Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Arguing with Elephants

Choose one of the following prompts for your argument essay.

Option 1
Shooting an Elephant concludes: And afterwards I was very glad that the coolie had been killed; it put me legally in the right and it gave me a sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant. I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.” Orwell implies that such petty and selfish reasons, if we are honest enough to admit it, often drive our actions. Write an essay in which you argue for or against Orwell’s position concerning human motives. Support your essay with evidence from your reading, observation, and experience.

Option 2
Early in the second paragraph of the piece Orwell’s narrator says, “Theoretically – and secretly, of course – I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British.” And he concludes the same paragraph: “Feelings like these are the normal by-products of imperialism; ask any Anglo-Indian official, if you can catch him off duty.” With these qualifiers, Orwell suggests that a duplicity accompanies authority, a difference between the expression of the public and the private self. Write an essay in which you defend, challenge, or qualify that position regarding human expression. Refer to your reading, observation, or experience to support your position.

Option 3
In paragraph 7 Orwell observes that “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys,” and that “He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” Consider the implications of these statements concerning human nature. Write an essay in which you support, refute, or qualify Orwell’s paradox and metaphor. Refer to your reading, observation, or experience to support your position.

Vital Statistics
Due March 8, 2013
750 words (2-3 pages)
MLA format required

Remember that this is an argument paper. You are not analyzing the essay per se, but arguing a position about a broader issue raised in the essay.

Nifty AP Score Scenario Spreadsheet hosted on Google Docs. It won't fully work opened in Google Docs, though. You'll need to download the file and use it in Excel.

Quiz Reminder:
Friday we'll be in the Library Lab to get working on our essays if you haven't done so already by that time. As such, we'll have to postpone our quiz on the rhetorical devices on pages 58-59 of our book to Monday (3/4). It will not be a vocabulary quiz so much as asking you to identify examples of some set of these devices. 

No comments:

Post a Comment