From idea to essay a rhetoric, Reader, and Handbook Eleventh Edition Jo Ray McCuen

Answers to Quiz

d, a, b, b, a

Answers to Questions on Meaning and Technique (370)

1. 
   This is a highly autobiographical essay. Like a diary, it allows the reader to catch glimpses of the author’s mind and emotions. From him the reader can learn what it is like to face physical pain and the agony of death. The title is taken from the Bible, Psalm 23: “Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me.” It is interesting that Sagan chose this title since he died an agnostic.
   
2. 
   He writes in a restrained tone, always focusing on the scientific interpretation or observation of what is happening to his health. He could have whined and whimpered about all of the pain and agony he had to suffer, but he never loses sight of his point of view—that of a professional scientist.
   
3. 
   Most ancient and worldwide cultures believe that when human beings die, they are eventually transformed into another body with an eternal life—of either gruesome punishment for having been evil or blissful reward for having been good. Yet, Sagan clearly asserts that he thinks the belief in a life beyond death is merely “wishful thinking.” Have students discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Sagan’s belief. Ask them what they think is the pivotal point on which believers and nonbelievers disagree. Is it faith? Is it intellectual pride?
   
4. 
   Sagan felt that his illness had taught him much about life—especially the beauty of human existence, the preciousness of friends and family, and the transforming power of love. After reading the essay, we realize that he was particularly moved by the incredible devotion of certain people: his sister, Cari, who donated her own bone marrow to save Sagan’s life; his wife, Annie, who nursed him with untiring care; and total strangers whose sincere prayers wished him a speedy recovery. Sagan’s essay is in part a beautiful ode to human goodness. What keeps him from wishing the same experience on everyone is the risk factor. Life can hang on a thin thread, and anyone near death may actually die.
   
5. 
   Step 1: Annie notices an ugly black-and-blue mark on Sagan’s arm.
   

Step 3: Sagan enters the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Step 4: Sagan’s sister, Cari, proves to have stem cells compatible with those of Sagan, and she donates her stem cells so that Sagan can have a bone marrow transplant.

Step 5: Preparations begin for the stem cell transplant, including lethal doses of chemotherapy.

Step 6: The transplantation takes place and turns out to be painless and successful, allowing Sagan to return home to lead a normal life.

Step 7: Sagan’s bone marrow reveals the presence of a new population of dangerous, rapidly reproducing cells. Sagan must go back to Seattle for a special enzyme cure and more stem cells from his sister. Again the procedure is successful, and Sagan seems to be cured. A year goes by.

Step 8: Because, after a year, the disease has returned with greater virulence than ever before, Sagan must return to Seattle for more therapy in the hospital and more bone marrow from Cari.

At the time the essay ends, Sagan is filled with hope concerning his health.

6. 
   Just as the writer of the post card was living in a delusion, not realizing that he was about to die, so Sagan was living with false hope about his health, not aware that death was calling. The Titanic sank, and Sagan’s body gave up. Encourage students to discuss their reaction to life’s fickleness and betrayal.
   
7. 
   This paragraph is a warning to all human beings that death can strike in the midst of happiness, well being, and success. It is similar to the warning in Oedipus Rex, where the Chorus warns that no man should call himself happy until he has witnessed the end of life.
   
8. 
   He limits the amount of scientific terminology used. When he does use terms like “mylodisplasia,” “stem cells,” or “suppressed immune system,” he explains them clearly and simply so the average reader can understand them.
   
9. 
   He compares the experience to swallowing a dose of arsenic or cyanide and hoping for the right antidote to be supplied in time to be saved from death. Have students indicate how this analogy affected them.
   
10. 
    He learned, above all, that the future is unpredictable and that, in fact, there is no certainty about what even the next moment holds (see paragraph 27). Have students discuss this point. You might ask them if they would really want to know the future before it happens.
    

Coming Into Language

16. 
    
    
17. 
    Answers to Questions on Meaning and Content (377)
    

1. The voice is that of a prison inmate; it is clearly one of triumph over despair, of victory following ruin. Have students share their reactions to Baca’s story. Did they like him or were they turned off by his criminal background? Baca seems to be writing the essay the way a person writes a journal—partly to understand himself better and partly to relieve himself of the huge burden connected with such a horrendous past.

2. 
   Here is a possible sequence; other possibilities exist, of course, depending on how the steps are summarized:
   

18. 
    The author finds and peruses a hospital book with illustrations of the female anatomy.
    
19. 
    The author looks at 450 Years of Chicano History, an illustrated book about Chicano revolts.
    
20. 
    The author listens to male prisoners read aloud the works of famous writers.
    
21. 
    The author reads a stolen university literature anthology that includes Wordsworth and Coleridge.
    
22. 
    The author acquires a Red Chief notebook and starts to write down his impressions of life.
    
23. 
    The author finds freedom in language (see paragraph 17).
    
24. 
    The author establishes a barter business while in solitary confinement—trading his poems or letters for novels, pencils, and writing tablets.
    
25. 
    
    
26. 
    The author keeps a journal and finds unity with the universe, but also insanity.
    
27. 
    The author is moved to death row and then to the row for mentally disturbed prisoners.
    
28. 
    The author emerges from a state of total madness and rejection to be born a poet.
    

3. While answers may differ, we think that paragraph 17 expresses the author’s recognition of how language can set one free.

11. 
    The title hints at the process so meticulously outlined in the essay. Indeed the essay tells us exactly how the author came into the English language, mastering it and becoming a successful writer. Encourage students to come up with other titles.
    

How to Say Nothing in 500 Words

b, d, c, a, b

1. 
   The author's opening draws us in by giving us the hypothetical case of a student faced with having to write a paper on that old chestnut of a topic, "college football." Yet the author's detail is so fresh and vivid and the scenario he sketches is so plausible and true to life that we are caught up in it. Instead of merely regaling us with principles of essay writing, the author is able to vividly demonstrate the kind of essay writing errors students make and show us how to overcome them. This is a highly effective teaching technique and is partly responsible for the popularity of this essay.
   

2. 
   The student writes the essay by delaying it to the last minute and then finally getting down to the job the night before the essay is due. While the author admits that there is some exaggeration in his portrayal of the student writer, he also says that he did not exaggerate much. We think his depiction is fairly true to life and gives an accurate picture of how students typically tackle an essay assignment. Ask your students for their own opinions.
   

3. 
   We think the "D" is mainly deserved and for the precise reason given by the instructorthat the essay is weak in content. Ask your students what grade they think this essay deserves.
   

4. 
   This effect is partly achieved by a sprightly writing style and a brisk, humorous discussion of the principles of essay writing. We think the popularity of this essay, however, is largely owing to its humor.
   

5. 
   We think he would argue that the purpose of education is to overcome the shallowness of thought manifested in the student's thinking about a topic, and it is no excuse to say that the student knew no better about the topic and therefore could not write a good essay on it. Every writer, students included, is expected to master the topic on which he/she is supposed to write an essay. That the writer has failed to do that is no excuse for a trite essay.
   

6. 
   Some teachers, in fact, have argued that Roberts’ approach is little better than pandering to the reader and that the student who takes his advice is doomed to write a shallow, self-serving essay. We do not agree with this point of view. Writers are expected to make any material fresh and inviting and to treat it with a new wrinkle whenever they can, and part of doing this often requires the writer to take the less than usual side.
   
7. 
   The question at the beginning of paragraph 9 is intended as a transition that focuses the discussion on what a writer can do to make a dull subject interesting.
   
8. 
   As a matter of fact, we think many, if not most, teachers would object to this sentence as altogether too slangy and colloquial for a student essay. Part of the students' burden is that they are discouraged from writing with this kind of extravagant flair and flamboyance but, instead, are expected to write good, solid, workmanlike prose that is grammatically correct and straightforward and not loaded down with idiosyncrasies. No doubt, in some rare cases this is an unfair requirement, but all writers labor under some stylistic expectation that they have to work around.
   
9. 
   The second assertion is made in a fragment rather than a complete sentence, but it is done for the sake of emphasis and rhythm. Many teachers simply do not allow their students to write in fragments, while many professional writers use them every now and again to make a point emphatically.
   
10. 
    The offensive assumption contained in this particular passage is that the student is male, and this stereotype is confirmed repeatedly by the use of third person male pronouns. A modern textbook writer would no doubt cast this particular passage in the plural, using the pronoun "they" and thus avoiding the sexual stereotype.
    

d, c, a, b, c

1. 
   The types of handicaps are mental (noises that hinder ideas), physical (sash weights to stop athletic abilities), and aesthetic (masks to hide beauty).
   

2. 
   The answer to this question depends on what students value in life. Some may value athletic ability; others may value beauty; yet others may value intelligence. We consider intelligence the greatest gift of humankind and consider mental handicaps as not only tragic but a way of truncating the advancement of civilization. Of course, without the beauty of art and athletics, life would be paltry, indeed.
   

7. 
   An intriguing exercise for the class is to narrate the story from Harrison’s point of view. Doubtless he would be heroic in his defiance of the whole grotesque system. But the advantage of having an omniscient observer tell the story is that you, the reader, can render your own judgment.
   

8. 
   He uses words that suggest movement: shifted, reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, spun, leaped.
   

c, c, c

1. 
   Answers to Questions on Meaning and Technique (397)
   

1. The world is conceived as the stage of a theatre, implying that human life is simply a play in which all human beings have their assigned parts. Other appropriate metaphors are these: life as a circus with people as clowns, acrobats, lion tamers, and sideshow characters; or, life as a battleground for the forces of good versus evil; or, life as a bordello, where everyone is a client seeking to fulfill some fantasy. Students’ choice of metaphor will largely depend on their out look on life—whether optimistic or pessimistic.

Stage 2: Schoolboys represent boyhood.

Stage 3: Young lovers represent adolescence.

Stage 4: Soldiers represent adulthood.

Stage 5: Judges represent middle age.

Stage 6: Pantalooned gentlemen represent old age.

Stage 7: Senile old men represent second childhood.

Of course, the careful reader will realize that in Stage 7 life has come full circle.

d, c, a, b

2. 
   Answers to Questions on Meaning and Technique (405)
   

1. On the fantasy that inanimate objects, such as a car, can think, plot, and plan like human beings. This literary technique is referred to as personification—imbuing inanimate objects with human characteristics. Sometimes personification is poetic and dramatic, such as in the lines, “Oh Death, where is thy sting?” But in this case it is comical.

Paragraph 3: “With the cunning peculiar to its breed. . .” “It waits. . . .”

Paragraph 6: “They get lost.” “Science has still not solved the mystery of how they do it. . . .The most plausible theory is that they have developed a secret method of locomotion . . . .”

Paragraph 7: “. . .for a pair of pliers to climb . . . .” “Keys have been known to burrow. . . . ”

Paragraph 12: “. . .the things that don't work have attained the highest state possible . . . .”

Paragraph 14: “They have truly defeated man. . . .”

b, d, d, a, d

3. 
   Answers to Questions on Meaning and Technique (414)
   

1. The characteristic ways that oppressed people use to deal with oppressors.

a, a, c, c, d

1. 
   His purpose is to identify four pressures faced by college students: 1). economic, 2). parental, 3). peer, and 4). self-induced. The author achieves his purpose by carefully describing each pressure and giving plenty of examples as evidence of the reality of these pressures.
   

2. 
   The students are motivated by a relentless and nervous ambition to succeed by getting good grades so that they can be accepted into the proper graduate school and be successful in elite jobs. The author sees this motivation as stultifying and ultimately defeating. He believes that students should investigate courses and activities that will stretch their minds, enlarge their spirits, and satisfy their curiosity about life. Only then can they lead enriched lives.
   

3. 
   He would look for graduates with a great deal of curiosity—students who risked themselves by taking a variety of courses that would enlarge their knowledge and stretch the limits of their abilities rather than by registering for safe courses that would assure them top grades that would then assure them prestigious jobs. Have students discuss what college courses they think would be valuable as a foundation for a happy life.
   

4. 
   He singles her out because she wants to be an artist—a career that rarely brings huge commercial success or power. The result is that the student is torn between her father’s wish that she choose a practical, money-making career and her wish for a life of artistic satisfaction. Have students offer their advice and opinions.
   

5. 
   Students should perceive that the notes reveal the desperation and frustration felt by students who are victims of the four pressures described in the essay. Also, they add a touch of reality because they are written by actual students.
   

6. 
   Zinsser clearly states that women are under even more pressure than men because it is more difficult for them to succeed despite the fact that they may be superbly equipped with an excellent education. Society has not yet accepted fully the idea that women are as qualified for advanced jobs as are men.
   

7. 
   He uses transitions from one pressure to the next. For instance, in paragraph 22 he writes, “Along with economic pressure goes parental pressure.” In paragraph 31 he writes, “Peer pressure and self-induced pressure are also intertwined….”
   

8. 
   He wants his audience to realize that the students are not 100% uptight, driven, overly ambitious, and calculatingly clever in their attempts to make good grades. They have another side: They juggle their crowded schedules in order to maintain a balanced life of entertainment and studies. They are easy to like and they offer their friendships unstintingly.
   

9. 
   He does not mention the computer age with its new hold on students. Have students discuss how computers have affected students in the last decade.
   

10. 
    Some of the same pressures listed in the essay exist today. Students still need financial aid; students still try to please parents who want their offspring to make money; students still compete with each other for grades and may even stoop to cheating in order to get them; students still hesitate to follow their own bliss, worrying that they might end up as failures.
    

d, c, a, b, b

1. 
   By admitting that she is not an expert on English or literature, she narrows her purpose while staking out her ground as a best-selling writer.
   

2. 
   The principle behind the classification is the audience for which the different kind of Englishes are meant. Since this classification is based on the author's personal use of English, it is an informal classification.
   

3. 
   The sentence has no subject and its verb is truncated, which makes it seem cryptic. The formal equivalent of this sentence would be something like, “You should not waste money that way."
   

4. 
   It is somewhat pedantic and academic, with stuffy phrases such as "the intersection of memory upon imagination." Ask students their opinion of it.
   

5. 
   Allow for open discussion. Most languages of intimacy are based upon simplification of the formal language, which can be demonstrated in the student examples.
   

6. 
   Various translations are possible. Here is one: “Du Yusong had a business like a fruit stand on the street. He is like Du Zong—but not like the Tsung-ming island people. He belonged to the putong people who live on the east side of the river. That man wanted to ask Du Zong’s father to take him into his own family. But the father didn't take him seriously until the man became a Mafia chieftain. Now that the man was an important figure, it was very hard not to invite him. He came only to show his respect for the big celebration, but did not stay for dinner. It is a Chinese custom that if you're very important, you don't have to stay long. He came to my wedding, but I did not see him, I only heard about his presence. I was 19 years old at the time and I had gone to the side of the boys at the YMCA dinner."
   

7. 
   Allow for open discussion.
   

8. 
   Although she does not outright classify the kinds of Englishes she uses, she seems to imply at least three: formal English, her mother's English, and intimate English. The distinction between number two or number three is not clear-cut but seems to exist anyway.
   

9. 
   Language is not necessarily to blame. The explanation might lie in the different culture from the mainstream that was the author's.
   

10. 
    Allow for open discussion. Most likely anyone who spoke nothing but formal standard English would be stereotyped as a prig or a stuffed shirt with a corresponding effect on his/her self-image. You should also point out to students that using nothing but formal English is really not suitable in all situations. Some occasions of intimacy demand the use of informal or street English.
    

d, b, a, d, b

“I’m a happily married man” (paragraph 10)

“I have not touched another woman. Not once. In all the five years” (paragraph 13)

“I love you” (paragraph 19).

“You're beautiful.” (paragraph 19).

“Michael watched her walk, thinking what a pretty girl, what nice legs” (paragraph 25).

4. He makes her feel insecure because she interprets his attentions to other women as a desire to leave her and have an affair.

5. Allow for open discussion.
6. Frances has insisted that Michael not share his feelings with her. This kind of lack of communication is bound to create a growing barrier between them. It is quite possible that the marriage will not survive because Michael will one day “make a move” and get involved with another woman. On the other hand, if Frances comes to understand Michael’s feelings without being threatened, then the marriage may grow into a stable love relationship. It may also be argued that by censuring Michael’s harmless gazing at other women, Frances may deprive him of a useful channel for sublimating his sexual restlessness and thereby push him into a real affair.
7. If we are to believe the writings of psychologists and sociologists, Michael is very much the average male. Most men enjoy looking at pretty girls.


Money
Victor Contoski
Answers to Quiz

c, a, d, c

Answers to Questions on Meaning and Technique (436)

1. 
   The poem tells you that while money may appear to be your confidant, pleasurable companion, and submissive pet, in the end it will destroy you. Or, don’t trust money; it will destroy you. The theme is stated in the final line of the poem.
   

2. 
   The dominant figure of speech is the comparison between money and a treacherous animal—probably a snake—whom you befriend and trust, only to have it bite you and kill you with its poison.
   

3. 
   An allusion to the presidents of the United States—because several of them—Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, for example—appear on U.S. legal tender.
   

4. 
   Allow students to express their views on whether money can be of benefit to one’s personal life. It seems rather clear that many individuals have used money wisely and for their own good. However, such a result is usually due to the person’s sense of discipline—not using money profligately or senselessly. Moreover, it appears that the happiest rich people are those who use part of their money for altruistic ends. An interesting question to ask the class is, “What would you do with a hundred million dollars?”
   

5. 
   When you first receive a sizable amount of money, you may believe that it will never control you or change your way of life. For instance, you tell yourself that if you were to win the lottery, you would continue to keep your same friends and you would continue to remain down to earth and approachable. The phrase “at first” gives away the poet’s view that you are being deluded. The title is crucial to an understanding of the pronoun “It.”
   

6. 
   Because the poem is not so much thinking of a physical death but rather of the slow erosion of character. It is possible that the corruption caused by money is slow and cumulative until one day a person who in the past was a simple, happy, loving, decent human being wakes up to realize that money has destroyed marriage, family, serenity, trust of other human beings, and even life itself. The poet is stressing the secret diabolism of money.
   

Mary Todd Lincoln: Second Thoughts on Our Most Vilified First Lady
Irving Stone
Answers to Quiz

d, c, a, c, d
Answers to Questions on Meaning and Technique (449)

1. 
   The worst charge was that Abraham Lincoln did not love his wife. According to the author, this accusation was first made by a jealous law partner, William Herndon. Mary reacted foolishly by showing her unmitigated hatred for Herndon.
   

2. 
   Her excessive grief over the death of her second son, Edward. Our view is that no grief over a child can be considered excessive. In fact, psychological studies indicate that losing a child is the most stressful event a person can experience. Allow students to offer their views.
   

3. 
   She turned a worn-down, shabby residence into a magnificent one because she felt that the executive mansion should be symbolic of a successful country—to Americans as well as to foreigners visiting the United States. Have students offer their opinions on this issue.
   

4. 
   Eleanor Roosevelt, Bessy Truman, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Pat Nixon. Have students decide whether or not a first lady has the right, or even duty, to keep the White House looking impressively beautiful.
   

5. 
   Time has a strange way of making some mistakes look worse than they were, while making others disappear or seem glossed over. In the case of Mary Lincoln, the fear might be that some people hated this woman so much that they would exaggerate her mistakes and then these exaggerations would show up in the history books.
   

6. 
   He approaches the charges chronologically, beginning with the Springfield years.
   

7. 
   To show that castigating first ladies is common among U.S. citizens.
   

8. 
   It gives him credibility and also lets the reader know that the author was deeply interested in the Lincolns and their relationship to each other.
   

9. 
   The causal analysis begins in paragraph 3, where the author probes what he considers the worst charge, refutes the charge, and assigns causes to it.
   

10. 
    Have students discuss what view of Mary Todd Lincoln they retained after reading the essay. Especially, have them state how the essay changed their attitude toward this woman.
    

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