted to the restaurant paintings of early Milan or bury them-
If your table is unsatisfactory, do not demand imperiously that one 14 selves in a paperback anthology they have no wish to read.
for eight people be cleared immediately so that you can dine in solitary Here are some ploys designed to confuse other diners and make 18
grandeur. Glance around discreetly and see if there are other possibili- them feel less sorry for you.
ties. The ideal table will allow you to keep your back to the wall so
that you can see if anyone is laughing at you. Try to get one close to • After each bite of food, lift your head, smack your lips 19
another couple so that if you lean over at a 45-degree angle it will ap- thoughtfully, swallow and make a notation in a pad. Diners
pear that you are a swinging member of their group. Sitting opposite will assume you are a restaurant critic.
a mirror can be useful; after a drink or two, you will begin to feel that • Between courses, pull out a walkie-talkie and whisper a mes- 20
there are a few of you. sage into it. This will lead everyone to believe you are part of
Once you have been seated, and it becomes clear to the staff that 15 a police stake-out team, about to bust the salad man as an in-
you are alone, there will follow The Single Most Heartbreaking Mo- ternational dope dealer.
ment in Dining Out Alone—when the second setting is whisked away • Pretend you are a foreigner. This is done by pointing to items 21
and yours is spread out a bit to make the table look busier. This will on the menu with an alert smile and saying to the headwaiter:
be done with great ceremony by the waiter—angered in advance at "Is good, no?"
being tipped for only one dinner. At this point, you may be tempted • When the main course arrives, brush the restaurant silverware 22
to smack your forehead against the table and curse the fates that off the table and pull some of your own out of a breastpocket.
brought you to this desolate position in life. A wiser course is to grit People will think you are a wealthy eccentric.
your teeth, order a drink and use this opportunity to make contact • Keep glancing at the door, and make occasional trips to look 23
with other Lonely Guys sprinkled around the room. A menu or a leafy out at the street, as if you are waiting for a beautiful woman.
stalk of celery can be used as a shield for peering out at them. Do not
Half-way through the meal, shrug in a world-weary manner
expect a hearty greeting or a cry of "huzzah" from these frightened
and begin to eat with gusto. The world is full of women! Why
and browbeaten people. Too much excitement may cause them to
tolerate bad manners! Life is too short.
slump over, curtains. Smile gently and be content if you receive a pale
246 Chapter 7 / Process Eating Alone in Restaurants / Bruce Jay Friedman 247

The Right Way situation. Feel free to use exaggeration to describe the causes of
O n e other course is o p e n to the Lonely Guy, an a u d a c i o u s one, full 24 your discomfort.
of perils, b u t all the more satisfying if you can bring it off. That is to 2. Write a process essay that describes giving a speech in public and
take off your d a r k glasses, sit erectly, smile broadly at anyone w h o the steps you recommend to overcome any possible stage fright.
looks in your direction, wave off inferior wines, and begin to eat with Use a serious, authoritative tone.
heartiness and e n o r m o u s confidence. As outrageous as the thought 3. Write an essay in which you explain the process of introducing
m a y be—enjoy y o u r o w n company. Suddenly, titters a n d sly w i n k s yourself to a total stranger and beginning a conversation—at a
will tail off, the h e a d w a i t e r ' s disdain will fade, and friction will build party, for instance, or on a train.
a m o n g couples w h o will t u r n out to be not as tightly cemented as they
appear. The heads of other Lonely Guys will lift with hope as you be-
come the attractive center of the room.
If that doesn't work, y o u still have your fainting option. 25

Questions About the Reading

1. What steps should a person eating alone take to be less uncomfort-
able?
2. In your own words, describe why single diners receive the treatment
the writer describes.
3. What is the "Single Most Heartbreaking Moment" of dining out
alone? What makes it so?
4. What is the writer suggesting in paragraph 24? Why might this op-
tion be the best one the Lonely Guy could pursue?

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Identify the thesis statement of this essay.
2. What is the writer's tone?
3. Identify five places where the writer uses exaggeration or overstate-
ment. What is the effect?
4. What makes this a process essay? Briefly list the steps in the
process.
5. In what order does the writer present the process?

Writing Assignments
1. Think of a situation that causes you fear or serious embarrassment,
such as being called on in class when you haven't read your assign-
ment, going to the dentist to have a cavity filled, asking for an exten-
sion on a paper's due date, or being confronted by a snarling dog.
Write an essay in which you explain the steps for dealing with the
248 Chapter 7 / Process Obtaining Power / Michael Korda

Park, or in an office without windows, where everything is made of

Obtaining Power plastic. "The first rule," he says, "is simple. Act impeccably! Perform
Michael Korda every act as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered."
I can understand that all right. It's an old Zen principle—you put 3
In this essay from Power! How to Get It, How to Use It!, Michael Korda lists five steps your whole soul and being and life into the act you're performing. In
to getting power in today's world. They are not five easy steps: when you consider them, Zen archery your entire being wills the arrow into the bull's-eye with
there is nothing easy about any of them. But knowing them and doing your best to observe an invisible force. It's not a question of winning, or even caring, it's
them is, says Korda, the only way to appear powerful—and in Korda's scheme of things, making the everyday acts we all perform important to ourselves. No
to appear powerful is to be powerful. matter how small the task, we have to teach ourselves that it matters.
If we are going to intervene in a meeting, we must do so at the right
Words to Know
moment, prepare for what we want to say, speak up at the crucial point
distort to twist out of normal shape when our intervention will be heard and listened to, make sure that
impeccably neatly, cleanly, completely attention is paid. Otherwise, it's best to remain silent. It is better to
impotence powerlessness do nothing than to do something badly.
justify try to prove right, absolve guilt "Second rule: never reveal all of yourself to other people, hold some- 4
rites ceremonies thing back in reserve so that people are never quite sure if they really
know you."
I can see that too. It's not that anybody seeking power should be 5
M.y friend and I are sitting at the Central Park Zoo, on the terrace 1 secretive—secrecy isn't the trick at all. It's more a question of remain-
ing slightly mysterious, as if one were always capable of doing some-
of the cafeteria, one of those hot summer afternoons when the park
is so crowded with people that the animals seem more human than thing surprising and unexpected. Most people are so predictable and
oneself. To our right are the towers of commercial New York, a high, reveal so much of themselves that a person who isn't and who doesn't
brutal cliff of great buildings, rising through the layers of haze like the automatically acquires a kind of power. For this reason, it is important
dreaded tower of Barad-Du in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. I can un- to give up the self-indulgent habit of talking about oneself. The power
derstand how one can become a powerful person in simpler societies person listens instead, and when he does talk about himself, it is in
and cultures; it may be a long, hard initiation, but the distractions are order to change the subject of conversation. Good players can always
fewer. The sheer size of the city distorts the ego. We are either reduced tell when someone is about to ask them to do something they don't
to the impotence of a meaningless daily routine—sleep, eat, work— want to do, and they effortlessly but firmly move the conversation
made even more painful by the knowledge that we have no power onto a personal level. One of the best players I know can talk about
over our lives; or worse, we destroy ourselves by trying to become big- himself for hours at the slightest sign of opposition or a demand about
ger, more famous, more powerful than the city itself. Can one have to be made on him. Even so, he reveals nothing. Sometimes he gives
power here, I want to know, in a life full of compromises, decisions, the impression that he has two children, sometimes three, occasionally
worries, pressures, in a place where even the mayor seldom seems able none, and he has at various times given people to understand that he
to control anything at all? I can understand the meaning of power in was graduated from Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and Ol' Miss. Some con-
the desert, the significance of the rites of power, the sudden illumina- fusion exists as to whether or not he is Jewish or Protestant, since he
tions of self-awareness that come when one is alone with Nature—all has claimed to be both, and also crosses himself when he passes St.
that makes sense. But in an office on the thirty-eighth floor of a huge Patrick's Cathedral. Nobody really knows the truth about him, and he
building in which thousands of people work? How does one seek pow- is therefore respected. Once we know everything about a person, we
er there? have squeezed him dry like a juiced orange, he is no longer of any use
My friend smiles. There are rules, they are the same for everybody, 2 or interest to us, we can throw him away.
this terrace is not so very different from a jungle clearing. The rules "Third rule: learn to use time, think of it as a friend, not an enemy. 6
of power do not change because one is on the subway, or in Central Don't waste it in going after things you don't want."
250 Chapter 7 / Process Obtaining Power I Michael Korda 251

Using time! Of course, but how seldom we do! Time uses us, we are 7 Questions About the Reading
merely its servants. We fight it as if it were the enemy, trying to force 1. Does the writer feel it is easier to feel powerful in simpler societies?
two hours' work into forty-five minutes if we're ambitious, or to Why?
stretch forty-five minutes' work into two hours if we're not. Powerful 2. What conditions of modern society make people feel powerless?
people devote exactly as much time to what they're doing as they need Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the hustle of a large city?
to or want to. They do not try to answer two telephones at once, or Discuss.
begin a meeting and then end it before a conclusion has been reached
3. What are the rules for seeking power? Discuss how you feel about
because "time has run out," or interrupt one conversation to begin
them. Are they useful? Can you think of more rules than those that
another. They are willing to be late, to miss telephone calls, and to
are listed?
postpone today's work to tomorrow if they have to. Events do not con-
4. Speculate about what kind of power the writer is discussing and
trol them—they control events.
about how it affects a person's life.
"Fourth rule: learn to accept your mistakes. Don't be a perfectionist 8 5. In paragraph 5, what does the writer mean by the term flayers7.
about everything."
True enough. Half the people we know are rendered powerless by 9
their need to be perfect, as if making one mistake would destroy them. Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Powerful people accept the necessity of taking risks and of being 1. Identify a simile in paragraph 1.
wrong. They don't waste time justifying their mistakes, either, or try- 2. The writer lets you know very clearly when he is going to start dis-
ing to transform them into correct decisions. Nothing makes one seem cussing a new rule. How does he do that? What transitional words
more foolish or impotent than the inability to admit a mistake. does he use?
"Last rule: don't make waves, move smoothly without disturbing 10 3. What is the point of view in the essay? Is there more than one point
things." of view? Explain your answer, citing examples from the essay.
That makes sense too, even in our world. Half the art of power lies 11 4. What makes this a process essay? Briefly list the steps in the
in arranging for things to happen the way we want them to, just as process.
a good hunter stays in one place and draws the game toward him, in- 5. Is the purpose of this essay to instruct the reader or to inform the
stead of wearing himself out pursuing it. The skills of the hunter are reader, or both? Explain your answer.
not out of place in our world: they must merely be applied differently.
My friend smiles again. "What more can I say?" he asks, waving 12 Writing Assignments
to the buildings south of the park. "It's your world. You picked it—te-
lephones, Telex machines, credit cards and all. Myself, I wouldn't care 1. Write an essay describing the steps you would take if you wanted
to live in it all the time. I'm not interested in negotiating contracts, or to become more powerful in your personal life.
buying a new car, or running a corporation—we don't have the same 2. Are you always as considerate and respectful of others as you could
ambitions and desires. But I could live here as easily as I can anywhere be? Write a process essay describing how you could better your rela-
else. You only need power. And since you live in it, you have to ex- tions with other people. Give rules for others to follow.
amine this world of yours coldly and clearly, as if your life depended 3. The writer's third rule is gaining control of time. Write an essay de-
on it. Because it does." scribing what steps you might take to be more in control of your
time.
 252
Chapter 7 / Process Mow to Put Off Doing a Job / Andy Rooney 253

How to Put Off Doing a Job

in Florida, call. Paying for a long-distance call is still easier and less
Andy Rooney unpleasant than actually getting down to work.
—Study the problem. It's foolish to jump right into a job before 6
you've thought it through. You might be doing the wrong thing. There
In this essay, Andy Rooney turns the process approach around, using it to show some
steps you can follow to avoid accomplishing something. might be an easier way to accomplish what you want to do, so think
it over carefully from every angle. Perhaps someone has written a
Words to Knoxv how-to book about the job you have in front of you. Buy the book and
then sit down and read it. Ask friends who have had the same job for
philosophize to speculate or think about advice about the best way to do it.
Once you've studied the problem from every angle, don't make a 7
quick decision. Sleep on it.
ML ebruary is one of the most difficult times of the year to put off doing —Take a coffee break. Although the term "coffee break" assumes 8
some of the things you've been meaning to do. There's no vacation that you are drinking coffee in an interim period between stretches
coming up, there are no long weekends scheduled in the immediate of solid work, this is not necessarily so. Don't be bound by old ideas
future; it's just this long, grim February. Don't tell me it's a short about when it's proper to take a coffee break. If taking it before you
month. February is the longest by a week. get started is going to help keep you from doing the work, by all means
Because I have so many jobs that I don't like to do, I've been review- 2 take your coffee break first.
ing the notebook I keep with notes in it for how to put off doing a job. —As a last resort before going to work, think this thing over. Is this 9
Let's see now, what could I use today? really what you want to do with your life? Philosophize. Nothing is
—Go to the store to get something. This is one of my most depend- 3 better for putting off doing something than philosophizing. Are you
able putter-offers. If I start a job and find I need some simple tool or a machine, trapped in the same dull, day-after-day routine that every-
a piece of hardware, I stop right there. I put on some better clothes, one else is in? Or are you a person who makes up his or her own mind
get in the car and drive to the store. If that store doesn't have what about things? Are you going to do these jobs because that's what's ex-
I'm looking for, I go to another. Often I'm attracted to some item that pected of you, or are you going to break the mold and live the way
has nothing whatsoever to do with the job I was about to start and you feel like living?
I buy that instead. For instance, if I go to the hardware store to buy Try these as ways for not getting down to work. 10
a new snow shovel so I can clean out the driveway, but then I see a
can of adhesive spray that will keep rugs in place on the floor, I'm apt
to buy the adhesive spray. That ends the idea I had to shovel out the
driveway.

—Tidy up the work area before starting a job. This has been useful 4
to me over the years as a way of not getting started. Things are such
a mess in my workshop, on my desk, in the kitchen and in the trunk
of the car that I decide I've got to go through some of the junk before
starting to work.
—Make those phone calls. There's no sense trying to do a job if you 5
have other things on your mind, so get them out of the way first. This
is a very effective way of not getting down to work. Call friends you've
been meaning to call, or the distant relative you've been out of touch
with. Even if someone is in California, Texas or Chicago and you're
254
Chapter 7 / Process Porrtraits of a Cop / N. R. Kleinfield 255

Questions About the Reading

1. In paragraph 1, what does the second sentence mean? How do vaca-
portraits of a Cop
tions and long weekends make it easier to put off doing things? tf. R. Kleinfield
2. Why does the writer say that February is the longest month?
3. Which of the writer's methods for putting off a task can someone Sometimes there can be nothing as interesting as watching a true professional at work.
use when all the others have been tried? jV. R- Kleinfield wrote this article after watching one of New York City's police sketch
artists on the job. Although the process is painstaking, the contribution the artist makes
Questions About the Writer's Strategies to criminal investigations is undeniable. Kleinfield shows us how these artists do it.

1. What is the writer's thesis? Can you identify a thesis statement, or Words to Know
is the thesis implied?
2. In what way is the thesis ironic? befuddle confuse
embellishment decorative addition
3. What makes this a process essay? Does it describe more than one
process?
4. In what humorous way does the writer let us know that he is some-
thing of an authority on his subject? A pencil poking out from behind his ear, Arthur Hagenlocher fidg- 1
ets on his high-legged chair in his box-like office in the old Loft's candy
Writing Assignments factory at 400 Broome St. in the New York City Hall area. Staring at
him are an uncompleted sketch and all manner of pencils and soft
1. Write a process essay describing how you do get down to work— erasers. Tacked up on the walls are sketches he and his colleagues have
school work, an odd job, or perhaps an athletic activity or practicing drawn. Except for one of Richard Nixon and another of Alfred E. New-
with a musical instrument. How do you discipline yourself to begin, man ("What, me worry?"), the sketches resemble no one recognizable,
and what steps do you take to get started? and Mr. Hagenlocher himself doesn't have any idea who they are sup-
2. Rewrite the essay you wrote for assignment 1, using the second per- posed to be.
son singular. That is, write a process essay instructing someone else "They're just faces to me," he says. "I don't know what their names 2
how to get started on a task. are, what their occupations are, where they live. To be frank, I haven't
3. Write a process essay describing the steps you would follow if you any notion who they are. With most of them, 1 never will."
wanted to teach someone to read. Arthur Hagenlocher makes a career of sketching people he has nev- 3
er met. Told by other people what they look like, he sketches them
plainly, without much fine detail or embellishment. When he sketches
them well enough, they will look, at best, like any one of several thou-
sand or several million people; at worst, they will look like no one.
Every so often, however, his sketches lead to the apprehension of a
criminal, which, in fact, is what they are intended to do. Arthur
Hagenlocher is a police artist, and everyone he draws is a suspected
criminal. . . .
When a crime that is witnessed occurs and a detective wishes a 4
sketch, he calls an artist as quickly as possible (one artist is always on
call). Either the detective will bring witnesses to the artist's office, or
else the artist will hustle to the scene of the crime and work there.
First off, Mr. Hagenlocher buttonholes all available witnesses, and 5
weeds out those who, by his judgment, are unreliable. Almost always,
 256
Chapter 7 / Process portraits of a Cop / N. R. Kleinfield 257

Mr. Hagenlocher prefers to deal with just one reliable witness, rather
than with many conflicting voices that simply befuddle him. All too language he used. This can be of subtle assistance in sketching the sus-
often when he works with several witnesses, there is a clash of facts. pect, but it can also sometimes link several sketches together. For in-
"The more witnesses there are, the more confusing it gets," the artist stance, if over a short period of time three suspects are described as
says. soft-spoken, in addition to having other similar traits, then chances
are they are the same person. It is also a good idea to ask a witness
Determining who makes the most reliable witness involves percep- 6 if a suspect resembled a famous person. Suspects have been compared
tion, interrogation and luck. "There's a lot of psychology involved,"
to Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Winston Churchill, Nelson Eddy, Jack
Mr. Hagenlocher says. "You can sort of feel a good witness. If someone
Palance, Jackie Gleason, Mick Jagger and a Greek god.
hesitates, or changes his mind, he's no good. If you have to pull things
out of someone, he's no good. If the person just starts telling you about After Mr. Hagenlocher completes a sketch, he shows it to the wit- 12
mouths and ears right away, then he's good." ness or witnesses for their reaction. Usually, there will be lots of minor,
and sometimes not too minor, changes to be made. When it's finished,
Usually, the younger the witness, the better. "Fourteen-year-old 7
the sketch isn't intended to approach the polished form of a portrait.
kids make great witnesses," Mr. Hagenlocher says. "They remember
"We're just trying to narrow down the possibilities," Mr. Hagenlocher
everything. Old ladies make terrible witnesses. They can't remember
anything. You ask a child about a nose, and he'll tell you about a nose. says. "If you've just got a big nose and a thin mouth to go with, then
You ask an adult about a nose, and he'll start telling you about the at least you've ruled out all the people with small noses and thick
color of the person's socks." Youngsters also tend to draw their own mouths. There are still millions of people still in the running, but mil-
sketches to help out. lions have also been eliminated."
From time to time, Mr. Hagenlocher produces no sketch at all. This 13
Initially, Mr. Hagenlocher tries to put witnesses at ease so they trust 8
happens when he receives too many conflicting reports from wit-
him, rather than barging up and identifying himself as a police officer.
When questioning someone, the artist tries to exact as much detail as nesses, or when a witness can't make up his mind or can't supply suffi-
possible about the suspect, though he can get by on remarkably few cient detail. "The whole point is to completely satisfy the witness," Mr.
facts. As a rule, he looks for five features: shape of face, hair, eyes, ears, Hagenlocher says. "If the witness isn't satisfied, then I don't turn in
and mouth. Distinguishing scars, birthmarks, beards, and mustaches a sketch. Some women have cried when they saw my sketch. Others
are an artist's dream for producing a useful sketch, but they don't of- have said, 'No way, no way. That's nothing like him.' " . . .
ten crop up. Once a sketch is completed, two photographs are taken of it. These 14
go to the detective who requested the sketch, who can then order
Mr. Hagenlocher always carts along 150 to 200 of the 900,000 mug 9
copies that can be distributed among police precincts and other forces
shots the police force keeps. Witnesses are asked to leaf through these
to try to find a similar face, and then subtle changes can be made in and departments. The sketch itself, designated by an identification
the sketch. "You could use just one photo, and work from that," Mr. number, the case number, the date drawn and the artist's initials, is
Hagenlocher says. "Using that as a base, you have the witness compare filed away in the sketching room. When a suspect is apprehended, the
the hair—is it longer or shorter?—the mouth—is it thinner or sketch is filed in a different place. Though they are supposed to, detec-
wider?—and so forth. But that's harder and takes more time. It's usu- tives don't always notify artists when culprits are caught because they
ally much quicker to show him a lot of photos and have them pick are tied down with new cases. . . .
one that's close." For the time being, Mr. Hagenlocher is content with turning out 15
sketches of people he doesn't know. "There's a tremendous satisfac-
"But I remember one time," the artist goes on, "when a girl flipped 10
tion," he says. "If you can take a picture of a person after he's appre-
through a mess of photos and finally picked one. 'That looks exactly
like him/ she said, 'except the hair was longer, the mouth was wider, hended and have it look like your sketch, you say, 'Wow, I can't believe
the eyes were further apart, the nose was smaller and the face was I did that.' But you did."
rounder.' She was a big help."
Besides the five basic features, Mr. Hagenlocher also questions wit-
nesses about a suspect's apparent nationality and the nature of the
258 Pithing a Frog / Irene Szurley (Student) 259
Chapter 7 / Process

Questions About the Reading Pithing a Frog

1. What do all the people whom Mr. Hagenlocher sketches have in Irene Szurley (Student)
common?
2. What is the first step Mr. Hagenlocher takes before drawing a police Irene Szurley is offering us more than instructions here. Her running commentary on
portrait? the process she is describing leaves us asking more questions than just "are we doing it
3. What are the five facial features Hagenlocher looks for in making right?" She wants us to wonder "are we right to do this?" Be careful. After she gets
a sketch? through with you, you may never want to go to biology class again.
4. Under what conditions does Hagenlocher decide not to make a
sketch? Words to Know
annihilation death
Questions About the Writer's Strategies cephalic of the head
cranial pertaining to the brain
1. The writer uses dialogue to describe the witnesses Hagenlocher dubiously questionably
thinks are most helpful. What is the effect of dialogue? Could the
flaccid soft, limp
author have chosen another technique and not used dialogue? In
grotesque distorted
which paragraph does he describe the "best" witnesses? Why are
intricate complex
they best?
middorsal mid-back
2. Which paragraphs develop the thesis of the essay? State the thesis occipital the back part of the head
of the essay in your own words. posteriorly along the back part of the body
3. What is the purpose of paragraphs 1 and 2? procure obtain
4. What are the basic steps of the sketching process, according to the vertebrae bones of the spinal column
essay?

Writing Assignments
1. Perhaps you are familiar with another aspect of detective work,
D uring the course of biological events, it often becomes necessary 1
to kill in order to learn about life. Biologists have devised many intri-
such as fingerprinting. Choose one aspect of a detective's work and cate procedures to accomplish this annihilation, and pithing is one of
describe the process used. these.
2. Describe any work of art that you have created, such as a painting This procedure is used as a means of destroying the central nervous 2
or a piece of furniture, and explain the steps you took to make it. system in order to eliminate sensation and response in the frog, so that
it can be properly dissected. Anaesthesis cannot possibly be used as
an alternative method, because it wears off, and that could prove di-
sastrously disadvantageous.
To begin this dubiously humane procedure, you, the aspiring muti- 3
lationist, must hold the cool, dry frog in your left fist, positioning your
fingers and thumbs in the grotesque attitude of a vise-like grip. The
index finger must press down on top of the poor, defenseless frog's
head, exerting pressure so that the spinal cord will be bent at the neck.
Next, take your right index finger and use your nail—the longer, 4
the better tactile response—to find the junction of the frog's vertebral
column with its occipital bone. If a nail doesn't work, bring the point
 Chapter 7 / Process 261

of a dull dissecting needle—we don't want any more pain than is abso-
lutely necessary—posteriorly along the animal's middorsal line until Questions About the Reading
the first bulge of a vertebra can be felt twinging through the skin. 1. What does the writer mean by the phrase "kill in order to learn
Now cast aside your dull needles. You are ready to begin the actual 5 about life"?
rupturing—the mutilation. Procure a sharp needle and puncture the 2. What is pithing? First describe it as you understand it from the essay
skin at the junction you have just located. Neatness is important, so and then check a dictionary.
remember to make only a hole in the skin; no lengthy gashes, please. 3, What is the purpose of destroying the frog's brain?
Retrieve your dull needle and insert it through this gaping hole, 6 4, What further steps are necessary to double-pith?
plunging it into the spinal cord as far as it will go. Don't be timid now.
At this point, the frog will become totally limp and flaccid, as he is Questions About the Writer's Strategies
in a state of spinal shock. You will no longer have to worry about his
squirming and wiggling efforts to free himself, all in vain. Tsk. 1. What tone is established in this essay? What words or phrases es-
As soon as the probe is in the cord up to the hilt, turn it and direct 7 tablish the tone? What is the effect of this tone on the reader?
it forward into the cranial cavity. Move it parallel to the external sur- 2. Is the technical terminology clearly defined for the nonscientist?
face, which by this time is awash with cephalic blood, but don't let What additional terms would you like to see defined by the writer?
this minor problem deter you. If the needle is positioned correctly in 3. Where does the writer define pithing? Is the definition necessary?
the cranial cavity, it will be possible to feel bone on all sides of the Is that the most effective placement for it?
needle. 4. In what order does the writer organize her material?
Begin, slowly at first, then progressively more rapidly, to twist the 8
needle; thrash it right and left. Complete destruction of the brain is Writing Assignments
inevitable, even if you are clumsy.
1. Describe any other common procedure, using descriptive words to
After this step, the frog is single-pithed. Since our knowledge must 9 convey your personal feeling about the procedures. For example,
know no bounds, we must invariably explore further. Place the needle tell how to iron a shirt, wash the car, clean the bathtub, or take out
at right angles to the body surface, turn its handle towards the vacant the garbage. Tell your feelings and reactions after each step.
head, parallel to the external surface. Gently, since we must maintain 2. Rewrite the paragraph eliminating the emotionally charged or sar-
the essence of humanity at all times, push the needle into the spinal castic words, and compare the effectiveness of the two paragraphs.
cord. A quick way to test your aim, and to amuse your friends, is to
3. Give a new owner an explanation of how to housebreak a dog or
see if the frog's legs have spastically jerked out straight. If so, then you
how to care for a bird or cat. Describe some of the less pleasant sides
may proceed to slowly rotate your implement of destruction until all
of these tasks.
the nerves are disconnected and frayed. The frog is now double-pithed
and unable to offer any resistance to your further exploratory efforts
in the name of science.
 Cause and
Effect

IN YOUR LOCAL newspaper you notice a story about a car

accident that took place late on a Saturday night. The
driver missed a curve, slammed into a tree, and was
badly injured. Police investigators reported that the
young victim had been drinking heavily with friends and
lost control of the car on the way home. This news article
is a relatively clear example of a cause, heavy consump-
tion of alcohol, and an effect, a serious accident.
Sometimes you can recognize immediately that cause
and effect is part of a writer's mode of development be-
cause the writer uses words that signal a cause-and-effect
relationship—words like because, therefore, as a result, and
consequently. However, writers will not necessarily indi-
cate cause and effect so directly. Sometimes a cause-
and-effect relationship will be clear only from the
arrangement of ideas or the narrative sequence of events.
Usually, though, the topic sentence or thesis statement
will indicate that the writer is describing a cause-and-
effect situation.
A cause-and-effect explanation tells why something
turns out the way it does. In some cases, a single cause
may contribute heavily to a single effect or result. In the
following paragraph, the writer says that a single c a u s e -
attention to children's needs—led to the addition of fami-
ly rooms to houses.

Topic Tn the suburban houses of the late 1940s and 1950s, attention
to children's needs—some would say the creation of
Cause
children's needs—produced a special place for their activi-
ties. First labeled the don't-say-no space or the multipurpose
263
264 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect 265

room, it was later called the family room in a 1947 Parent's The manufacture of illicit whiskey in the mountains is not
Effect dead. Far from it. As long as the operation of a still remains
L Magazine model house. Sometimes no more than an exten-
sion of the kitchen, the family room was usually accessible so financially rewarding, it will never die. There will always
from the outside through a sliding glass door. It had a lino- be men ready to take their chances against the law for such
leum floor for dancing, a table for bridge games, and com- an attractive profit, and willing to take their punishment
fortable furniture for the new family pastime of watching when they are caught.
television. In 1946, the FCC [Federal Communications Com- Moonshining as a fine art, however, effectively disap-
Thesis
mission] authorized four hundred television stations, and L peared some time ago. There were several reasons. One was
antennas went up on the first eight thousand rooftops across Cause 1: decline the age of aspirin and modern medicine. As home doctoring
the country Although the family room most often served as in use of home lost its stature, the demand for pure corn whiskey as an es-
a place where children could do as they pleased in the midst remedies contain- sential ingredient of many home remedies vanished along
ing corn whiskey L with those remedies. Increasing affluence was another rea-
of clutter and noise, it was also an architectural expression
of family togetherness. Cause 2: young son. Young people, rather than follow in their parents' foot-
people finding steps, decided that there were easier ways to make money,
Gwendolyn Wright, easier ways to L and they were right.
"Levittown and the Postwar Baby Boom" make money
Third, and perhaps most influential of all, was the arrival,
Cause 3: greed
At other times, the writer explains that several causes causing produc- even in moonshining, of that peculiarly human disease
ers to care more known to most of us as greed. One fateful night, some force
contributed to or resulted in a particular effect. for quantity than L whispered in an unsuspecting moonshiner's ear, "Look. Add
quality this gadget to your still and you'll double your production.
Double your production, and you can double your profits."
Soon the small operators were being forced out of busi-
ness, and moonshining, like most other manufacturing enter-
prises, was quickly taken over by a breed of men bent on
making money—and lots of it. Loss of pride in the product,
and loss of time taken with the product increased in direct
proportion to the desire for production; and thus moonshin-
ing as a fine art was buried in a quiet little ceremony at-
tended only by those mourners who had once been the proud
artists, known far and wide across the hills for the excellence
of their product. Too old to continue making it themselves,
and with no one following behind them, they were reduced
to reminiscing about "the good old days when the whiskey
that was made was really whiskey and no questions asked."
Suddenly moonshining fell into the same category as faith
healing, planting by the signs, and all the other vanishing
customs that were a part of a rugged, self-sufficient culture
that is now disappearing.
Eliot Wigginton,
"Moonshining as a Fine Art"

In still other cases, one cause may have several effects.

For example, in the following essay, the writer suggests

three causes for the disappearance of moonshining—the
undercover manufacturing of whiskey—as a fine art.
266 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect 267

selves out, a fireball takes shape. As it expands, energy is ab-

sorbed in the form of X rays by the surrounding air, and then
the air re-radiates a portion of that energy into the environ-
Effect 3: thermal
pulse ment in the form of the thermal pulse—a wave of blinding
_ light and intense heat—which is the third of the destructive
effects of a nuclear explosion.... The thermal pulse of a one-
megaton bomb lasts for about ten seconds and can cause
second-degree burns in exposed human beings at a distance
Cause of nine and a half miles, or in an area of more than two
hundred and eighty square miles— As the fireball expands,
Effect 4: blast it also sends out a blast wave in all directions, and this is the
wave fourth destructive effect of the explosion. The blast wave of
an air-burst one-megaton bomb can flatten or severely dam-
_ age all but the strongest buildings within a radius of four and
a half miles. ... As the fireball burns, it rises, condensing wa-
ter from the surrounding atmosphere to form the character-
istic mushroom cloud. If the bomb has been set off on the
ground or close enough to it so that the fireball touches the
surface, a so-called ground burst, a crater will be formed, and
tons of dust and debris will be fused with the intensely radio-
active fission products and sucked up into the mushroom
In the paragraph below the writer explains that the explo- cloud. This mixture will return to earth as radioactive fallout,
Effect 5: radioac-
sion of a nuclear bomb (the cause) has five primary ef- tive fallout _ most of it in the form of fine ash, in the fifth destructive effect
fects. Notice, too, as you read, that the writer combines of the explosion. Depending upon the composition of the
280 process with the cause-and-effect explanation. surface, from 40 to 70 percent of this fallout—often called the
"early" or "local" fallout—descends to earth within about
a day of the explosion, in the vicinity of the blast and down-
Whereas most conventional bombs produce only one de-
Topic wind from it, exposing human beings to radiation disease,
structive effect—the shock wave—nuclear weapons produce
Cause
an illness that is fatal when exposure is intense.
C many destructive effects. At the moment of the explosion,
when the temperature of the weapon material, instantly gasi- Jonathan Scheil,
fied, is at the superstellar level, the pressure is millions of The Fate of the Earth
times the normal atmospheric pressure. Immediately, radi-
ation, consisting mainly of gamma rays, which are a very You should notice still another characteristic in this
Effect 1: Initial high-energy form of electromagnetic radiation, begins to sample paragraph: the writer describes both main causes
nuclear radiation stream outward into the environment. This is called the "ini- and subordinate causes, main effects and subordinate ef-
tial nuclear radiation," and is the first of the destructive ef- fects. One main cause, the explosion of the bomb, causes
fects of a nuclear explosion. In an air burst of a one-megaton a series of five initial (main) effects. However, these ef-
bomb—a bomb with the explosive yield of a million tons of
fects become the causes for still other effects. The initial
TNT, which is a medium-sized weapon in present-day nu-
clear arsenals—the initial nuclear radiation can kill unpro- nuclear radiation (a main effect), for example, is also a
tected human beings in an area of some six square miles. Vir- cause that results in the death of unprotected human be-
Effect 2: electro- tually simultaneously with the initial nuclear radiation, in a ings in a six-square-mile area (a subordinate effect). The
magnetic pulse
second destructive effect of the explosion, an electromagnetic electromagnetic pulse that is generated by the explosion
- pulse is generated by the intense gamma radiation acting on is the cause, in turn, of the knocking out of electrical
the air. In a high-altitude detonation, the pulse can knock out equipment (an effect). The thermal pulse (effect 3) causes
electrical equipment over a wide area by inducing a powerful second-degree burns in exposed humans in a 280-
surge of voltage through various conductors, such as anten- square-mile area. The blast wave (effect 4) causes the de-
nas, overhead power lines, pipes, and railroad tracks. . . .
When the fusion and fission reactions have blown them- struction of buildings, and the radioactive fallout
268 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect 269

(effect 5) exposes humans to radiation disease (an effect). opment. When you make an inference, be sure that you
So you can see that the cause-and-effect relationships can can pinpoint the information and trace the logic on which
be complicated and require careful analysis by the writer. your inference is based. When you are writing cause and
You should keep two factors in mind when you are effect, be sure to give enough information, directly or in-
writing a cause-and-effect essay. First, be sure that you directly stated, that your reader can determine the
have actually thought through the causes and effects very cause-and-effect relationship.
carefully. You should not be satisfied with considering You use cause-and-effect reasoning every day in solv-
only the most obvious or simple causes. For example, we ing problems and making decisions. Legislators create
tend to oversimplify and cite one cause as the reason for laws to address or prevent the causes of certain problems.
most wars—the attack on Pearl Harbor for the United In a similar way, scientists find cures for diseases when
States entering World War II, the firing on Fort Sumter they are able to isolate the causes of those diseases. Un-
for the start of the Civil War, and so on. For the most part, derstanding the relation between causes and effects is ex-
these tend to be the last of many contributing causes that tremely important both in day-to-day living and in
have led to the war. A thoughtful discussion of such a long-range planning. Communicating your understand-
topic in your writing would include an explanation of ing in writing is significant evidence of your ability to
some of the contributing, less obvious but perhaps more reason clearly and accurately.
important causes. In the selections that follow, the writers use different
Second, you should be careful that you do not mistake methods to express interesting cause-and-effect relation-
some event as a cause simply because it preceded a par- ships clearly. As you read, try to be aware of when you
ticular effect. For instance, if a child swallows a coin and are inferring these relationships and when they are di-
then comes down with measles, it would be inaccurate rectly stated. The questions and assignments at the ends
and faulty reasoning to assume that swallowing the coin of the readings will help you analyze the writers' styles
was a cause of the measles. and will give you practice with the cause-and-effect mode
Even though you need to guard against faulty assump- of development.
tions, you should also be aware that writers do not al-
ways state a cause-and-effect relationship directly. Some-
times they leave it to the reader to infer such a
relationship. That is, the writer does not state the rela-
tionship, but gives certain information arranged in such
a way that the reader will be able to conclude that the
relationship exists, as in the following sentences.

On the ground next to the parked Jeep, the compass glinted

in the moonlight. Deep in the woods, shielded from the
moon, the hungry teenager circled in the dark with little idea
where he had been or how to get where he wanted to go.

Although the writer does not directly state what hap-

pened, it is not hard to infer that the teenager dropped
his compass without realizing it, with the effect that he
is now lost.
You will need to make inferences when you read
cause-and-effect writing as well as other modes of devel-
270 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect ^ yiomentous Arrest / Martin Luther King, Jr. 271

A Momentous Arrest Questions About the Reading

Martin Luther King, Jr. 1. Was Mrs. Parks breaking any law or custom in sitting where she
did?
2. Why didn't Mrs. Parks move when the bus driver asked her to do
Martin Luther King, Jr., was catapulted into international fame when, working for the so? Do you think she would have moved if the white passenger had
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he organized blacks in Montgomery, Alabama,
to boycott that city's segregated buses in 1955 and 1956. King, preaching nonviolent resis-
been a woman instead of a man?
tance to segregation, became the most important leader in the civil rights movement that 3. Was Mrs. Parks thinking about the civil rights movement when she
changed American life so radically over the next decade. Here, in a simple, matter-of-fact refused to move? Explain your answer.
tone, King tells of the incident that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott.
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Words to Know
1. Which sentence states the cause in this paragraph? Which one states
accommodate to make space for, oblige
the effect?
complied carried out willingly
2. Do you think the writer presents the incident objectively or subjec-
tively? Use words and phrases from the paragraph to support your
o n December 1, 1955, an attractive Negro seamstress, Mrs. Rosa
Parks, boarded the Cleveland Avenue Bus in downtown Montgomery.
answer.
3. Other than cause and effect, what mode of development dominates
in this paragraph?
She was returning home after her regular day's work in the Montgom- 4. What is the order in which the incidents in the paragraph are ar-
ery Fair—a leading department store. Tired from long hours on her ranged?
feet, Mrs. Parks sat down in the first seat behind the section reserved 5. Do you sympathize with Mrs. Parks? Explain your answer, citing
for whites. Not long after she took her seat, the bus operator ordered examples from the essay that influence your feelings.
her, along with three other Negro passengers, to move back in order
to accommodate boarding white passengers. By this time every seat Writing Assignments
in the bus was taken. This meant that if Mrs. Parks followed the driv-
er's command she would have to stand while a white male passenger, 1. If you have never done so, read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have
who had just boarded the bus, would sit. The other three Negro pas- a Dream" speech (page 376). Isolate one or a few statements in the
sengers immediately complied with the driver's request. But Mrs. speech and, using them as your cause, write a paragraph explaining
Parks quietly refused. The result was her arrest. their effect on your own attitudes.
2. Think of a situation that has made you angry enough to defy au-
thority and risk discipline or even arrest. Perhaps you have pro-
tested an unfair grade, a silly dormitory rule, an unjust traffic ticket,
or something of more consequence, like investment in South Africa.
Using cause and effect as your mode of development, describe in
a paragraph what happened. Try to write objectively.
272
Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect Eat junk Food? / Judith Wurtman 273

Why Eat Junk Food? Questions About the Reading

Judith Wurtman 1. Why do people consume snacks and soft drinks?
2. How do television advertisements portray people eating snack
foods?
Each day, Americans eat 50 million pounds of sugar, 3 million gallons of ice cream, and
5.8 million pounds of chocolate candy. Yet junk foods, as they are commonly known, con- 3. What do you think would happen if television advertisements
tain few if any of the nutrients needed to maintain good health. Why, then, do people eat showed people complaining about poor health while eating snack
so much junk food? In the following paragraph, taken from Eating Your Way Through foods?
Life, Judith Wurtman suggests two reasons.

Words to Know Questions About the Writer's Strategies

confectionaries sweets, candies
1. Is the topic of this paragraph stated directly or implied? If it is
depicted shown, represented
stated directly, where is it located? If it is implied, state it in your
euphoria a feeling of well-being
own words.
2. Identify the cause-and-effect elements of this essay.
3. Explain the ways in which commercials use cause and effect to
w. e crunch and chew our way through vast quantities of snacks and
confectionaries and relieve our thirst with multicolored, flavored soft
create false or misleading impressions.

drinks, with and without calories, for two basic reasons. The first is Writing Assignments
simple: the food tastes good, and we enjoy the sensation of eating it. Write a paragraph or an essay in which you describe the long-term
Second, we associate these foods, often without being aware of it, with ill effects of a poor diet—one that includes too much junk food or,
the highly pleasurable experiences depicted in the advertisements in a quite different case, one that leads to undernourishment owing
used to promote their sale. Current television advertisements demon- to hunger. You may want to research this topic in the library.
strate this point: people turn from grumpiness to euphoria after 2. Think of a time when you consumed way too much of something—
crunching a corn chip. Others water ski into the sunset with their loved caffeine, cake or ice cream, spicy chili, or pizza or spaghetti. In a
ones while drinking a popular soft drink. People entertain on the patio paragraph, describe the effects of your overindulgence.
with friends, cook over campfires without mosquitoes, or go to carni- 3. Write a paragraph in which you identify some of the effects on your
vals with granddad munching away at the latest candy or snack food. body of some activity in which you participate—for instance, jog-
The people portrayed in these scenarios are all healthy, vigorous, and ging, tennis, yoga, or dance.
good looking; one wonders how popular the food they convince us
to eat would be if they would crunch or drink away while complaining
about low back pain or clogged sinuses.
 275
274 Chapter S / Cause and Effect

Scourge of the Budworm Questions About the Reading

|. In the natural cycle, why do bud worms subside?
Tracy Kidder
2. How has spraying created a situation in which the budworm is able
to avoid its cyclical decline?
Modern civilization has come up with any number of ways to rid itself of insect pests. 3. What point is the writer making about human intervention in eco-
Or has it? In this paragraph from his book House, Tracy Kidder points out how "con-
trolled" insects may in the end do more damage than if they had been left alone.
logical systems?

Words to Know Questions About the Writer's Strategies

forage food 1. What primary mode of development does the writer use for his de-
virulent severely destructive scription of cause and effect?
2. One could identify either spraying or the budworms as the main
cause in the paragraph. Which is the cause in your view? Why?
X n the natural regime, budworm epidemics besiege the Maine woods 3. Is this paragraph written objectively or subjectively? Describe
every thirty to fifty years. Left to run its course, an outbreak kills some other aspects of the writer's tone and how they contribute to the
40 percent of the fir and the red and white spruce in its path. Then impression of objectivity or subjectivity.
the moths subside. Spraying the woods with insecticides began in the
1950s and has continued intermittently. Chemicals have prevented a Writing Assignments
lot of damage, but in doing so they have also kept alive enough forage 1. Think of a time when you behaved impulsively or acted in panic
for the budworm population to remain at the verge of an outbreak without thinking. Write a paragraph describing the causes and ef-
more widespread and virulent than if there had been no spraying. In fects of your actions.
this way, spraying has made more spraying inevitable. Insecticides 2. Most of us have had experiences with pests of some kind. Describe
now represent the only barrier against truly catastrophic losses of such an experience in a paragraph. Explain what damage or incon-
Maine's spruce and fir, but spraying cannot prevent substantial losses. venience the pest caused and what you did about it? What were
The budworm has already eaten its way through large sections of
the effects of what you did?
spruce and fir. In the worst areas, evergreen canopies now stand all
gray and powdery. For a time, industries in the Maine woods will have
at their disposal more dead and dying trees than they can use, and
then, probably, a time will come when there will be less of the right
kinds of wood in the forest than the various mills are designed to han-
dle. For the Maine woods, there seem to be no ways around the bud-
worm that won't have unpleasant consequences, both economic and
environmental.
 276
Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect Bonding at Birth / Bernstein, Roy, Srull, Wickens 277

Bonding at Birth Questions About the Reading

Douglas A. Bernstein, Edward]. Roy, 1. How are newborn infants now treated? How do you think they
Thomas K. Srull, and Christopher Wickens were treated formerly?
2. How did Klaus and Kennell arrive at their findings? Make up a
Cause-and-effed development offers a useful format for objective, informative writing. In more detailed description of how you think the actual activities in
this paragraph from a psychology textbook, notice how the writers use cause and effect their experiment went.
to summarize, clearly and concisely, the point to be learned. 3. Procedures surrounding what fathers do during delivery have also
changed in recent years. Judging from this paragraph, what do you
Words to Know think fathers should be doing while the baby is being born and just
pediatricians doctors who specialize in the care of afterward?
children
Questions About the Writers' Strategies
1. What is the cause in this paragraph? Is there more than one cause?
J. n 1976 a book called Maternal-Infant Bonding was published. It 2. What is the effect? Is there more than one?
changed the way that newborn infants are treated from the moment 3. Is there a topic sentence in this paragraph? If so, where is it? If not,
of birth. The authors, pediatricians Marshall Klaus and John Kennell, state the main idea in your own words.
had observed mothers and their newborns and found that, during the 4. The paragraph describes observed behavior but not underlying in-
first hour or so after birth, babies are usually awake and will gaze at ternal causes of that behavior. Why?
the mother's face while the mother gazes at and touches the infant.
The importance of this early contact was demonstrated by Klaus and
Kennell's experiments on the effect of leaving mothers and newborns Writing Assignments
together for the hour after birth or giving them extra opportunities to 1. Look at the bonding effect from a different angle. Write a paragraph
be together during their hospital stay. They found that women who in which you speculate about the psychological causes of the effect.
were given early and extended contact with their babies were later That is, discuss possible reasons why early contact strengthens
more emotionally attached to them than mothers given only the rou- bonding.
tine contact allowed by usual hospital procedures. Further, mothers 2. Have you ever known anyone who experienced an unwanted preg-
given early and extended contact with their infants felt more compe- nancy? Using unwanted pregnancy as your cause, write a para-
tent and were more reluctant to leave their infants with another per- graph describing its effects. Illustrate with examples, if you can.
son. They stayed closer to their infants, often gazing into their eyes,
touching and soothing them, and fondling and kissing them. This dif-
ference occurred in the hospital and lasted for a year or more (Hales
et al., 1977; Kennell et al., 1974).
 278
Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect On Being Unemployed / Nelliejean Smith (Student) 274

On Being Unemployed ly long delay in receiving benefits. My family and I have suffered
Nelliejean Smith (Student) through many problems because of my unemployment.

In the paragraph that follows, we learn of the many effects that unemployment can have
Questions About the Reading
on a person's life. The writer makes us see—and feel with her—that unemployment is 1. What do you think makes the inability to pay rent and her son's
a traumatic experience. Nelliejean Smith has proven, however, that she can cope, for she tuition particularly "sticky" problems for the writer?
wrote this paragraph as a student at Cuyahoga Community College.
2. What makes the writer feel "drained of her abilities?"
Words to Know 3. What psychological effects do you think the writer's unsuccessful
job interviews have on her?
bureaucracy government marked by spread of
authority among numerous offices, inflexible rules
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
of operation, and unwieldy administration
evoke to summon or call forth, elicit 1. What is the main idea of this paragraph? Where is this idea first
introduced? Where is it repeated?
2. Transitional words and expressions provide a bridge between
D e i n g unemployed creates many problems for my family and me. points in this paragraph. Identify the writer's transitions.
First of all, there are financial problems. We have cut back on the quali- 3. The writer uses many examples to illustrate the effects of unem-
ty of groceries we purchase. We now buy two pounds of hamburger ployment she names. Identify any two effects that are mentioned.
in place of two pounds of sirloin. This hamburger is also divided into Then identify two examples for each of these effects.
quantities sufficient for three meals: one may be Creole beef, one chili, 4. What order does the writer use in discussing the problems?
and the other spaghetti. There is also less money for clothing. Dresses
must be altered and made into blouses; pants make nice skirts after Writing Assignments
some alteration. I have two more very sticky problems. I've fallen be- 1. Is the Employment Bureau the writer describes doing a good job?
hind in the rental payments for our apartment, and now I am experi- In a paragraph, describe the effects of the bureau's procedures.
encing difficulties trying to pay the back rent. The other sticky problem 2. What are the effects unemployment has had on the American peo-
is my son's tuition payments. There does not seem to be any way that ple as a whole? Do you think it has changed our image of ourselves
I can send a complete payment to his college. These are not the only as a nation? Write a cause-and-effect paragraph or essay in which
problems I face. I also have psychological problems as a result of un- you indicate some of the social effects of unemployment. You may
employment. Often I wonder why this has happened to me. Then de- want to read some articles on this topic in the library before you
pression and confusion take over, and I feel drained of all my abilities. write.
The one question that fills my mind most often is the following: Why 3. Although being employed has more positive than negative effects,
can't I get employment? This question evokes in me a lack of self-confi- work does have effects that may not always be pleasant. Write a
dence and self-worth. I am haunted by an overall feeling of useless- paragraph on how a particular job or certain types of jobs can have
ness. My other problems center on trying to cope with the bureaucracy negative effects.
of the Employment Bureau. Once I get to the Employment Bureau, I
stand in line to sign up. I then wait in another line to which I must
report. Once I go through all of this, I am sent out for job interviews,
only to find that the employer wants someone with more experience.
To top everything off, I had to wait almost six months to receive my
first unemployment check. As you can see, there is often a frustrating-
280 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect It Took This Night to Make Us Know / Bob Greene 281

It Took This Night but first of all he is a Jew, and no one wanted to think what might
to Make Us Know happen to him. Many of the people who thrilled as he won his gold
medals were very surprised to find out now that Spitz is a Jew. Later
Bob Greene they will say that of course it doesn't matter what his religion is. But
Spitz knew that it mattered; we all knew that it mattered, and that it
would be smarter for him to go.
Eleven Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 summer Olym-
pics in Munich, West Germany. The news shocked and horrified the world. It also made It is not supposed to be very strong in us, and we have heard the 4
at least one man—Chicago newspaper columnist Bob Greene—look deep inside himself term "six million Jews are dead" so often that it is just an abstraction
and think, for perhaps the first time, about where he came from, who he was, and what to us. And yet if the Dachau concentration camp, just a few miles from
it means to be born Jewish in today's world. the Olympic site, was not enough to remind us, the killers in the Mu-
nich darkness made sure that we remembered. There is a hate for us
Words to Know that goes back centuries, and every time it seems to have weakened
abstraction a general idea representing a physical with the years there is another band of men ready to show us that the
concept hate is still strong enough to make them kill in the night.
patronized treated in an offensive, condescending When the news was certain, when there was no question but that 5
the young Jewish men were dead, I called some friends and we talked
about it. They were thinking the same way I was. For all these years

w ashington:—It is not supposed to be very strong in us, for we can- 1

not remember. We are the young Jews, born after Hitler, and we have
we have acted bored with the Jewish traditions, smirked at the ancient,
detailed ceremonies, patronized the old ones who insisted on showing
their link with the past.
never considered the fact that we are Jewish to be a large part of our And for us, it took this one night to make us know that maybe it 6
identity. A lot of us have not been near a temple in ten years, and we will never go away. We are all Jews who were born into a world where
laugh along with the Jewish jokes to show that we are very cool about money and education and parents who speak with no accent were part
the whole thing. We are Americans, we have told ourselves, we do not of the package, and that can fool you. But this is the oldest hate the
go around calling ourselves Jews: that is for the elderly men with the world has ever seen, and 25 years of Jewish prosperity in the United
tortured faces, the old Jews we feel a little embarrassed to be around. States is hardly enough to erase it from the earth.
Let them recall the centuries of hurt, we think; it is over now, so let It is nothing that we young ones have ever talked much about, and 7
them recall those years while we live our good todays. there are not many words to tell it now. Words cannot tell it as well
It is not supposed to be very strong in us, and yet I am sitting at 2 as the look we have seen for years in the faces of the oldest Jews, the
a typewriter in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home trying to look of deepest sorrow that has been there for as many centuries as
write a story about a presidential campaign, and I cannot do it. For the hate.
the television has just got done telling the story, the story of how once This time the look is there because of a group of Arab terrorists. But 8
again people who hate the Jews have knocked on a door in the middle it goes so far beyond Middle Eastern politics; the look was there in
of the night and done their killing, and I can think of nothing else. Now this same Germany 30 years ago, it was there in Egypt centuries ago,
the lesson is being taught all over again; it is not up to us to decide it has been there in every place there have ever been Jews who were
how to treat our Jewishness. That was decided for us centuries not wanted because they were Jews. And because there have been so
ago. many of these places, the look has been reborn and reborn and reborn.
It is not supposed to be very strong in us, because all the barriers 3 There are young men who are dead this week who should be alive, 9
are down now, and a hotel will not turn us away or a restaurant will and it would be a horrible thing no matter who they were. But of
not deny us a table if our name does not sound right. And yet when course they were Jews; the reason that they are dead is because they
the killings began, they thought to get a young man named Mark Spitz were Jews, and that is why on this night there are so many of us start-
out of Germany, because he may be the best swimmer in the world, ing to realize for the first time what that means.
2H2 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect The Whoomper Factor / Nathan Cobb 283

It is not supposed to be very strong in us, for we cannot remember. 10 The Whoomper Factor
We grew up laughing at the solemn old Jewish phrases that sounded
so mournful and outmoded and out of date in the second half of the Nathan Cobb
twentieth century. Ancient, outmoded phrases from the temples,
phrases like "Let my people go." Phrases that we chose to let mean Like it or not, almost nothing affects our lives so much as the weather. In February 1978,
nothing, because it is not supposed to be very strong in us. a massive blizzard paralyzed the entire northeastern United States. Three feet of snow
fell on New England in two days, and the state of Massachusetts closed down for a week
to recover. Nathan Cobb, a columnist for the Boston Globe, found that the blizzard had
Questions About the Reading an unusual effect on him and his fellow Bostonians.
1. Why, according to the writer, are young Jews embarrassed to be
Words to Know
around old Jews with "tortured faces?"
2. Why is the writer having difficulty writing a story about a presiden- bereft deprived of
tial campaign? debacle a sudden, disastrous overthrow or
3. What effect does the killing of several Jewish men at the Olympics collapse, ruin
have on the young Jewish people living in the United States? MBTA Metropolitan Boston Transportation
4. What "is not supposed to be very strong" in young American Jews? Authority
5. Consider the title of the essay. What is it that the writer and his con- paralysis a stoppage or crippling of activity
temporaries now know? urbania referring to a city or city life
virtual existing in essence or effect, though not in
Questions About the Writer's Strategies actual fact or form

1. In your own words, express the main idea or thesis of the essay.
Does the writer ever state this idea explicitly in a single sentence
J\.s this is being written, snow is falling in the streets of Boston in 1
or must the reader infer it?
what weather forecasters like to call "record amounts." I would guess
2. What is the writer's tone in the essay? What attitude does he have
by looking out the window that we are only a few hours from that
toward the event described—and toward himself and his friends as
magic moment of paralysis, as in Storm Paralyzes Hub. Perhaps we are
a result of the event?
even due for an Entire Region Engulfed or a Northeast Blanketed, but I
3. Identify the cause-and-effect elements in the essay.
will happily settle for mere local disablement. And the more the
4. How does the writer use repetition in the essay? What is its effect?
merrier.
Some people call them blizzards, others nor'easters. My own term 2
Writing Assignments is whoompers, and I freely admit looking forward to them as does a
1. Write an essay in which you discuss what you perceive to be the baseball fan to April. Usually I am disappointed, however; because
causes of racial violence and their effects on society. tonight's storm warnings too often turn into tomorrow's light flurries.
2. Do the Olympic Games decrease tensions among people of different Well, flurries be damned. I want the real thing, complete with Volks- 3
nations, cultures, and races? Write a cause-and-effect essay on this wagens turned into drifts along Commonwealth Avenue and the
topic. MBTA's third rail frozen like a hunk of raw meat. A storm does not
3. Recall an incident in which you were ridiculed, harassed, or mis- even begin to qualify as a whoomper unless Logan Airport is shut
treated for no apparent reason other than groundless hostility. If down for a minimum of six hours.
you have never experienced anything like this, maybe someone The point is, whoompers teach us a lesson. Or rather several lessons. 4
among your friends could describe such an incident for you. Using For one thing, here are all these city folk who pride themselves on their
the incident as your cause, write an essay about how it affected you instinct for survival, and suddenly they cannot bear to venture into
or your friend. the streets because they are afraid of being swallowed up. Virtual pris-
284 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect The Whoomper Factor / Nathan Cobb 285

oners in their own houses is what they are. In northern New England, Questions About the Reading
the natives view nights such as this with casual indifference, but let 1. What do the italicized words in the first paragraph refer to? What
a whoomper hit Boston and the locals are not only knee deep in snow does the writer mean by "mere local disablement?"
but also in befuddlement and disarray. 2. How do "whoompers keep us in our place?"
The lesson? That there is something more powerful out there than 5 3. "City folks tend not to believe in anything they can't hear with their
the sacred metropolis. It is not unlike the message we can read into own ears." Analyze this statement. What does the writer mean? Is
the debacle of the windows falling out of the John Hancock Tower; just he right, in your opinion?
when we think we've got the upper hand on the elements, we find 4. How do whoompers affect the way city people treat one another?
out we are flies and someone else is holding the swatter. Whoompers
keep us in our place.
They also slow us down, which is not a bad thing for urbania these 6
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
days. Frankly, I'm of the opinion Logan should be closed periodically, 1. The writer uses definition as an important strategy in this essay.
snow or not, in tribute to the lurking suspicion that it may not be all Where and how is it used?
that necessary for a man to travel at a speed of 600 miles per hour. 2. What mode of development does the writer use in paragraph 9?
In a little while I shall go forth into the streets and I know what I will What idea is developed in the paragraph?
find. People will actually be walking, and the avenues will be bereft 3. How many effects does the writer describe in the essay? Briefly state
of cars. It will be something like those marvelous photographs of Back each effect.
Bay during the nineteenth century, wherein the lack of clutter and traf- 4. In the third paragraph, identify the simile. What does the simile
fic makes it seem as if someone has selectively airbrushed the scene. indicate about the writer's attitude toward the subway?
And, of course, there will be the sound of silence tonight. It will be 7 5. Identify the metaphor in paragraph 5. What does the metaphor
almost deafening. I know city people who have trouble sleeping in the mean:
country because of the lack of noise, and I suspect this is what bothers
many of them about whoompers. Icy sidewalks and even fewer park- Writing Assignments
ing spaces we can handle, but please, God, turn up the volume. City
1. Write an essay in which you choose one extreme weather event—
folks tend not to believe in anything they can't hear with their own
such as a blizzard, flood, drought, hurricane, or tornado—and ex-
ears.
plain the effects that it had on your family.
It should also be noted that nights such as this are obviously quite 8
2. In the essay, the writer discusses the idea that people feel they have
pretty, hiding the city's wounds beneath a clean white dressing. But
some control over weather conditions. Write an essay in which you
it is their effect on the way people suddenly treat each other that is
discuss what has caused people to feel this way; discuss such things
most fascinating, coming as it does when city dwellers are depicted
as scientific forecasting, radar, and satellites.
as people of the same general variety as those New Yorkers who stood
3. Write an essay describing the effects of a snowstorm on young chil-
by when Kitty Genovese was murdered back in 1964.
dren and why it has these effects. If you are from a northern climate,
There's nothing like a good whoomper to get people thinking that 9
include examples from your own experience. If you are from a
everyone walking towards them on the sidewalk might not be a mug-
southern climate, imagine that you are a child seeing snow for the
ger, or that saying hello is not necessarily a sign of perversion. You
first time.
would think that city people, more than any other, would have a
strong sense of being in the same rough seas together, yet it is not until
a quasi catastrophe hits that many of them stop being lone sharks.
But enough of this. There's a whoomper outside tonight, and it re- 10
quires my presence.
286 My First Lesson in How to Live as a Negro / Richard Wright 287
Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect

My First Lesson in How to white boys out. But they replied with a steady bombardment of broken
bottles. We doubled our cinder barrage, but they hid behind trees,
Live as a Negro hedges, and the sloping embankments of their lawns. Having no such
Richard Wright fortifications, we retreated to the brick pillars of our homes. During
the retreat a broken milk bottle caught me behind the ear, opening a
deep gash which bled profusely. The sight of blood pouring over my
Richard Wright is one of the most important black American writers. Born in Mississippi face completely demoralized our ranks. My fellow-combatants left me
in 1908, Wright left school after the ninth grade and moved to Chicago, where he worked
as a postal clerk. In 1946, he moved to Paris, where he lived until his death in I960. In
standing paralyzed in the center of the yard, and scurried for their
the essay, taken from Wright's Uncle Tom's Children, he describes his first lesson in homes. A kind neighbor saw me and rushed me to a doctor, who took
what it meant to be a young black in the United States in the early part of this century. three stitches in my neck.
I sat brooding on my front steps, nursing my wound and waiting 3
Words to Know for my mother to come from work. I felt that a grave injustice had been
appalling frightful done me. It was all right to throw cinders. The greatest harm a cinder
barrage heavy artillery fire could do was leave a bruise. But broken bottles were dangerous; they
embankments mounds of earth used for support left you cut, bleeding, and helpless.
or protection When night fell, my mother came from the white folks' kitchen. I 4
fortifications something that strengthens or raced down the street to meet her. I could just feel in my bones that
defends she would understand. I knew she would tell me exactly what to do
Jim Crow systematic discrimination against blacks next time. I grabbed her hand and babbled out the whole story. She
overreaching reaching beyond examined my wound, then slapped me.
profusely in great quantities "How come yuh didn't hide?" she asked me. "How come yuh aw- 5
stave a narrow strip of wood that forms the sides ways fightin'?"
of a barrel I was outraged, and bawled. Between sobs I told her that I didn't 6
have any trees or hedges to hide behind. There wasn't a thing I could
have used as a trench. And you couldn't throw very far when you were
I V l y first lesson in how to live as a Negro came when I was quite 1 hiding behind the brick pillars of a house. She grabbed a barrel stave,
small. We were living in Arkansas. Our house stood behind the rail- dragged me home, stripped me naked, and beat me till I had a fever
road tracks. Its skimpy yard was paved with black cinders. Nothing of one hundred and two. She would smack my rump with the stave,
green ever grew in that yard. The only touch of green we could see and, while the skin was still smarting, impart to me gems of Jim Crow
was far away, beyond the tracks, over where the white folks lived. But wisdom. I was never to throw cinders any more. I was never to fight
cinders were good enough for me and I never missed the green grow- any more wars. I was never, never, under any conditions, to fight white
ing things. And anyhow cinders were fine weapons. You could always folks again. And they were absolutely right in clouting me with the
have a nice hot war with huge black cinders. All you had to do was broken milk bottle. Didn't I know she was working hard every day
crouch behind the brick pillars of a house with your hands full of gritty in the hot kitchens of the white folks to make money to take care of
ammunition. And the first woolly black head you saw pop out from me? When was I ever going to learn to be a good boy? She couldn't
behind another row of pillars was your target. You tried your very best be bothered with my fights. She finished by telling me that I ought
to knock it off. It was great fun. to be thankful to God as long as I lived that they didn't
kill me.
I never fully realized the appalling disadvantages of a cinder envi- 2
ronment till one day the gang to which I belonged found itself engaged All that night I was delirious and could not sleep. Each time I closed 7
in a war with the white boys who lived beyond the tracks. As usual my eyes I saw monstrous white faces suspended from the ceiling, leer-
we laid down our cinder barrage, thinking that this would wipe the ing at me.
 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect The Bounty of the Sea / Jacques Cousteau 289

From that time on, the charm of my cinder yard was gone. The green
trees, the trimmed hedges, the cropped lawns grew very meaningful, The Bounty of the Sea
became a symbol. Even today when I think of white folks, the hard,
sharp outlines of white houses surrounded by trees, lawns, and hedges Jacques Cousteau
are present somewhere in the background of my mind. Through the
years they grew into an overreaching symbol of fear. Jacques Cousteau, the famous French oceanographer, has brought the world of the oceans
to us through his books and television documentaries. His love for the oceans has extended
to a lifelong concern for protecting and conserving the marine environment. In the follow-
Questions About the Reading ing essay, written in the mid-1960s, he vividly describes the sickening of the ocean and
1. What was the difference between fighting with cinders and fighting the effects that the death of the oceans would have on humankind.
with broken bottles?
Words to Know
2. Why do you think Wright expected his mother to understand what
had happened? Why do you think she beat him instead? buffer something that protects
3. Why did the green trees, trimmed hedges, and cropped lawns be- cheek by jowl very dose together
come a symbol of fear for Wright? effluents sewage
insupportable unbearable
Questions About the Writer's Strategies plankton algae microscopic plant life that floats in
water
1. Does this essay have a direct thesis statement? If so, what is it and remorseless without regret or pity
where is it located? If not, state it in your own words. stench stink, bad smell
2. What two modes of development are used to develop the thesis? teemed swarmed
3. Identify the cause-and-effect elements of the essay. trawlers fishing boats that drag large nets along
4. Compare the first and last paragraphs of the essay, and explain the the bottom of the ocean
purpose of each.

Writing Assignments
D uring the past thirty years, I have observed and studied the oceans
1. Recall an incident from your childhood that has had a long-lasting closely, and with my own two eyes I have seen them sicken. Certain
effect on you. Write an essay that describes that incident and its reefs that teemed with fish only ten years ago are now almost lifeless.
effects. The ocean bottom has been raped by trawlers. Priceless wetlands have
2. Have you ever been involved in a fight or an argument that you been destroyed by landfill. And everywhere are sticky globs of oil,
knew you couldn't win? Describe the incident and discuss its effects plastic refuse, and unseen clouds of poisonous effluents. Often, when
on you. I describe the symptoms of the oceans' sickness, I hear remarks like
3. Try to recall an incident that brought home to you the painful mean- "they're only fish" or "they're only whales" or "they're only birds."
ing of discrimination or prejudice. Write an essay describing the in- But I assure you that our destinies are linked with theirs in the most
cident and its effects on you. profound and fundamental manner. For if the oceans should die—by
which I mean that all life in the sea would finally cease—this would
signal the end not only for marine life but for all other animals and
plants of this earth, including man.
With life departed, the ocean would become, in effect, one enor-
mous cesspool. Billions of decaying bodies, large and small, would
create such an insupportable stench that man would be forced to leave
all the coastal regions. But far worse would follow.
290 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect The Bounty of the Sea / Jacques Cousteau 291

The ocean acts as the earth's buffer. It maintains a fine balance be- 3 Questions About the Reading
tween the many salts and gases which make life possible. But dead 1. How does Cousteau know that the oceans are sick? What evidence
seas would have no buffering effect. The carbon dioxide content of the does he give?
atmosphere would start on a steady and remorseless climb, and when 2. What is the "greenhouse effect?"
it reached a certain level a "greenhouse effect" would be created. The 3. What is CO2?
heat that normally radiates outward from the earth to space would be
blocked by the CO2, and sea level temperatures would dramatically
increase. Questions About the Writer's Strategies
One catastrophic effect of this heat would be melting of the icecaps 4 1. What is the thesis of this essay? Is it directly stated or implied? If
at both the North and South Poles. As a result, the ocean would rise it is directly stated, where in the essay is it stated?
by 100 feet or more, enough to flood almost all the world's major cities. 2. Identify the cause-and-effect elements of this essay.
These rising waters would drive one-third of the earth's billions in- 3. Apart from cause and effect, does the writer use any other modes
land, creating famine, fighting, chaos, and disease on a scale almost of development?
impossible to imagine. 4. How is the reader affected by the use of such words as "scummed
Meanwhile, the surface of the ocean would have scummed over 5 over," "thick film of decayed matter," and "cesspool" to describe
with a thick film of decayed matter, and would no longer be able to the ocean?
give water freely to the skies through evaporation. Rain would become
a rarity, creating global drought and even more famine. Writing Assignments
But the final act is yet to come. The wretched remnant of the human 6
race would now be packed check by jowl on the remaining highlands, 1. Write an essay discussing some of the causes and effects of air pollu-
tion. You may want to do some reading in the library before you
bewildered, starving, struggling to survive from hour to hour. Then
write.
would be visited upon them the final plague, anoxia (lack of oxygen).
This would be caused by the extinction of plankton algae and the re- 2. What personal steps can you take to stop pollution? Write an essay
duction of land vegetation, the two sources that supply the oxygen you that describes what you as an individual can do and what effects
are now breathing. you think your actions would have.
3. Why do people pollute? Write an essay identifying some of the
And so man would finally die, slowly gasping out his life on some 7
things that cause people to harm the environment and the types of
barren hill. He would have survived the oceans by perhaps thirty
pollution that result.
years. And his heirs would be bacteria and a few scavenger insects.
 fjte Thirsty Animal / Brian Manning 293

The Thirsty Animal

Brian Manning

In this personal essay, Brian Manning recounts how he developed into a problem drinker
and describes his ongoing life as an alcoholic who has quit drinking. Straight forwardly,
he tells of his bittersweet memories of drinking and of his struggle, successful so far, to
keep the thirsty "animal living inside" locked in its cage.

Words to Know

accouterments the things that go along with some-

thing, accompanying effects or activities
Bordeaux a type of French wine, usually red
lolling lounging, relaxing
294 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect The Thirsty Animal / Brian Manning 295

Questions About the Reading

1. What went along with drinking for the writer? Why did he need
alcohol to achieve those effects?
2. Why are parties difficult for the writer?
3. Why did the writer stop drinking?
4. When you finished reading the essay, what opinions had you
formed of the writer's personality and character? Cite specific ex-
amples from the essay to support your opinions.

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. What is the main idea of this essay? In which sentences is it most
clearly suggested?
2. What are the causes in this essay? What are the effects? Do they
overlap at all?
3. Other than cause and effect, what modes of development does the
writer use? Cite some specific paragraphs in which he uses other
modes.
4. The "animal" introduced in paragraph 11 is a metaphor. What does
it stand for? Interpret it in your own words.
5. Identify the simile in paragraph 8. Is it effective in helping you un-
derstand how the writer feels?

Writing Assignments
1. Describe in an essay the effects that alcohol has on you. If you do
not drink, describe the effects that you have seen it have on others.
2. Do you know anyone who abuses alcohol or other drugs. If not, you
have surely heard or read in the media or in school awareness pro-
grams about the lure of drugs. Based on what you know (and on
what you have learned from reading this essay), write an essay de-
scribing the causes and effects of drug abuse.
296 Chapter 8 / Cause and Effect me Arctic Forest / Barry Holstun Lopez 297

The Arctic Forest only this upper layer of the ground melts in the summer. (Ironically,
since the permafrost beneath remains impervious, in those few weeks
Barry Holstun Lopez when water is available to them, arctic trees must sometimes cope with
boglike conditions.)
Any plant or animal trying to survive on the tundra of the Arctic must adapt to some Trees in the Arctic have an aura of implacable endurance about 4
of the most inhospitable conditions on earth. In this passage from his book Arctic Dreams, them. A cross-section of the bole of a Richardson willow no thicker
Barry Lopez explains some of the specific hardships faced by trees in the Arctic environ- than your finger may reveal 200 annual growth rings beneath the mag-
ment and the ways in which tree species have adapted to survive and, in their way, flour- nifying glass. Much of the tundra, of course, appears to be treeless
ish. when, in many places, it is actually covered with trees—a thick mat
ting of short, ancient willows and birches. You realize suddenly that
Words to Know
you are wandering around on top of a forest.
aquifer underground water trapped within a layer
of sand or rock Questions About the Reading
aura essential quality, the sense of a thing
boglike wet, swampy 1. Why are arctic trees short?
impervious impossible to penetrate (in this case, 2. Why do dark soils intensify the sun's warmth?
for water) 3. In what way is it ironic that arctic trees may face boglike conditions
implacable not to be overcome during the summer?
4. How old is the Richardson willow the writer describes in para-
graph 4?
5. What do you think would happen if a truck or tractor drove over
L he growth of trees in the Arctic is constrained by several factors. 1
Lack of light for photosynthesis of course is one; but warmth is anoth- the tundra in the summer?
er. A tree, like an animal, needs heat to carry on its life processes. Solar
radiation provides this warmth, but in the Arctic there is a strong cor- Questions About the Writer's Strategies
relation between this warmth and closeness to the ground. In summer 1. What makes this a cause-and-effect essay? Is there more than one
there may be a difference of as much as 15°F in the first foot or so of cause? Is there more than one effect?
air, because of the cooling effect of the wind above and the ability of 2. What is the main idea in this essay? Is there a thesis statement, or
dark soils to intensify solar radiation. To balance their heat budgets is the thesis implied?
for growth and survival, trees must hug the ground—so they are short. 3. Does the writer use any order in his arrangement of cause-and-
Willows, a resourceful family to begin with, sometimes grow tall, but effect relationships? If so, what order does he use?
it is only where some feature of the land stills the drying and cooling 4. The writer could have given the information in paragraph 4 earlier
wind. in the essay. Why did he save it for the end?
Lack of water is another factor constraining the development of 2
trees. No more moisture falls on the arctic tundra in a year than falls Writing Assignments
on the Mojave Desert; and it is available to arctic plants in the single
form in which they can use it—liquid water—only during the summer. 1. Write a cause-and-effect essay explaining what you do to adapt to
Permafrost, the permanently frozen soil that underlies the tundra, 3 an outbreak of very cold or hot weather.
presents arctic trees with still other difficulties. Though they can pene- 2. Write an essay describing what happens to a neighborhood or land-
trate this rocklike substance with their roots, deep roots, which let scape that you know during some environmental event, like a thun-
trees stand tall in a windy landscape, and which can draw water from derstorm, a snow or ice storm, a fire, or a drought. What changes
take place? What causes the changes, and what effects do the
deep aquifers, serve no purpose in the Arctic. It's too cold to stand tall,
changes have in their turn?
and liquid water is to be found only in the first few inches of soil, for
 Definition

WHEN WRITERS USE words that they think may be unfa-

miliar to their readers, they will usually define the words.
A definition is an explanation of the meaning of a word
or term.
In its shortest form, the definition may be simply a
synonym—a familiar word or phrase that has the same
meaning as the unfamiliar word. For example, in "she
shows more empathy for, or true understanding of, older
people than her sister," the word understanding is a syn-
onym for empathy. Or the writer may choose to use an
antonym—a word or phrase that has the opposite mean-
ing of the unfamiliar word—as in "she is a compassionate
rather than an inconsiderate person." Here the word incon-
siderate gives the reader the opposite of the meaning of
compassionate.
The writer may also choose to use the kind of precise
definition found in dictionaries, called a formal definition.
In a formal definition, the writer first uses a form of clas-
sification, assigning the word to the class of items to
which it belongs—and then describing the characteristics
that distinguish it from other items of that same class.
Here is an example of a formal definition.
Word defined:
class I A tiger, a member of the cat family, is native to Asia, usually
Description of F weighs over 350 pounds, and has tawny and black- striped
characteristics L fur.

Many complex words and abstract ideas—such as

truth and justice —require longer and more detailed ex-
planations, which are called extended definitions. In an
299
300 Chapter 9 / Definition Chapter 9 / Definition 301

extended definition, the writer may use one or more of a domestic animal with hooves, short legs, bristly hair,
the methods of development—description, examples, and a blunt snout; and a farmer may tell you that a pig
classification, and so forth—that you have learned about is actually rather intelligent and cleaner than other farm
in the earlier sections of this book. For instance, in the animals. However, the negative connotations of this word
sample paragraphs below, the writer first defines the are so strong that you are likely to have trouble thinking
word symbol by a formal definition and then, in the third of a pig without thinking of filth, fat, and greed.
sentence, continues to explain by saying what symbols In writing definitions, it is particularly important to
are not, using an antonym. In the second paragraph, the choose your words in such a way that their connotations,
writer completes the definition by using several clear-cut as well as their denotations, will give the reader the cor-
examples of symbols. As you read this sample, keep in rect impression of what you are defining. Remember that
mind that it is not unusual for writers to use symbols to the technique of brainstorming, first described in Chap-
enhance definitions. In fact, symbols can be useful in ter 3, can be used to search for the single best word, as
most of the modes of development. well as to pinpoint larger ideas.
When you search for connotative words and expres-
A symbol is a person, place, or thing that stands for or sions to use in your writing, beware of cliches. Cliches
Formal definition
strongly suggests something in addition to itself, generally
an abstract idea more important than itself. Don't let this are words or phrases—like "rosy red," "silly goose,"
definition intimidate you. Symbols are not fancy literary de- "bull in a china shop," "weird," or "outrageous"—that
Antonym
vices that readers have to wrestle with. In fact, the daiiy, have become so overused that they indicate a lack of
nonliterary lives of readers are filled, quite comfortably and imagination and thought on the part of the writer who
naturally, with more symbols than exist in any book ever uses them. Symbols, too, can be cliches. If you are defin-
written.
ing courage, for example, using Rambo as a symbol to
A mink coat, for example, is a piece of clothing made from
the pelt of an animal in the weasel family, but for many enhance your definition is unlikely to impress your read-
Example people it stands for something else: it is a symbol of success er. Experienced writers may sometimes use cliches to
or status or good taste. People do not make sacrifices and achieve certain effects, such as humor or ridicule. As a
sounds of ecstasy over the pelt of a weasel, but over a symbol. student writer, however, you should try to avoid them so
A beard, to cite another example, is a hairy growth on a that your writing will seem fresh and original. You
man's face, but a person would have to be a recent arrival
from another planet not to realize that a beard is often should also be alert to the fact that many cliches take the
Example
viewed as a symbol of anything from youthful self-assertion form of similes—"as filthy as a pig"—and try to make
to political radicalism. Our lives are pervaded, perhaps dom- sure your similes are always of your own creation, not
inated, by symbols. Think about the different symbolic ones you have heard before.
meanings everyone gives to the following: a Cadillac, a new
house, money, rats, a college diploma, a trip to Europe, a cru- In addition to examples, several other modes of devel-
Examples cifix, a date with a popular and good-looking girl, the Ameri- opment can be used to write an extended definition. For
can flag, a blind date, Lawrence Welk, the F.B.I., Niagara example, the writer might use description or narration
Falls, Valley Forge, a fireplace. or both as the main method of development.
David Skwire and Francis Chitwood, Topic sentence: A glacier is an accumulation of snow and ice that continually
Student's Book of College English, second edition formal definition flows from a mountain ice field toward sea level. Glaciers are
formed when successive snowfalls pile up, creating pressure
A concept related to symbolism is connotation, which on the bottom layers. Gradually, the pressure causes the
refers to the feelings or qualities we associate with words snow on the bottom to undergo a structural change into an
extremely dense form of ice called glacier ice, a process that
and expressions. A word's denotation, on the other hand, may take several years. Once the ice begins to accumulate,
is its dictionary definition. Think of the word pig, for in- gravity causes the mass to move downhill. Glaciers usually
stance. The dictionary may tell you that a pig is simply take the path of least resistance, following stream beds or
 Chapter 9 / Definition 303
502 Chapter 9 / Definition

other natural channels down the mountainside. As they As you can see, you may use any method of development
move, they scrape along the surface of the earth, picking up that is appropriate when you need to extend a definition
rocks and other sediment on the way. The ice and the debris of a word or term.
Extended carve a deep U-shaped valley as they proceed down the Whether you are writing an extended definition or re-
definition: mountain. If they advance far enough, they will eventually
descriptive lying primarily on some other mode of development, al-
reach the sea and become tidewater glaciers that break off,
narration ways remember to define any words or terms you use
or calve, directly into salt water. Southeast Alaska is one of
only three places in the world where tidewater glaciers exist. that may be unfamiliar to your readers—particularly any
(They also are found in Scandinavia and Chile.) Other gla- words they must know to understand your meaning. You
ciers, called hanging glaciers, spill out of icy basins high up should also define words with any special or technical
on valley walls and tumble toward the valley floor.
meaning that you include in your writing.
Sarah Eppcnbach, The readings that follow offer many examples of defi-
Alaska's Southeast
nition as a mode of development. As you read, watch for
Or, as in the example that follows, the writer may use words whose connotations add precision or special effect
a formal definition combined with classification, exam- to the definitions. The questions at the ends of the selec-
ples, and comparison and contrast. tions will help you recognize methods writers use to
Formal definition
Classification: make definitions interesting and colorful, and the assign-
area of land, sea, A map is a conventional picture of an area of land, sea, or ments will give you a chance to apply what you learn
or sky sky. Perhaps the maps most widely used are the road maps about this mode of development.
Example: road given away by the oil companies. They show the cultural fea-
maps tures such as states, towns, parks, and roads, especially
Example: simple paved roads. They show also natural features, such as rivers
maps and lakes, and sometimes mountains. As simple maps, most
automobile drivers have on various occasions used sketches
drawn by service station men, or by friends, to show the best
automobile route from one town to another.
Contrast: chart— The distinction usually made between "maps" and
represents water; "charts" is that a chart is a representation of an area consist-
map—represents ing chiefly of water; a map represents an area that is predom-
land inantly land. It is easy to see how this distinction arose in the
days when there was no navigation over land, but a truer dis-
Contrast: chart— tinction is that charts are specially designed for use in navi-
for navigation
_ gation, whether at sea or in the air.
Maps have been used since the earliest civilizations, and
explorers find that they are used in rather simple civiliza-
tions at the present time by people who are accustomed to
Example: use of
maps
traveling. For example, Arctic explorers have obtained con-
siderable help from maps of the coast lines showing settle-
ments, drawn by Eskimo people. Occasionally maps show
Example: features not only the roads, but pictures of other features. One of the
of some maps earliest such maps dates from about 1400 B.C. It shows not
only roads, but also lakes with fish, and a canal with croco-
diles and a bridge over the canal. This is somewhat similar
Comparison:
features of early to the modern maps of a state which show for each large
maps with town some feature of interest or the chief products of that
modern maps town.
C.C. Wylic,
Astronomy, Maps, and Weather
304 f}te Ultimate Kitchen Gadget / Robert Capon 30 S
Chapter 9 / Definition

The Ultimate Kitchen Gadget Questions About the Reading

1. Temperatures above about 160 degrees will burn a person's hand.
Robert Capon
How can the hand be used to gauge temperatures up to 500 de-
grees?
Anyone who likes to cook owns a number of kitchen gadgets. What is your favorite: a garlic 2. What is the lifetime guarantee of the ultimate kitchen gadget?
press, a food processor, or a blender? In the following selection, Robert Capon, an Episcopal
3. At what point in the paragraph did you guess what the ultimate
priest and lover of cooking, defines the ultimate kitchen gadget.
kitchen gadget is?
Words to Know
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
trice a very short time
1. What is the predominant mode of development used to define the
ultimate kitchen gadget?
At is the ultimate kitchen gadget. Tt serves as a juicer for lemons, 2. Why doesn't the writer identify what he is defining until the very
oranges and grapefruit, and as a combination seed remover and pulp last sentence?
crusher for tomatoes. It functions as a bowl scraper, an egg separator 3. What is the tone of this paragraph?
and a remover of unwelcome particles—the stray bit of eggshell, the 4. What connotations does the word gadget have? Would you normal-
odd grain of black rice—from mixing bowl or saucepan. It is a ther- ly associate these connotations with the human hand?
mometer capable of gauging temperatures up to 500 degrees Fahren- 5. What is the irony in this paragraph?
heit and, in addition, is a measuring device for dry ingredients in
amounts from 1 tablespoon down to 1/8 teaspoon or less, and for Writing Assignments
whatever liquids may be called for in the cooking of grains and stocks. 1. Write a paragraph in which you define a household appliance (such
It can be used as tongs for removing hot cup custards from the oven, as a blender, a vacuum cleaner, or a toaster) by giving examples of
as a mixer of water into pastry dough and as a kneader of bread. Best its uses and the purpose it serves.
of all, it cleans up in a trice, presents no storage problems, will not 2. Write a definition of the human hand from another point of view.
chip, rust or tarnish and, if it cannot be said to be unlosable or inde- Instead of giving examples of what it can do in the kitchen, describe
structible, it nevertheless comes with a lifetime guarantee to remain its physical anatomy—what it looks like underneath the skin. You
the one household convenience you will have the least desire either may want to consult a biology or anatomy textbook.
to lose or to destroy It is, of course, the human hand. 3. Write a definition of the human body by giving examples of some
of the things it can do.
 306
Chapter 9 / Definition if love You" I Robert C. Solomon 307

"I Love You"

Questions About the Reading
Robert C. Solomon
\. What does the writer say happens the first time someone hears "I
love you"? Why do you think this occurs?
Some words and ideas are almost impossible to define. In this paragraph, however, Robert 2. Why must "I love you" be repeated once it has been said?
Solomon shows that a definition can express a great deal about a phrase that has no conclu-
sive, final meaning. 3. In what way can love be an excuse? Make up an ending for the ex-
ample sentence.
Words to Know
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
elusive hard to grasp
precipitate cause 1. Do you think the writer is qualified to tell you what "I love you"
means? Why or why not?
2. Why does the writer give so many examples of what "I love you"
T can mean?
X love you" does not always have the same meaning, and this, too,
should tell us something about the elusive nature of love. The first time 3. What mode of development is the writer using in the essay from
it is always a surprise, an invasion, an aggressive act, but once said, which this paragraph is taken? How do you know?
"I love you" can only be repeated. It is unthinkable that it should not
be said again, and again, and again. When one has not said it for a
Writing Assignments
while, this may itself precipitate a crisis. ("Now why haven't you said 1. Write a paragraph or essay defining marriage—what it is and what
that in all of these months!") On the other hand, "I love you" can also it should be. Use specific examples from marriages you know of to
serve as a threat ("Don't push me on this; you might lose me"), emo- illustrate your definition.
tional blackmail ("I've said it, now you have to respond in kind"), a 2. Write a paragraph defining the word emotion. You might try using
warning ("It's only because I love you that I'm willing to put up with cause-and-effect development for your definition, showing that
this"), an apology ("I could not possibly have meant what I have said something must cause certain effects to qualify as an emotion.
to you, to you of all people"). It can be an instrument—more effective
than the loudest noise—to interrupt a dull or painful conversation. It
can be a cry, a plea, a verbal flag ("Pay attention to me!") or it can be
an excuse ("It's only because I love you. . ."). It can be a disguise ("I
love you," he whispered, looking awkwardly askance at the open
door.). It can be an attack ("How can you do this to me?") or even an
end ("So that's that. Wi(h regrets, good-bye."). If this single phrase has
so many meanings, how varied and variable must be the emotion.
308
Chapter 9 / Definition Cake of Corpses / Scott Russel] Sanders 309

A Cake of Corpses
Questions About the Reading
Scott Russell Sanders 1. Who is the writer referring to with the phrase "curious ramblers"?
2. Explain what the writer means in the last sentence.
3. What does the writer think of limestone? Why is he interested in
it?

Words to Know Questions About the Writer's Strategies

fauna animals, fish, and insects

1. What term describes the use of the word cake in the paragraph?
2. What primary mode of development does the writer use for his def-
invertebrate without a backbone; usually refers to
inition?
insects, shellfish, and shrimplike or lobsterlike
creatures 3. The main idea of the paragraph seems to be stated in the first sen-
tence. What does the writer mean by "most handsomely"? How
leaching the removal of solids from a substance
does the rest of the definition clarify and support the main idea?
by water
traverse travel over or across
Writing Assignments
1. In a paragraph, define the word earth. Use whatever facts and im-
In this region the chief rock is limestone, one of the commonest on pressions you like, but you will have to be selective in order to fit
earth and the one that wears the shapes of time most handsomely. Like your definition into a single paragraph.
all limestone, this local stuff is a cake of corpses, a hardened graveyard 2. What is your most satisfying hobby or pastime? Write a paragraph
of sea creatures. In the warm, shallow oceans that used to cover the in which you define it.
Midwest invertebrate fauna thrived. As they died, their shells settled
to the bottom, where currents slowly wore them to bite and sorted the
bits accord ng to size. Chemicals leaching down from the water gradu-
ally cemented these scraps of shell together into thick beds, like a giant
layer cake The earth-shrug that heaved up the Appalachian Moun-
tains elevated these beds above sea level, tilting them so that a series
of progressively older layers were exposed to the weather and to curi-
ous ramblers. If you hike from west to east across southern Indiana
you will traverse belt after belt of limestone, ranging in age from about
three hundred to about five hundred million years. There are places
where you can leap from one outcropping to another and cross a gulf
&
of a thousand centuries.
310 Chapter 9 / Definition Grandparents / Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) 311

Grandparents Questions About the Reading

Nancy Pritts Merrill (Student) 1. What are some of the examples that the writer uses to define grand-
parents? What are some of the examples she uses to tell how we
treat grandparents?
In the paragraph that follows, the writer provides us with an extended definition of the
word grandparents by telling us what they do and how we feel about them at different
2. Do children understand that grandparents will not always be there?
times in our lives and theirs. The writer, a recent college graduate, makes us understand Support your answer with statements from the paragraph.
her feelings about grandparents, and because her feelings are so humo typical, she 3. What does the writer mean when she says, "you find yourself wish-
makes us aware of our own attitudes toward and feelings about gra mis. ing that you had told them what they meant to you as people and
not just as grandparents"?
Words to Know

accomplishments achievements Questions About the Writer's Strategies

appreciated valued
1. What is the main mode of development that the writer uses to de-
fine grandparents?
2. Do you think the writer's definition of grandparents is correct? Is
v-/f all family members, grandparents are probably the least appre- part of her definition implied rather than directly stated?
ciated. They are just people who are always around. They make a fuss 3. What is the point of view in the paragraph? Does it change? If so,
over the children in the family, brag to their friends about the accom- could the writer have maintained the same point of view through-
plishments of this child or that child, and show countless pictures of out the paragraph? Explain how it could be done.
new babies. Grandfathers can fix anything, and grandmothers always
have homemade cookies around. When you are small, it's fun to stay Writing Assignments
with your grandparents because they always let you do things you
can't do at home, and of course they buy you things. They are always 1. Write a paragraph in which you define a true friend by giving exam-
available to babysit because they don't go out much and actually pre- ples of the person's behavior.
fer to see their grandchildren. They are usually good for a small loan 2. Using descriptive details, write a paragraph defining what it means
now and then that doesn't need to be paid back because they turn it to be happy or sad, angry, tired, or hungry.
into a gift. You respectfully listen to their advice but don't follow it 3. Write a paragraph in which you define what the word parent means
because they are old and don't understand how things are in this day to you. Use several modes of development: examples, description, nar-
and age. You thank them politely for what they do for you, and then ration—whatever is appropriate. You might want to begin by brain-
don't call or visit them until you need something else. And of course storming to see what connotations the word parent has for you.
you never tell them how dear they are to you because they know how
you feel about them anyway. Then all of a sudden, they are no longer
there to do the things that only grandparents do, and you find yourself
wishing that you had told them what they meant to you as people and
not just as grandparents.
 312
Chapter 9 /
Hot Dogs / Jim Kaplan 313
Baseball's Hot Dogs
Jim Kaplan But there's another point of view: that hot-dogging is flair and zest, 7
the very ingredients that make baseball so entertaining on the air or
in person. Hot dogs contribute to baseball science, strategy and style.
Baseball, the game of inches, requires precision performance and intense concentration. Some hot dogs show off; others motivate themselves; still others intim-
Do grandstanding arid posturing constitute unfair psychological interference? In this def- idate the opposition; most are entertaining.
inition of hot-dogging, Jim Kaplan presents some expert opinions on the question. Henderson may qualify on every count. "I never try to put anyone 8
down," he says. "I take my time getting into the box because I'm think-
Words to Know
ing of the pitches I'm going to get." But he knows only too well the
imperturbable not easily disturbed effect his apparent stalling has. Even as imperturbable a pitching pro
repertoire collection of dramatic skills as the now-retired Tom Seaver got so flustered that he had to turn his
back on the mound until Henderson had set himself to hit.
"Rickey has always played with flair," says Milwaukee manager 9
H,. ere's Rickey Henderson at the plate. Taking forever to situate him- i Tom Trebelhorn, who handled Henderson in the minors. "When he
self in the batter's box, the New York Yankees outfielder crouches low played for me, he drove the other side crazy. Now he drives me crazy."
and extends a shy left foot, like a man inching into a cold swimming National League managers echo those sentiments about the San 10
pool. A pitch arrives on the inside corner. Henderson twists away and Francisco Giants' Jeffrey "Hac-Man" Leonard, who showcased his
then looks shocked when the umpire calls it a strike. Finally, Rickey trademark "flap down" home-run trot (one arm pinned to his side)
sees a pitch he likes and rides it out of the park. four times during the 1987 League Championship Series.
Now the real fun begins. Playing shamelessly to the crowd and cam- 2 "[One flap down] is entertaining, a guy having fun," the unflappa- 11
era, Henderson chucks his bat high over his head, ambles to first by ble Leonard has told reporters. "Anything that provides energy gets
way of the Yankee dugout, lowers his head and proceeds around the me up. Like Muhammad Ali, we'll bring out the best in our opponents,
bases in an endless, mock-serious trot. The fans love it. The opponents and that'll make us better."
do not. Oh, there are many kinds of baseball hot dogs—kosher and other- 12
Henderson is baseball's foremost "hot dog"—and his repertoire is 3 wise. Cleveland's Mel Hall used to round the bases with a batting
so varied and controversial that his employers have actually put pres- glove in each back pocket arranged to flap "bye-bye." He has since
sure on him to modify his style. This spring, the Yankees proposed contained his act. But there's no containing Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd,
banning Henderson's famous "snatch," a one-handed catch in which the Boston Red Sox pitcher who celebrates good fortune by variously
he snaps his glove down like a teacher scrawling a semicircle on a high-fiving and low-fiving teammates, waving to the crowd, doing
blackboard and finishes with it pressed to his heart. clenched-fist "out" calls and Michael Jackson struts, and snapping his
fingers as he walks off the mound.
"They said, 'Rickey, the only snatch you can make is the last out 4
of the World Series/" explained Henderson, adding that he thought Oil Can (the nickname is Mississippi slang for beer can) grew up 13
he could still get away with it on occasion. "I want to show I can do playing with older men who had starred in the Negro leagues. "I had
more than catch. I want to show I can catch. To me, the snatch isn't a lead-off hitter who drag-bunted with the bat behind his back," says
hot-dogging; it's style. People say I'm a hot dog. What is a hot dog?" Boyd. "My fielders would turn [the double play] by throwing the ball
between their legs. A first baseman named Bud Moore said to throw
Good question. "A hot dog is someone whose actions put down 5
someone on another team," says Doug DeCinces, the former major- to him in the dirt so he could pick it and look good. When I punched
league third baseman now playing for Tokyo's Yakult Swallows. [struck] a guy out, I'd say, 'Get outta here—next guy up.' To hot-dog
was the way to play."
"Hot-dogging is unnecessarily calling attention to yourself," adds 6
Roy Smalley, the well traveled former American League infielder. TV may be the biggest boon to hot-dogging since the invention of 14
mustard. Midway through the 1982 World Series, St. Louis pitcher
Joaquin Andujar was struck on the leg by a line drive and carried off
in apparent agony. NBC sportscaster Bob Costas raced down to the
314 Chapter 9 / Definition Defining Success / Michael Korda
315

dugout expecting to report on a broken leg. The Cardinals made faces Defining Success
and winked at him. "Television time," they were saying. Sure enough,
Andujar returned to pitch and win the final game. Michael Korda
"These days there are fewer characters but more character-acting," 15
says Costas. "You can almost choreograph your own moment, and the Michael Korda has written several books with the intention of helping people get the most
camera will do the rest." out of their work and their lives. The titles of his books tell you exactly what he has in
Hot dog\ 16 mind for you—Power! and Success! But before he can tell you (as the subtitle of his first
book puts it) "how to get it, how to use it," he wants to be sure you understand what
it is. In the first chapter of Success! he presents this controversial definition.
Questions About the Reading
1. What is a hot dog? Fashion your own definition, based on the essay Words to Know
and your personal opinions. conglomerate a business corporation made up of
2. What is the difference between catching and catching (paragraph 4)? many different companies
Why does Henderson want to show that he can catch? degenerate decrease in quality or size
3. What do you think the writer's opinion of hot-dogging is? Does he grandiose large, great
offer any conclusions about it? relative determined in relation to something else
superseded taken over, replaced
Questions About the Writer's Strategies unethical lacking in honesty or principles
1. What two similes does the writer use in his description of
Henderson?
2. Identify the subjective elements in this essay. U t h e r s may ask how you define success. This is more difficult. Sue- •
3. What primary mode does the writer use to develop his definition? . cess is relative; not everybody wants to put together a four-billion-dol-
4. What is the tone of the essay? What type of audience do you think lar conglomerate, or become President of the United States, or win the
the essay is aimed at? Nobel Peace Prize. It is usually a mistake to begin with such grandiose
ambitions, which tend to degenerate into lazy daydreams. The best
way to succeed is to begin with a reasonably realistic goal and attain
Writing Assignments it, rather than aiming at something so far beyond your reach that you
1. Write an essay in which you define some other behavior in which are bound to fail, it's also important to make a habit of succeeding,
people use different styles or about which they have various opin- and the easiest way to start is to succeed at something, however small,
ions, like flirting, arguing, dancing, or even walking. Try to talk to every day, gradually increasing the level of your ambitions and
people about the behavior and use dialogue in your definition, as achievements like a runner in training, who begins with short dis-
Kaplan does. tances and works up to Olympic levels.
2. Write an essay defining the term essay. (Put this book aside and Try to think of success as a journey, an adventure, not a specific des- 2
don't refer to it for help in composing your definition.) tination. Your goals may change during the course of that journey, and
your original ambitions may be superseded by different, larger ones.
Success will certainly bring you the material things you want, and a
good, healthy appetite for the comforts and luxuries of life is an excel-
lent road to success, but basically you'll know you have reached your
goal when you have gone that one step further, in wealth, fame or
achievement, than you ever dreamed was possible.
How you become a success is, of course, your business. Morality has 3
very little to do with success. I do not personally think it is necessary
316
Chapter 9 / Definition tpefining Success / Michael Korda 317

to be dishonest, brutal or unethical in order to succeed, but a great Questions About the Reading
many dishonest, brutal or unethical people in fact do succeed. You'd
better be prepared for the fact that success is seldom won without 1. What does the writer say is the best way to succeed?
some tough infighting along the way. A lot depends on your profes- 2. What does the writer mean when he says to "think of success as
sion, of course. There is a great deal of difference between setting out a journey, an adventure, not a specific destination"? Does this sen-
to become a success in a Mafia family and trying to become vice presi- tence in any way contradict what he says is the best way to succeed?
dent of a bank, but the differences simply consist of contrasting social 3. What does Korda mean by his statement "Morality has very little
customs and of what is the appropriate way to get ahead in a given to do with success"?
profession or business. Whether you're hoping to take over a numbers 4. What does Korda suggest you do if you have to violate your moral
game or an executive desk, you have to make the right moves for your standards to achieve success in your field?
circumstances. In the former example, you might have to kill someone;
in the latter, you might only have to find ways of making your rivals Questions About the Writer's Strategies
look foolish or inefficient. In either case, you have to accept the rules
of the game and play to win, or find some other game. This is a book 1. Does the writer actually define success? If so, identify the sen-
about success, after all, not morality. The field you go into is your tenced) in which he does so.
choice, but whatever it is, you're better off at the top of it than at the 2. What is the main idea (thesis) of the essay?
bottom. 3. What are the tone and point of view of the essay? Why should we
consider the writer an authority on success?
4. Do you believe that how a person becomes a success is that person's
business only? Why or why not?

Writing Assignments
1. Korda focuses on success in terms of people's professions, but peo-
ple can be professional successes and personal failures. Write an
essay in which you define success in terms of a person's life.
2. Write an essay in which you define one of the following terms: com-
petition, cooperation, or ambition. Give several examples. Develop a
paragraph for each example.
3. Write an essay defining morality. Use whatever modes of develop-
ment seem appropriate.
 318
Chapter 9 / , Not Success / Ellen Goodman 319

It's Failure, Not Success

fThe only thing they seem to disapprove of is disapproval. The only
Ellen Goodman judgment they make is against being judgmental, and they assure us
that we have nothing to feel guilty about except guilt itself. It seems
to me that they are all intent on proving that I'm OK and You're OK,
Not everyone agrees with Michael Korda's "get-what-you-can" mentality (see when in fact, I may be perfectly dreadful and you may be unforgivably
248-250). Ellen Goodman found herself getting more and more disturbed as she read
Korda's words to live by. She was certain there must be more to the truly successful Ijf
dreary, and it may be—gasp!—wrong.
So she wrote her own definition of success and applied another term, failure, to the self What brings on my sudden attack of judgmentitis is success, or rath- 5
serving life Korda described. Do you agree with Korda or with Goodman? er , Success!—the latest in a series of exclamation-point books all con-
cerned with How to Make It.
Words to Know
In this one, Michael Korda is writing a recipe book for success. Like 6
ambivalence simultaneously having different feel- the other authors, he leapfrogs right over the "Shoulds" and into the
ings or attitudes "Hows." He eliminates value judgments and edits out moral questions
bigot an intolerant or prejudiced person as if he were Fanny Farmer and the subject was the making of a blue-
edits cuts out, does away with berry pie.
excised removed It's not that I have any reason to doubt Mr. Korda's advice on the 7
Fanny Farmer author of a well-known cookbook way to achieve success. It may very well be that successful men wear
finesses glosses over handkerchiefs stuffed neatly in their breast pockets, and that success-
intent determined ful single women should carry suitcases to the office on Fridays wheth-
judgmental having an opinion about something, er or not they are going away for the weekend.
criticizing it He may be realistic when he says that "successful people generally 8
Machiavellian having political principles that are have very low expectations of others." And he may be only slightly
based on craftiness and doing anything necessary cynical when he writes: "One of the best ways to ensure success is to
to get ahead develop expensive tastes or marry someone who has them."
machete-ing using a machete or heavy knife And he may be helpful with his handy hints on how to sit next to 9
napalm a firm jelly used in flame throwers and someone you are about to overpower.
incendiary bombs But he simply finesses the issues of right and wrong—silly words, 10
embarrassing words that have been excised like warts from the shiny
placebo a substance given as medication that does
surface of the new how-to books. To Korda, guilt is not a prod, but
not contain actual medication
an enemy that he slays on page four. Right off the bat, he tells the
would-be successful reader that:
J. knew a man who went into therapy about three years ago because, • It's OK to be greedy.
as he put it, he couldn't live with himself any longer. I didn't blame • It's OK to look out for Number One.
him. The guy was a bigot, a tyrant and a creep.
• It's OK to be Machiavellian (if you can get away with it).
In any case, I ran into him again after he'd finished therapy. He was • It's OK to recognize that honesty is not always the best policy
still a bigot, a tyrant and a creep, but... he had learned to live with
himself. (provided you don't go around saying so).
• And it's always OK to be rich.
Now, I suppose this was an accomplishment of sorts. I mean, no-
body else could live with him. But it seems to me that there are an Well, in fact, it's not OK. It's not OK to be greedy, Machiavellian, 11
awful lot of people running around and writing around these days en- dishonest. It's not always OK to be rich. There is a qualitative differ-
couraging us to feel good about what we should feel terrible about, ence between succeeding by making napalm or by making penicillin.
and to accept in ourselves what we should change.
320 It's Failure, Not Success / Ellen Goodman 321
Chapter 9 / Definition

There is a difference between climbing the ladder of success, and ma- Questions About the Reading
chete-ing a path to the top. 1. What does the writer mean when she says, "he leapfrogs over the
Only someone with the moral perspective of a mushroom could as- i2 'Shoulds' and into the 'Hows'?"
sure us that this was all OK. It seems to me that most Americans har- 2. What is the "qualitative difference between succeeding by making
bor ambivalence toward success, not for neurotic reasons, but out of napalm or by making penicillin?"
a realistic perception of what it demands. 3. What is the "moral perspective of a mushroom"? Does Korda have
Success is expensive in terms of time and energy and altered beha- 13 such a perspective, in your opinion?
vior—the sort of behavior he describes in the grossest of terms: "If you 4. What does success demand that makes Americans ambivalent
can undermine your boss and replace him, fine, do so, but never ex- about it? What is it about Korda's brand of success that should make
press anything but respect and loyalty for him while you're doing it." us uncomfortable?
This author—whose Power! topped the best-seller list last year—is 14
intent on helping rid us of that ambivalence which is a signal from
our conscience. He is like the other "Win!" "Me First!" writers, who Questions About the Writer's Strategies
try to make us comfortable when we should be uncomfortable. 1. What is the writer defining in this essay?
They are all Doctor Feelgoods, offering us placebo prescriptions in- 15 2. Does the essay contain a thesis statement? State the thesis in a sen-
stead of strong medicine. They give us a way to live with ourselves, tence of your own. What is the function of the first four paragraphs
perhaps, but not a way to live with each other. They teach us a whole of the essay?
lot more about "Failure!" than about success. 3. Does the writer indicate that she is being subjective? If so, how?
4. Find a simile in paragraph 10. What is its effect?

Writing Assignments
1. Write an essay defining failure.
2. Write an essay defining generosity or kindness.
3. Write an essay in which you define something by saying what it
is not. Possible topics might include fishing ("Fishing is not a pas-
time for the impatient . . ."); voting ("Voting is not a chore, nor is
it a spur of the moment act. . ."), writing ("Writing is not as hard
as it seems, and it should not be threatening..."); winning or losing;
or being rich or poor.
322
Chapter 9 / What Is Intelligence, Anyway? / Isaac Asimov 323

What Is Intelligence, Anyway? prove myself a moron. And I'd be a moron, too. In a world where I
Isaac Asimov could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to
do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do
poorly. My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the
Many of us think that intelligence is something one is simply born with, or that it has society I live in and.of the fact that a small subsection of that society
to do iviih doing well in school or scoring highly on IQ tests. But did you ever stop to
think about what IQ tests really measure? In the essay that follows, Isaac Asimov asks has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.
us to rethink our definition of intelligence. Consider my auto-repair man, again. He had a habit of telling me 5
jokes whenever he saw me. One time he raised his head from under
Words to Know the automobile hood to say: Doc,, a deaf-and-dumb guy went into a
aptitude ability hardware store to ask for some nans. He put two fingers together on
the counter and made hammering mouorfewith the other hand. The
arbiter someone who has the power to judge
clerk brought him a haminer.' He shook nis head and pointed to the
complacent self-satisfied
intricate elaborate two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He
KP kitchen patrol
picked out the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, Doc, the next guy who
came in was a blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose
oracles people able to foresee the future or make
he asked for them?" -,
prophecies
Indulgently, I lifted my right hand and made scissoring motions 6
raucously loudly
with my first two fingers. Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed
raucously and said, "Why, you dumb jerK; ne used his voice and asked
for them." Then he said, smugly, "I've been trying that on all my cus-
tomers today." "Did you catch many?" I asked. "Quite a few," he said,
"but I knew for sure I'd catch you." "Why is that?" I asked. "Because
you're so goddamned educated, Doc, I knew you couldn't be very
smart."
And 1 have an uneasy feeling he had something there. 7

•
324 Chapter 9 / Definition Migraines / Joan Didion 325

Questions About the Reading Migraines

1. What does the writer mean when he says, "My intelligence, then, Joan Dtdion
is not an absolute but is a function of the society I live in?"
2. What distinction does the writer make between being educated and
For people who have never experienced one, it is difficult to understand what a migraine
being smart? headache is. In the following essay, taken from The White Album, Joan Didion defines
3. Do you think the repairman is smarter than the writer? Why or why migraines, explains their causes and cures, and tells how she has learned to live with them.
not?
Words to Know
Questions About the Writer's Strategies aphasia inability to speak
1. What mode of development does the writer use in paragraphs 5 cerebral of or related to the brain
and 6? What is the purpose of these paragraphs? contraindications indications that something is
2. Does the writer actually define intelligence? If so, state his definition inadvisable
in your own words. If not, explain why not. contretemps embarrassing incident
3. In paragraph 6, the writer says he made the scissoring motion "in- convalescent healing
dulgently." What does this tell you about his attitude toward the debility weakness
joke? Why is his attitude ironic? euphoria a feeling of well-being
4. Does the essay contain a thesis statement? If so, where is it located? histamine a substance used to dilate, or enlarge,
If not, state it in your own words. the blood vessels
5. Is the repairman a symbol? If so, what does he represent? incapacitating disabling
lobotomy surgery to cut nerves in the brain
predisposition a tendency or inclination
Writing Assignments
vascular of the blood vessels
1. Imagine a society in which intelligence is measured by how well yoga a Hindu discipline
people can work with their hands and fix machinery. Write a defini-
tion of intelligence for that society.
2. Write an essay defining the term joke. Use examples to illustrate X hree, four, sometimes five times a month, I spend the day in bed
your definition. with a migraine headache, insensible to the world around me. Almost
3. Pick one of the following concepts and define it in an essay: beauty, every day of every month, between these attacks, I feel the sudden
truth, wisdom, or quality. irrational irritation and the flush of blood into the cerebral arteries
which tell me that migraine is on its way, and I take certain drugs to
avert its arrival. If I did not take the drugs, I would be able to function
perhaps one day in four. The physiological error called migraine is,
in brief, central to the given of my life. When I was 15, 16, even 25,
I used to think that I could rid myself of this error by simply denying
it, character over chemistry. "Do you have headaches sometimes? fre-
quently? never?" the application forms would demand. "Check one."
Wary of the trap, wanting whatever it was that the successful circum-
navigation of that particular form could bring (a job, a scholarship,
the respect of mankind and the grace of God), I would check one.
"Sometimes," I would lie. That in fact I spent one or two days a week
almost unconscious with pain seemed a shameful secret, evidence, not
 326
Chapter 9 / Definition Migraines / Joan Didion
327

merely of some chemical inferiority but of all my bad attitudes, un-

pleasant tempers, wrongthink. taken daily, as a preventive; another preventive which works for some
For I had no brain Junior, no eyestrain, no high blood pressure, 2 people is old-fashioned ergotamine tartrate, which helps to constrict
nothing wrong with me at all: I simply had migraine headaches, and the swelling blood vessels during the "aura," the period which in most
migraine headaches were, as everyone who did not have them knew, cases precedes the actual headache.
imaginary. I fought migraine then, ignored the warnings it sent, went Once an attack is under way, however, no drug touches it. Migraine 5
id school and later to work in spite of it, sat through lectures in Middle gives some people mild hallucinations, temporarily blinds others,
English and presentations to advertisers with involuntary tears run- shows up not only as a headache but as a gastrointestinal disturbance,
ning down the right side of my face, threw up in washrooms, stumbled a painful sensitivity to all sensory stimuli, an abrupt overpowering
home by instinct, emptied ice trays onto my bed and tried to freeze fatigue, a strokelike aphasia, and a crippling inability to make even
the pain in my right temple, wished only for a neurosurgeon. who the most routine connections. When I am in a migraine aura (for some
would do a lobotomy on house call, and cursed my imagination. people the aura lasts fifteen minutes, for others several hours), I will
It was a long time before I began thinking mechanistically enough 3 drive through red lights, lose the house keys,, spill whatever I am hold-
to accept migraine for what it was: something with which I would be ing, lose the ability to focus my eyes or frame coherent sentences, and
living, the way some people live with diabetes. Migraine is something generally give the appearance of being on drugs, or drunk. The actual
more than the fancy of a neurotic imagination. It is an essentially her headache, when it comes, brings with it chills, sweating, nausea, a de-
reditary complex of symptoms, the most frequently noted but by no bility that seems to stretch the very limits of endurance. That no one
means the most unpleasant of which is a vascular headache of blinding dies of migraine seems, to someone deep into an attack, an ambiguous
severity, suffered by a surprising number of women, a fair number of blessing.
men (Thomas Jefferson had migraine, and so did Ulysses S. Grant, the My husband also has migraine, which is unfortunate for him but 6
day he accepted Lee's surrender), and by some unfortunate children fortunate for me: perhaps nothing so tends to prolong an attack as the
as young as two years old. (I had my first when I was eight. It came accusing eye of someone who has never had a headache. "Why not
on during a fire drill at the Columbia School in Colorado Springs, Col- take a couple of aspirin," the unafflicted will say from the doorway,
orado. I was taken first home and then to the infirmary, at Peterson or "I'd have a headache, too, spending a beautiful day like this inside
Field, where my father was stationed. The Air Corps doctor prescribed with all the shades drawn." All of us who have migraine suffer not
an enema.) Almost anything can trigger a specific attack of migraine: only from the attacks themselves but from this common conviction
stress, allergy, fatigue, an abrupt change in barometric pressure, a con- that we are adversely refusing to cure ourselves by taking a couple
tretemps over a parking ticket. A flashing light. A fire drill. One inher- of aspirin, that we are making ourselves sick, that we "bring it on our-
its, of course, only the predisposition. In other words I spent yesterday selves." And in the most immediate sense, the sense of why we have
in bed with a headache not merely because of my bad attitudes, un- a headache this Tuesday and not last Thursday, of course we often do.
pleasant tempers and wrongthink, but because both my grandmothers There certainly is what doctors call a "migraine personality," and that
had migraine, my father has migraine and my mother has migraine. personality tends to be ambitious, inward, intolerant of error, rather
No one knows precisely what it is that is inherited. The chemistry 4 rigidly organized, perfectionist. "You don't look like a migraine per-
of migraine, however, seems to have some connection with the nerve sonality," a doctor once said to me. "Your hair's messy. But I suppose
hormone named serotonin, which is naturally present in the brain. The you're a compulsive housekeeper." Actually my house is kept even
amount of serotonin in the blood falls sharply at the onset of migraine, more negligently than my hair, but the doctor was right nonetheless:
and one migraine drug, methysergide, or Sansert, seems to have some perfectionism can also take the form of spending most of a week writ-
effect on serotonin. Methysergide is a derivative of lysergic acid (in ing and rewriting and not writing a single paragraph.
fact Sandoz Pharmaceuticals first synthesized LSD-25 while looking But not all perfectionists have migraine, and not all migrainous peo- 7
for a migraine cure), and its use is hemmed about with so many con- pie have migraine personalities. We do not escape heredity. I have
traindications and side effects that most doctors prescribe it only in tried in most of the available ways to escape my own migrainous
the most incapacitating cases. Methysergide, when it is prescribed, is heredity (at one point I learned to give myself two daily injections of
histamine with a hypodermic needle, even though the needle so fright-
328 Chapter 9 / Definition Migraines / Joan Didion 329

ened me that I had to close my eyes when I did it), but I still have Questions About the Reading
migraine. And I have learned now to live with it, learned when to ex- 1. When the writer was younger, why did she lie about the frequency
pect it, how to outwit it, even how to regard it, when it does come, of her headaches?
as more friend than lodger. We have reached a certain understanding, 2. Explain the meaning of the last sentence in paragraph 3.
my migraine and I. It never comes when I am in real trouble. Tell me 3. Why is the writer grateful that her husband also suffers from
that my house is burned down, my husband has left me, that there migraines?
is gunfighting in the streets and panic in the banks, and I will not re- 4. How has the writer learned to cope with her migraines?
spond by getting a headache. It comes instead when I am fighting not
an open but a guerrilla war with my own life, during weeks of small
household confusions, lost laundry, unhappy help, canceled appoint- Questions About the Writer's Strategies
ments, on days when the telephone rings too much and I get no work 1. What is the predominant mode of development used to define
done and the wind is coming up. On days like that my friend comes migraines?
uninvited. 2. Does the writer actually tell what a migraine headache is? If so, lo-
And once it comes, now that I am wise in its ways, 1 no longer fight 8 cate the sentences in which the definition appears.
it. I lie down and let it happen. At first every small apprehension is 3. Identify the simile used in paragraph 8, and explain what it means.
magnified, every anxiety a pounding terror. Then the pain comes, and 4. The writer switches from the first person 7 in paragraph 4. What
I concentrate only on that. Right there is the usefulness of migraine, person does she switch to? Why does she do this?
there in that imposed yoga, the concentration on the pain. For when
the pain recedes, ten or twelve hours later, everything goes with it, all Writing Assignments
the hidden resentments, all the vain anxieties. The migraine has acted
1. Write an essay defining an everyday ailment from which you some-
as a circuit breaker, and the fuses have emerged intact. There is a pleas-
times suffer, such as the common cold or the flu.
ant convalescent euphoria. 1 open the windows and feel the air, eat
2. Write an essay defining the term coping, using an extended example
gratefully, sleep well. I notice the particular nature of a flower in a
from your own life, like a medical condition, a physical handicap,
glass on the stair landing. I count my blessings.
the death of a loved one, or a significant failure you have experi-
enced. (If you cannot think of an example from your own life, per-
haps you could draw your example from a friend's life.)
3. In an essay, describe perfectionism. Include at least three examples
of the forms it can take.
330 331
Chapter 9 / Definition what Is a Drug? / Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen

What Is a Drug? The decision to call some substances drugs and others not is often 3
arbitrary. In the case of medical drugs—substances such as penicillin,
Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen used only to treat physical illness—the distinction may be easier to
make. But talking about psychoactive drugs—substances that affect
The topic of drugs raises strong emotions in most people. But what do we mean by a drug? mood, perception, and thought—is tricky.
Is chocolate a drug? How about salt? In the following essay from Chocolate to Mor- In the first place, foods, drugs, and poisons are not clear-cut catego- 4
phine: Understanding Mind-Active Drugs, Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen question ries. Second, people have strong emotional reactions to them. Food is
our beliefs about drugs.
good. Poison is bad. Drugs may be good or bad, and whether they are
Words to Know
seen as good or bad depends on who is looking at them. Many people
agree that^drugs are good when doctors give them to patients in order
adhere stick to to make them better^jSome religious groups^ such as Christian Scien-
arbitrary determined by whim and not by reason tists^do not share that view,.however^They believe that God intends
nonchalant seemingly indifferent us to deal with illness without drugs.
perverts corrupts When people take psychoactive drugs on their own, in order to 5
procreation production of offspring change their mood or feel pleasure, the question of good or bad gets
sacrament a formal religious rite or practice even thornier. The whole subject of pleasure triggers intense contro-
taboos forbidden things versy. Should pleasure come as a reward for work or suffering? Should
yogis those who practice yoga, a Hindu discipline people feel guilty if they experience pleasure without suffering for it
in some way? Should work itself be unpleasant? These questions are
very important to us, but they do not have easy answers. Different
1VJ. ost people would agree thayieroin is a drug..It is a white powder 1 people and different cultures answer them in different ways.
that produces striking changes in the body and mind in tiny dosesj Drug use is universal. Every human culture in every age of history 6
But is sugar a drug? Sugar is also a white powder that strongly affects has used one or more psychoactive drugs. (The one exception is the
the body, and some experts say it affects mental function and mood Eskimos, who were unable to grow drug plants and had to wait for
as well. Like heroin, it can be addicting. How about chocolate? Most white men to bring them alcohol.) In fact, drug-taking is so common
people think of it as a,.food or flavor, but it contains a chemical related that it seems to be a basic human activity. Societies must come to terms
to caffeine, is a stimulant, and can also be addicting. Is salt a drug? with people's fascination with drugs Usually the use of certain drugs
Many people think they cannot live without it, and it has dramatic is approved and integrated into the life of_a tribe, community, or na-
effects on the body. tion, sometimes in formal rituals and ceremonies The approval of
A common definition of the word drug is any substance that in srrull 2 some drugs for some purposes usually goes hand in hand with the
amounts^produces significant changes in the body, mind, or bothj This disapproval of other drugs for other purposes. For example, some
definition does not clearly distinguish drugs from some foods. The dif- early Muslim sects encouraged the use of coffee in religious rites, but
ference between a drug and a poison is also unclear. All drugs become had strict prohibitions against alcohol. On the other hand, when coffee
poisons in high enough doses, and many poisons are useful drugs in came to Europe in the seventeenth century, the Roman Catholic
low enough doses. Is alcohol a food, a drug, or a poison? The body Church opposed it as an evil drug but continued to regard wine as
can burn it as a fuel, just like sugar or starch, but it causes intoxication a traditional sacrament.
and can kill in overdose. Many people who drink alcohol crusade Everybody is willing to call certain drugs bad, but there is little 7
against drug abuse, never acknowledging that they themselves are in- agreement from one culture to the next as to which these are. In our
volved with a powerful drug. In the same way, many cigarette addicts own society^ll nonmedical drugs other than alcohol, tobacco, and caf-
have no idea that tobacco is a very strong drug, and few people who feine are viewed with suspicion by the majority^here are subgroups
drink coffee realize the true nature of that beverage. within our society, however, that hold very different opinions. Many
332 What Is a Drug? / Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen 333
Chapter 9 / Definition

North American Indians who use peyote and tobacco in religious ritu- the dividing of important things into good and evil—a form of magical
als consider alcohol a curse. The most fervent members of the counter- thinking that tries to gain control over sources of fear. The reasons and
culture that arose in the 1960s regard marijuana and psychedelics as justifications come later.
beneficial while rejecting not only alcohol, tobacco, and coffee but *-Because psychoactive drugs can give pleasure and can change the 12
most other legal and illegal drugs as well. Classic heroin addicts, or ways people think, perceive the world, behave, and relate to each oth-
junkies, may reject psychedelics and marijuana as dangerous but think er, they invite magical thinking and taboos^ When you hear arguments
" of narcotics as desirable and necessary. Some yogis in India use mari- on the merits or dangers of drugs, even by scientific experts, remember
juana ritually, but teach that opiates and alcohol are harmful. Muslims that these may be secondary justifications of pre-existing views that
may tolerate the use of opium, marijuana, and qat (a strongly stimulat- are deep-seated and rooted in emotion. (It is always easy for both sides
ing leaf), but are very strict in their exclusion of alcohol. to produce statistics and "scientific evidence" to support opposing
Furthermore, attitudes about which drugs are good or bad tend to 8 views.)
change over time within a given culture. When tobacco first came to Because drugs are so connected with people's fears and desires, it 13
Europe from the New World it provoked such strong opposition that is very hard to find neutral information on them. In this book we try
authorities in some countries tried to stamp it out by imposing the to give unbiased facts about all psychoactive drugs people are likely
death penalty for users. But within a century its use was accepted and to encounter today. We cannot say that we have no biases about drugs,
even encouraged in the belief that it made people work more efficient- but we think we know what they are. Our strongest conviction is that
ly. In this century Americans' attitudes toward alcohol have shifted drugs themselves are neither good nor bad; rather,£hey are powerful
from nonchalant tolerance to antagonism strong enough to result in substances that can be put to j^ood or bad uses^Ve are concerned with
national prohibition, and back to near-universal acceptance. The cur- the relationships people form with drugs, whether legal or illegal,
rent bitter debate over marijuana is mostly a conflict between an older approved or unapproved. We believe that by presenting neutral infor-
generation that views the drug as evil and a younger generation that mation about these substances, we can help people, especially young
finds it preferable to alcohol. people, come to terms with drugs. Our purpose is not to encourage
Students of behavior tell us that dividing the world into good and 9 or discourage the use of any drug, but rather to help people learn to
evil is a fundamental human need. The existence of evil provokes fear live in a world where drugs exist and not get hurt by them.
and demands explanation. Why is there sickness? Why is there death?
Why do crops fail? Why is there war? And, most important, how
should we act to contain evil and avoid disaster? One attempt at a solu-
tion is to attribute evil to external things, and then prohibit, avoid, or
try to destroy them. This is how taboos arise.
People tend to create taboos about the activities and substances that 10
are most important to them. Food, sex, and pleasure are very impor-
tant, and many taboos surround them—although, again, there is little
agreement from culture to culture as to what is good and what is bad.
Muslims and Jews eat beef but not pork; some groups in India eat pork
but not beef. Homosexuality is taboo in most modern Western cul-
tures, but has been fully accepted in the past and is still accepted today
in certain parts of the world.
People who adhere to taboos justify them with logical reasons. Jews 11
like to think they do not eat pork because pigs are unclean and may
have carried disease in former times. Christians argue that homosexu-
ality is a sin because it perverts God's intended use of sex for procre-
ation. Actually, reasons for taboos are secondary; the basic process is
 Chapter 9 / Definition

Questions About the Reading

1.
2.
What are psychoactive drugs?
In your own words, define taboos.
Argumentation
3.
4.
Why do the writers think drugs are neither good not bad?
Why is it difficult to find neutral or unbiased information on drugs?
and Persuasion
Questions About the Writers' Strategies
1. Do the writers actually define drug? If so, in which sentence(s) is
the definition stated?
2. What other terms do the writers define in the essay?
3. Identify at least three modes of development the writers use in dif-
ferent paragraphs of the essay. ALL EFFECTIVE WRITING involves, to some'extent, argu-
4. The writers want the tone of the essay to be objective, as indicated mentation or persuasion. As you have learned from the
in paragraph 13. Do you think the writers are successful in sound- preceding chapters, writers use various kinds of informa-
ing objective? Why or why not?
tion to develop a topic or thesis. Such information can be
5. What person, or point of view, do the writers use throughout most said to "argue" or "persuade" in the sense that it con-
of the essay? Does the point of view change anywhere in the essay? vinces the reader that the writer's idea is true or believ-
If so, where, and what do you think the purpose of the change is? able. However, as modes of development, argumentation
and persuasion have some particular characteristics that
Writing Assignments you should know about and be able to use in your own
1. Write an essay defining marijuana, using extended definition, and writing.
state why it should or should not be legalized. Let's look first at persuasion in its most obvious
2. Write an essay defining the term law. Think, for instance, about form—the advertisement. You should not use sentence
whether laws are always right, about how laws change, and fragments in your writing assignments, as the following
about who makes the laws. advertisement does; and of course you should continue
to structure your writing according to a main (general)
idea and to support it according to the various modes of
development. But you will want to appeal to the emo-
tions, qualities, or values that a reader is likely to share
or find desirable, as advertisers do. One way to appeal
to a reader is to use words for their connotations—that
is, as explained in the preceding chapter, for the feelings
or qualities a reader may associate with the words—rath-
er than for their denotation, or dictionary definition.
In the example below, the advertiser uses the words
clean, smooth, fresh, and pure innocence. We associate such
words with highly desirable qualities, and the advertiser
intends to persuade us that a particular soap will give our
skin these qualities. The word new implies that the prod-
uct has been improved and, therefore, is better or more
335
 336 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion 337

desirable than its predecessor or a competing product. Example 2: brother died of the same illness. Both experienced unbear-
brother-in-law L able pain. He, too, was a heavy smoker.
Notice, too, that the ad appeals to our senses in the de-
But there is more to this horror story. In 1958, my father
scription of the soap's lather as silky and soft. died suddenly of a cardiovascular ailment. He'd been a two-
pack-a-day man for years, and would "walk a mile for a
Connotation
Camel" when younger. Later in life, he could hardly walk at
Connotation all. But he still puffed away, day and night, before breakfast
and with his meals. He endured continual nasal and respira-
Connotation tory problems, and never enjoyed a day free of a hacking
Connotation cough.
Connotation A popular pharmacist, he had many doctor friends who
urged him to stop smoking. But he was firmly hooked and
Connotation
had been since 1909. Ill with lung disease (emphysema and
chronic bronchitis), he had long suffered intensely painful at-
Example 3: father tacks of near-suffocation. In 1955 he was forced to retire and
Connotation spend his "golden years" either lying on our sofa or propped
up in a lounge chair.
The purpose of persuasion is of course to make the In late summer of 1957, I took him to a specialist at the
reader accept the writer's idea. That idea may be an opin- University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. There he was
told there was no cure for his condition. But he could help
ion or judgment that the reader might not ordinarily himself. "How." he asked. "Stop smoking," was the reply.
share or have knowledge of. The idea may be controver- That is a tall order for anyone who has smoked for almost
sial—as we shall see later the idea of an argument must 50 years. But my father did not want to live the life of an in-
be—but it does not have to be. The idea may even be hu- valid, so he determined to try. That he succeeded—cold tur-
morous. Whatever the idea, the writer will use words and key—is nothing short of a miracle. But he really had no other
choice, except to suffer.
information to appeal to the reader's emotions. Such in-
Within weeks he was breathing easier, and it was not long
formation may be biased in favor of the writer's idea, but before he was walking about and driving his car. He got to
it should be honest and accurate. Notice the emotional enjoy life a bit. I'm convinced that giving up smoking added
strength of the writer's examples in the letter that [ that near-year to his life.
follows. Today, I have a daughter—a working mother of two—
who has been addicted to cigarettes since peer pressure in
Example 4:
daughter high school encouraged her to smoke. She wants desperately
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
to quit. In fact, she has done so several times, only to be lured
4th and Main Street L back by the smoking of others in her workplace.
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102

Dear Sirs: Having presented four powerful extended examples, this

writer goes on to a thorough persuasive conclusion. You
When my wife died of lung cancer in 1976, I wanted to
write you about her love affair with Camel cigarettes. I con- will see below that he uses rhetorical questions to intro-
cluded, however, that it would be an exercise in futility. duce and structure his conclusion. A rhetorical question
I take up the challenge now, because you have publicly is a question to which no real answer is expected because
announced an advertising campaign to cast doubt on medi- only one obvious reply can be made—and that reply will
cal reports that cigarettes are a public-health hazard. You call either support or restate the writer's point. Rhetorical
for an open debate. Okay, let's debate.
questions are fairly common in persuasive writing and
My wife died a painful death. She was just 56 and had
Example 1: wife smoked at least a pack of Camels a day for 40 years. Coinci- in argumentation because they offer a way for writers to
dentally, just 30 days before her demise her 47-year-old emphasize the correctness of their viewpoints.
338 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion 339

Okay, R. J. Reynolds, that's my story, What's yours? Are you objective, rather than one-sided. A classic or formal argu-
prepared to tell us that the National Institutes of Health, the ment includes five elements:
Surgeon General and the various voluntary health agencies
are all wrong? Are the many scientific studies indicting • Statement of the problem
smoking just so much hogwash? • Solution, the writer's thesis or answer to the
For the sake of debate, let's assume smoking's critics are problem
wrong. Can you deny that cigarette smoking is addictive?
Isn't that fact precisely the reason why you sell so many ciga- • Evidence, the information the writer presents to
rettes? Is it moral to manufacture and sell any product that support or prove the thesis
causes addiction—even if it might otherwise be harm-less? • Refutation, the writer's acknowledgment of and
As bad as alcohol abuse is, alcohol is addictive to only a rela- response to the opposing views related to the
tively small number of consumers. You" can't say that about
problem
cigarettes. Smoking hooks nearly every consumer. And once
hooked it is difficult to stop; for some, it seems impossible. • Conclusion, the writer's summation of the evi-
In a free society, people can't be forbidden to smoke. But dence and, generally, a restatement of the thesis
government does have the obligation to warn the public of Although you may seldom need to write a paragraph-
the dangers involved. It has the responsibility to hold R. J.
Reynolds Tobacco Co. and others accountable for luring im- length argument, it is helpful to examine an example for
pressionable people to smoke, while suggesting that medical the elements of argumentation. Notice in the example be-
findings establishing a relationship between smoking and low that the writer has explained the problem, stated a
cancer, cardiovascular diseases and respiratory ailments are solution or answer to the problem—which is the topic of
inconclusive. the paragraph—provided evidence in support of the so-
It's hard to fight the rich tobacco industry, but just maybe, lution, refuted the opposing view, and summarized the
through education, we non-smokers will eventually win. As
a witness to so much tragedy caused by smoking, I feel com- position taken on the topic.
pelled to hope so. During the late sixties, and early seventies, political and
social activism was rampant on college campuses. Student
protests—which were sometimes peaceful and other times
Statement of the violent—addressed issues related totivil rights, the environ-
Sincerely, problem ment, war, nuclear arms, and consumer protection and
Gil Crandall rights. In recent years, student protests have been much less
frequent and, generally, peaceful, causing some writers and
In summary, then, a persuasive paragraph or essay, _ politicians to label present-day students as apathetic. Non-
like the other modes of development, is based on a main sense! Today's students are not apathetic. They simply have
(general) idea that is developed by one or more of the different concerns than they did in the sixties and seventies.
modes of development. However, persuasion is also char- They are more concerned about, for instance, employment
and the quality of their own lives. They are assessing, con-
acterized by the use of words or information that appeals
Solution fronting even, themselves—their hopes, plans, desires, ambi-
to the reader's emotions. The information or evidence tions, and values. They are fighting quietly for their causes—
used in persuasion may be one-side'd, but it should be s personal or otherwise—by pursuing training and retraining
honest and accurate. Tlfe topic, or thesis, of persuasion opportunities and by exercising their voting privileges. To
may be controversial, but it does not have to be. say they are apathetic is to ignore the steadfastness with
which they are pursuing their goals. To say they are apathetic
Argumentation, on the other hand, must be based on is to imply that a person is not concerned about an issue un-
a controversial idea—an idea that people have different less that person takes to the streets or possibly engages in
views or opinions about. Although argumentation may violent acts on behalf of that issue. The fact is, the current
include some persuasion, its appeal to the reader should coliege population is older—the average age of community-
college students nationwide is about twenty-eight—
be rational and logical, as opposed to emotional, and
-'
340 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion 341

more experienced, and in some ways wiser. As a conse- watch for not only in your own writing but also when
Evidence
quence, they have perhaps learned that confrontation may you are reading arguments composed by others. When
_ win a battle but lose the war, that in the long run, they must you read or write an argument, analyze not only the main
live and work with those persons who hold opposing views.
Thus, while they are indeed quieter than their predecessors,
conclusion but also all the ideas that support it. A conclu-
Refutation
they continue to be concerned about such important issues sion may seem quite sensible based on the evidence the
_ as employment (their own and others), nuclear arms, envi- writer supplies, but if the evidence itself is not true and
ronment, civil rights, and war. We make a mistake if we write presented logically, the conclusion must be viewed as
Conclusion off today's college students as apathetic simply because we faulty.
do not see physical evidence of their concern. In the essay below, the writer presents her argument
according to the classic model. She supports her opinion
In the solution section of this sample, did you notice objectively with facts that give the reader sound reasons
that the writer used the same sentence structure several to accept her conclusion. Notice that in doing so, she uses
times ("They are . . ."), and then actually repeated the several modes of development, such as contrast and
long opening phrase of one sentence in the next one ("To examples.
say that they are apathetic is to . . .")? This technique is
called parallelism. You may already have learned in com- Each year, from late spring to early fall, thousands of high
position class that grammatical parallelism is important school students and their parents spend a great deal of time
Statement of the and money driving around the country to visit expensive and
within a sentence. In rhetorical parallelism, such as that problem prestigious colleges that the students think they might like
above, the writer uses similar structures in separate sen- to attend. Each year, thousands of students go through the
tences to express related ideas. The parallel sentences ritual of applying to and being rejected by these colleges.
may occur one after the other, as above, or they may be Instead, they should go to a community college and, after
separated by other sentences or by whole paragraphs. Solution earning their associate degree, transfer to a four-year univer-
sity to complete their education.
Like rhetorical questions, parallelism is common in argu-
Most community colleges offer a wide choice of career or
mentation and persuasion because it can help the writer technical programs as well as a curriculum paralleling that
emphasize important points and how they work together offered by a university. If the student has already made a ca-
to support the main idea. reer choice, an associate degree prepares the student to enter
In a full-length essay, you can of course develop your the workforce or to continue his or her career study in a four-
Evidence
year university. If the student has not decided on a career,
argument more fully and convincingly than you can in a community college is an excellent place to learn more about
a paragraph. The order in which you present the ele- many different career possibilities and to complete the gener-
ments of an argument may differ from the classic argu- al education courses required by either a career or univer-
ment represented by the paragraph above. For instance, sity-parallel program.
you may want to state the refutation before presenting Most community colleges also have a more diverse popu-
the evidence for your argument. And sometimes one of lation than that of the student's high school. In a community
Evidence college the student has the opportunity to meet persons of
the elements of your argument may be implied rather all ages, abilities, and ethnic and racial backgrounds and to
than stated, just as the topic sentence of a paragraph or improve his or her knowledge and understanding of others.
the main idea of an essay may be implied. *f A community college is also much less expensive than
No matter what method is used to develop an argu- most colleges. In addition to the lower cost of tuition and
Evidence fees, the student can usually live at home and commute to
ment, however, always remember that the evidence pres-
classes, which also saves the high cost of dorm or apartment
ented to support the solution and the conclusion must be fees.
valid—true, supported by facts, accurately expressed, It is true, of course, that a community college does not of-
and based on sound reasoning. This is something to fer the prestige of the more famous universities. But if
342 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion 343

prestige is significant, the student could complete a baccalau- persuasion will help you- The reading selections that fol-
reate and graduate work at a better-known school. And low provide examples of many such techniques
Refutation whether the education the student receives at a community
employed by experienced writers. The questions at the
college is equal to that provided by a more prestigious uni-
versity can be determined only on a case-by-case basis, since ends of the readings will help you understand these tech-
much of the success of any education depends on the individ- niques, and the writing assignments will give you a
ual student. chance to apply them yourself.
The fact is, for most students a community college is a 6
sound educational and economic choice. Instead of engaging
in the expensive and time-consuming spring-to-fall ritual of
Conclusion
college shopping, most students would be as well or better
served by taking advantage of the educational opportunity
offered by their local community college.

When you read an argument, remember too, that a

writer may present facts selectively. That is, the writer
may not give you all the facts relating to an issue or prob-
lem. For this reason, it is advisable to read and consider
arguments on both sides of the controversy and to care-
fully select the facts when you are trying to form an opin-
ion about an important issue. It will then be up to you
when writing an argumentation paper to interpret the
facts and conclusions presented to decide which ones are
most valid and which ones you will use to support your
own writing.
In summary, although argumentation and persuasion
have a common purpose—to convince the reader to ac-
cept the writer's opinion—they differ principally in the
way the writer appeals to the reader. In argumentation,
the writer supports the topic or thesis by presenting
objective, logical evidence that appeals to the reader's
reason. In persuasion, the writer does not necessarily
abandon objectivity or logic, but uses words or other in-
formation that appeals to the reader's emotions. Also, al-
though the thesis of persuasion may be controversial, the
thesis of an argument must be. In both argumentation and
persuasion, the writer makes use of whatever modes of
development are effective and appropriate.
In school and beyond, you will almost certainly en-
counter occasions when you will want to use argumenta-
^uaus tion or persuasion to make a point to your audience.
Whether you are doing so orally or in writing, being fa-
miliar with techniques used in argumentation and
344 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion The Inflammable River / Vine Deloria, Jr. 345

The Inflammable River Questions About the Reading

1. What does the non-Indian mean when he says, "What did you do
Vine Deloria, Jr.
with the land when you had it?"
2. In what sense did the writer not understand the non-Indian's
Vine Deloria, Jr., is a Native American activist who writes compelling!}/ about the situa- question?
tion of American Indians today. In the paragraph that follows, taken from the introduction
3. Does the writer really think that the non-Indians have made better
to his book We Talk, You Listen, he argues that white people have destroyed the natural
environment. use of the land? Explain.

Word to Know Questions About the Writer's Strategies

combustible capable of being set on fire 1. What is the tone of this paragraph? How does the tone contribute
to the persuasiveness of the paragraph?
2. Why does Deloria refer to his non-Indian acquaintance as a friend?
very now and then I am impressed with the thinking of the non- Do you think he is serious?
Indian. I was in Cleveland last year and got to talking with a non-In- 3. What mode of development is used to develop the paragraph?
dian about American history. He said that he was really sorry about 4. Does the paragraph have a topic sentence? What is the purpose of
what happened to Indians, but that there was good reason for it. The the first sentence of the paragraph?
continent had to be developed and he felt that Indians had stood in 5. Is the Cuyahoga a symbol? If so, what does it stand for?
the way and thus had had to be removed. "After all," he remarked,
"what did you do with the land when you had it?" I didn't understand Writing Assignments
him until later when I discovered that the Cuyahoga River running - 1. Rewrite the paragraph, but instead of using irony, use a serious-
through Cleveland is inflammable. So many combustible pollutants
minded tone.
are dumped into the river that the inhabitants have to take special pre-
2. Imagine that a developer has proposed building a shopping mall
cautions during the summer to avoid accidentally setting it on fire.
that will destroy a large area of marshland in your town. Write a
After reviewing the argument of my non-Indian friend I decided that
paragraph arguing for or against the mall. You may want to go to
he was probably correct. Whites had made better use of the land. How
the library and read a little about wetlands before you write.
many Indians could have thought of creating an inflammable river?
3. Do you think that the development of industry in the United States
represents progress? Write a paragraph or essay in which you de-
fine progress and then argue for or against industrial development.
346 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Beer Can / John Updike 347

Beer Can Questions About the Reading

John Updike 1. What is the "handy gadget so freely dispensed by grocers"?
2. Why might an upside-down beer can make people edgy or queasy?
How does this suggestion relate to the main point of the paragraph?
Like Vine Deloria, fohn Updike doesn't think progress is always wonderful But his 3. Describe in your own words what it is that the writer liked about
perspective in this paragraph is quite different from Deloria's. Sometimes, he complains,
progress can thoughtlessly alter the little things in life, taking away their rewarding, com- pre-pop-top beer cans.
fortable familiarity. (Note: This paragraph was written in 1964, before can makers had
created drink cans with the molded bottoms they have today.) Questions About the Writer's Strategies
Words to Know 1. One problem leads to another in this paragraph. Where does the
writer state the problems? Where does he state the solutions?
gratuitous done for its own sake, useless 2. Describe the connotations of the word beetling. If you like, just
brainstorm for a short list of other words beetling makes you think
of.
1 his seems to be an era of gratuitous inventions and negative im- 3. What does the writer mean in the final sentence? What is the irony
provements. Consider the beer can. It was beautiful—as beautiful as in this statement?
the clothespin, as inevitable as the wine bottle, as dignified and reas- 4. Although the writer cites only irrefutable facts in the paragraph, he
suring as the fire hydrant. A tranquil cylinder of delightfully resonant clearly is not entirely serious or objective in his tone. What methods
metal, it could be opened in an instant, requiring only the application does he use to overstate the importance of his topic? How does his
of a handy gadget freely dispensed by every grocer. Who can forget choice of words contribute to his method?
the small, symmetrical thrill of those two triangular punctures, the 5. Compare Updike's portrayal of progress in this paragraph with that
dainty pffff, the little crest of suds that foamed eagerly in the exultation expressed by Deloria in "The Inflammable River." What similarities
of release? Now we are given, instead, a top beetling with an ugly, or differences do you see in the writers' methods? Is Updike also
shmoo-shaped "tab," which, after fiercely resisting the tugging, bleed- making as serious a point as that made by Deloria?
ing fingers of the thirsty man, threatens his lips with a dangerous and
hideous hole. However, we have discovered a way to thwart Progress,
usually so unthwartable. Turn the beer can upside down and open the bot-
Writing Assignments
tom. The bottom is still the way the top used to be. True, this operation 1. Write a paragraph in which you argue for or against allowing stu-
gives the beer an unsettling jolt, (\nd the sight of a consistently inverted dents to use calculators in elementary and junior high school
beer can might make people edgy, not to say queasy. But the latter dif- classes. Include a statement of the problem, evidence, and a state-
ficulty could be eliminated if manufacturers would design cans that ment of the solution.
looked the same whichever end was up, like playing cards. What we 2. Write a paragraph in which you try to persuade readers of the bene-
need is Progress with an escape hatch. fits of contemporary aluminum cans. Think of all the benefits you
can, even far-fetched ones, but be sure your evidence consists of ver-
ifiable facts. (If aluminum cans don't appeal to you, think of another
everyday object that has undergone changes in recent years—the
telephone, the video recorder, the stereo system, contact lenses.)
348 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion The Vandal and the Sportsman / Joseph Wood Krutch 349

The Vandal and the Sportsman Questions About the Reading

1. According to the author, is the person who hunts animals for pure
Joseph Wood Krutch sport worse than a liar or murderer?
2. According to the author, why is it worse to destroy a helpless animal
Joseph Wood Krutch was a noted scholar, in fields ranging from literature (which he "legally" than to rob a bank or to vandalize a park?
taught) to sociology. Forced by his health to leave New York City for Tucson, Arizona, 3. In your own words, state the motive of the killer for sport.
he became a passionate advocate of nature and especially of the desert wilderness. In this
paragraph, taken from an essay in The Best Nature Writing of Joseph Wood Krutch,
he explains why he feels that hunting animals "for sport" is a pure evil, the kind which Questions About the Writer's Strategies
has no excuse, no possible good to be gained at all.
1. Many words used in persuasive writing are connotative and can
Words to Know
trigger a reader's emotion. Which words does the writer use to ac-
complish this?
gratuitously without justification; unnecessarily 2. How does the writer show the reader that he believes that our soci-
impediment obstacle ety condones those who kill animals for sport?
unscrupulous without regard for what is right 3. What mode of development does the writer use to develop his
Vandal a member of a Germanic tribe that paragraph?
attacked ancient Rome; vandalism means the
willful or malicious destruction of property,
especially something beautiful
Writing Assignments
1. Write a persuasive paragraph in which you try to convince your
reader that one of the following is "evil": gun control laws or the
M..ost wicked deeds are done because the doer proposes some good absence of such laws, our present nuclear arms policy, football in
our society, killing or trapping wild animals for their fur, or driving
to himself. The liar lies to gain some end; the swindler and thief want while intoxicated.
things which, if honestly got, might be good in themselves. Even the
2. Proponents of hunting argue that in many cases it is an essential
murderer may be removing an impediment to normal desires or gain-
form of population control for wild species, and they cite many
ing possession of something which his victim keeps from him. None
other positive qualities of the sport. Write a persuasive paragraph
of these usually does evil for evil's sake. They are selfish or unscrupu-
refuting Krutch's statements about the attitude of hunters and the
lous, but their deeds are not gratuitously evil. The killer for sport has
nature of hunting. (If you agree with Krutch, you may want to
no such comprehensible motive. He prefers death to life, darkness to
choose another assignment.)
light. He gets nothing except the satisfaction of saying, "Something
which wanted to live is dead. There is that much less vitality, con- 3. Many hunters eat the animals they kill, yet hunting is viewed in a
sciousness, and, perhaps, joy in the universe. I am the Spirit that very different light from raising beef cattle or hogs. Write a persua-
Denies." When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we sive paragraph expressing approval or disapproval of raising ani-
call him Vandal. When he wantonly destroys one of the works of God mals for food.
we call him Sportsman.
 Eliminate Cars from the National Parks / Edward Abbey 351
350 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion

Eliminate Cars from the National Parks Questions About the Reading
1. In what ways are "distance and space functions of speed and time"?
Edward Abbey 2. Have you ever been on a lake crowded with motorboats? Describe
what you think the writer means by "dominate the lake to the exclu-
This selection is from Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey. In the paragraphs leading uv sion of any other form of activity."
to this one, Abbey calls for banning all cars from our national parks. In this paragraph, 3. How would banning cars make the parks bigger? Explain the writ-
he gives reasons for his position.
er's proposition in your own words.
Words to Know
4. Do you agree with the writer's reasoning? Why or why not?

circumnavigate go all the way around

Questions About the Writer's Strategies
1. Analyze the first sentence in the paragraph. How does the writer's
o nee people are liberated from the confines of automobiles there
will be a greatly increased interest in hiking, exploring, and back-
language support his position?
2. In this paragraph, the writer does nothing in particular to establish
his authority on his subject. How does he try to lend authority to
country packtrips. Fortunately the parks, by the mere elimination of
his evidence? That is, what techniques does he use to make his evi-
motor traffic, will come to seem far bigger than they are now—there
dence seem reasonable and convincing?
will be more room for more persons, an astonishing expansion of
3. Identify the subjective and objective elements in the paragraph.
space. This follows from the interesting fact that a motorized vehicle,
when not at rest, requires a volume of space far out of proportion to
its size. To illustrate: imagine a lake approximately ten miles long and Writing Assignments
on the average one mile wide. A single motorboat could easily circum- 1. Write a persuasive paragraph for or against allowing woodcutters
navigate the lake in an hour; ten motorboats would begin to crowd to harvest trees in the national parks.
it; twenty or thirty, all in operation, would dominate the lake to the 2. Write a persuasive paragraph for or against the idea of banning cars
exclusion of any other form of activity; and fifty would create the haz- in the downtown sections of large cities.
ards, confusion, and turmoil that make pleasure impossible. Suppose 3. In an argumentative paragraph or essay, support or reject the pro-
we banned motorboats and allowed only canoes and rowboats; we posal that roads be built into wilderness sections of the national
would see at once that the lake seemed ten or perhaps a hundred times parks so that people with physical handicaps can enjoy them.
bigger. The same thing holds true, to an even greater degree, for the
automobile. Distance and space are functions of speed and time. With-
out expending a single dollar from the United States Treasury we
could, if we wanted to, multiply the area of our national parks tenfold
or a hundredfold—simply by banning the private automobile. The
next generation, all 250 million of them, would be grateful to us.
35; Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Why National Literacy Is Important / E. D. Hirsch 353

Why National Literacy Is Important Questions About the Reading

E. D. Hirsch 1. Why is literacy necessary to the "complex undertakings of modern
life"?
2. The telephone, radio, and TV don't involve reading. Why are they
The term literacy refers to the ability to read and write. However, as E. D. Hirsch points
out in this paragraph, the importance of literacy extends far beyond signing your name
dependent on literacy?
or enjoying a book. In fact, Hirsch says, literacy provides the foundation for modern 3. If literacy is "so important in the modern world," what is the impli-
societies. cation of different countries—like Japan, Spain, and the United
States—having different languages?
Words to Know

undertaking a task or assignment Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Is this a paragraph of argumentation, persuasion, or both?
2. Is there a topic sentence in the paragraph? If so, where is it? If not,
W,hy is literacy so important in the modern world? Some of the rea- state the main idea in your own words.
sons, like the need to fill out forms or get a good job, are so obvious 3. This paragraph might also have appeared as an example of another
that they needn't be discussed. But the chief reason is broader. The mode of development. What is the other mode the paragraph
complex ^undertakings of modern life depend on the cooperation of serves?
many people with different specialties in different places. Where com-
munications fail, so do the undertakings. (That is the moral of the story Writing Assignments
of the Tower of Babel.) The function of national literacy is to foster
effective nationwide communications. Our chief instrument of com- 1. The title of the book from which this paragraph is taken is Cultural
munication over time and space is the standard national language, Literacy. Write a paragraph in which you argue for or against the
which is sustained by national literacy. Mature literacy alone enables idea that we should learn about our culture by studying subjects
the tower to be built, the business to be well managed, and the airplane like history, civics, sociology, and American literature.
to fly without crashing. All nationwide communications, whether by 2. Write a paragraph in which you argue for or against the need to
telephone, radio, TV, or writing are fundamentally dependent upon read and write as well as you are learning to do in this course. Feel
literacy, for the essence of literacy is not simply reading and writing free to use your own experiences to illustrate your paragraph.
but also effective use of the standard literate language. In Spain and
most of Latin America the literate language is standard written Span-
ish. In Japan it is standard written Japanese. In our country it is stan-
dard written English.
 354
Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Excuses, Excuses / Helen C. Vo-Dinh 355

Excuses, Excuses learning the subject I teach. Now, we teachers have some control over
Helen C. Vo-Dinh time on task. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we fill up half
a period Monday entertaining our classes with stories about what we
did over the weekend. However, even those of us with the best inten-
In its report A Nation at Risk, the National Commission on Excellence in Education tions find our classes interrupted, depleted or canceled by forces
warns that "for the first time in the history of our country, the educational skills of one beyond our control day after day after day. For under the guise of
generation will not surpass, will not equal, will not even approach, those of its parents."
Not surprisingly, this prediction has caused considerable discussion of educational reform,
"education," a plethora of social activities has sprouted in our schools
much of it focused on the quality of the teaching in our schools. Here, Helen C. Vo-Dinh, which draw students from our rooms. This situation is particularly de-
a teacher in a school near Washington, D.C., argues that the quantity of teaching in structive at the high-school level where I am now teaching.
American schools may be at least equally to blame for the decline in student achievement. Sometime in the summer, our school district, like others across the 4
country, will publish a school calendar for the coming year. In my state,
Words to Know
students must attend school 180 days. This means that each of the stu-
charade imitation of a real activity dents assigned to me will have 180 periods of classroom instruction
competency ability to do a job in the subject I teach. However, I know that this will never happen.
consensus general opinion If I consider only the classes I lose to "necessities" such as fire drills,
culmination climax, most extreme point bomb scares, three days of state-mandated testing, three days of regis-
depleted made smaller, reduced tration and one entire day for school photos, my students have already
en masse in a group or body missed 10 periods out of the 180. Now, depending upon how many
guise false appearance pep rallies are needed, how many assemblies we can afford and the
merit pay wages based on the quality of the work degree to which my students participate in a host of activities offered
performed during schooltime, I will lose all of them again, and most of them again
plethora an excessive amount, superabundance and again.
rationale line of reasoning It might be helpful to compare the situation in our high schools with 5
sanctioned approved, accepted that in our colleges, where an intellectual atmosphere still prevails.
Second Coming return of Christ at the end of the Think back a moment. Do you remember your college classes being
world canceled for pep rallies, assemblies or class meetings? Not once, but
state-mandated required or decreed by the state often during a semester? When you wanted to attend some social func-
tion or help prepare for a dance were you excused with the blessings
of the administration, or did you cut? Do you remember lectures inter-
rupted routinely by a hidden sound system? Did office aides make it
y and large, the report of the National Commission on Educational 1 a practice to appear with urgent memos which your professors had
Excellence has been received favorably by those of us in the teaching to read and respond to while you waited impatiently? Was it a com-
profession, even though the blame for a shoddy educational system mon occurrence for football players to rise en masse in the middle of
falls so often on our shoulders. For example, recently we have been
a discussion to go to practice or a game?
hearing a lot about teacher competency and the need for merit pay
as if this would solve our problems. And yet this is precisely the kind of situation we high-school teach- 6
ers put up with day after day. Is it any wonder that many students
Somewhere in the commission's report and lost to sight in the hue 2 don't value much of what goes on in the classroom?
and cry is a recommendation that received little publicity. This is the
suggestion that schools make more effective use of the existing school At the latest count my syllabus is at the mercy of 45 different activi- 7
day. ties sanctioned by our school system. I lost students this past year for
the following reasons: club trips to Atlantic City, student-council elec-
As a teacher I understand this to mean that I had better make sure 3
tions, bloodmobile, appointments with guidance counselors and
my students spend every minute they have with me studying and
Army representatives, an art show, community show, tennis, track,
356 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Excuses, Excuses / Helen C. Vo-Dinh 357

baseball, swimming, football, cheerleading, club meetings, class meet- delayed, canceled, interrupted or depleted for any reason short of il-
ings, drama and band workshops, yearbook, PSAT, chorus and orches- lness, an emergency or the Second Coming.
tra rehearsals, science day, cattle judging, attendance at the movie
"Gandhi" and graduation rehearsal. Questions About the Reading
This list is by no means complete. 8
The rationale which allows this charade to continue is that if stu- 9 1. According to Vo-Dinh, who is usually considered to blame for the
dents miss classes they can make up the work and no harm is done. declining quality of American education? Which remedies for this
Of course, this idea carried to its logical conclusion means that we decline receive most attention?
need less school for students, not more as the president's commission 2. How does Vo-Dinh define "effective use of the existing school day"?
recommended. It is true that many students can read assignments out- 3. In what way is the situation the writer describes a charade?
side of class, copy notes and keep up with their work. Others may opt 4. Why does Vo-Dinh feel that unified class time and consistent atten-
for lower grades. But much of what takes place during class cannot dance are important?
be made up. How do you make up a class discussion where you have 5. What is the writer's attitude toward the public and educational ad-
a chance to test and clarify your ideas on a subject? A group discussion ministrators? What statements in the essay indicate how she feels?
where you must come to a consensus? An oral reading?
When I cannot organize a group discussion in advance because I 10 Questions About the Writer's Strategies
am never sure who will show up, when "Romeo" is off to a band re- 1. Identify the five elements of argumentation in Vo-Dinh's essay. (See
hearsal and "Juliet" has a swim meet on the day the class reads page 339.)
"Romeo and Juliet" aloud, how can I generate seriousness of purpose
2. What different modes of development does the writer use to sup-
and respect for intellectual effort?
port her argument?
Obviously many of these activities are worthwhile. But there is no 11 3. Where does Vo-Dinh use rhetorical questions in this essay? How
pressing reason why any of them have to take place during class do they influence your acceptance of her argument?
hours. Days could be added to the school calendar for state-mandated 4. Is this essay completely objective? Cite examples from the essay to
testing and registration. And why not let communities sponsor support your answer.
dances, sports, college and Army representatives and clubs after 5. What does the writer do to try to establish herself as a fair observer?
school hours? At the very least we would then discover which students
wanted to participate in activities and which simply wished to escape
from class. Writing Assignments
The culmination of this disrespect for intellectual effort occurs in 12 1. Some critics of the American educational system feel that its quality
my school when the seniors are allowed to end classes and prepare can be improved by rating teachers individually according to vari-
for graduation three weeks before the rest of the student body. The ous criteria and paying them only as much as that evaluation sug-
message which comes across is that the senior curriculum is so negligi- gests they deserve (merit pay). Consider the pros and cons of this
ble it can be cut short, and that when you get older, you have it easier proposal, and write an essay supporting or rejecting it.
than anybody else, not harder. 2. Many colleges require a certain minimum of class attendance for
I am not a kill-joy. I know that kids need fun just as much as adults 13 course credit. Criticize or defend this practice.
do and that clubs are educational in their own way. But as a member 3- Colleges frequently have distribution requirements that control the
of a profession which is accorded only the most grudging respect and kinds of courses students take and the amount of time they spend
which is continually suspected of not doing its job, I say start by giving in particular areas of study. Evaluate the distribution policies of
us a chance. Guarantee me those 180 periods I'm supposed to have. your school or major department, and write an essay supporting
I'll know the public and the people who run the schools are serious them or recommending specific changes.
about improving them the year my classes have not been shortened,
358 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion So That Nobody Has to Go to School / Roger Sipher 359

effectively enforced such laws, usually because of the expense

So That Nobody Has to Go to involved.
School if They Don't Want To There is no contradiction between the assertion that compulsory at- 5
Roger Sipher tendance has had little effect on the number of children attending
school and the argument that repeal would be a positive step toward
improving education. Most parents want a high school education for
Roger Sipher, a professor of history at the State University of New York, has a different their children. Unfortunately; compulsory attendance hampers the
solution to the problem of the declining quality of American schools. Instead of increasing
the quantity of teaching, as Helen Vo-Dinh recommends (see pages 354-357), he suggests
ability of public school officials to enforce legitimate educational and
that mandatory attendance laws be abolished. The effect, he argues, will be to improve disciplinary policies and thereby make the education a good one.
dramatically the quality of education for those children who choose to go to school. f_Private schools have no such problem. They can fail or dismiss stu- 6
dents, knowing such students can attend public schoolj Without com-
Words to Know pulsory attendance, public schools^would be freer to oust students
antagonistic opposing
whose academic or personal behavior undermines the educational
archaic old-fashioned
mission of the institution^
assertion statement Has not the noble experiment of a formal education for everyone 7
conventional customary \. failed? While we pay homage to the homily, "You can lead a horse to
enacted made law
water but you can't make him drink," we have pretended it is not true
homage honor
in education.
homily sermon \ , Ask high school teachers if recalcitrant students learn anything of 8
mandatory required by rule or law value. Ask teachers if these students do any homework. Ask if the
oust force out threat of low grades motivates them. Quite the contrary, these students
recalcitrant hard to control know they will be passed from grade to grade until they are old
repeal abolish
enough to quit or until, as is more likely, they receive a high school
tangentially superficially relevant
diploma.;'At the point when students could legally quit, most choose
undermines weakens
to remain since they know they are likely to be allowed to graduate
whether they do acceptable work or not/
Abolition of archaic attendance laws would produce enormous 9
ZJL. decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator 1 dividends^
that American education is in trouble. First,( it would alert everyone that school is a serious place where 10
One reason for the crisis is that, present mandatory-attendance laws 2 one goes to learn. Schools are neither day-care centers nor indoor
force many to attend school who have no wish to be thereySuch chil- street corners./ Young people who resist learning should stay away; in-
dren have little desire to learn and are so antagonistic to school that deed, an end to compulsory schooling would require them to stay
neither they nor more highly motivated students receive the quality away.
education that is the birthright of every American. Second) students opposed to'learning would not be able to pollute 11
The solutionj to this problem is simple: f Abolish compulsory- 3 the educational atmosphere for those who want to learn. Teachers
attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting could stop policing recalcitrant students and start educating, j
an education to attend./ Thirdj grades would show what they are supposed to: how well a 12
This will not end public education. Contrary to conventional belief, 4 student is learningf Parents could again read report cards and know
legislators enacted compulsory-attendance laws to legalize what al- if their children were making progress.
ready existed. William Landes and Lewis Solomon, economists, found Fourth,1 public esteem for schools would increase. People would 13
little evidence that mandatory-attendance laws increased the number stop regarding them as way stations for adolescents and start thinking
of children in school. They found, too, that school systems have never of them as institutions for educating America's youth, i
360 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion
So That Nobody Has to Go to School / Roger Sipher
361

Fifth/ elementary schools would change because students would 14

of your own as well as evidence from the essay. (If you choose to
find out early that they had better learn something or risk flunking
reject Sipher's claim, remember that you can use refutation of his
out later/ Elementary teachers would no longer have to pass their fail-
statements as evidence for your position.)
ures on to junior high and high school.
2. Many colleges require that students score at a certain level on the
.Sixth, the cost of enforcing compulsory education would be elimi- 15
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) before admission to the college. Stan-
nated. Despite enforcement efforts, nearly 15 percent of the school-age
dardized tests have recently come under attack for not measuring
children in our largest cities are almost permanently absent from
aptitude or ability but for measuring information that students
school./
have learned in school. Some people think that such tests are biased
Communities could use these savings to support institutions to deal 16
in favor of white, middle-class students. Do you think colleges
with young people not in school. If, in the long run, these institutions
should require the SAT as a prerequisite for admission? Write an
prove more costly, at least we would not confuse their mission with
essay that explains and provides evidence for your position.
that of schools.
3. Did you go to school each day because of the law or because your
1 Schools should be for education. At present, they are only tangen- 17
parents insisted that you go? Write an essay arguing for or against
tially so. They have attempted to serve an all-encompassing social
the position that parents, not the law, should decide when and
function, trying to be all things to all people. In the process they have
where their children go to school.
failed miserably at what they were originally formed to accomplish^

Questions About the Reading

1. What evidence does the writer give that the American educational
system is in trouble?
2. What does the writer mean by the statement, "You can lead a horse
to water but you can't make him drink"? How have we pretended
that this isn't true for education?
3. Why are high school students who do not do acceptable work al-
lowed to graduate?
4. What effects do students who do not want to learn have on schools,
according to the writer?

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Locate the statement of the problem and the solution.
2. What is the function of paragraphs 4 and 5?
3. Analyze the evidence the writer offers to support his argument. Is
the evidence mainly objective or subjective?
4. In paragraph 11, how does the writer use connotation to help make
his point?

Writing Assignments
1. Do you agree that schools have "failed miserably" in their mission
to educate? Write an essay in which you argue formally for or
against the writer's position. Support your argument with evidence
362 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Climbing at Its Best / Galen Rowell 363

Climbing at Its Best rewards such as money or prestige. Chess brings on the self-commu-
nication of intense concentration, but lacks the meld of physical and
Galen Rowell mental action. Most team sports involve too many distractions and
only a short-term commitment. Many top climbers feel that climbing
To Galen Rowell, mountain climbing is not an activity but an experience. In this passage is basically useless, but return to the mountains again and again be-
from his book In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods, he tries to persuade his cause they cannot experience the same ecstasy in performing the ac-
readers that reaching the pinnacle of the climbing experience requires certain specific con- tions our society deems useful. For them, the summit is merely the
ditions and a special mental attitude. curtain falling on a grand play. The curtain, like the achievement of
the summit, tells nothing about what happened beforehand.
Words to Know
Novice climbers can only experience hints of this emotional reward 4
conducive supportive because their actions are not yet ingrained in the motor nerves, and
meld blend the feeling cannot be realized when one is outwardly contemplating
plethora an excessive amount one's own actions. Similarly, if a climb is either too hard or too easy,
then horror or boredom respectively will interfere with the tranquility
of this state of mind. When and how a person experiences the shift
/ \ t the highest levels of difficulty or endurance, climbing demands 1 of consciousness depends on his own personal level of ability. An in-
total concentration of one's senses. All thoughts converge on the task termediate climber might reach it on a moderate climb, but an expert
at hand. No room exists for such normal mental activities as time mea- would have to do a harder climb or change the style of the moderate
surement or self-contemplation. Consciousness becomes a smooth, climb by using less equipment or climbing solo. The significant point
purposeful stream of energy fitted to the task. Feet, eyes, and mind is that the climber must be working at his own top capacity for difficul-
work in total harmony as each receives instantaneous feedback from ty, endurance, or both.
the actions of the others. No random thoughts block the flow between
body and mind. Only by attaining this smooth and tranquil state can
climbers do their best. Conversely, climbers intent on doing their best, Questions About the Reading
whether they admit it or not, are seeking this satisfying state of mind, 1. Why is it necessary for a climber to be working at top capacity to
often more directly than the summit itself. experience the feeling the writer describes?
Not surprisingly, the "style" that climbers consider the best is nor- 2 2. What does the writer mean by "style" in paragraph 2?
mally that which makes this purity of consciousness possible. A climb- 3. What does reaching the summit have to do with mountain climb-
er is most likely to reach this state when climbing alone or with a few ing, according to the writer?
quiet companions, and least likely when being guided, acting as a 4. Despite what he says in the first sentence of paragraph 3, the writer
guide, or consciously trying to follow someone else's description of seems to feel that the experience he is describing is for the most part
a climb. Equipment is also a factor. Climbing with a few classic tools unique to mountain climbing. Do you agree? Have you experienced
that become extensions of the body is quite conducive to the sought- the feeling described?
after-feeling; using a plethora of gadgets is not. Climbing near one's
limit brings on the feeling; staying well within one's margin does not.
Viewed in this context, reaching the summit of a mountain is not all Questions About the Writer's Strategies
it is cracked up to be; it simply marks the end of a highly pleasurable 1- What is the main idea in the essay? Is it directly stated in a thesis
state of mind. statement, or is it implied?
The ecstasy that a climber seeks is not to be found solely in the 3 2 What is the writer's tone? Does he do anything to establish his au-
mountains. The identical feeling is the goal in all sorts of activities that 4,1

require intense concentration and that do not involve direct tnonty on his topic? Cite statements in the essay to support your
answer.
3 Identify the metaphor in paragraph 3, and explain what it means.
364 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion The Spreading Use of Steroids / Jane E. Brody 365

4. Compare the first sentence of the essay, the last sentence in para- The Spreading Use of Steroids
graph 1, and the last sentence of the essay. What relationship do
you see among them? fane E. Brody

Writing Assignments At the 1988 summer Olympics, several prominent athletes, including "the world's fastest
human"—the winner of the men's WO-meter dash—were disqualified from the games for
1. Write a persuasive essay in which you try to convince your reader using anabolic steroids. In this article, written several months before the Olympics, Jane
that you know the single best way to complete some task or play E. Brody presents the case against steroids and the alarming indications of their wide-
some game, such as playing Monopoly or poker, memorizing a spread use.
poem or song, studying for an exam, building a house of cards, or
Words to Know
washing windows or a car.
2. Write an advertisement for your favorite book or magazine, trying accruing adding up
to convince people to read it. Use correct grammar, and do not endocrine gland any of several glands that secrete
quote any existing ad copy. hormones into the bloodstream
exacerbate make worse

s the serious and possibly life-threatening effects of body-building 1

steroids become better known, specialists are increasingly alarmed
aboutthe growing use of these drugs by college and high school ath-
letes and by teen-age boys who want an athlete's body without the
work..
For years the hormonelike drugs have been used by adult athletes 2
who were willing to risk possible long-term damage for what they be-
lieved was a short-term competitive edge.^The well-known dangers
include the possibility of sexual and reproductive disorders^ Recent
research also indicates that use of the .drugs, can dangerously change
cholesterol levels.
But not only are more people now taking these drugs, experts say 3
that they are also taking them at younger ages, in higher doses and
for longer periods, all of which can greatly exacerbate the risks. In
some cases, parents of high school athletes have asked doctors to pre-
scribe the drugs to help their youngsters excel in competitions or win
college scholarships.
^These anabolic steroid drugs are not licensed for athletic use.jBut 4
they are easily obtained under the counter and from mail-order com-
panies that buy them in Mexico and abroad, as well as from some vet-
erinarians and physicians willing to prescribe them for nonmedical
purposes.
Anabolic steroids are especially popular among men and boys^who 5
are weight lifters, body builders, football players, shot-putters, discus
>6 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion The Spreading Use of Steroids / Jane E. Brody
367

throwers and swimmers.. They are also used by some women body muscle mass, the drugs must be used indefinitely. Furthermore^the
Guilders seeking more muscle than their natural hormones will allow. drug stimulated muscle tissue appears to be highly susceptible to inju-
According to Dr. John A. Lombardo, medical director of sports med- e ries, which take much longer to heal than damage to ordinarily devel-
icine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, "runners, swimmers, wres- oped muscle./
tlers and cyclists who want to train harder also ask for steroids because Then there is the matter of documenting anjncrease in strength, In 15
they seem to speed recovery from intense workouts." 1981 Dr. Allen Ryan, a former team physician at the University of Wis-
For some activities, especially powerlifting, athletes believe they 7 consin who is now retired, reviewed more than two dozen studies of
have no choice but to take the drugs if they wish to hold their own the effects of steroids on physical strength and endurance. In 13 of the
in competitions with others who take them. better studies, there were no significant improvements in the athletes.
Since the late 1950's, when anabolic steroids were introduced, thou- 8 In another review several years later, 14 studies of weight lifters in- 16
sands of athletes have injected or swallowed them in hopes of improv- dicated a significant increase in strength when steroids were used, but
ing performance. Sports Illustrated has reported that as many as 80 10 studies reported no such increase. The primary benefits were de-
percent of the linemen and half of the linebackers in the National Foot- scribed as accruing from previous training in weight lifting and con-
ball League are thought to have used steroids. tinuous training in the period of drug use, an effect that would result
Although the drugs were banned in 1976 by amateur athletic orga- 9 from training even without the drugs.
nizations and have since resulted in several competitors being disqua- But even if the drugs do work for some athletes, Dr. Lamb seriously 17
lified or losing medals, professional athletic groups have not taken questions the wisdom of their use, given the fact that they "almost in-
similar action. variably cause adverse side effects, certainly minor ones and possibly
Even in amateur sports, the drugs remain popular among some ath- 10 life-threatening as well."
letes, who seek to foil the urine tests used to detect them. The Mayo
Clinic estimates that a million people in this country are now taking Questions About the Reading
steroids for nonmedical purposes, with annual sales (mostly black
market) exceeding $100 million. 1. Why do teen-age boys who are not athletes take steroids?
2. Is there a rule against using steroids in the NFL, according to the
article?
Anabolic Steroids
3. After reading paragraphs 14-16, do you think that, overall, steroids
Anabolic steroids are sometimeslLused medically in patients with 11 work to improve athletic performance? Explain your answer.
certain blood disorders, severe burns, muscle-wasting diseases and 4. In which paragraphs does the writer actually address the issue of
some endocrine gland abnormalities^ whether steroids are good or bad for people? What are most of the
The drugs are synthetic derivatiyespf the natural male hormone tes- 12 other paragraphs about?
tosterone, which^ncreases"protein synthesis and promotes the growth 5. The writer tells us that using steroids is dangerous. Does she also
of lean muscle tissue rather than fat when excess calories are con- express any opinion about whether steroid use is "morally" wrong?
sumed^- Does she imply any such opinion?
Dr. David Lamb, director of exercise physiology at Ohio State Uni- 13
versity in Columbus, said most athletes who use anabolic steroids take
Questions About the Writer's Strategies
three to four times the natural daily "dose" of testosterone and many
take 20 or 40 times the amount their bodies would produce of this L Can you identify the five elements of a classical argument in this
hormone. essay?
2. Is the writer being objective or subjective in the essay? Support
Do They Work? your answer by citing examples.
There is little question that the steroids can help men, women, and 14 3- What does the writer do to establish her authority on her topic?
teenagers lay down more muscle tissue. However, to maintain this How do you know that she has done a lot of research?
8 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Death to the Kilters / Mike Royko 369

4. Is thprp any place in the essay where the writer clearly paid atten- Death to the Killers
tion the connotations of her words? Explain why you think she
Mike Royko
made the general word choice that she did.

Like Coretta Scott King, Mike Royko has strong feelings about the death penalty. But
Writing Assignments Royko, a syndicated newspaper columnist, takes a view opposite to tiiat of King. In the
1. Are athletes who use steroids or other performance-enhancing essay that follows, he tells the stories of the families of murder victims. "Opponents of
drugs cheating? Write an essay arguing for one side or the other the death penalty," he asserts, "should try explaining to these people just how cruel it
is to kill someone."
of this question.
2 Although selling steroids to someone who does not have a doctor's Words to Know
prescription is illegal in many places, the use of steroids itself is not.
decomposed rotting
(That is, the seller can be prosecuted, but the person taking the
delegate to give duties to another
drugs cannot be.) Bearing in mind that our society permits the legal
deter to keep from acting
use of drugs like alcohol and tobacco, write an essay arguing for
dispatching getting rid of (in this context, putting
or against laws prohibiting steroid use.
to death)
retribution punishment

LJ ome recent columns on the death penalty have brought some inter- 1
esting responses from readers all over the country.
There were, of course, expressions of horror and disgust that I 2
would favor the quick dispatching of convicted murderers.
I really don't like to make fun ofpeople who oppose the death pen- 3
alty because they are so sincere! Butf wish they would come_up with
some new arsumenisJxLxeDlace the worn-out ones.
- -***?—i—-— "x^-~-—' _ _ ... -

For example, many said something"like this: "Wouldn't it be better 4

to keep the killers alive so psychiatrists can study them in order to find
out what makes them the way they are?"
It takes the average psychiatrist about five years to figure why a 5
guy wants to stop for two drinks after work and won't quit smoking.
So how long do you think it will take him to determine why somebody
with an IQ of 92 decided to rape and murder the little old lady who
lives next door?
Besides, we have an abundance of killers in our prisons—more than 6
enough to keep all the nation's shrinks busy for the next 20 years. But
shrinks aren't stupid. Why would they want to spend all that time lis-
tening to Willie the Wolfman describe his ax murders when they can
get $75 an hour for listening to an executive's fantasies about the secre-
tarial pool?
Another standard is: "The purpose of the law should be to protec
society not to inflict cruel retribution, such as the death,penalty"
370 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion Death to the Killers / Mike Royko 371

In that case, we should tear down all the prisons and let all the crim- "When the victim's son walked down the, stairs to leave the court- 19
mals go because most people would consider a lone imposonment to house after the guilty sentence had been uttereaTne happened to look
y be cruel retribution—especially those who are lockecHrp. Even 30 days at the killer's mother.
in the Cook County Jail is no picnic.
And: "What gives society the right to take a life if an individual
can't?" The individuals who make up society give it that right. Soci-
eties perform many functions that individuals can't. We can't carry
guns and shoot people, but we delegate that jighttonplice.
Finally: "The death penalty doesnlt deter 'crime." I heard from a 10
number of people who have a less detached1 view of the death penalty
than many of the sensitive souls who oppose it.
For instance, Doris Porch wrote me about a man ®n Death Row in
Tennessee. He hired men to murder his wife. One threw in a rape, free

12

16

17
372 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion The Death Penalty Is a Step Back / Coretta Scott King
373

Questions About the Reading The Death Penalty Is

1. Why does the writer think that psychiatrists are not interested in a Step Back
finding out why people kill?
2. The writer says that he does not like "to make fun of people who Coretta Scott King
oppose the death penalty because they're so sincere." Does he make
fun of them? Cite examples from the essay to support your answer. Coretta Scott King has strong opinions about the death penalty. Despite the loss of two
3. What do the families and friends of homicide victims have in family members, including her husband, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., by assassi-
common? nation, she remains firmly convinced that the death penalty is morally wrong and unjusti-
fiable. A long-time civil rights activist, she believes that the practice of nonviolence is the
way to make our society a more just and humane place to live. In the essay that follows,
Questions About the Writer's Strategies she argues passionately for her convictions.
1. In paragraphs 4-10, what method does the writer use to create evi-
dence supporting his position? Words to Know
2. Is the essay an example of argumentation, persuasion, or a mixture abhor detest, hate strongly
of the two? Explain. deterrent something that prevents
3. What is the dominant mode of development in paragraphs 11-22? inequitable unfair
4. Can you locate a statement of the problem in the essay? Can you irrevocable not reversible
locate a solution? Is a solution implied? legitimizing making lawful
5. How does the writer refute the argument that the death penalty miscarriage a failure
won't deter criminals? proponents advocates, supporters
retaliation to get revenge
Writing Assignments sanctioned approved
specter ghost
1. Write a persuasive essay in which you use examples to appeal to
your reader's emotions. Possible topics might include spaying or unequivocally clearly, without question
neutering of cats and dogs, the need for smoke detectors in all unwarranted not supported by facts
buildings, the need to make day care widely available at a reason-
able cost, the need for closer government oversight of safety in the
workplace, or the need for stiff penalties for people who pollute the
environment (for instance, by dumping hazardous waste or ignor-
ing pollution control procedures).
2. Some people support mandatory sentencing for criminals, or ensur-
ing that people who commit certain crimes are automatically given
prison sentences of a certain length. What purpose do you think
mandatory sentencing would serve? Write an essay in which you
support or reject the concept of mandatory sentencing.
374 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion The Death Penalty Is a Step Back / Coretta Scott King
375

Questions About the Reading

1. What does the writer think we-should do instead of using the death
penalty?
2. What is illogical about suggesting a "deterrent effect"?
3. How do you feel about "mistakenly convicted people being put to
death in the name of American criminal justice"?

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Is this essay an example of argument, persuasion, or both? Support
your answer with examples.
2. Why does the writer state that she has lost two family members by
assassination? How does this contribute to the effectiveness of her
argument?
3. What modes of development does the writer use to develop her
argument?
4. Where is the thesis most clearly stated?
5. The paragraphs in this essay are quite short. Why do you think the
writer paragraphed this way? What effect does this technique have
on your interpretation of her argument?

Writing Assignments
1. Write a persuasive essay for or against the death penalty. Try to ap-
peal to your reader's emotions, but remember that you must still
be clear and logical in your reasoning for your persuasion to be
effective.
2. Some states have enacted laws that mandate jail sentences for peo-
ple who are convicted of drunk driving. Do you agree with such
laws? Write an essay that provides evidence for your position.
3. Write an argumentative or persuasive essay for or against the death
penalty. To support your opinion, use information from the Royko
or King essays in this chapter or from the Johnson essay in
Chapter 3.
376 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion / Have a Dream / Martin Luther King, Jr. 377

I Have a Dream In a sense we have come to our nation's Capitol to cash a check.
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of
Martin Luther King, Jr. the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were sign-
ing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This
The 1963 march on Washington, involving a quarter of a million people, was the largest note was the promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white
demonstration for civil rights in the history of the United States. This event, which coin- men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and
cided with the hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, climaxed with the pursuit of happiness.
the delivery of a speech by Martin Luther King, jr., from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial,
King's words, printed below, are a classic of modern persuasive writing. His powerful
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory
demand for courage and persistence in the continuing struggle for justice moved many note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring
in his audience to tears. this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad
check; a check which has come back marked '''insufficient funds." But
Words to Know we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to
defaulted failed to pay believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportu-
degenerate become worse
nity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check-—a check that
Emancipation Proclamation document issued by
will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of
President Lincoln ending slavery in the United
justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America
States
of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury
interposition coming between; standing in the
of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is
the time to make real the promises of Democracy. Nozv is the time to
way
rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path
manacles chains put around the wrists; handcuffs
of racial justice. Nozv is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands
nullification taking the force out of a law
of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Nozv is the time to
promissory note written promise to pay an
make justice a reality for all of God's children.
amount of money
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the mo- 5
ment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent
will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history 1 equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that
as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will
stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted
decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake
who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But there is something I must say to my people who stand on the 6
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred 2 warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process
years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the
later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle
vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our
is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again
an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul
a shameful condition. force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the
378 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion 1 Have a Dream / Martin Luther King, Jr. 379

Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state 13
for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of op-
today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our desti- pression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
ny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a 14
walk alone. nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always 7 the content of their character.
march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking I have a dream today. 15
the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can nev- I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious ra- 16
er be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable cists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of in-
horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our terposition and nullification; one day, right there in Alabama, little
bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white
motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satis- boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
fied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to I have a dream today. 17
a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every 18
stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made
"for whites only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Missis- plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of
sippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satis- This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. 19
fied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair
mighty stream. a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jan-
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great 8 gling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brother-
trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail hood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together,
cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom to-
left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the gether, knowing that we will be free one day.
winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffer- And this will be the day. This will be the day when all of God's chil- 20
ing. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is dren will be able to sing with new meaning.
redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Caro- 9 My country, tis of thee
Sweet land- of liberty,
lina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums
Of thee I sing:
and ghettoes of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situa- Land where my fathers died,
tion can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of Land of the pilgrims' pride,
despair. From every mountainside
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficul- 10 Let freedom ring.
ties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply
rooted in the American dream. And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So 21
let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out 11
freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom
the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident;
ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
that all men are created equal."
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! 22
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons 12
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! 23
of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! 24
sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
 I Have a Dream / Martin Luther King, Jr. 381
380 Chapter 10 / Argumentation and Persuasion

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! 25 Writing Assignments

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From 26 1. Write an essay suitable for delivery to your class, urging people to
every mountainside, let freedom ring. vote.
And when this happens, and we allow freedom to ring, when we 27 2. Is the United States today a more just society than the one King de-
let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and scribes? Write a persuasive essay in which you try to convince your
every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's chil- reader that the United States does or does not set an example of
dren, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and justice for all the world to follow.
Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old
3. Write an essay urging people to participate in a volunteer activity
Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God almighty, we are
that you are especially interested in.
free at last!"

Questions About the Reading

1. In paragraph 2 and throughout the speech, how does King support
his statement that "the Negro still is not free"?
2. How does King show, throughout his speech, that his demands for
justice are upheld by the established laws and traditions of the
United States?
3. What warning does King give in paragraph 6? How is this warning
balanced in the paragraph that follows?
4. What does King mean by "creative suffering" in paragraph 8?
5. In the speech, King's attitude toward whites tells us a great deal
about his character and his vision. Describe his attitude, citing ex-
amples from the speech.

Questions About the Writer's Strategies

1. Find as many examples as you can of parallelism in King's speech.
What effect does it have on you as a reader? What effect do you
suppose it had on the original audience?
2. King uses metaphors throughout his address. Identify three such
metaphors in paragraphs 4-6, and analyze their effect on you. What
feelings do they evoke?
3. State King's thesis in your own words. What tone dominates as
King develops his thesis? Is the tone simple or complex? What dif-
ferent emotions are present?
4. King's "dream" can be viewed as a symbol. In your own words,
interpret what it symbolizes.
5. Is this an example of argumentation or persuasion? How can you
tell? Does King emphasize the connotative or the denotative value
of words? Find examples to support your answer.
Extra Readings

IN THIS SECTION, you will find some additional reading

selections. Although some of the readings have one domi-
nant mode of development, most of them illustrate com-
binations of the different modes.
As you read, keep in mind what we have stressed in
the earlier sections. Determine the
• topic of each paragraph
• thesis of each essay
• structure of the reading (introduction, develop-
ment, conclusion)
• supporting details
• modes of development
• point of view (person, time, tone)
• method of organization (time, space, order of im-
portance)
• transitional words
• effective words and sentences
Then, make use of these same strategies to write para-
graphs and essays that are as clear and effective as those
you have read.

383
384 Blue and Brew / Philip Kopper 385
Chapter 1 1 / Extra Readings

The best way to enjoy crabs at home is ala Frederick Road with beer 2
Blue and Brew in the can, a length of 2-inch dowel, a dull paring knife and a fresh
Philip Kopper roll of paper towels. Here's how:
First haul or lay in some crabs. Catch them if possible; buy them 3
if necessary. Next get some beer, a tin of prepared seafood seasoning—
Good recipes are perfect examples of process analysis. They demand precision, clarity, and
step-by-step thoroughness. But in this recipe for cooking and eating Atlantic blue crabs,
Old Bay is the only kind I know—and a large covered pot. A proper
Philip Kopper offers still more. Using several modes, he narrates his own introduction steamer is nice, a sort of huge double-boiler affair, but any big kettle
to the art of eating crabs. He compares several ways of cooking crabs—his own is best, with a lid does fine. Just put something solid in the bottom like a few
of course. And he even manages to classify the different kinds of crab restaurants. This old saucers or clean rocks to keep the crabs out of the liquid. These
recipe (and a lot of other good seafood recipes like it) appears in Kopper's book, The Wild critters should be cooked by the rising steam, not boiled.
Edge.
Open a beer, pour it in the pot to the depth of about an inch, and 4
Words to Know drink the rest. Set the stove on high. When the beer comes to an active
boil, joss in a third of the crabs alive and kicking. Do this carefully;
appendage something attached given the chance, they are as willing to bite you as you are them (chuck
diabolically devilishly out any dead ones). Sprinkle seafood seasoning on them as they pile
dowel a wooden rod up in tJhe.pot according to taste and/or directions on the label. By the
ectoderm outer layer of skin time you've finished another beer the crabs will be bright red. But cook
fawned over acted slavishly over them for at least a total of 20 minutes. Spread Sunday's paper—all of
gauche clumsy it—on a table and tong the crabs onto it in a pile. Then sit everybody
incisor front tooth down and get to work because work is what it takes.
lieutenant j.g. lieutenant junior grade Callinectes sapidus is a miracle of packaging. If you've never eaten 5
obtuse blunt, dull, not discerning one before, don't be discouraged. You'll learn how with time and prac-
palate sense of taste tice. Pry off the apron—the pointed plate covering the rear of the bot-
sated filled up, completely satisfied tom.shell. With this gone, the top shell will flip off to reveal the gills.
sullen resentful These feathery gray things should be scraped away with the dull par-
supercilious arrogant, haughty ing knife. Eat everything else that tastes good—namely all the meat
wangle manipulate you can find, the yellow tomalley (spelled "Tom Alley" in one restau-
rant) and the whitish fat in the body cavity. Then go for the meat. This
is easier said than done because each morsel is diabolically encased
B'lue crabs make something more than a meal. Properly done, they in ectoderm and partitions. A crab surrenders its meat one nibble at
a time.
become a delicious, difficult and messy ritual. I learned about it all in
Baltimore from a native who was doing time in the Navy while I Using both hands, break the remaining crab in half along the seam 6
apprenticed at the local paper. When my college pal would come that runs front to back. Crush each half slightly. Break off one leg at
home on leave, I'd wangle an evening away from the police beat and a time, doing your damnedest to keep a segment of muscle attached.
we'd go to one of the local crab houses. These were the only restau- This is a little tricky; practice is the only teacher. With thumb and fore-
rants where two young men (on a cub reporter's pay and a lieutenant finger, grasp both the inner joint of the leg and the body segment to
j.g.'s respectively) could hire a table for several hours of food and which it's attached, squeeze, and twist the leg off gently. Start with
talk without being either fawned over by supercilious French waiters the hind legs; it's easiest with them and, when done properly, results
or hurried by sullen American ones. Sit down in one of these establish- in a legitimately bite-sized piece of "back fin" meat jutting from the
ments and they didn't want you to leave until closing time—so end of the leg. After dispatching that morsel, nibble at each pliable leg
long as there was another crab and another beer on the paper-covered Joint; sort of squeegee them between upper and lower incisors to get
table. the meat out.
386 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings Ode to My Father / Tess Gallagher 387

To get inside the claws, tear off the entire appendage from the body Ode to My Father
and lay it on the table. Hold the blade of the dull paring knife across
the claw and smack it gently with the dowel, broomstick or whatever's Tess Gallagher
handy. (You could always tell if a crab house had pretensions; it pro-
vided little mallets for this job.) Repeat with each segment. The notion Tess Gallagher is a poet. She seems to have been aware of this calling from early in her
is to cut about halfway through the claw, then snap it apart with your youth. When she tells of her experiences with her father, she comes back several times to
hands and nibble at the exposed meat. As you proceed, pick out elu- her central idea, almost a refrain: this was necessary to become a poet. The modes are
sive bits of meat with the knifepoint. Go back over your first crab, mak- narration and cause and effect. At the end, Gallagher is a grown woman with a life
of her own and a new view of the father/whose actions shaped her.
ing sure you haven't missed anything. Morsels hide in all sorts of
nooks, crannies, and cubbyholes. You'll soon know the animal's anato-
Words to Know /
my better than it did.
Needless to say, the entire procedure creates a good deal of scultch defiance unwillingness to submit
and beer cans. That's why you spread the table with so much newspa- primal primary, of first importance
per. When things get out of hand, roll it all up in a few layers of classi- psychic mental, psychological
fied ads, chuck the bundle and start fresh on the sports section. This stamina endurance, strength
cannot be a tidy meal, nor a delicate one, nor a fast one. A hungry man vulnerability openness or susceptibility to being
can eat a dozen jumbos—if he has the patience and a couple of hours. hurt
(One never gets sated on crabs; one gets tired first.) When the party
is on the way to finishing the first batch of crabs, put another on to
steam and fetch another six-pack from the fridge. The ratio of crabs Un Saturdays my father would drive my mother and my three 1
to cans is sometimes on the order of 1 to 1; peppery seasoning warms brothers and me into town to shop and then to wait for him while he
a thirst. Outlanders sometimes accompany crabs with french fries drank in what he called "the beer joints." We would sit for hours in
and/or coleslaw. Some people even drink good wine with this meal, the car watching the townspeople pass, commenting on their dress and
though fingering a wineglass with crabby hands seems gauche, at faces, trying to figure out what they did with the rest of their lives.
least, and all that pepper dulls the palate. Beer goes best. Although it was just a game we played to pass the time, I think it
Discussing the corruption of the mother tongue, H. L. Mencken taught me to see deeply at a very young age. Every hour or so my
rather proudly observed that "in Maryland crabfeast has never yielded mother would send me on a round of the taverns to try for a sighting
to crabfest." (He probably knew more about Maryland food ways and of my father. I would peck on the windows and the barmaid would
the American idiom than anyone of this century, and wrote about both shake her head "no" or motion down the dim aisle of faces to where
at greater length.) A crabfeast traditionally includes she-crab soup, my father would be sitting on his stool, forgetting, forgetting us all
crab imperial, crab cakes, and sauteed soft crabs. Some Baltimore re- for a while. Back at the car, my brothers were quarreling, then crying.
staurants—the places that had moved from dowels to mallets and from My mother had gone stiff. These times were the farthest I would ever
newspapers to brown wrapping paper to gingham tablecloths—fea- get from home.
tured fried hardshells too: hard crabs covered with butter and cooked My father's drinking and the quarrels he had with my mother be- 2
in deep fat. This practice is slightly more obtuse than gilding lilies. cause of it terrorized my childhood. There is no other way to put it.
And if terror and fear are necessary to the psychic stamina of a poet,
I had them in steady doses—just as inevitably as I had the rain. I
learned that the world was not just, that any balance was temporary,
that the unreasonableness could descend at any minute, thrashing
aside everything and everyone in its path. Love, through all this, was
constant, though it had a hoary head. Its blow, brutal as any evil, was
perhaps more so for how it raked the quick of my being. The body
8 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings Ode to My Father / Tess Gallagher 389

remembers too, though not with malice, but as one might gaze uncom- When he got home, we put the coffee pot on and sat at the kitchen
prehendingly at photographs of family friends, now deceased—but table and talked. I don't remember when we began this sort of talking
somehow important. but I think now it happened because my father had caught sight of
I remember the day I became aware that other families lived differ- 3 his death. He had suffered a heart attack while I had been in Ireland
ently. I was showering in the junior high school's gym with my best and this had given him more to say. When I'd been a child fishing with
friend, Molly, when she noticed the welts on my back. I could not see him in the salmon derbies he had talked more than he usually did—
them and so could not share her awe and worry for me. What had talked "to make the fish bite"—for just when you got to the most inter-
happened to me? What had I done? Who had done this? esting place in the story, the fish were sure to bite. And they did. But
I was sixteen when I had my last lesson from the belt and my fa- 4 this night there was another kind of talking. My father knew I was
ther's arm. I had learned that no words, no pleading would save me. going the next day to a job in another part of the country. He might
I stood still in the yard, in full view of the neighbors, and took "what not see me again. He began to tell me his life. And though he told it
was coming to me." I looked steadily ahead, without tears or cries, all plainly and without pity for himself—only some verbal turning of
as a tree must look while the saw bites in, then deepens to the core. the palms upward—the rhythms of his speech, his vulnerability before
I felt my spirit reach its full defiance. I stood somehow in the power me had a power and beauty I did not want to see lost to the world.
of my womanhood that day and knew I had passed beyond humilia- The next day I got on a bus and waved good-bye to him and my
tion. If a poet must know that physical pain and unreasonable treat- mother. The bus was crammed with people headed for Seattle. They
ment can be turned aside by an ultimate act of the will, I learned this were talking and adjusting their packages. The woman sitting next to
then. I did not feel sorry for myself. I did not stop the loving. It was me had some knitting to work on. I took out my notebook with its pale
our hurt not to have another way to settle these things. For we had green-white pages, frog-belly green they were. I was thinking this is
no language between us in those numb years of my changing, of my no place to write this; this is too important a poem to be writing here.
large hope toward the world. All through my attempts in the poems, I put the book on my knees and tried to hear my father's voice, to get
this need has been building, the need to forge a language that would it to speak through me. This was the only place, the only time.
give these dead and living lives a way to speak. There was often the
feeling that the language might come too late, might even do damage, 3 A.M. Kitchen: My Father Talking
might not be equal to the love. All these fears. Finally no choice. For years it was land working me, oil fields,
The images of these two primal figures, mother and father, con- 5 cotton fields, then I got some land. I
dense now into a view of my father's work-thickened hands and my worked it. Them days you could just about
make a living. I was logging.
mother's back, turned in hopeless anger at the stove where she fixed
eggs for my father in silence. My father gets up from the table, shows Then I sent to Missouri. Momma
me the open palms of his hands: "Threasie," he says, "get an educa- come out. We got married.
tion. Don't get hands like these." We got some kids. Five kids.
That kept us going.
Years later, after returning from a trip to Ireland, it was the work 6
of these hands that I wanted to celebrate and to acknowledge for my We bought some land near the water.
father. He had recently retired from the docks and liked to play cards It was cheap then. The water
was right there. You just looked out
with the men down at Chinook Tavern. I would drive down and pick the window. It never left the window.
him up when the game ended at 2:00 A.M. Sometimes I would go early
enough to have a beer with his friends in the back room and to listen I bought a boat. Fourteen footer.
There was fish out there then.
to them kid him. "Hey Okie, how'd an ole geezer like you get a good You remember, we used to catch
lookin' daughter like that?" My father would laugh and wink, giving six, eight fish, clean them right
his head a quick little dip and rise. He didn't need to say anything. out in the yard. I could of fished to China.
They called him Okie because he'd come from Oklahoma and he liked
to be called that.
390 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings How It Feels to Be Colored Me / Zora Neale Hurston 391

I quit the woods. One day just

walked out, took off my corks, said that's How It Feels to Be Colored Me
it. I went to the docks.
I was working winch. You had to watch
Zora Neale Hurston
to see nothing fell out of the sling. If
you killed somebody you'd Zora Neale Hurston is one of the most important black woman writers in the United
never forget it. All States. Although her works of fiction, folklore, and essays were popular during the Harlem
those years I was just working renaissance in the 1930s, her writing was out of print and she was penniless at the time
I was on edge, every day. Just working. of her death. Her work has recently been reissued, and an anthology of her writing, I Love
Myself When I Am Laughing, edited by writer and activist Alice Walker, was published
You kids. I could tell you
in 1979. The following essay, taken from this anthology, describes how Hurston became
a lot. But I won't.
aware of the color of her skin and how it has shaped her attitude toward life.
It's winter. I play a lot of cards
down at the tavern. Your mother. Words to Know
I have to think of excuses
to get out of the house. You're assegai a light spear used by Southern African
wasting your time, she says. You're wasting tribesmen
your money. circumlocutions roundabout ways of speaking
You don't have no idea, Threasie. ebb the retreat of the tide
I run out of things extenuating making less serious
to work for. Hell, why shouldn't I Hegira a flight from danger
play cards? Threasie, oleander a poisonous shrub with sweet-smelling
some days now I just don't know. flowers
pigmentation coloring
proscenium the area of the theater located
between the curtain and the first seats in the
audience
raiment clothing
rambunctious unruly
Reconstruction the period after the U.S. Civil War
(1865-1877)
rending tearing apart
specter ghost
thorax the chest
veneer a thin layer, the surface appearance

I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circum-

stances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States
whose grandfather on the mother's side was not an Indian chief.
I remember the very day that I became colored. Up to my thirteenth
year I lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclu-
sively a colored town. The only white people I knew passed through
the town going to or coming from Orlando. The native whites rode
>2 - Chapter 11 / Extra Readings How it Feels to Be Colored Me / Zora Neale Hurston 393

dusty horses, the Northern tourists chugged down the sandy village mentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy
road in automobiles. The town knew the Southerners and never sharpening my oyster knife.
stopped cane chewing when they passed. But the Northerners were Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand- 7
something else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind daughter of slaves. It fails to,register depression with me. Slavery is
curtains by the timid. The more venturesome would come out on the sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient
porch to watch them go past and got just as much pleasure out of the is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an Ameri-
tourists as the tourists got out of the village. can out of a potential slave said "On the line!" The Reconstruction said
The front porch might seem a daring place for the rest of the town, 3 "Get set!"; and the generation before said "Go!" I am off to a flying
but it was a gallery seat for me. My favorite place was atop the gate- start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep. Slav-
post. Proscenium box for a born first-nighter. Not only did I enjoy the ery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me.
show, but I didn't mind the actors knowing that I liked it. I usually It is a bully adventure and worth all that I have paid through my an-
spoke to them in passing. I'd wave at them and when they returned cestors for it. No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The
my salute, I would say something like this: "Howdy-do-well-I-thank- world to be won and nothing to be lost. It is thrilling to think—to know
you-where-you-goin'?" Usually automobile or the horse paused at that for any act of mine, I shall get twice as much praise or twice as
this, and after a queer exchange of compliments, I would probably "go much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the center of the national stage,
a piece of the way" with them, as we say in farthest Florida. If one with the spectators not knowing whether to laugh or to weep.
of my family happened to come to the front in time to see me, of course The position of my white neighbor is much more difficult. No 8
negotiations would be rudely broken off. But even so, it is clear that brown specter pulls up a chair beside me when I sit down to eat. No
I was the first "welcome-to-our-state" Floridian, and I hope the Miami dark ghost thrusts its leg against mine in bed. The game of keeping
Chamber of Commerce will please take notice. what one has is never so exciting as the game of getting.
During this period, white people differed from colored to me only 4 I do not always feel colored. Even now I often achieve the uncon- 9
in that they rode through town and never lived there. They liked to scious Zora of Eatonville before the Hegira. I feel most colored when
hear me "speak pieces" and sing and wanted to see me dance the I am thrown against a sharp white background.
parse-me-la, and gave me generously of their small silver for doing For instance at Barnard. "Beside the waters of the Hudson" I feel 10
these things, which seemed strange to me for I wanted to do them so my race. Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged
much that I needed bribing to stop. Only they didn't know it. The col- upon, and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When cov-
ored people gave no dimes. They deplored any joyful tendencies in ered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again.
me, but I was their Zora nevertheless. I belonged to them, to the nearby
hotels, to the county—everybody's Zora. Sometimes it is the other way around. A white person is set down in 11
But changes came in the family when I was thirteen, and I was sent 5 our midst, but the contrast is just as sharp for me. For instance, when
to school in Jacksonville. I left Eatonville, the town of the oleanders, I sit in the drafty basement that is The New World Cabaret with a
as Zora. When I disembarked from the river-boat at Jacksonville, she white person, my color comes. We enter chatting about any little noth-
was no more. It seemed that I had suffered a sea change. I was not ing that we have in common and are seated by the jazz waiters. In the
Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a little colored girl. I abrupt way that jazz orchestras have, this one plunges into a number.
found it out in certain ways. In my heart as well as in the mirror, I It loses no time in circumlocutions, but gets right down to business.
became a fast brown—warranted not to rub nor run. It constricts the thorax and splits the heart with its tempo and narcotic
But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed 6 harmonies. This orchestra grows rambunctious, rears on its hind legs
up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do and attacks the tonal veil with primitive fury, rending it, clawing it
until it breaks through to the jungle beyond. I follow those heathen—
not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature
follow them exultingly. I dance wildly inside myself; I yell within, I
somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings
whoop; I shake my assegai above my head, I hurl it true to the mark
are all hurt about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, yeeeeooww! I am in the jungle and living in the jungle way. My face is
I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pig-
394 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings tenses / Annie Dillard 395

painted red and yellow and my body is painted blue. My pulse is Lenses
throbbing like a war drum. I want to slaughter something—give pain,
give death to what, I do not know. But the piece ends. The men of the Annie Dillard
orchestra wipe their lips and rest their fingers. I creep back slowly to
the veneer we call civilization with the last tone and find the white Dillard recounts a time from hir childhood when she explored the microscopic world of
friend sitting motionless in his seat, smoking calmly. rotifers and amoebae. She saw the thousands of tiny animals and plants that live in just
"Good music they have here," he remarks, drumming the table with 12 one drop of water and did not cringe or feel remorse when they had to die so that she could
his fingertips. learn. Dillard's narration is typical of the wonder and excitement children experience
when they encounter a completely new and strange territory. Dillard's writing style al-
Music. The great blobs of purple and red emotion have not touched 13 lows us to feel as if we are there beside her, peering through the microscope and observing
him. He has only heard what I felt. He is far away and I see him but the inhabitants of a curious and fantastic world.
dimly across the ocean and the continent that have fallen between us.
He is so pale with his whiteness then and I am so colored. Words to Know
biomass the total amount of living material within
At certain times I have no race, I am me. When I set my hat at a 14
a given area
certain angle and saunter down Seventh Avenue, Harlem City, feeling
centrifuge equipment consisting of a compartment
as snooty as the lions in front of the Forty-Second Street Library, for
spun about a central axis to separate materials of
instance. So far as my feelings are concerned, Peggy Hopkins Joyce
different thickness or to simulate gravity with
on the Boule Mich with her gorgeous raiment, stately carriage, knees
centrifugal force
knocking together in a most aristocratic manner, has nothing on me.
enthralled fascinated
The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal
invulnerable resistant to attack
feminine with its string of beads.
leached to be dissolved and washed out by a fil-
I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and col- 15
tering liquid
ored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the
opacity the quality of not being able to reflect
boundaries. My country, right or wrong.
light
Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me 16
purblind nearly or partly blind
angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the plea-
rotifer any of various tiny multicellular aquatic
sure of my company? It's beyond me.
organisms
But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped 17
sadism a delight in cruelty
against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red
silhouette an outline of something that appears
and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble
dark against a light background
of small things priceless and worthless. A first-water diamond, an
translucent see-through
empty spool, bits of broken glass, lengths of string, a key to a door
vaunted bragged about
long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a
road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight
of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still a little fra-
grant. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the You get used to looking through lenses; it is an acquired skill. When 1
jumble it held—so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be you first look through binoculars, for instance, you can't see a thing.
emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags re- You look at the inside of the barrel; you blink and watch your eye-
filled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass lashes; you play with the focus knob till one eye is purblind.
more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer The microscope is even worse. You are supposed to keep both eyes 2
of Bags filled them in the first place—who knows? open as you look through its single eyepiece. I spent my childhood
 Lenses / Annie Dillard 397
396 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings

population, excited by the heat, go about their business until—as I

in Pittsburgh trying to master this trick: seeing through one eye, with fancied sadly-—they all caught on to their situation and started making
both eyes open. The microscope also teaches you to move your hands
out wills.
wrong, to shove the glass slide to the right if you are following a crea-
ture who is swimming off to the left—as if you were operating a tiller, I was, then, not only watching the much-vaunted wonders in a drop
or backing a trailer, or performing any other of those paradoxical ma- of pond water; I was also, with mingled sadism and sympathy, setting
neuvers which require either sure instincts or a grasp of elementary up a limitless series of apocalypses. I set up and staged hundreds of
physics, neither of which I possess. ends-of-the-world and watched, enthralled, as they played themselves
A child's microscope set comes with a little five-watt lamp. You 3 out. Over and over again, the last trump sounded, the final scroll un-
place this dim light in front of the microscope's mirror; the mirror rolled, and the known world drained, dried, and vanished. When all
bounces the light up through the slide, through the magnifying lenses, the creatures lay motionless, boiled and fried in the positions they had
and into your eye. The only reason you do not see everything in sil- when the last of their water dried completely, I washed the slide in
houette is that microscopic things are so small they are translucent. the sink and started over with a fresh drop. How I loved that deep,
The animals and plants in a drop of pond water pass light like pale wet world where the colored algae waved in the water and the rotifers
stained glass; they seem so soaked in water and light that their opacity swam!
has leached away.
The translucent strands of algae you see under a microscope—Spi- 4
rogyra, Oscillatoria, Cladophora—move of their own accord, no one
knows how or why. You watch these swaying yellow, green, and
brown strands of algae half mesmerized; you sink into the micro-
scope's field forgetful, oblivious, as if it were all a dream of your deep-
est brain. Occasionally a zippy rotifer comes barreling through, black
and white, and in a tremendous hurry.

My rotifers and daphniae and amoebae were in an especially tre- 5

mendous hurry because they were drying up. I burnt out or broke my
little five-watt bulb right away. To replace it, I rigged an old table lamp
laid on its side; the table lamp carried a seventy-five watt bulb. I was
about twelve, immortal and invulnerable, and did not know what I
was doing; neither did anyone else. My parents let me set up my labo-
ratory in the basement, where they wouldn't have to smell the urine
I collected in test tubes and kept in the vain hope it would grow some-
thing horrible. So in full, solitary ignorance I spent evenings in the
basement staring into a seventy-five-watt bulb magnified three
hundred times and focused into my eye. It is a wonder I can see at
all. My eyeball itself would start drying up; I blinked and blinked.
But the pond water creatures fared worse. I dropped them on a 6
slide, floated a cover slip over them, and laid the slide on the micro-
scope's stage, which the seventy-five-watt bulb had heated like a grill.
At once the drop of pond water started to evaporate. Its edges shrank.
The creatures swam among algae in a diminishing pool. I liked this
part. The heat worked for me as a centrifuge, to concentrate the bio-
mass. I had about five minutes to watch the members of a very dense
 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings The Momist Manifesto / Alice Kahn 399

The Momist Manifesto is because parents are trying so hard to do the job well. Everyone I
know, including myself, is obsessed with trying to be something called
Alice Kahn
"a good parent." This is a particularly elusive concept since the desired
outcome is so unclear. What is the goal? A moral child? A successful
After interviewing several sets of parents for a local support organization, Kahn recounts child? A happy child9 A child who loves you? An independent child?
some of the challenges every parent faces. We learn that many of the things individuals All of the above?
take for granted are soon challenged when they have children. Life suddenly becomes a
constant undertaking to be a "good parent," yet Kahn finds hope in knowing that parents
My impression of the parents I interviewed was that most of them 5
as a group are in the struggle together. were already in the top ten percentile of parenting. Almost by defini-
tion, anyone who would spend their entire Saturday focusing on how
Words to Know to be a better parent is already half there. Other parents were probably
spending their time doing chores, fighting with their kids, escaping
compounded combined
from their kids, or, rarely, having fun with their kids.
elusive difficult to define or describe
Many of the people at the conference were child-care workers in 6
frivolous inappropriately silly
addition to being parents. They discussed the problem of being lis-
manifesto a public declaration of principles
tened to by their client kids while being rebuffed by their own kids.
milieu surroundings
Parents of teens talked about the pain of being rejected (except, of
poignant appealing to the emotions; touching
course, when needed as a funding agent) by their youngsters, who are
rebuffed refused biuntly
choosing the support of their peer group. Some parents talked about
scurry to go with light, running steps the problems of balancing career and family.
sprightly full of light
One woman discussed her decision to leave her job as an executive 7
at AT&T to stay home. "I decided I was paying someone to do my job

R ecently I was a minor participant in a unique event. Bananas, a 1

while I was at my other job," she said. I thought of how hard, as a black
woman, the road to her executive position must have been, and what
pioneering parent support organization, and the local First Presby- a difficult choice that must have been. Her comment will surely strike
terian Church held "Parenting Twenty-five Hours a Day: A Special at the guilt feelings of other mothers who are afraid to leave their jobs
Event for Families." It was my job to walk around during the lunch because of uncertainty over whether they could come back, because
hour interviewing members of the oppressed group of the '80s— they can't afford it, or because they simply can't stand to be home with
parents. the children full-time. Some fathers may feel this conflict, too, but they
The entire conference right down to professional child care was 2 have not experienced the rapidly changing expectations that women
free. It included workshops on child and parent development, being have. While 46 percent of American women were housewives in 1960,
a single parent, a new parent, a stepparent; one entitled "Dual (Not today that number has been cut to 20 percent. All indications are that
Duel) Careers," and, my favorite, one on "Setting Limits (Formerly this percentage will continue to decline. But it doesn't change the fact
Known as Discipline)." You can't even mention the d-word anymore. that these mothers still grew up in a world where women were ex-
At lunchtime, I walked around with Judy Calder, a registered nurse 3 pected to stay home and raise the children.
who works full-time with the Bananas organization. Calder operated A stepfather talked to me about the importance of being patient in 8
the video equipment while I did the interviews. I think Bananas hoped winning the love of his three-year-old stepchild. He observed that he
I would provide some sprightly entertainment for their video files, a had no more right to expect the child's love than any stranger on the
little gal-in-the-street zaniness with those lovable, laughable parents. street. But he said after a year of patient attention, the child (whose
Instead, as Calder observed, "the interviews were really poignant." natural father was named Carl) came up to him one day and said,
Why is parenting in the '80s such serious business? Why do we find 4 "You're my Carl."
a role that dates back to Adam and Eve so stressful? There are lots Two couples with babies less than a year old talked about how the 9
of answers, lots of places to put the blame, but I think the major reason youngsters had changed their relationships. In both cases, the women
too Chapter 11 / Extra Readings The Momist Manifesto / Alice Kahn 401

stayed at home. One man talked about his difficulty with coming home gardless of whatever happens in my life, I won't enjoy it unless my
tired from work and finding the wife at the door passing him the baby children are doing well.
and saying the equivalent of " You take the little bugger, I'm getting At the end of the Bananas conference, many spoke of how comfort-
out." ing it was to spend time with other struggling parents, to understand
All these problems seemed familiar, some I've experienced, some 10 how common the problems are. One father went up to one of the con-
I've only heard about. What struck me was that regardless of class, ference organizers and said, "I want you to know how much we appre-
style, or any other variable, I can always empathize with that struggle ciate what you're doing for people like us." Although working parents
to raise a child well. don't have much time for organizing and meeting, I think we are going
It is a struggle compounded by the fact that in the modern family, 11 to increasingly see the end of the parent as wimp. But first we're going
the child has replaced the father as house tyrant. We all scurry around to have to learn to stand up to our kids and set those limits. If they
trying to meet that child's needs, trying not to cross him. How many want to question authority, they can wait until they're capable of
times have you seen a mother (and that mother might have been me) cleaning their rooms or proving themselves otherwise responsible.
standing in the supermarket presenting a reasonable list of alterna- Once we earn a little self-respect at home, maybe then we can find a
tives to an unreasonable screaming little person who stood there way to make our schools, our communities, and our governments help
shouting, "No, no, no, no"? our lives as parents instead of make them more difficult.
Discipline is a real thorn in the side of those who spent their forma- 12 Having a child helps you get your priorities straight. You know that 16
tive years rejecting all forms of discipline and control. We fear damag- you'll never waste a prayer on anything frivolous again. No more,
ing or repressing our children as we complained our parents did to please-God-let-me-get-the-promotion. Never another please-let-him-
us. In the context of a "question authority" community, it becomes par- call-me. Anybody who's ever sat in a hospital emergency room wait-
ticularly difficult to set limits for our children. That's why we feel such ing for the results of tests on their child knows exactly what I'm talking
gratitude for anyone who seems to be on our side, anyone who under- about. Although it's easy to forget, there is nothing more important
stands that discipline is not the equivalent of child abuse. we have to do than raise these children.
Recently a woman asked me, in a somewhat confrontational man- 13 When I first walked around with my baby strapped on my chest 17
ner, "What are your politics?" The whole presentation of this question in her little frontpack, I noticed a lot of people giving me a big smile.
had a '60s milieu about it, and I immediately fell into a '60s response, I'm not talking about the baby-worshippers who kitchy-cooed my
saying somewhat sheepishly and guiltily, "I used to have politics, but little doll. I mean the other parents who gave me that knowing
I haven't had time since my kids were born." The assumption here is welcome-to-the-club look. We are in this together. We're making the
that politics is something you do for The World rather than for you same statement against the dark, violent world that seems to have for-
and yours. Increasingly, however, I realize that parenting is my poli- gotten the value of life.
tics. I find my allies are those people who make my life as a parent
easier, whether it's an arms control advocate or a good teacher or
someone like Bill Cosby, who can produce that rarest of all experi-
ences, real family entertainment.
I respect people in public life who take care of their families as well 14
as do their job. In this regard, I thought the much maligned Jackie Ken-
nedy Onassis managed to maintain a strong family life against all
odds. By contrast, I've been appalled at how few have observed the
hypocrisy of Ronald Reagan advocating "family values" while seem-
ing to be quite distant and unavailable to his own children. If someone
spends his life making speeches and going to meetings while his own
family is in shambles, I find it hard to take him seriously, like the
preacher who can't practice what he preaches. It's clear to me that re-
402 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings
The Dare / Roger Hoffmann 403

The Dare After the train disappeared, we debated whether someone could dive
Roger Hoffmann under a moving car, stay put for a 10-count, then scramble out the oth-
er side. I thought it could be done and said so. O.T. immediately
stepped in front of me and smiled. Not by me, I added quickly, I cer-
Roger Hoffmann recounts an episode from his adolescence when approval by his peers was
more important than personal safety. No matter our age or particular adolescent experi-
tainly didn't mean that I could do it. "A smart guy like you," he said,
ence, we are able to relate to the pressure Hoffmann felt as a child. The desire for acceptance his smile evaporating, "you could figure it out easy." And then,
by friends and colleagues is something we never outgrow. squeezing each word for effect, "I . . . DARE . . . you." I'd just turned
twelve. The monkey clawing my back was Teacher's Pet. And I'd been
Words to Know dared.
ambiguous having multiple meanings
As an adult, I've been on both ends of life's implicit business and 4
escalated increased
social I-dare-you's, although adults don't use those words. We provoke
guerrilla warfare warfare carried out by an irreg-
with body language, tone of voice, ambiguous phrases. I dare you to:
ular, independent force
argue with the boss, tell Fred what you think of him, send the wine
back. Only rarely are the risks physical. How we respond to dares
implicit understood although not directly stated
when we are young may have something to do with which of the truly
provoke to cause anger or resentment
hazardous male inner dares—attacking mountains, tempting bulls at
silhouette an outline of something that appears
Pamplona—we embrace or ignore as men.
dark against a light background
For two weeks, I scouted trains and tracks. I studied moving box- 5
cars close up, memorizing how they squatted on their axles, never get-
ting used to the squeal or the way the air felt hot from the sides. I
1 he secret to diving under a moving freight train and rolling out the 1
created an imaginary, friendly train and ran next to it. I mastered a
other side with all your parts attached lies in picking the right spot
shallow, head-first dive with a simple half-twist. I'd land on my back,
between the tracks to hit with your back. Ideally, you want soft dirt
count to ten, imagine wheels and, locking both hands on the rail to
or pea gravel, clear of glass shards and railroad spikes that could cause
my left, heave myself over and out. Even under pure sky, though, I
you instinctively, and fatally, to sit up. Today, at thirty-eight, I couldn't
had to fight to keep my eyes open and my shoulders between the rails.
be threatened or baited enough to attempt that dive. But as a seventh
grader struggling to make the cut in a tough Atlanta grammar school, The next Saturday, O.T., Dwayne and three eighth graders met me 6
all it took was a dare. below the hill that backed up to the lumberyard. The track followed
a slow bend there and opened to a straight, slightly uphill climb for
I coasted through my first years of school as a fussed-over smart 2
a solid third of a mile. My run started two hundred yards after the
kid, the teacher's pet who finished his work first and then strutted
bend. The train would have its tongue hanging out.
around the room tutoring other students. By the seventh grade, I had
more A's than friends. Even my old cronies, Dwayne and O.T., made The other boys huddled off to one side, a circle on another planet, 7
it clear I'd never be one of the guys in junior high if I didn't dirty up and watched quietly as I double-knotted my shoelaces. My hands
my act. They challenged me to break the rules, and I did. The I-dare- trembled. O.T. broke the circle and came over to me. He kept his hands
you's escalated: shoplifting, sugaring teachers' gas tanks, dropping hidden in the pockets of his jacket. We looked at each other. BB's of
lighted matches into public mailboxes. Each guerrilla act won me the sweat appeared beneath his nose. I stuffed my wallet in one of his
approval I never got for just being smart. pockets, rubbing it against his knuckles on the way in, and slid my
house key, wired to a red-and-white fishing bobber, into the other. We
Walking home by the railroad tracks after school, we started playing 3 backed away from each other, and he turned and ran to join the four
chicken with oncoming trains. O.T., who was failing that year, always already climbing up the hill.
won. One afternoon he charged a boxcar from the side, stopping just
short of throwing himself between the wheels. I was stunned. I watched them all the way to the top. They clustered together as 8
if I were taking their picture. Their silhouette resembled a round-
404 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings Where's Your Space Shell? / Julius Fast 405

shouldered tombstone. They waved down to me, and I dropped them Where's Your Space Shell?
from my mind and sat down on the rail. Immediately, I jumped back. Julius Fast
The steel was vibrating.
The train sounded like a cow going short of breath. I pulled my 9 How much space do you need? When you share a table with another person, what do you
shirttail out and looked down at my spot, then up the incline of track think of as your "territory'/? In this passage from his book Body Language, Julius Fast
ahead of me. Suddenly the air went hot, and the engine was by me. defines a feeling that he says is born into all animals, including humans: the territorial
I hadn't pictured it moving that fast. A man's bare head leaned out imperative, the need to claim and hold a certain amount of space around us as our own.
and stared at me. I waved to him with my left hand and turned into He shows us how this feeling affects our actions—even when we are least aware of it.
the train, burying my face into the incredible noise. When I looked up,
Words to Know
the head was gone.
abolition the act of abolishing, discontinuing
I started running alongside the boxcars. Quickly, I found their pace, 10
breach breakthrough
held it, and then eased off, concentrating on each thick wheel that cut
encroach go beyond normal limits
past me. I slowed another notch. Over my shoulder, I picked my car
genetic passed on from parent to child
as it came off the bend, locking in the image of the white mountain
ineradicable not removable
goat painted on its side. I waited, leaning forward like the anchor in
inherited born with, transmitted from parent to
a 440-relay, wishing the baton up the track behind me. Then the big
child
goat fired by me, and I was flying and then tucking my shoulder as
innate born with
I dipped under the train.
integral necessary part
A heavy blanket of red dust settled over me. I felt bolted to the earth. 11 interpolate transfer .
Sheet-metal bellies thundered and shook above my face. Count to ten,
inviolate undamaged
a voice said, watch the axles and look to your left for daylight. But I
postulate presume as fact
couldn't count, and I couldn't find left if my life depended on it, which
primates the group of animals including humans,
it did. The colors overhead went from brown to red to black to red
monkeys, and apes
again. Finally, I ripped my hands free, forced them to the rail, and,
retaliating getting revenge
in one convulsive jerk, threw myself into the blue light.
territorial concerned with possessing a specific
I lay there face down until there was no more noise, and I could 12 area
feel the sun against the back of my neck. I sat up. The last ribbon of
train was slipping away in the distance. Across the tracks, O.T. was
leading a cavalry charge down the hill, five very small, galloping boys, One of the things that is inherited genetically is the sense of territo-
their fists whirling above them. I pulled my knees to my chest. My ry. Robert Ardrey has written a fascinating book, The Territorial Impera-
corduroy pants puckered wet across my thighs. I didn't care. tive, in which he traces this territorial sense through the animal king-
dom and into the human. In this book he discusses the staking out and
guarding of territories by animals, birds, deer, fish, and primates. For
some species the territories are temporary, shifting with each season.
For other animal species they are permanent. Ardrey makes an inter-
esting case for the fact that, in his belief, "the territorial nature of man
is genetic and ineradicable."
From his extensive animal studies he describes an innate code of
behavior in the animal world that ties sexual reproduction to territo-
rial defense. The key to the code, he believes, is territory, and the terri-
torial imperative is the drive in animals and in men to take, hold and
defend a given area.
406 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings Where's Your Space Shell? / Julius Fast 407

There may be a drive in all men to have and defend a territory, and Finally he took pity on me and said, "I just favored you with a dem- 11
it may well be that a good part of that drive is inborn. However, we onstration of a very basic step in body language, in nonverbal commu-
cannot always interpolate from humans to animals and from animals nication."
to humans. Puzzled, I asked, "What was that?" 12
The territorial imperative may exist in all animals and in some men. "1 aggressively threatened and challenged you. I put you in a posi- 13
It may be strengthened by culture in some of these men and weakened tion of having to assert yourself, and that bothered you."
in still others. Still uncomprehending, I asked, "But how? What did you do?" 14
But there is little doubt that there is some territorial need in humans. "I moved my cigarettes to start with," he explained. "By unspoken 15
How imperative it is remains to be seen. One of the most frightening rule we have divided the table in half, half for you and half for me."
plays of modern times is Home, by Megan Terry. It postulates a world "I wasn't conscious of any such division." 16
of the future where the population explosion has caused all notion of "Of course not. The rule remains though. We both staked out a terri- 17
territory to be discarded. All men live in cells in a gigantic metal hive tory in our minds. Ordinarily we would have shared the table by some
enclosing the entire planet. They live out their lives, whole families unspoken and civilized command. However, I deliberately moved my
confined to one room, without^ver seeing sky or earth or another cell. cigarettes into your area in a breach of taste. Unaware of what I had
In this prophetic horror story, territory has been completely abol- done, you still felt yourself threatened, felt uneasy, and when I aggres-
ished. Perhaps this gives the play its great impact. In our modern cities sively followed up my first breach of your territory with another, mov-
we seem to be moving toward the abolition of territory. We find fami- i n g my plate and silverware and then intruding myself, you became
lies crammed and boxed into rooms that are stacked one on another more and more uneasy and still were not aware of why."
to dizzying heights. We ride elevators pressed together, and subway It was my first demonstration of the fact that we each possess zones 18
trains, packed in too tightly to move our arms or legs. We have yet of territory. We carry these zones with us and we react in different
to fully understand what happens to man when he is deprived of all ways to the breaking of these zones. Since then I have tried out the
territorial rights. same technique of cutting into someone else's zone when he was un-
We know man has a sense of territory, a need for a shell of territory aware of what I was doing.
around him. This varies from the tight close shell of the city dweller At supper the other evening, my wife and I shared a table in an 19
through the larger bubble of yard and home in the suburbanite to the Italian restaurant with another couple. Experimentally I moved the
wide open spaces the country man enjoys. wine bottle into my friend's "zone." Then slowly, still talking, followed
We don't know how much space is necessary to any individual man, up my intrusion by rearranging wine glass and napkin in his zone.
but what is important in our study of body language is what happens Uneasily he shifted in his chair, moved aside, rearranged his plate, his
to any individual man when this shell of space or territory is threat- napkin and finally in a sudden, almost compulsive lunge, moved the
ened or breached. How does he respond and how does he defend it, wine bottle back.
or how does he yield? He had reacted by defending his zone and retaliating. 20
I had lunch not too long ago with a psychiatrist friend. We sat in From this parlor game a number of basic facts emerge. No matter 21
a pleasant restaurant at a stylishly small table. At one point he took how crowded the area in which we humans live, each of us maintains
out a pack of cigarettes, lit one and put the pack down three-quarters a zone or territory around us—an inviolate area we try to keep for
of the way across the table in front of my plate. our own. How we defend this area and how we react to invasion of
He kept talking and I kept listening, but I was troubled in some way it, as well as how we encroach into other territories, can all be observed
that I couldn't quite define, and more troubled as he moved his table- and charted and in many cases used constructively. These are all ele-
ware about, lining it up with his cigarettes, closer and closer to my ments of nonverbal communication. This guarding of zones is one of
side of the table. Then leaning across the table himself he attempted the first basic principles.
to make a point. It was a point I could hardly appreciate because of How we guard our zones and how we aggress to other zones is an 22
my growing uneasiness. integral part of how we relate to other people.
408 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings First Appendectomy / William A. Nolen, M.D. 409

The First Appendectomy disease? It was just as well that he didn't realize my rhterest in him
William A. Nolen, M.D. was so personal. He might have been frightened, and with good
reason.
At any rate, I set some sort of record in preparing Mr. Polansky for 3
In this inside look at the practice of medicine, William Nolen, surgeon and author, recalls surgery. He had arrived on the ward at four o'clock. By six I had ex-
the first operation he ever performed. In his minute-by-minute account, the action at times
amined him, checked his blood and urine, taken his chest X-ray and
seems almost comical, but Nolen is not laughing. He reminds us at the end what a large
and terrifying responsibility it is for a doctor—even with the best of training—to hold
had him ready for the operating room.
a person's life in his hands. George Walters, the senior resident on call that night, was to "assist" 4
me during the operation. George was older than the rest of us. I was
Words to Know twenty-five at this time and he was thirty-two. He had taken his surgi-
cal training in Europe and was spending one year as a senior resident
anesthetist doctor who gives anesthesia
in an American hospital to establish eligibility(loj!the American Col-
anticlimactk a letting down after climax
lege of Surgeons. He had had more experience than the other residents
Benchley, Robert American humorist
and it took a lot to disturb his equanimity in the operating room. As
convalescence recovery
it i turned out, this made him the ideal assistant for me.
distended stretched out
It was ten o'clock when we wheeled Mr. Polansky to the operating 5
equanimity calmness
room. At Bellevue, at night, only two operating rooms were kept
hemostats clamps to stop bleeding
open—there were six or more going all day—so we had to wait our
infinitesimal tiny, minute
turn. In the time I had to myself before the operation 1 had reread the
intravenous through the veins
section on appendectomy in the Atlas of Operative Technique in our sur-
lesion injury
gical library, and had spent half an hour tying knots on the bedpost
ligature joining
in my room. I was, I felt "ready."
paean song of praise
I delivered Mr. Polansky to the operating room and started an intra- 6
sutures stitches
venous going in his arm. Then I left him to the care of the anesthetist.
I had ordered a sedative prior to surgery, so Mr. Polansky was1 drowsy,1
The anesthetist, after checking his chart, soon had him sleeping.
A he patient, or better, victim, of my first major surgical venture was 1 Once he was asleep I scrubbed the enormous expanse of 7
a man I'll call Mr. Polansky. He was fat, he weighed one hundred and Mr. Polansky's abdomen for ten minutes. Then, while George placed
ninety pounds and was five feet eight inches tall. He spoke only bro- the sterile drapes, I scrubbed my own hands for another five, mentally
ken English. He had had a sore abdomen with all the classical signs reviewing each step of the operation as I did so. Donning gown and
and symptoms of appendicitis for twenty-four hours before he came gloves I took my place on the right side of the operating-room table.
to Bellevue. The nurse handed me the scalpel. I was ready to begin.
After two months of my internship, though I had yet to do anything 2 Suddenly my entire attitude changed. A split second earlier I had 8
that could be decently called an "operation," 1 had had what I thought been supremely confident; now, with the knife finally in my hand, I
was a fair amount of operating time. I'd watched the assistant resi- stared down at Mr. Polansky's abdomen and for the life of me could
dents work, I'd tied knots, cut sutures and even, in order to remove not decide where to make the incision. The "landmarks" had disap-
a skin'.lesion, made an occasional incision. Frankly, I didn't think that peared. There was too much belly.
surgery was going to be too damn difficult. I figured I was ready, and George waited a few seconds, then looked up at me and said, "Go 9
, so when Mr. Polansky arrived I greeted ahead." '
him like a long-lost friend. He was (overwhelmed., at the interest I "What?" I asked. 10
showed in his case. He probably couldn't understand why any doctor "Make the incision," said George. 11
should be so fascinated by a case of appendicitis: wasn't it a common "Where?" I asked. 12
410 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings First Appendectomy / William A. Nolen, M.D. 411

"Where?" I reverted to my earlier tack. Fiber by fiber I spread the muscle 27

13
vvhich was the last layer but one that kept us from the inside of the
"Yes," I answered, "where?"
14 abdomen. Each time I separated the fibers and withdrew my clamp,
"Why, here, of course," said George and drew an imaginary line on the fibers rolled together again. After five minutes I was no nearer the
the abdomen with his fingers. appendix than I had^been at the start.
I took the scalpel and followed where he had directed. I barely 16 George could stand it no longer. But he was apparently afraid to 28
scratched Mr. Polansky. <;ueeest I take a more aggressive approach, fearing I would stick the
"Press a little harder," George directed. I did. The blade went 17 clamp into, or possibly through, the entire abdomen. Instead he sug-
through the skin to a depth of perhaps one sixteenth of an inch. gested that he help me by spreading the muscle in one direction while
"Deeper," said George. I spread it in the other. I made my usual infinitesimal attack on the
There are five layers of tissue in the abdominal wall: skin, fat, fascia 19 muscle. In one fell swoop George spread the rest.
(a tough membranous tissue), muscle and peritoneum (the smooth, "Very well done," he complimented me. "Now let's get in." 29
glistening, transparent inner lining of the abdomen). I cut down into We each took a clamp a n d picked up the tissue-paper-thin perito- 30
the fat. Another sixteenth of an inch.
neum. After two or three hesitant attacks with the scalpel I finally
"Bill," said George, looking up at me, "this patient is big. There's 20
opened it. We w e r e in the a b d o m e n .
at least three inches of fat to get through before we even reach the fas-
"Now," said George, " p u t your fingers in, feel the cecum (the por- 31
cia. At the rate you're going we won't be into the abdomen for another
tion of the bowel to which the appendix is attached) a n d bring it into
four hours. For God's sake, will you cut?"
the w o u n d . "
I made up my mind not to be hesitant. I pressed down hard on the 21
I stuck my right h a n d into the a b d o m e n . I felt a r o u n d — b u t w h a t 32
knife, and suddenly we were not only through the fat but through the
was I feeling? I h a d no idea.
fascia as well.
"Not that hard," George shouted, grabbing my right wrist with his 22 It h a d always looked so simple w h e n the senior resident did it. O p e n 33
left hand while with his other hand he plunged a gauze pack into the the abdomen, reach inside, pull up the appendix. N o t h i n g to it. But
wound to stop the bleeding. "Start clamping," he told me. apparently there was.
The nurse handed us hemostats and we applied them to the numer- 23 Everything felt the same to me. The small intestine, the large intes- 34
ous vessels I had so hastily opened. "All right," George said, "start tine, the cecum—how did one tell them apart without seeing them?
tying." I grabbed something and pulled it into the wound. Small intestine. No
I took the ligature material from the nurse and began to tie off the 24 good. Put it back. I grabbed again. This time it was the sigmoid colon.
vessels. Or rather, I tried to tie off the vessels, because suddenly my Put it back. On my third try I had the small intestine again.
knot-tying proficiency had melted away. The casual dexterity I had "The appendix must be in an abnormal position/' I said to George. 35
displayed on the bedpost a short hour ago was nowhere in evidence. "I can't seem to find it."
My fingers, greasy with fat, simply would not perform. My ties "Mind if I try?" he asked. 36
slipped off the vessels, the sutures snapped in my fingers, at one point "Not at all," I answered. "I wish you would." - 37
I even managed to tie the end of my rubber glove into the wound. It Two of his fingers disappeared into the wound. Five seconds later 38
was, to put it bluntly, a performance in fumbling that would have they emerged, cecum between them, with the appendix flopping from
made Robert Benchley blush. it.
Here I must give my first paean of praise to George. His patience 25 "Stuck down a little," he said kindly. "That's probably why you 39
during the entire performance was nothing short of miraculous. The didn't feel it. It's a hot one," he added. "Let's get at it."
temptation to pick up the catgut and do the tying himself must have The nurse handed me the hemostats, and one by one I applied them 40
been strong. He could have tied off all the vessels in two minutes. It to the mesentery of the appendix—the veil of tissue in which the blood
took me twenty. vessels run. With George holding the veil between his fingers I had
n
Finally we were ready to proceed. "Now," George directed, "split 26 o trouble; I took the ligatures and tied the vessels without a single
the muscle. But gently, please." error. My confidence was coming back.
412 Chapter 11 / Extra Readings The First Appendectomy / William A. Nolen, M.D. 413

"Now," George directed, "put in your purse string." (The cecum is 41 operation was over. "Nice job," George said, doing hi/best to sound
a portion of the bowel which has the shape of half a hemisphere. The sincere.
appendix projects from its surface like a finger. In an appendectomy "Thanks," I answered, lamely. 56
the routine procedure is to tie the appendix at its base and cut it off The scrub nurse laughed. 57
a little beyond the tie. Then the remaining stump is inverted into the Mr. Polansky recovered, I am happy to report, though not without 58
cecum and kept there by tying the purse-string stitch. This was the a long and complicated convalescence. His bowel refused to function
stitch I was now going to sew.) normally for two weeks and he became enormously distended. He was
It went horribly. The wall of the cecum is not very thick—perhaps 42 referred to at our nightly conferences as "Dr. Nolen's pregnant man."
one eighth of an inch. The suture must be placed deeply enough in Each time the reference was made, it elicited a shudder from me.
the wall so that it won't cut through when tied, but not so deep as to During his convalescence I spent every spare moment I could at Mr, 59
pass all the way through the wall. My sutures were alternately too su- Polansky's bedside. My feelings of guilt and responsibility were over-
perficial or too deep, but eventually I got the job done. whelming. If he had died I think I would have given up surgery for
"All right," said George, "let's get the appendix out of here. Tie off 43 good.
the base."
I did. 44
"Now cut off the appendix." 45
At least in this, the definitive act of the operation, I would be deci- 46
sive. I took the knife and with one quick slash cut through the appen-
dix—too close to the ligature.
"Oh oh, watch it," said George. "That tie is going to slip." 47
It did. The appendiceal stump lay there, open. I felt faint. 48
"Don't panic," said George. "We've still got the purse string. I'll 49
push the stump in—you pull up the stitch and tie. That will take care
of it."
I picked up the two ends of the suture and put in the first stitch. 50
George shoved the open stump into the cecum. It disappeared as I
snugged my tie. Beautiful.
"Two more knots," said George. "Just to be safe." 51
I tied the first knot and breathed a sigh of relief. The appendiceal 52
stump remained out of sight. On the third knot—for the sake of securi-
ty—I pulled a little tighter. The stitch broke; the open stump popped
u p ; the cecum disappeared into the abdomen. I broke out in a cold
sweat and my knees started to crumble.
Even George momentarily lost his composure. "For Christ's sake, 53
Bill/' he said, grasping desperately for the bowel, "what did you have
to do that for?" The low point of the operation had been reached.
By the time we had retrieved the cecum, Mr. Polansky's peritoneal 54
cavity had been contaminated. My self-confidence was shattered. And
still George let me continue. True, he all but held my hand as we retied
and resutured, but the instruments were in my hand.
The closure was anticlimactic. Once I had the peritoneum sutured, 55
things went reasonably smoothly. Two hours after we began, the
 Glossary

Various terms are used throughout this edition of PATTERNS PLUS

to explain the basic strategies of writing. These terms are boldfaced
in the chapter introductions and end-of-selection questions, and they
are boldfaced and defined here in the following pages. Terms in bold
type within the definitions are also defined in the glossary.

Alternating Method Also called the Point-by-Point method, the alternating

method is used in comparison and contrast writing. The method compares and
contrasts individual points between two subjects. (See also Block Method.)
Antonym An antonym is a word that has a meaning opposite to the meaning of
another word. For example, pleasure is an antonym of pain. Using an antonym
is one method used by writers to define an unfamiliar word.
Argument An argument is a rational, objective appeal to a reader on a contro-
versial topic. The five elements of a formal, or classical, argument are: Statement
of the Problem, Solution, Evidence, Refutation, and Conclusion. See Chapter
10, "Argumentation and Persuasion/' for further discussion.
Argumentation Argumentation is a mode of development whose purpose is
to convince the reader to accept the writer's opinion. In argumentation, the
main idea is supported by objective facts or logical evidence. Writers may also
use any other modes of development explained in this text. For further discus-
sion, see Chapter 10, "Argumentation and Persuasion."
Audience A reader or readers of a piece of writing. More specifically, an audi-
ence is that reader or group of readers toward which a particular piece of writ-
ing is aimed. (See also Purpose and Occasion.)
Block Method In comparison and contrast writing, the block method is used to
entirely present the first item being compared, then the second, and so on. (See
also Alternating Method.)
Body The body is the development of the thesis over a group of related para-
graphs in an essay. (See also Introduction and Conclusion.)
Brainstorm A pre-writing technique that many writers use to generate ideas for
writing. In brainstorming, a writer jots down as many details and ideas on a
subject that come to mind.
Cause A cause is a reason for something that happens or an explanation as to
why some effect occurs. Writers explain why an effect (or result) comes about
416 Glossary Glossary 417

by explaining its causes. See Chapter 8, "Cause and Effect," for further An extended definition is one that occurs over the course of several sentences
discussion. or paragraphs. It is often used to define complex objects or concepts. See also
Chapter 9, "Definition," for further discussion.
Chronological order See Order
Class In classification and division, a writer can classify or divide items if they Denotation Denotation refers to the exact or dictionary definition of a word.
(See also Connotation.)
are of the same type, that is, if they belong to the same class.
Description In a description, the writer discusses the appearance of a person,
Classification Classification is the process of sorting a group of items into cate-
place, or object. In descriptions, writers use words and details that appeal to
gories on the basis of some characteristic or quality that the items have in com-
the senses in order to create the impression they want the reader to have about
mon. As a mode of development, classification is used by writers to organize
what is described.
and develop information included in a paragraph or essay. Classification is
sometimes combined with division to develop a topic or thesis. See Chapter Details Details are specific pieces of information—examples, incidents, dates,
5, "Classification and Division," for further discussion. and so forth—that explain and support the general ideas in a composition. Writ-
ers use details to make their general ideas clearer and more understandable to
Cliche Cliches are words or phrases that have become overused and so have lost
the reader.
their expressive power. Examples of cliches are: "rosy red," "silly goose," " bull
in a china shop," "works like a horse," etc. Development Development refers to the detailed explanation of the main—and
usually more general—ideas in a composition. The main idea (or topic) of a
Coherent In order for a paragraph to be effective, it must state the main idea
paragraph is explained through the more specific information in the sentences
clearly in a way that allows the reader to follow the thoughts presented without
within the paragraph. The main idea or thesis of an essay is explained or devel-
stumbling or needing to backtrack. (See also Unified and Complete.)
oped through the paragraphs within the essay.
Comparison When making a comparison, the writer discusses the similarities
of objects or ideas. Writers sometimes combine comparison with contrast in de- Dialogue Dialogue is conversation, usually between two or more persons. It is
used by writers to give the exact wording used by people introduced in the com-
veloping their main idea. See Chapter 6, "Comparison and Contrast," for fur-
position, and thus is always set off by quotation marks. The writer usually uses
ther discussion.
a new paragraph to indicate a change of speaker. Dialogue is commonly found
Complete In order for a paragraph to be effective, it must be complete, that is, in narrative writing.
it must develop the main idea fully enough so that the reader understands and
Division In division, the writer breaks down or sorts a single object or idea into
appreciates the topic. (See also Coherent and Unified.)
its components or parts and then gives detailed information about each of the
Conclusion In writing, the term conclusion is used to refer to the sentences or parts. Division is sometimes used in combination with classification. For fur-
paragraph that completes the composition. Within the conclusion, the writer ther discussion, see Chapter 5, "Classification and Division."
may restate the main idea of the composition or sum up the important points
Effect An effect is the result of certain events or causes. An effect may be the
made in the composition.
result of one or more causes. Writers often combine cause and effect to explain
In reading, the term conclusion refers to the idea the reader can draw from
why something happens. For further discussion, see Chapter 8, "Cause and
the information in the reading selection. Drawing a conclusion involves making
Effect."
an inference, that is, deriving an idea that is implied by the information stated
within a composition. Essay An essay is a written composition based on an idea, which is called its
thesis. An essay usually consists of a least three paragraphs. In the paragraphs,
Connotation Connotation refers to the feelings or qualities a reader associates
writers generally introduce and state the thesis, develop or explain the thesis,
with a word. In persuasive writing, writers often use the connotations of words
and conclude the essay. See Chapter 1, "The Basics of Paragraphs and Essays,"
to appeal to their readers. (See also Denotation.) for further discussion.
Contrast When making a contrast, the writer discusses the differences among
Event An occurrence or happening that a writer will portray, often as part of
objects or ideas. Writers sometimes combine contrast with comparison in devel-
a fictional or non-fictional narrative.
oping an idea. See Chapter 6, "Comparison and Contrast," for further
discussion. Evidence In argumentation, evidence refers to the examples or facts a writer
uses to support the solution, or main idea, of a paragraph or essay. See Chapter
Definition A definition explains the meaning of a word or term. Writers fre-
10, "Argumentation and Persuasion," for further discussion.
quently use a variety of methods for defining the words and terms they use.
They may use a dictionary definition, a synonym, or an antonym. They may Example An example is a specific illustration of a more general idea or state-
also use any combination of the modes of development explained in this text. ment. Writers may use one or more examples and may extend a single example
over an entire essay in order to illustrate and support their ideas.
418 Glossary Glossary 419

Extended Example An extended example is one example that occurs over sever- Mixed Method Writers will often use the Mixed Method form in comparison
al sentences or paragraphs. It is used as a way of providing additional support and contrast writing, when neither the Alternating Method nor the Block
for a topic sentence or thesis statement. See also Chapter 4, "Examples," for Method alone is sufficient.
further discussion. Mode of Development The mode of development refers to the kind of informa-
Fact(s) Anything or things that are known with certainty. Writers often present tion used to support and explain the main idea of a paragraph or essay. Writers
facts as a way of stating the objectivity of their position on a subject. (See also commonly use, either singly or in combination, the modes included in this text:
Opinion.) narration, description, examples, classification and division, comparison and
contrast, process, cause and effect, definition, and argumentation and
Fiction (Fictional Narrative) A paragraph or essay that presents a story or event persuasion.
that did not occur, or which differs significantly from a real or true event is
called fiction. (By contrast, see Nonfiction (Non-fictional Narrative).) Narration Narration is a mode of development used by writers to tell a story
or give an account of a historical or factual event. See Chapter 2, "Narration,"
General Idea/General Statement A general idea or statement is broad and for further discussion.
sweeping and therefore must usually be explained through more specific infor-
mation. The main idea of a paragraph or essay is a relatively general idea, in- Nonficiton (Non-fictional Narrative) A paragraph or essay that presents a story
volving only the main features of the thought. In a paragraph or an essay, the or event that actually happened. (By contrast, see Fiction [Fictional Narrative]).
general ideas and statements must be supported by more specific information. Objective A paragraph or essay that presents the facts without including the
Implied/Imply To imply is to hint at or indicate indirectly. Writers sometimes writer's own feelings about interpretation of those facts is said to be objective.
only imply their ideas rather than stating them directly. An implied idea re- (By contrast, see Subjective.)
quires the reader to draw conclusions or make inferences in order to determine Occasion An occasion is the circumstances under which a particular piece of
the idea. writing occurs. The Writing Assignments in this text are occasions for writing
Incidents Incidents are the more specific, detailed happenings within a particu- paragraphs and essays.
lar event. The narrative about an event will include an account of the specific Opinion An opinion is a writer's belief or conclusion about something that may
incidents that occurred as part of the event (see Narration). or may not be based on fact. Writers often use opinion as a way of presenting
Inference An inference is a conclusion drawn by the reader based on informa- a subjective account of an event or object. (By contrast, see Fact(s).)
tion known or indicated indirectly. Writers sometimes indicate their ideas indi- Order Order refers to the sequence in which the information in a composition
rectly by suggesting rather than stating them. Readers must make inferences is organized or arranged. Information is commonly organized in chronological,
and use the information that is known or stated to determine the writer's ideas. importance, or spatial orders. In chronological order, the information is se-
Inform Inform means to relate or tell about something. Writers often use process quenced according to time. In order of importance, the information may be se-
as a mode of development in which to inform their readers, though any of the quenced from the least to the most important—or from the most to the least
modes in this text can be used to inform. important. In spatial order, the information is presented from a particular van-
tage point—the door to a room, front to back, floor to ceiling, and so forth.
Instruct Instruct means to teach or educate. Writers often use process as a mode
of development in which to instruct their readers. Order of Importance (See Order)

Irony The use in writing of a relationship that is contradictory or unexpected. Paragraph A paragraph is usually a set of two or more sentences that are related
Writers often use irony to amuse, sadden, instruct, or anger their readers. to one another in explaining an idea. The major use of a paragraph is to mark
a division of the information within a composition. Another use of the para-
Introduction The introduction of a paragraph or essay is at its beginning. The graph is to set off dialogue within a composition. In this text, a paragraph is
introduction of an essay is often the place where the writer places the thesis considered as a unit. The first word of a paragraph is usually indented a few
statement. (See also Body and Conclusion.) spaces from the left margin of the writing or the print.
Main Idea The main idea of a composition is the general concept or broad opin- Parallelism Parallelism refers to the use of the same grammatical structure in
ion on which the composition is based. The main idea of a paragraph is referred successive sentences. Writers use parallel sentence structure to clarify and em-
to as the topic. The main idea of an essay is called the thesis. phasize the relation of the information within the sentences.
Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares unlike items by attrib- Person Person is indicated by the personal pronouns used in a composition.
uting the qualities or characteristics of one item to the other. A metaphor com- Writers use the first person (/, we) to represent themselves as participants or
pares the items without the use of the words like or as. (See also Simile.) firsthand observers of their subject. They use the second person {you) to address
420 Glossary Glossary 421

the reader directly. They use the third person (he, she, it, one, they) to provide Statement of the Problem In argumentation, the statement of the problem refers
the reader with a less limited and more objective view of the subject than may to the opinion or belief that the writer opposes. See Chapter 10, "Argumentation
be conveyed by using first or second person. (See also Point of View.) and Persuasion," for further discussion.
Persuade To persuade is to try and convince someone of a particular point of Subjective Subjective writing is that in which the writer expresses his or her
view. Writers often try to persuade their readers. (See also Inform and feelings about the topic. (For contrast, see Objective.)
Instruct.)
Support Support refers to the information—specific details, examples, and so
Persuasion Persuasion is a mode of development whose main purpose is to con- forth—used to develop or explain the general idea in a composition.
vince the reader to accept the writer's opinion. In persuasive writing, writers
use words and examples to appeal to the reader's emotions. Writers may also Symbol A symbol is a person, place, or object that represents something other
use any other modes of development explained in this text. For further discus- than itself, usually something immaterial or abstract.
sion, see Chapter 10, "Argumentation and Persuasion." Synonym A synonym is a word or phrase that has the same meaning as another
Point of View Point of view refers to the way writers present their ideas. Point word or phrase. Writers sometimes use a synonym to clarify an unfamiliar word
of view is determined by the person, time, and tone used in a composition. Per- or phrase used in their compositions.
son is indicated by the personal pronouns. Time is determined by the words Thesis The thesis is the main idea of an essay. The thesis may be stated directly
that indicate whether the information included in the composition takes place (see Thesis Statement) or only implied (see Implied/Imply).
in the past, in the present, or in the future. Tone refers to the attitude that writers
take toward their subjects. Tone may be serious, humorous, formal, informal, Thesis Statement The thesis statement is the sentence or sentences in which the
cynical, sarcastic, ironic, sympathetic, and so forth. main idea of an essay is stated. The thesis statement is generally placed at or
near the beginning of an essay.
Process Process is a mode of development used by writers to explain the method
of doing a task, making or preparing something, or achieving a particular result. Time Time refers to the period (past, present, future) when the action mentioned
See Chapter 7, "Process," for further discussion. in the composition took place. Time is indicated by the action words (verbs) and
such words as tomorrow, yesterday, next week, and so on. (See also Point of View.)
Purpose Purpose refers to a writer's reason for writing. Common purposes for
writing include writing to persuade, to inform, and to instruct. (See Persuade, Tone Tone refers to the attitude writers take toward their subjects. The attitude
Inform, Instruct.) in a particular composition may be formal, informal, serious, humorous, and
so forth. (See also Point of View.)
Refutation In argumentation, refutation refers to the writer's acknowledgment
of and response to opposing views. For further discussion, see Chapter 10, "Ar- Topic The main idea of a paragraph is called its topic. The topic of a paragraph
gumentation and Persuasion." may be stated directly (see Topic Sentence) or only implied (see Implied/
Imply).
Rhetorical Question A rhetorical question is a question to which no real answer
is expected because only one obvious reply can be made. Writers often use rhe- Topic Sentence The topic sentence is the sentence or sentences in which the main
torical questions to emphasize a point and to suggest that only one view- idea of a paragraph is stated. The topic sentence is commonly placed at or near
point—the writer's—is possible. the beginning of a paragraph, but it may appear at any point in the paragrpah.
Sentence A sentence is a group of words that expresses a unit of thought. A sen- Transitions Transitions are words and expressions such as for example, on the oth-
tence usually contains a word or words that express who is doing an action or er hand, first, second, or to illustrate that are used to help the reader identify the
is being acted upon (the subject of the sentence) and a word or words that ex- relation of ideas in a composition.
press the action that is taking place (the verb of the sentence). The first word Unified A paragraph must be unified if it is to be effective, which means it must
of a sentence begins with a capital letter. The end of the sentence is marked by deal with a single idea, and that each sentence in the paragraph must be related
a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation point (.'}. to that idea. (See also Main Idea, Coherent and Complete.)
Simile A simile is a figure of speech in which unlike items are compared. A sim-
ile is usually introduced by like or as, as in "He worked like a horse on the project"
or "The chicken was as tasteless as a piece of cardboard." (See also Metaphor.)
Solution In argumentation, the solution refers to the writer's answer to the
statement of the problem. For further discussion, see Chapter 10, "Argumenta-
tion and Persuasion."
Spatial order (see Order)
 Acknowledgments

Edward Abbey: Reprinted by permission of Don Congdon Associates, Inc.

Copyright © 1968 by Edward Abbey.
Junius Adams: "Think Thin and Get Thin," by Junius Adams. Copyright© 1977
The Hearst Corporation. Reprinted by permission of the author.
L. O. Anderson: From Wood-Frame House Construction by L. O. Anderson (Dover,
1973).
Isaac Asimov: "The Difference Between a Brain and a Computer," from Please
Explain by Isaac Asimov. Copyright © 1973 by Isaac Asimov. Reprinted by per-
mission of Houghton Mifflin Company. "What is Intelligence, Anyway?" Re-
printed by permission of the author.
Margaret Atwood: Margaret Atwood, "Through the One-Way Mirror," The Na-
tion magazine/The Nation Company, Inc. Copyright 1986.
Russell Baker: "Back to the Dump," © 1983 by The New York Times Company
Reprinted by permission. "Learning to Write," Copyright © 1982 by Russell
Baker. Published by agreement with Congdon and Weed, Inc. "The Plot Against
People/' Copyright © 1968 by The New York Times Company.
Jane Brody: "Fatigue," Copyright © 1980 by the New York Times Company. Re-
printed by permission. "The Spreading Use of Steroids," Copyright © 1988 by
the New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
Barry Chamish: From Barry Chamish, The Atlantic Monthly, June 1987, p. 55.
Used with permission.
Peggy Charren/Martin Sandier: "Television and Work," from Changing Channels
by Peggy Charren and Martin Sandier. Copyright 1983. Reprinted by
permission.
John Ciardi: "Dawn Watch" and "The Pencil Rack," from Manner of Speaking by
John Ciardi. © 1982 Rutgers University Press. Reprinted by permission of the
author.
Nathan Cobb: Reprinted courtesy of The Boston Globe.
Andrei Codrescu: "August," by Andrei Codrescu from A Craving for Swan,
copyright 1986, p. 33. Reprinted by permission of Ohio State University Press.
Jacques Cousteau: Selection from The Bounty of the Sea. Reprinted by permission
of The Cousteau Society, Inc.
Gil Crandall: From "Letter to a Tobacco Company," by Gii Crandall in Reader's
Digest Vol. 125, July 1984, pp. 64-65. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Joan Didion: "Migraines," reprinted by permission of Wallace Literary Agency,
Inc. Copyright © 1968,1979 by Joan Didion. "Rock of Ages" from Slouching To-
424 Acknowledgments Acknowledgments 425

wards Bethlehem by Joan Didion. Copyright © 1967, 1969 by Joan Didion. Re- Coretta Scott King: Reprinted by permission of Joan Daves. Copyright © 1981
printed by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. Cleveland Press Publishing Company and Coretta Scott King.
Deborah Digges: From "Fugitive Spring," by Deborah Digges in Ohio Review, Martin Luther King, Jr.: Reprinted by permission Joan Daves. Copyright © 1963
Issue 41, June 14, 1988, pp. 51-52. Reprinted with permission of the author. by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Annie Dillard: "Lenses," excerpt from Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard. N. R. Kleinfield: Reprinted by permission of The Wall Street Journal, © Dow
Copyright © 1982 by Annie Dillard. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Jones & Company, Inc. 1973. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Publishers, Inc. Philip Kopper: "Blue and Brew," from The Wild F_dge: Life and Lore of the Great
Julius Fast: From BODY LANGUAGE by Julius Fast. Copyright © 1970 by Julius American Beaches, by Philip Kopper. Copyright © 1979 by Philip Kopper. Re-
Fast. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, M. Evans and Company, Inc. printed by permission of Times Books, a Division of Random House, Inc. "Deli-
New York. cacies de la Mer," from The Wild Edge: Life and Lore of the Great American Beaches
Bruce Jay Friedman: "Eating Alone in Resaurants," from The lonely Guy by by Philip Kopper, copyright © 1979, p. 238. Reprinted by permission of Times
Bruce Jay Friedman, copyright © 1979 by McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. Books, a Division of Random House, Inc.
Reproduced with permission. Michael Korda: "Defining Success," reprinted by permission of International
Tess Gallagher: Excerpt taken from "My Father's Love Letters" by Tess Gallagh- Creative Management, Inc. "Obtaining Power," reprinted by permission of In-
er in American Poetry Review, May/June 1981. Reprinted by permission. ternational Creative Management, Inc. Copyright © 1975.
Ellen Goodman: "The Family/Career Priority Problem" and "It's Failure, Not Charles Kuralt: "Down With the Forests" and "Two Towns in Delaware" from
Success," © 1979, The Boston Globe Newspaper Company/Washington Post Dateline America by Charles Kuralt, copyright 1979 by CBS, Inc., reprinted by
Writers Group. Reprinted with permission. permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Bob Greene: "It Took This Night to Make Us Know," from Johnny Deadline: Re- Barry Lopez: Reprinted by permission of Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of
porter by Bob Greene. Copyright © 1976 Nelson-Hall Inc. Reprinted by permis- Macmillan Publishing Company, from Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez. Copyright
sion of the publisher. © 1986 by Barry Holstun Lopez.
Donald Hall: "Winter," by Donald Hall from the Exhibition catalogue, Winter, Mary T. Madden: Copyright 1968 American Journal of Nursing Company. Re-
1986. Reprinted by permission of the author. printed by permission from American Journal of Nursing, April 1968, Vol. 68, pp.
778-779, Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Gilbert Highet: Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Copyright ©
1957 by Gilbert Highet. Brian Manning: Copyright © 1985 by the New York Times Company. Reprinted
by permission.
L. Rust Hills: "How to Eat an Ice Cream Cone" from How to Do Things Right:
The Revelations of a Fussy Man (New York: Doubleday, 1972). Reprinted by per- David McCullough: Reprinted with permission from American Heritage, Volume
mission of the author. 37 number 3. Copyright © 1986 by American Heritage, a division of Forbes, Inc.
Suzanne Hilton: Copyright 1970 by Suzanne Hilton. Reprinted by permission Mary Mebane: From Mary by Mary Mebane. Copyright © 1981 by Mary Eliza-
of Ray Lincoln Literary Agency, 4 Surrey Road, Melrose Park, PA 19126 beth Mebane. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin,
a division of Penguin Books USA, Inc.
Roger Hoffman: Copyright ©1986 by the New York Times Company. Reprinted
by permission. William A. Nolen, M. D.: Reprinted by permission of Blassingame, McCauley
and Wood.
John Holt: "Three Disciplines for Children," from Freedom and Beyond by John
Holt, copyright © 1972 pp. 102-104. Reprinted with permission. Carin Quinn: Reprinted with permission from American Heritage, Volume 29
number 3. Copyright 1978 by American Heritage.
Robert Johnson: Copyright © Commonweal Foundation 1989.
Peggy Robbins: Reprinted through the courtesy of Cowles Magazines, publish-
Alice Kahn: From My Life As a Gal by Alice Kahn. Copyright © 1987 by Alice
ers of American History Illustrated.
Kahn. Reprinted by permission of Delacorte Press, a division of BANTAM,
DOUBLEDAY DELL PUBLISHING GROUP, INC. Andy Rooney: "How to Put Off Doing a Job" Reprinted with permission of
Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, from A
E. J. Kahn, Jr.: From The Big Drink: The Story of Coca-Cola, by E. J. Kahn, Jr. Copy-
Few Minutes With Andy Rooney by Andrew A. Rooney. Copyright © 1982 by
right 1950, © 1959,1960 by E. J. Kahn, Jr. Reprinted by permission of Random Essay Productions, Inc. "Types" Reprinted with permission of Atheneum Pub-
House, Inc. lishers, and imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, from And More By Andy
Jim Kaplan: From Jim Kaplan, "Baseball's Hot Dogs—Do They Spice Up the Rooney by Andrew A. Rooney. Copyright © 1982 by Essay Productions, Inc.
Games—or Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth?/' TV Guide, May 28, 1988, pp. "Wrappings" Reprinted by permission of the Putnam Publishing Group from
14-15. Reprinted with permission from TV Guide ® Magazine. Copyright © Word for Word by Andy Rooney. Copyright © 1984, 85, 86 by Andy Rooney.
1988 by Triangle Publications, Inc. Radnor, Pennsylvania.
426 Acknowledgments Acknowledgments 427

Galen Rowell: In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods, by Galen Rowell. Copy- Judith Wurtman: "Why Eat Junk Food?" from Eating Your Way Through Life by
right © 1977 by Galen Rowell. Reprinted with permission of Sierra Club Books. Judith Wurtman (New York: Raven Press, 1979). Reprinted by permission of
Mike Royko: From "Death to the Killers," by Mike Royko in Chicago Sun-Times, Raven Press, Publishers.
1983. © With permission of the Chicago Sun-Times, Inc. 1989. Olay Beauty Bar paragraph, Chapter 10: Used by permission of Richardson
Bertrand Russell: From The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell 1872-1914 by Ber- Vicks.
trand Russell. Copyright 1967, pp. 3-4. Reprinted by permission of Unwin Hy-
man Limited, Publishers.
Scott Russell Sanders: © 1987 by Scott Russell Sanders; reprinted by permission
of the author and the author's agent, Virginia Kidd.
Jonathan Schell: From The Fate of the Earth, by Jonathan Schell. Copyright ©
1982 by Jonathan Schell. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Pete Shields: "Why Do People Own Handguns?" from Guns Don't Die—People
Do by Pete Shields. © 1981 by Pete Shields. Reprinted by permission of Arbor
House Publisher Company.
Roger Sip her: Copyright © 1977 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted
by permission.
Bonnie Smith-Yackel: Reprinted with permission from: Women: A Journal of Lib-
eration, Vol. 4, No. 2, Spring 1975.
Brent Staples: Copyright © 1986 by the New York Times Company. Reprinted
by permission.
Deems Taylor: Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Copyright © 1937
by Deems Taylor.
Paul Theroux: From The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux. Copyright ©
1976 by Cape Cod Scriveners Company. Reprinted by permission of Houghton
Mifflin Company.
Lewis Thomas: From The Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas. Copyright © 1974 by
Lewis Thomas. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin,
a division of Penguin Books USA, Inc.
Judith Viorst: Copyright © 1977 by Judith Viorst. Originally appeared in Red-
book.
Helen C. Vo-Dinh: "Excuses, Excuses," by Helen C. Vo-Dinh from "My Turn,"
in Newsweek, August 15, 1983. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Andrew Weil/Winifred Rosen: from Chocolate to Morphine by Andrew Weil and
Winifred Rosen. Copyright © 1983 by Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen. Re-
printed by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.
Eliot Wigginton: "Moonshining as a Fine Art" from The Foxfire Book edited by
Eliot Wigginton. Copyright © 1968,1969,1970,1971,1972 by The Foxfire Fund,
Inc. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday
Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
Gwendolyn Wright: From Gwendolyn Wright, Building the Dream: A Social Histo-
ry of Housing in America, copyright 1981, p. 225. Reprinted by permission of Pan-
theon Books, a Division of Random House, Inc.
Richard Wright: Excerpt from Uncle Tom's Children by Richard Wright. Copy-
right 1936 by Richard Wright. Renewed Copyright © 1964 by Ellen Wright. Re-
printed by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.
 Index

Abbey, Edward, 350-351 Cause-and-effect mode of development,

Adams, Junius, 237-241 6, 263-269
Alternating (point-by-point) method of single vs. multiple, 263-267
comparison and contrast, 189-190, Chamish, Barry, 231-232
192 Chan, lu-choi, 26-27
"American Language, The" (Hendrick- Charren, Peggy, 130-132
son), 153-154 "Children of Two Nations" (David),
Antonym, in definition, 299 194-195
"Arctic Forest, The" (Lopez), 296-297 Chronologica! order, in narrative writ-
Argumentation, as a mode of develop- ing, 12
ment, 6, 338-3^3 Ciardi, John, 79-83,111-112
Asimov, Isaac 208-210, 322-324 "Civilization and Education" (Bald-
Atwood, Margaret, 215-218 win), 200-201
"August" (Codrescu), 124-125 Classification-and-division mode of de-
velopment, 6,143-148
"Back to the Dump" (Baker), 126-129 and definition, 299, 302
Baker, Russell, 28-31,126-129,157-159 order of discussion in, 147-148
Baldwin, James, 200-201 Cliches, 301
"Baseball, A" (Dillard), 62-63 "Climbing at Its Best" (Rowell), 362-364
"Baseball's Hot Dogs" (Kaplan), Cobb, Nathan, 283-285
312-314 Codrescu, Andrei, 124-125
"Beer Can" (Updike), 346-347 "Coffee Plantation, The" (Dinesen),
Bernstein, Douglas A., et al, 276-277 66-67
Bishop, Elizabeth, 17-18 Comparison-and-contrast mode of de-
Block method of comparison and con- velopment, 6,187-193
trast, 190-191 alternating (point-by-point) method
"Blue and Brew" (Kopper), 384-386 of, 189-190,192
"Bonding at Birth" (Bernstein et al.), block method of, 190-191
276-277 in definition, 302
"Bounty of the Sea, The" (Cousteau), mixed method of, 188,191-192
289-291 "Computers" (Thomas), 211-214
Brainstorming, 59-60 Conclusion, 7
Brody, Jane, 166-169, 365-368 in argumentation, 339, 340
"Brother's Murder, A" (Staples), 47-50 Connotation, 300-301,335
Contrast, see Comparison-and-contrast
"Cake of Corpses, A" (Sanders), mode of development
308-309 "Cook, The" (Lewis), 235-236
Capon, Robert, 304-305 Cousteau, Jacques, 289-291
"Carnival, The" (Hoagland), 73-74 "Cowboy's Courage, A" (Erlich),
Categories 117-118
in classification, 143-148
in comparison and contrast, 187 "Dare, The" (Hoffmann), 402-404
 430 Index Index 431

David, Brenda, 194-195 "Eliminate Cars from the National "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" (Hurs- Madden, Mary, 204-207
"Dawn Watch" (Ciardi), 79-83 Parks" (Abbey), 350-351 ton), 391-394 Main idea, 2-5
"Death Penalty Is a Step Back, The" (C Erlich, Gretel, 117-118 "How to Put Off Doing a Job" (Rooney), development of, 2, 5-9
S. King), 373-375 Essay, 2 252-254 of essay, 4
"Death to the Killers" (Royko), 369-372 body of, 7 Hurston, Zora Neale, 391-394 implied, 4
"Defining Success" (Korda), 315-317 development of, 5-8 of paragraph, 2
Definition, as mode of development, 6, main idea of, 4-5 "I Have a Dream" (M. L. King, Jr.), see also Development, modes of
299-303 objective vs. subjective, 15-16,109 376-381 Manning, Brian, 292-295
extended, 299-303 see also Development, modes of "I Love Washington" (McCullough), Markham, Beryl, 151-152
formal, 299 Evidence, in argumentation, 339, 340 84-86 "Mastering Scrabble" (Chamish),
"Deli, The" (Machin), 51-54 Examples, as mode of development, 6, £ "'I Love You'" (Solomon), 306-307 231-232
Deloria, Vine, Jr., 344-345 107-110,147 Implied ideas, 4 Mebane, Mary, 32-35
Denotation, 300-301, 335 in definition, 300, 302 Impression, creation of an, 55-56 Merrill, Nancy Pritts, 77-78, 310-311
Description, as mode of development, 6, extended, 109,337 Inferences, 268-269 Metaphor, 57
55-61,147, 226-228, 301 introductory, 108 "Inflammable River, The" (Deloria), "Migraines" (Didion), 325-329
Details, 13 in persuasion, 336-337 344-345 "Mistaken Ideas About College" (Ord-
in description, 55-61 "Excuses, Excuses" (Vo-Dinh), 354-357 "Insert Flap 'A' and Throw Away" way), 222-224
essential vs. trivial, 13-14 Extended definitions, 299-303 (Perelman), 229-230 Mixed method, of comparison and con-
in order of importance, 57 Introduction, 7,108 trast, 191-192
in spatial order, 57-58 "Family/Career Priority Problem, The" Introductory examples, 108 Modes of development, see Develop-
Development, modes of, 5-9,107, 383 (Goodman), 133-136 Irony, 57,187 ment, modes of
argumentation, 338-343 Fast, Julius, 405-407 "It's Failure, Not Success'UGoodman), "Momentous Arrest, A" (M. L. King,
cause and effect, 8, 263-269 "Fatigue" (Brody), 166-169 318-321 Jr.), 270-271
classification and division, 143-148, Fiction, 16 "It Took This Night' J Make Us Know" "Momist Manifesto, The" (A. Kahn),
302 "First Appendectomy, The" (Nolen), (Greene), 280-282 398-401
in combination, 8, 226-228, 300-302 408-413 "Monster, The" (Taylor), 87-92
comparison and contrast, 187-193, Flashback style, 12 "Jeaning of America—and the World, Montagu, Ashley, 198-199
302 Formal definition, 299 The" (Quinn), 36-39 "My First Lesson in How to Live as a
definition, 299-303 "Freedom" (Chan), 26-27 Johnson, Robert, 97-100 Negro" (Wright), 286-288
description, 55-61,147, 226-228 Friedman, Bruce Jay, 242-247 "My Mother Never Worked" (Smith-
examples, 107-110,147, 300, 302 "Friends, Good Friends—and Such Kahn Alice, 170-174, 398^01 Yackel), 137-141
narration, 11-16, 226-228 Good Friends" (Viorst), 160-165 Kahn, E. J., Jr., 21-23
persuasion, 335-338, 342-343 Kaplan, J,im, 312-314 Narration, as mode of development, 6,
process, 225-228 Kidder, Tracy, 274-275 8,11-16, 226-228 ^
see also specific modes Gallagher, Tess, 387-390 "Natural Superiority of Women, The"
"Geography" (Bishop), 17-18 King, Coretta Scott, 373-375
Development of main idea, 2, 5-9 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 270-271, (Montagu), 198-199
Dialogue, uses of, 16 Goodman, Ellen, 133-136, 318-321 New Yorker, The, 75-76
"Grandma's Last Day" (Doig), 19-20 376-381
Didion, Joan, 93-96, 325-329 Kleinfield, N. R., 255-258 Nolen, William, 408-413
"Difference Between a Brain and a "Grandparents" (Merrill), 310-311 "No More Bad Bugs" (McEnroe),
Greene, Bob, 280-282 Kopper, Philip, 384-386
Computer, The" (Asimov), 208-210 Korda, Michael, 248-251, 315-317 155-156
Digges, Deborah, 24-25 Grudin, Robert, 196-197
Krutch, Joseph Wood, 348-349 Nonfiction, 16
Dillard, Annie, 62-63, 395-397 Kuralt, Charles, 122-123, 202-203 "Nursing Practices—England and
Dinesen, Isak, 66-67 Hall, Donald, 101-103 America" (Madden), 204-207
"Discovery of Coca-Cola, The" (E. J. "Halloween Party" (Ross), 115-116 "Learning To Write" (Baker), 28-31
Kahn, Jr.), 21-23 "Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds?" "Lenses" (Dillard), 395-397 Objective essay, 15-16,109
Division, purpose of, 144. See also Clas- (Theroux), 40-46 Lewis, Barbara, 235-236 "Obtaining Power" (Korda), 248-251
sification-and-division mode of Hendrickson, Robert, 153-154 "Limbo" (Lucas), 104-106 "Ode to My Father" (Gallagher),
development Hersey, John, 64-65 Lopez, Barry Holstun, 71-72, 296-297 387-390
Doig, Ivan, 19-20 Highet, Gilbert, 68-70 Lucas, Rhonda S., 104-106 "On Being Unemployed" (Smith),
"Down with the Forests" (Kuralt), Hills, L. Rust, 233-234 Lurie, Alison, 113-114 278-279
122-123 Hirsch, E. D., 352-353 Order of importance, in description, 57
Hoagland, Edward, 73-74 McCullough,David, 84-86 Ordway, Kimberly, 222-224
"Eating Alone in Restaurants" (Fried- Hoffmann, Roger, 402-404 McEnroe, Colin, 155-156 Organization
man), 242-247 Holt, John, 175-178 Machin,Carmen, 51-54 of comparison and contrast, 189-193
432 Index 433
Index

"Vandal and the Sportsman, The" "Why Do People Own Handguns?"

of narrative, 12-13 Smith, Nelliejean, 278-279 (Shields), 179-185
(Krutch), 348-349
of process explanation, 225-226 Smith-Yackel, Bonnie, 137-141 "Very Basic Decision, A" (Mebane), "Why Eat Junk Food?" (Wurtman),
spatial, 57 Solomon, Robert C, 306-307 32-35 272-273
Solution, in argumentation, 339-340 Viorst, Judith, 160-165 "Why National Literacy Is Important"
Paragraph "So That Nobody Has to Go to School if Vo-Dinh, Helen C, 354-357 (Hirsch), 352-353
development of, 5-8 They Don't Want To" (Sipher), "Winter" (Hall), 101-103
main idea, 2-3 358-361 Weil, Andrew, 330-334 "Womanly Art of Beast Feeding" (A.
see also Development, modes of Spatial order, 57 "What Is a Drug?" (Weil and Rosen), Kahn), 170-174
Parallelism, 340 "Sperm Whale, The" (Lopez), 71-72 330-334 "Women and Men" (Sanders), 219-221
"Peace and Quiet" (Merrill), 77-78 "Spreading Use of Steroids, The" "What Is Intelligence, Anyway?" (Asi- "Wrappings" (Rooney), 119-121
"Pencil Rack, The" (Ciardi), 111-112 (Brody), 365-368 mov), 322-324 Wright, Richard, 286-288
Perelman, S.}., 229-230 Staples, Brent, 47-50 "Where's Your Space Shell?" (Fast), Writing
Person (first, second or third), 15,226, Statement of the problem, in argumen- purpose of, 1, 2
405-407
228 tation, 33? White, E.B., 149-150 subjective or objective, 15-16, 59
Persuasion, as mode of development, 6, "Stinging Cell, The" (Hersey), 64-65 "Whoomper Factor, The" (Cobb), Wurtman, Judith, 272-273
335-338, 342-343 Subjective essay, 15-16
283-285
"Pithing a Frog" (Szurley), 259-261 "Subway Station, The" (Highet), 68-70
"Plot Against People, The" (Baker), Symbols, as cliches, 301
157-159 Synonym, as definition, 299
Point-by-point (alternating) method of Szurley, Irene, 259-261
comparison and contrast, 189-190,
192 Taylor, Deems, 87-92
Point of view, 15,228 "Television and Work" (Charren and
"Portraits of a Cop" (Kleinfield), Sandier), 130-132
255-258 Theroux, Paul, 40-46
Process, as mode of development, 6, Thesis, of essay, 4,108-109
225-228 Thesis statement, 4-5,107
other modes combined with, "Think Thin and Get Thin" (Adams),
226-228, 266-267 237-241
Purpose, of writing, 1, 2 "Thirsty Animal, The" (Manning),
292-295
Quinn,Carin C, 36-39 "This Man Has Expired" (Johnson),
97-100
Refutation,in argumentation, 339, 340 Thomas, Lewis, 211-214
Rhetorical question, 337 "Three Disciplines for Children" (Holt),
"Right Way to Eat an Ice-Cream Cone, 175-178
The" (Hills), 233-234 "Three New Yorks, The" (White),
"Rock of Ages" (Didion), 93-96 149-150
Rooney,Andy, 119-121, 252-254 "Through the Ice" (Digges), 24-25
Rosen, Winifred, 330-334 "Through the One-Way Mirror" (At-
Ross, Lillian, 115-116 wood), 215-218
Rowell, Galen, 362-364 Tone, 15, 226
Royko, Mike, 369-372 objective, 188
Topic of paragrpah, 2
Sanders, Scott Russell, 219-221, 308-309 Topic sentence, 2, 6, 7,107,147
Sandier, Martin 130-132 Transitions, 8
"Scourge of the Budworm" (Kidder), "Tumalo" {The New Yorker), 75-76
274-275 "Two Towns in Delaware" (Kuralt),
Shields, Pete, 179-185 202-203
"Shoe as Strategic Weapon, The" (Lu- "Two Views of Time" (Grudin), 196-197
rie), 113-114
"Silence" (Markham), 151-152 "Ultimate Kitchen Gadget, The" (Ca-
Similes, 56-57, 301 pon), 304-305
Sipher, Roger, 358-361 Updike, John, 346-347