T�
THE
HARPER ANTHOLOGY
OF
ACADEMIC WRITING
(Issue II)
The English Department
of
William Rainey Harper
College
Acknowl edgements
The Engl ish Department wishes to thank Michael
Knudsen for his cover des ign and Lisa Larsen for typ ing
the manuscript .
The contents o f thi s anthol ogy copyright , 1990
W i l l iam Ra iney Harper Col l ege
Foreword
The a im o f t h i s y e a r ' s H a rp e r Antho l ogy i s the
same as last year ' s , to celebrate the academic writing
o f Harper Col l ege students .
Thi s second i s sue o f the
anthology represents the writing done in the courses o f
four departments :
Engl ish , Engl i sh a s a S econd Lan­
guage , Phi l osophy , and Psychology .
As in the past , the
memb e r s o f the s e l e c t i o n comm i tt e e have ch o s en a
variety o f writ ing :
personal essays , expos itory es­
says , l iterary cr it icism , a take-home es say examina­
t ion , a formal report , research wr it ing , and a per­
suas ive l etter .
Bes ides thi s f i n i shed and pol i shed
writing , thi s year ' s anthology inc ludes a j ournal entry
and two vers ions o f an in - class response to read ing .
"Writing-to-l earn , " to advance the process o f thinking ,
i s as important and worthy o f recognition a s writ ing to
record informat ion , demonstrate learning , or commun i ­
cate . We b e l i eve you ' l l f i nd mu ch to adm i re i n the
If you ' re a student you ' l l f ind
writ ing that fol l ows .
mode l s f o r your own wr it i ng .
J o i n w i th us i n c o n ­
And l ook forward to the
gratulat ing these writers .
th ird is sue o f the anthol ogy in Spring 1991.
Preced in g e a ch s e l ect i o n i s the i n s truct o r ' s
d e s c r i pt i o n o f the a s s i gnment .
F o l l ow i ng i s the
instructor ' s evaluat ion .
At the end of the anthol ogy ,
the j udges for th i s issue describe the standards for
good writ ing that influenced the i r cho ices .
i
Tab le o f Contents
Marcia Albuck , " The Roar of the Changing Waves "
( Engl ish ) 1
Macedon ia Aldana , " Bul l fight ing , An Art "
( Engl ish) 3
Bud Babb itt , " Close That Cockpit and Keep Your Head"
( Engl i sh )
5
Linda Coogan , " Quest i ons o f Mora l ity "
( Phil osophy ) 9
Wendy Davis , "Methods o f Job/Person Matching"
( Psychology ) 15
Tom Falat , Unt itled
( Engl ish)
25
Gera l d G iba , " Exh i l arat ion , " " A Good F isherman , "
"Hawg Heaven"
( Engl i sh ) 2 8
Laura Hal atek , " Chi ldren ' s S exual ity "
( Engl ish ) 36
Katrina Hartwig ,
" The Box "
Tracy M . Hayes , Unt itled
Sherri Hines ,
( Engl ish ) 39
( Engl i sh ) 43
" The Dream and the Awakening"
( Engl i sh ) 45
Akemi Horimoto , " Stopp ing By Woods on a S nowy Evening "
( Engl i sh as a Second Language ) 49
Brent Hunter , "Journa l #4"
Anne Kaider ,
( Engl i sh ) 5 1
" Smoking :
A Hard Habit t o Qu it"
( Engl ish ) 53
Lisa Kaufman-Lindahl , " Barn Burning , " vers ions 1
( Engl i sh ) 5 7
ii
&
2
Katja Laepke,
John Lockner,
Eric Mann,
"That Is Why"
(English)
"Critique/Response"
61
65
(English)
"Philosophy of a Tree--the Old Question"
(English) 67
Martha Moore,
A letter to Senator Paul Simon
(English)
Marielle Morran,
Mary Mueller,
"A Visit Back"
(English)
75
"Baby That Went This Way and That"
(English) 7 7
Therese Ortloff,
"The Day the Pigs Got Loose"
(English)
Ben Rodatz,
70
80
"Food for Thought"
Barbara Sales,
83
"Diabetes--A Point of View"
(English)
John Seidel,
(English)
85
"A Key Idea of Sally McFague's
Models of God"
(Philosophy) 88
Demile Teshome, "All High School Students Should
Be Required to Learn a Foreign Language"
(English as a Second Language) 90
Tara Tolczyk,
Ed Wallace,
"My Grandmother"
(English)
92
"In a State of Unconscienceness"
(English)
iii
95
The Roar of the Changing Waves
by Marcia Albuck
(English 101--Sternberg)
The Assignment:
Ms.
Albuck was asked
to develop an essay which focused on
a changing relationship and to
represent that changing relationship
through a symbolic event.
When I was young, my family lived in a small, con­
'
servative town in Connecticut.
Our home was on a
beautiful lake that I had loved to swim in since the
beginning of my memory.
I had two sisters, one brother
My father never
and a mother who cooked and smiled.
smiled,
but he quietly showed me how the world worked
and the little magical things in life.
He protected me
and seemed to accept me just the way I was.
Today
time,
we
were
I was so excited;
waves and on the
ran
going
to
the
shore
for
the
first
so everyone was busy packing food and swim suits.
across
the
I had only heard about playing in the
beaches.
As soon as we arrived,
we
wide,
sandy
beach
that
was
so
hot
it
burned the bottom of my feet.
My sisters and brothers
continued to run right into the ocean and get happily
tumbled down by the breaking waves.
I sat down on the
sand
and
watched
their
gleeful
bodies being tossed everywhere.
I
sat
and
watched
the
screaming
and
their
I was scared.
surf
endlessly
come
in
and
out while listening to the terrifying crash and thunder
of the waves.
My dad finally came to help,
carry me into the water.
But
me.
Dad held my chubby hand,
it
was
much
for
and
we
walked along
the
beach collecting mussel shells that
thin
shell.
The
outside
offering to
no;
shell
were
was
too
oblong
dull,
with
rough
a
and
black but inside--inside was all smooth with a swirling
rainbow
and
of
mother-of-pearl.
carefully
placed
in
it
Dad
the
took
one
shallow
shell
water
quietly rocked back and forth like a tiny boat.
long
we
were
glittering
had
lots
of
in
little,
swaying
fairy
the strong sunlight.
to forget how afraid
I
I
half
where
boats
had
it
Before
that
started
was of the ocean.
I never went deeper than my ankles that day.
Dad
found a shell that I could put over my ear and hear the
sound
of
saved
my
the
shore
I
waves
shell
would
breaking
and
not
be
forever.
listened
afraid
1
when
of
the
I
He
told
returned
ocean
me
to
anymore.
if
I
the
He
was right.
The next
much
summer
taller,
and
I
when
we
could
went
laugh
to
at
the
the
I
shore,
throbbing
and enjoy being twisted around by the surf.
was
waves
That night
it was warm and clear and my dad taught me about the
wonders of the stars.
The night sky carne alive with
twinkling stories and pictures about the stars.
There
were
so
many constellations
t he seven sisters,
Taurus, Pegasus, the Great Dog, Orion's belt, the baby
The starry night became such
goat and the North Star.
a
busy,
fun-filled
place
I
supply of stories.
I
When
what
had
with
was thirteen,
b ecome
a
dad
telling
an
endless
thought he knew everything.
we were off to
yearly
I
ritual.
the shore for
was
f ee ling
a
little uncomfortable in my first two-piece bathing suit
even though dad had said the suit looked nice on me but
this
we
time
set
lumpy
his
reassuring
everything
seaweed
and
on
words
the
showed
had
beach,
me
how
not
dad
to
After
helped.
picked
squeeze
up
some
the
bumps
and make a loud pop-hissing sound.
But he had shown me
before so I wandered off alone down the beach.
Jim said I
Later I met Jim, he had a surfboard!
looked great in my two-piece bathing suit which I now
Jim
loved.
was
it
showed
so exciting
was
arms
late.
wrapped
me
how
and so
My
dad
around
to
much
carne
Jim's
ride
looking
of the sea;
to
surfboard
I
did not
for
Dad
neck.
I
get back to the beach blanket.
Jim how to put a shell up
the
fun that
I
me.
yelled
had
my
me
to
at
had only been showing
his ear and
hear the
roar
after all that is how you make friends with
the ocean.
But dad was too angry to understand.
My father and I never seemed to be friends
Everything
which
realize
I
did made
him miserable.
He
again.
stopped
shar­
ing the fun and magical mysteries of his world with me.
I
probably would not have been interested anyway.
entered that incredible,
magic
and
painful;
boats,
I
was
there
twinkling
wiser
were
than
no
more
drawings
waves corning from shells.
and growl at me until
I
I
had
teen-age place where boys were
in
my
father.
rocking,
the
night
B ut
little,
sky
or
it
roaring
Mostly father seemed to roar
left the house at eighteen.
The Evaluation:
was
fairy
That the stage
remains basically the same while the
characters change upon it vivifies
the narrator's growth,
and the subtle
language reveals the speaker's
sensitivity.
2
Bul l f ighting :
An Art
by Macedonia Aldana
( Engl i sh 1 0 1 --Sherer )
The Ass ignment :
Students were asked
to write a stipulative definition of
a concrete obj ect , a n art , a procedure ,
an event , or a condit ion .
Bul l f ighting is an art where l i fe and death are
present in a more than conceptual way ,v for these poles
of e x i s t e n c e ar e l i ght a nd shadow in the mata d o r' s
c r e a t i on .
I n add i t i on , c ru d i ty and a c e rt a i n s u r ­
re a l i s t i c tone , a m i xture o f re l i g i ou s a nd s u p e r ­
stitious be l i efs , surround every bul l f ight .
It i s the
Gypsy her itage , the poetry of painful real ity , the soul
and mean ing of th is form of art , however weaned from
its original context ,
appearing brutal to a soc iety
that gives more protection to anima l s than to unborn
ch ildren .
To most Americans , bul l f ight ing is a hor­
ridly cruel sport; to us , Hi spanic people , it is the
poetry of a long gone l i fe , kept only in the form of
traditions .
The origins of the Fiesta Brava , or bravery feast ,
date fr om th e t imes wh en o f f e r i ng a b a n quet m e a n t
Doing
choosing , isol ating and sacr i f i c ing the animal .
it invo lved courage and ab il ity , for the rough Spanish
Even­
landscape turned the catt le wild and aggress ive .
tua l ly , the k i l l of the bul l became a spectac le i n it­
se l f , a preamble to the hol iday's cel ebrat ion , and the
profes si on of the it inerant matador , a very honored and
r e s p ected one .
The matado r s ,
or toreros ,
were
genera l ly Gyps ies , people with the Egyptian knowl edge
and ma g i c , a nd h o l ders o f a strange , hyb r i d Ch r i s ­
t ian ity .
Al l the mystic i sm i n bul l f ight ing comes from
these creators or legends and myths , from these poets
and s i ngers of the c a nt o hondo , wh o s e i nt o n a t i on
provokes unc anny r e s o n a n c e s i n the s ou l' s d e e p e s t
niches .
The elegance and arrogance natural in the Gypsy
c h a r a c t e r s o o n impregn ated the rather c ru e l F i e s t a
Brava , and set the proper env ironment t o create the
a rt's form , i t s durat i o n , i t s ru l e s , th e p a s s e s o f
cape , the form o f k i l l ing , and its freedom o f expres­
s i on .
Ev ery bul l f ighter p e r f o rms under tho s e o l d
pa rameters , but each bul l and each bul l f ighter pos­
sesses a diverse temper , diverse rhythm , diverse sen3
s i b i l ity .
Bul l f ight ing is the mastering of the s o i l forces
aga inst man , the bul l repre sent ing the earth .
The same
essence is present in a dancer mastering h i s body .
I
can rec a l l the b a llet legend , Nij insky , and imagine hi s
su f fer ing on creat ing those endlessly suspended leaps ,
with the ama z ing control of every mus c l e , with a l l his
soul thrown on an instant of aesthet i c ecstasy .
The
b u l l f i g h t e r m a s t e r s two bodie s , bu l l a n d s e l f , t o
He comes closer
create an endl ess sequence of images .
to the bu l l every t ime , keep ing his l i fe only an inch
away from death , h is attention fixed on the wind , the
sand , the p i ece of cloth in his hands , on h i s own body
stretch ing to the impossible .
He is an ethereal sculp­
ture, ever changing , ever beaut i ful , ever committed to
comp lement its dangerous compan ion , unt i l death parts
them .
And d e a t h come s to the a n im a l , c u l m i n a t i ng the
Beast and Matador stand face to face , in
performance .
the st i l l est image of the bul l f ight , and a deep s i l ence
surrounds them .
The wind can be heard .
The bu l l' s
A wh isper could be heard .
resp iration can be heard .
The bul l f ighter fl exes then one knee , one hand holding
the cape down , the other level ing the sword's hand le to
the eye , a measuring instrument .
One step is taken
a n d , i n i t s l a s t cha rg e , the b u l l i s s t a b b e d o n c e ,
deep . A s i t b e l l ows , blood ru ns a n d m i x e s w i th the
rink's sand .
I've felt sad in those l a st minutes of
the nobl e an ima l's agony , but death i s the trad itiona l
purpose o f bul l f ight ing , death cannot be avo ided .
The Americans are wrong .
Bul l f ight ing i s not a
horr idly cruel sport .
I t is a crude ly beaut i ful art .
The Eva luat ion:
Th is persona l i z ed ,
impress ionistic definit ion of bu l l ­
fight ing a s a n act and a s a n art and
a s a trad ition is creat ive , lyrica l ,
forceful , compel l ing .
The speaker
knows the bul l f ight as event , as
mystery , as symbol .
He knows the
bul l f ight as only one who has l ived
with it can know it .
4
Close That Cockpit and Keep Your Head
by Bud Babbitt
( Engl ish 1 0 1 - -Sherer)
The Ass ignment :
Students were asked
to deve l op an argument of about 7 5 0
words w ith a focused propos it ion to
be supported by factua l , auth6rity ,
andj or emp irical evidence .
Every year , there are doz ens o f powerboat racing
accidents which cause unnecessary inj uries to drivers .
Rac ing drivers and team owners feel there shoul d be
ways to present these o ften fatal incidents .
Intro­
duced to powerboat rac ing about f ive years ago ,
the
" open safety cockpit" is an advance in s a fety technol ­
ogy ( Seebold 17 ) .
It i s a re inforced cockpit bui l t
i nt o t h e b o a t f o r t h e d r i v e r t o b e p r o t e c t e d .
The
cockpit i s made o f the l atest high - tech materi al s , in­
cluding carbon f iber and kevlar .
The debate i s s impl e .
Should these sa fety cockp its be open , or enc l osed? The
or i g i n a l open d e s i gn re f e r s t o the f a ct tha t the
driver ' s head protrudes from the top o f the cockpit .
The new encl osed des ign adds added protect ion through
Thi s
the use of a canopy built over the driver ' s head .
adds protect ion for the head and neck from the water
and other boats .
After witness ing several fatal and
near-fatal accidents , I , along with many others , have
come to the conclus ion that enc l osed cockp its in power
boat rac ing should be mandatory .
The des igner of the first sa fety cockp i t , Chr i s
Hodges , agrees with my pos ition that a n enclosed cock­
pit would provide better head and neck protection in
the event o f an acc ident .
Chri s i s a seasoned veteran ,
and p i oneer in the field o f sa fety technology in power­
boat rac ing ( Trumper 6 6).
In November , 1 9 8 5 , Chri s ' partner and team driver ,
Bob Spalding ,
re in forced the arguments for mandatory
5
encl osed cockp its .
Whi l e practi c i ng for the Spanish
Grand Prix , Spalding was i nvolved in a b i z arre acci­
dent .
Whi l e turning at a very high speed , the boat
caught a wave wrong and did a 3 6 0 degree rol l .
The
boat entered the water nose f irst , and the incredible
force o f the water forced Spaldi ng ' s head quickly back .
Th i s hard snap to Bob ' s neck caused h im to lose con­
S i n c e Bob wa s
s c i ou s n e s s f o r s ome t h i rt y m inutes .
strapped i nto h i s cockp it , and rendered uncons c ious , he
inha l ed a large quantity o f water and nearly drowned
( Trumper 6 2 ) .
Chris fee l s that an enclosed cockpit
would have g iven Bob the added protection he needed to
prevent a head inj ury .
The attend ing phys i c ian at the
race s a id , " I f the water woul d have been d iverted over
h i s head , Spalding would have suffered no loss of con­
sc iousness , and thus woul d have escaped the acc ident
unscathed " ( N imo 3 4 ) .
Now , a once world champ ion boat
racer is struggl ing to l earn speech aga i n due to the
t ime he spent without oxygen under the water .
I n the last f ive years , there have been over f i fty
fatal powerboat racing accidents ( Nimmo 3 5 ) .
Not one
of these fatal ities occurred in an enclosed cockpit .
Thi s proven sa fety technology i s overwhelmed by a few
s impl e prob l ems .
First of a l l , most boats on the water
today are not equipped with an enclosed cockpit .
The
c o s t o f a d d i ng the e n c l o s u r e i s f a r more than the
Most boat racers do not
average boat racer can a fford .
have l arge corporate sponsors to pay for th i s added
cost of sa fety .
S econdly , of the 1 9 8 9 boats that w i l l
be debuted a t the f irst race in Italy i n l ate May , only
a few are encl osed .
So , that a l so tel l s us that estab­
l ished des igners are unwi l l ing to take the p lunge i nto
the added cost of thi s des ign .
I n Lake Hami lton , Florida , Texaco Rac i ng team mem­
b e r G e n e T h ibod.e aux h ad a c l o s e c a l l t e s t i n g a new
des ign Mol inari boat ( Berson 4 0 ) .
The boat was not
equipped with an enclosed cockpit .
Whi l e travel l i ng at
over 1 4 0 m i l e s p e r h ou r , the b o a t n o s e d iv e d .
The
force o f the water took Gene ' s helmet off of his head .
Luckily , Gene didn ' t fasten h i s helmet straps i n test­
ing .
The result of thi s acc ident is a broken nose and
a severely lacerated forehead .
Many feel Gene is lucky
to be al ive .
Many also feel an enclosed cockp it would
prevent these inj uries in a nose d ive type accident
such as th i s ( Berson 4 2 ) .
I n 1 9 8 6 , Dani sh driver , Jorgen Askgaard raced in
his f i rst Bristol Grand Prix , the most dangerous race
in the world .
As Jorgen rounded a sweep ing l e ft turn ,
h i s b o a t h o oked v i o l ent l y r i ght .
The mome ntum a t
travel l i ng 12 0 m i l es p er hour carried h im d i rectly into
6
The gra z ing impact
a fourteen foot h igh cement wal l .
of thi s accident crushed h i s head and k i l l ed him in­
stantly ( P ike 2 1 ) .
Dr . Bi l l Ormiston , a respected doc­
tor in the field of treat ing high- speed trauma fee l s
that a n enclosed sa fety cockp it woul d a t l east absorb
the initial impact in a col l is ion type accident such as
thi s ( Pike 2 3 ) .
Thi s added protect ion coul d have s aved
Jorgen ' s l i fe .
The opponents of the encl osed cockp it rebut the
arguments for thi s des ign by saying three bas i c th ings .
F i rs t o f a l l ,
i t i s s a i d the enc l o su re cuts the
driver ' s field o f v i s ion in hal f .
I disagree with thi s
because a l l encl osed boats are equipped with m i rrors .
Next , I have heard talk that the vent i l at ion into an
enclosed boat on a hot day woul d be insu f f ic ient and
would result in unnecessary driver fat igue .
I argue
with thi s pqint because L i fel ine S afety Products in
Ari z ona have developed what they cal], a " cool-suit"
( Nimmo 3 3 ) .
Thi s i s a driving suit that has a bui l t in
cool ing system us ing cold water .
Thi s suit i s used in
a l l types of motor racing, and s o far has proven 1 0 0%
F inal l y , it i s
e ffective in reducing driver fatigue .
s a id that it i s more d i f ficult t o escape an overturned
boat with an enclosed cockpit .
Thi s brings up the most
v ital point of a l l .
The encl osed cockp it is made so
the d r i v e r w i l l s urv ive the i n i t i a l a c c i de n t .
If
s omeone i s con cerned about e s ca p i ng a n overturned ,
enclosed boat , I feel the encl osure has a l ready served
its purpose ; at l east the driver i s abl e to try and get
out .
Open c ockp i t s do n o t p ro v i d e the p ro t e c t i o n
demanded w ith today ' s s p e e d s o f ove r 1 7 0 m i l e s p e r
hour .
In the future , I feel that enclosed cockpits
wil l rul e the sport o f powerboat racing .
Works C ited
Berson , James R .
"A Close Cal l for Thibodeaux . "
4 0- 4 3 .
Powerboat k Waterski ing May 8 7 :
N immo , Al l an ,
3 1-3 5 .
" High Speed Death . "
Powerboat August 8 8 :
P ike , Dag c.
" Br istol Grand Prix 1 9 86 . "
21-2 5 .
k Waterski ing July 86:
Powerboat
S eebold , B i l ly .
"A New Era i n Racing S a fety . "
Powerboatinginternational S eptember 8 5 :
1 6 -2 0 .
7
Trumper , Zoe .
" The Spani sh Formula-1 Grand Prix . "
Powerboat 8 6 :
The Year i n Ci rcuit Powerboat
Rac ing .
London :
Performance Pub l ications :
198 6 .
The Evaluat ion :
Thi s essay presents
a propos it ion close to the writer's
experience .
A direct , no nonsense
sty le nevertheless presents a
committed and caring persona .
Thi s
essay i s wel l evidenced , appropriately
documented , and convinc ing .
8
Questions of Moral ity
by Linda Coogan
( Introduction to Phi l osophy - - Stone )
The Ass ignment :
Define what you think
are three crucial questions about
mora l ity .
For each question :
( a & b ) explain the ideas of any two
thinkers that we have read on thi s
quest ion :
( c ) develop your ow�
thinking on thi s quest ion , and ( d )
show how one o f these thinkers woul d
respond t o your ideas .
There are three quest ions o f moral ity whi ch wi l l
be d i s cussed .
These questions are important because
they help def ine an interpretation of moral ity in the
These
world culture which i s emerging at thi s t ime .
three questions are :
I.
What i s the nature o f moral ity?
II .
Should we reduce moral ity to one
generic statement whi ch appl ies to
everyone?
III .
I f there i s one generi c statement for
moral ity , does that statement apply
in the s ame way to everyone?
Ia .
Immanuel Kant bel ieved that moral ity is both
categorical and a priori .
That is , he bel ieved that
moral ity is not dependent on God , or culture , or any­
thing else , but that it stands alone , goodness in it­
sel f . 1 Thi s i s one way of l ooking at mora l ity - - that it
is unchang i ng ,
c ategor i c a l , and out s i d e of huma n
tampering .
In other words , s in is s in , and it exists
It i s independent o f any
unchang ingly for everyone .
outs ide influence to make it val id .
b.
M i l l bel ieved that moral ity i s dependent on
the consequences o f action .
He felt that the amount of
happ iness caused by any a c t i s the measuring rod of
mora l i ty .
Mora l ity stems , according to Mi l l only from
9
Therefore , to Mil l ,
the perceived results of action .
it cannot exist categorica l ly .
c.
It seems however , that for morality to exist
at a l l , it has to be categorical , and it has to be a
priori .
Morality cannot be rel evant to human behavior
un l e s s i t app l i e s to everyon e .
Like the l aw s o f
physi c s , mora l i ty h a s va l idity o n i t s own , a n d it
transcends any consideration of culture or time .
If a
UFO l anded on earth tomorrow , its occupants would be
bound by the same ethical l aws we are .
They would un­
derstand our ethical code because it exists , categori­
cal ly , and they would be obligated to the s ame rules of
conduct , j ust a s they are bound b y the s ame physical
l aws .
Mora lity , or " good " , is necessarily unchanging .
It cannot exist for some and not for others .
For it to
have meaning , it cannot be contro l l ed by whim or a l ­
t e r e d b y happ e n s ta n c e .
I t mu st b e th e b a ckbone o f
ethical behavior everywhere , or ethical behavior cannot
exis t .
Virtue a nd good n e s s wou l d n o t exi s t u n l e s s
there were some morality to define them .
However , there is a sense o f right and wrong in
every cu lture , and the same basic ethics evolve over
and over again , regardless of theology , phi l osophy , or
sociol ogy .
In spite of thousands of years and many
cultures come and gone , murder , for instance , remains
immoral in a l l societies .
The definition o f murder
might be dif ferent everywhere , but nevertheless murder
is wrong everywhere .
Even in very simplistic societies
whe r e a c t u a l murd e r i s unheard o f , the c oncep t i s
recogni z ed as evil .
The proscription against murder is
a moral constant .
Other constants include stea ling ,
the abuse o f another person ( especially chil dren ) , and
appropriate sexual behavior .
The fact that there are
moral constants indicates strongly that mora lity is
categorical ; and the fact that it is categorical indi­
cates that is a priori .
d.
Kant , as indicated , would agree that mora lity
is both a priori and categorical .
He s ays "Moral l aws
c a n be ri �ht without any c ommande r ,
p romu l g a t o r ,
ob liga t o r " ,
m e a ni ng that mor a l p rincip l e s exist
categoric a l l y .
He would agree that there are mora l
constants , and that they are binding to everyone , be­
cause he takes pains to point out that " The es sence of
moral � ty is that our actions are motivated by a genera l
rul e " .
He makes it clear that , in his opinion , unless
an action can be universali z ed , it cannot be considered
moral ; unless it is a priori , it is not ethical .
I I a . The second question to deal with is whether
mora l i t y shou l d be reduced to o n e g e n eric f o rmu l a .
10
M i l l would say that for moral ity to be val id there must
be a formula which holds true in every s ituat ion and
f o r a l l peop l e .
H i s d e f i n i t i on o f mora l i ty i s h i s
generic statement- - - " The greatest happiness princ ipl e
i s the greatest happiness of mankind and o f a l l sen­
t inent creatures . "
To Mil l , thi s statement is val i d
everywhere and t o everyone .
b.
Another way of looking at the question i s to
say that there is no one mora l ity ; every case is d i f ­
ferent because i t includes d i f ferent peopl e and d i f­
ferent ideas to what i s ethica l .
Therefore , according
to some , there can be no one statement whi ch includes
a l l s ituations .
Friedrich Nietzsche felt that moral ity
i s s imp l y a r e f l ect i o n o f the n ee d s a nd i d e a s o f
vari ous cultures at d i f ferent t imes .
He felt that any
attempt to formulate a generic statement was s imply " a
n ew m e a n s o f e xp r e s s ing prev a i l i ng m o ra l i ty , c o n ­
s e quen t l y j us t a phenomenon w i th i n one d e f i n i t e
mora l ity . " 5
M i l l ' s b e l i e f that there i s one mora l i ty f o r
everyone , a n d i t s h o u l d be s t a t ed gene r i c a l l y , i s
e a s i e r t o s upport i n a sma l l e r , more homogen e o u s
society than the worldwide culture w e are beginning to
Nietzsche ' s bel ie f in many mora l ities
encounter today .
does take into account the many ways o f l iv ing in the
wo r l d cu l tur e ,
but it d i sm i s s e s t o o e a s i l y t h e
categorical nature o f mora l ity .
c.
As it was prev iously concluded that moral ity
is categorical , it fol l ows that there must be some for­
mul a for determining what i s the eth ical procedure in
any g iven s ituation .
Espec i a l ly in a world grown sma l ­
l e r in the last few years , mora l ity needs t o b e defined
in a way that can be understood and agreed upon by many
d i sparate groups .
A blueprint for behavior i s needed
so that everyone , everywhere , is aware of what is ex­
pected .
A model of behavior , an ideal o f mora l ity , makes a
statement about what i s right .
Thi s puts a focus on an
ideal of behav ior .
Without a focus , definit ions o f
moral ity are too abstruse , too vague , t o b e useful .
O n c e th ere i s s ome gener i c s t a t ement - - - a " G o l d e n
Rule " ---there i s some spec i f i c guidel ine t o point the
way to ideal behav ior .
There is a definition of the
path of l iving harmonious ly with others in the com­
munity .
It i s true , as G ilkey di scovered , that in spite o f
the best intent ions , sel f i shness and greed override the
d e s i re to do on e ' s mora l duty .
W ithout a sp e c i f i c
ideal good intent ions are total ly lost to human nature ,
and the rational izat ion of actions i s too easy .
Where
v
,
11
there i s no ideal there can only be an att itude of in­
d i f ference to mora l ity ,
in spite of the real izat ion
I f we see that
that we must rise above human nature .
moral ity exists , i f we see that we are bound by the
same moral ity , then it is incumbent upon us to see to
the best of our ab i l ity for everyone .
In thi s way , in
spite of human fail ings , there is a more c l ea r - cut path
to e ffect ive moral goal s .
d.
Kant saw the need for a moral generic state­
He evolved h is Categorical Imperat ive with the
ment .
view in mind that he was producing a course of act ion
that would point the way to moral behavior .
He s a id ,
" although it should rema in undec ided whether what i s
ca l l ed duty i s not merely a vain not ion , yet at least
we sha l l be ab l e to show what we understand by it ; be
abl e , that i s , to show what the not ion means . "
He was
aware that h i s Categorical Imperat ive is an ideal , a
general ly unreachabl e goa l , but knew that it was incum­
bent upon h im to def ine a path to mora l ity .
IIIa .
The l ast quest ion to deal with is the way
in whi ch a generic statement of moral ity app l ies to the
da ily l i fe of every individual .
One way o f l ooking at
thi s quest ion i s to assert that i f a generic statement
is val id , then it must apply in the same way , equal ly
and without except ion , to everyone .
Kant says that
mora l ity i s not a matter of feel ings or interpretation .
H i s idea i s that i f morality could be open to inter­
pretat ion , that would detract from the universal ity of
the mora l ity .
He felt that i f there i s a moral prin­
c ipl e , i t appl ied to each individual in the same way .
There i s no room for interpretat ion or change .
The
ru l e i s the ru l e .
Murde r ( o r wh atev e r ) i s a l ways
wrong .
The problem with th is theory i s that it i s too
rigid ; it makes perfection the norm , and humans can
never measure up to that norm .
Another way of l ooking at the quest ion is to
b.
say that there can be no spe c i f ic rul e for the appl ica­
t ion of a generic statement due to the d i f ferences in
i n d i v i du a l it y and cu l ture .
M i l l ' s s t a tement o f
Ut i l i t a r i a n i sm , that mora l i ty i s what c r e a t e s the
greatest amount of happ iness ( or absence of pa i n ) for
the individual s involved , i s open to ind ividua l inter­
Every indiv idual i s respon­
pretation for each act .
s ible for creat ing the most amount of happiness he can ,
but b e y o nd t h at there a re no f i n a l , u l t i m a t e mo r a l
statements .
Murder might b e somet imes the r ight thing
to do .
c.
Nevertheles s , s ince we accept that there i s
only one mora l ity , and we accept that humanity needs a
generic statement to po int the way to v i rtue , we must
12
a l s o accept that a true generic statement must be val id
for everyone .
The fact that everyone might interpret
the proscript ions aga inst needlessly harming another
human in a d i f ferent way does not necessarily overr ide
th e b a s i c i d e a that there i s a m o r a l t ruth in the
pros cript ions .
In every culture it i s wrong to stea l - ­
but i nt erpretat i o n s a s to exa ct l y what c o n s t i tu t e s
steal ing are almost as numerous a s there are cultures
( to say noth ing of the degrees that mit igat ing c i r­
cumstances , if any , are a l l owed ) .
In other words , a
good moral statement has to give room for cultura l and
personal interpretat ion , as wel l as account for mora l
constants .
G iven a statement of mora l ity , every ind iv idual ,
should be abl e to find h is or her moral truth by fol ­
l ow i ng the g u i de l in e .
E xpect i ng everyone i n th i s
heterogeneous world to be accept a guidel ine in the
same way is impossible --- there are too ,-many cultura l
and ind iv idual nuances , and no one can say with cer­
tainty what is the " right " interpretat ion of any mora l
i s su e .
Wh i l e mora l i ty i s catego r i c a l , i t i s a l s o
fluid , with many ways o f l ooking at each act ion .
Thi s does not mean that moral ity i s not a priori .
As stated before , moral ity can only ex ist i f it appl ies
to everyone .
The question is not whether the abuse of
chi ldren i s wrong , but what const itutes abuse .
The
moral constant is categorical ; the interpretation i s
cultural .
d.
Kant would di sagree with thi s interpretat ion
of moral duty .
As he sees it , unless an act ion can be
universal ized , it cannot be moral .
He says , " The es ­
sence o f moral ity i s that our actions a re mot ivated by
a general rule .
I f we make it the foundation of our
conduct that our actions sha l l be cons istent with a
universal rul e , val id at a l l t imes and for everyone
6
then our actions exemp l i fy the principle of mora l ity . "
In other words , he feel s that there is only one correct
mora l response to any s ituation , and everyone is bound
to that response .
Kant a l so makes it clear that he does not feel the
result of an action has anyth ing to do with the right­
ness of the action .
He says , 11 I f a n act ion is good
only as a means to something el se , then the imperat ive
which commands it is hypothet ical only . . . 117
In other
words , one is compel l ed to be eth ical in terms of a
certa in moral interpretat ion , regardless o f the resu l ts
of the act ion .
13
Notes
1
Borchert , Donald M . and Caste l l , Alburey , An
Introduct ion to Modern Phi l osophy, Examining the Human
Condit ion , p . 2 3 4 .
2
Ibid .
I
p. 235.
3
Ibid .
I
p. 236 .
4
Ibid .
I
p . 250 .
5
Ibid .
I
p . 261 .
6
Ibid .
I
p. 236 .
7
Ibid .
I
p. 238 .
The Evaluation :
The student expl ained
the ideas of the thinkers cl early
and accurately ; she devel oped her
own ideas cogently , and the devel opment
of the questions and of the f inal
sect ion showed independent thought .
Bas i c writing ski l l s had been
mastered .
14
Methods of Job/Person Matching
by Wendy L . Dav i s
( Psychology 1 4 5 --Hinton )
The Ass ignment :
To conduct an in-depth
invest igation of a current i s sue in the
field of industrial/organizational
psychology that includes a l iterature
review , summary , conclus ion and
recommendation .
Table of Contents
Impact Quotes
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S tatement of Investigation
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Rat ional e
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Review of Literature
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Summary .
20
Conclus ion
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Recommendations
Notes
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B ibl iography
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. 23
Execut ives spend more t ime on managing people
and making people dec i s ions than on anything
No other dec i s ions
e l s e - and they should .
And yet , by and
or so d i fficult to make .
l arge , execut ives make poor promot ion and
sta f fi ng dec i s ions .
By a l l accounts the i r
batt ing average i s not better than . 3 3 3 .
At most , one-thi rd of such dec i s ions turn out
r ight , one-third a re initi a l ly e ffect ive and
one - third are outright fai lures .
( Peter Druker . Harvard Bus iness Review ,
July/August 1 9 8 5 . )
Much the same way a s cautious investors
review the pos s ib l e investments , organ i z ­
ations should examine carefu l l y the ski l l s
o f j ob candidates for key pos itions .
Mis­
matches can cause d i f f icult career devel op­
ment probl ems for the individua l , and
costly turnover , poor productivity , and
l ack of potential management talent for the
organi z at ion . . .
( Lynn S l avenski .
Tra i n i ng
and Devel opment Journa l , August 19 8 6 . )
Statement of Investigation
Th e r e s p on s ib i l i ty o f ma tch i n g i nd i v i du a l s a nd
j obs i s enormous for bus inesses and organi z at ions in
the 1 9 8 0 ' s .
T imes are changing and personnel manage­
ment must adapt to these changes .
The demand i s h igh
to prov i d e a c ompany w i th emp l oy e e s who c a n work
productively , and to provi de employees with pos iti ons
that are sat i s fy ing .
We are no l onger a soc iety which
v i ews work as the sacri fice made to ensure a meal on
That perspective i s o f generations gone by .
the table .
T o d a y , wo rkers p u r su e a p o s i t i on w i th a c ompany t o
reach persona l sat i s faction and career goal s .
I n add it ion , we are no l onger a society dependent
s o l e l y up on i t s p eop l e a s i t s pr ima ry work f o r c e .
Today machines and computers compri s e an overwhelming
percentage o f the work force ; fewer peopl e are needed
to meet the work demands .
And we are no l onger a society committed to our
organ i z at ions , nor do we find the j ob security of years
past .
T oday , c o rp o rate merge r s a nd buyout s keep
empl oyees on edge and " l ooking out for number one . "
Thi s paper is an attempt to investigate the op­
t ions ava i l ab le to accompl ish a success ful j objperson
match and thus aid personnel management as they address
the changing needs before them .
16
Rat ional e
This topic was chosen because of the author ' s per­
sonal experience , and that of assoc iates , parti cipating
The extra ef fort needed to make a
in a bad j ob match .
bad match effect ive i s l aborious and the f inal product
i s l e s s than wh at i s de s i red .
P s ycho l o gy h a s l on g
known the value of placing people in pos it ions that fit
the ir personal it ies and interests .
Bus iness and or­
ganizations have opened the ir eyes to thi s and it is
worth taking a l ook at thei r ef forts .
Review of Literature
P e r s onne l management i s one o f the f ound a t i o n
b locks of any bus iness o f organization .
An agreeable
match between employees and pos itions i s a v ital part
of e n s u r i n g a f i rm foundat i o n .
There a r e two ma i n
categories for reaching a j objperson match ing : tradi ­
tional and contemporary .
Traditional methods may include j ob descript ion ,
resume , interview , reference check , and the manager ' s
own intuition .
The traditional approach frequently
presents the j ob as " fixed , " and the search i s for the
i ndividual with the ski l l , educat ion , and necessary ex­
perience to f i l l that j ob .
It is the person that is
cons idered the "variable" in the j ob match equation . 1
T r a d i t i ona l methods a re thought o f a s obj e c t i ve ;
however ,
the perce ived obj ectivity fades qu ickly in
view of the poss ible alternatives ( i . e. , contemporary
methods ) because there is not an analyt ical standard­
ized system of evaluat ion , and much of the tradit i onal
approach depends on op inion and interpretat ion .
The contemporary methods , which wi l l be exam ined
individua l ly , include surveys , pro f i l e analys is , expert
systems , and assessment centers .
Contemporary methods
cons ider the j ob and the person as only part of the
variables in the j ob match equation .
In addit ion , con­
temporary methods are more obj ect ive than trad iti ona l
methods b e c a u s e they prov i d e the m a n a g e r w i t h a n
analytic and cons i stent form of evaluation .
S u rvey method s i nv o l ve the emp l oy e e s a n swe r i n g
questions o n what they th ink the ir supervisors expect
the ir behav ior to be ( Pos ition Concept ) , and how they
are inc l i ned to behave as dictated by the i r persona l ity
( Persona l Concept ) .
One particular survey examined was
c r e a t e d by the D i s c S y s t em ,
I n c . , 2 and i nv o l ved
empl oyees in the beverage industry .
The survey focused
o n f o u r d i s t i n c t behav i o r p a t t e rn s : D - d om i n a n ce
17
( need/ab i l ity to conquer ) , I - influence ( persuas ivenes s ) ,
s - s t e a d i n e s s ( b e i ng supp o r t ive ) ,
a nd c - c omp l i a n c e
( av o i d a n c e o f c on f l i c t ) .
Que s t i o n s were a s ked t o
determine the extent t o which each behavior pattern wa s
needed in the pos ition and the degree each pattern was
presently d i spl ayed in the work of the empl oyee holding
that posit ion .
Each question was ass igned points that
correl ated with the behavior patterns and a tal ly of
these points revealed the determining preva i l ing pat­
terns .
A pos ition that requ i res a dominant person , one
who makes things happen , is a Hi-D pos it ion ; a pos ition
that demands less o f the dominant characteristic i s a
Lo-D positi on , etc .
Peop l e , l ike pos itions , can be
described in these terms as wel l .
An ind iv idual may be
a Hi or Lo D , I , s or c . 3
S urvey methods c a n b e bene f i c i a l t o p e r s o n n e l
management in that they ass i st the manager in standard­
izi ng j ob/person evaluation .
It may a l s o reveal fac­
t o r s i n d e t e rm i n i n g why c e rt a i n emp l oy e e s are l e s s
productive in thei r present posit ions .
An examp le , as s ited in the beverage industry sur­
vey , is of top management who enj oy the dom inance and
influence aspects of thei r j obs but are not natura l ly
inc l ined to the steadiness and compl i ance demands put
These managers can st i l l do the
on them as managers .
j ob expected of them , but they w i l l have to work harder
at it .
Likewise , a person in a high dominance pos it i on
who i s more incl ined by h i s personal ity to stead iness
can st i l l do his j ob ef fectively .
He wi l l j ust do it
d i fferently from the way a H i- D person would .
Another examp le of a s imi l ar s ituation i s found in
a s econd text , referring to j ob placement . 4
A super­
v isor of p lant security set h i s h iring requi rements at
a h i gh s c h o o l educ a t i on a nd three y e a r s o f p l a n t
The
security or pol ice experience ( a Hi-D pos iti on ) .
a c tu a l j ob c on s i st ed ma i n l y o f check i ng badge s a n d
Security personnel were
lunch bags ( a Lo-D position ) .
hired based on the requirements set .
The result was a
sta f f o f bored , apathet ic and unmotivated empl oyees .
The rate o f j ob turnover was extremely h igh .
After
careful evaluat ion , appl icants with l ittle or no ex­
per ience and with fourth or fi fth grade educat ions were
cons idered .
These appl icants had fewer expectat i ons
for the posit ion and were better matched for the l evel
of dominance required .
The results were h igher perfor­
mance and l ower turnover .
It is ver i f iable that " the
best fit between the person and the j ob occurs when the
requirements of the � ob match the dominant characteri s ­
t i c s o f the person . "
18
While a survey ' s first focus is on the individual
and then o n the j ob , a p ro f i l e a n a l y s i s b e g i n s i t s
focus o n the j ob .
Pro f i l e analys i s beg ins by defin ing
the pos it ion and then cont inues on to evaluate the per­
son .
A pos ition i s de fined by asking , "What i s the goal
of the pos ition?
What ski l l s and knowledge are needed
to reach the stated goal ?
What l evel of these ski l l s
Pos ition def ining can be
and knowledge are needed? "
done by l i st ing the actual j ob funct ions , and by ex­
amining the j ob descript ion and j ob obj ectives .
The
eva l ua t o r then d raws
a
c o n t i n u um
for each
skil l/knowledge needed and graphs the l evel needed on
the sca l e of zero to ten . 6
Maximum Knowledge/Ski l l
No Knowledge/Sk i l l
o ------------------------------------- 1 0
The s ec on d s t ep i s to i nve s t i g a t e t h e p e r s o n
aspect o f the j ob/person match .
Thi s eva luati on con­
s iders the fol lowing :
resume , appl ication , interview ,
re ference check , on - the - j ob evaluat ion , and peer recom­
mendat i o n s .
A cont i nuum i s d rawn to i nd i c a t e the
i n d i v i du a l ' s l e v e l o f a b i l i t y in e a c h o f t h e
knowl edge/ski l l categories .
These continuums are then
compared and evaluated for the best poss ibl e j ob/person
match .
A unique benef it of a pro f i l e analys i s i s that its
focus is on the ski l l s and knowledge of the person and
" there fore does not carry the negat ive persona l con­
nota t i of s o ft en a s s o c i at ed w i th pers onne l eva l u a ­
t ions . "
Strengths and weaknesses are viewed in rela­
t i on t o the j ob and n ot a s a j udgment on the
indiv idual ' s value as a person .
Another bene fit of a
pro f i l e ana lys i s i s its cost factor ; any s ize budget
can a f ford paper and a pen .
Another c ontemp o ra ry method that eva l u a t e s a n
indiv idua l s ' ski l l s separate from persona l worth i s an
expert system .
In fact , thi s system exclus ive ly as­
s e s s e s a person by the facts and f i gure s o f that
individual ' s ski l l s and does not cons ider the person ' s
persona l ity and interests .
" Expert systems are com­
puter programs wh ich conta in knowledge about particul ar
f ields of human activ ity and experience which , through
l inkages and rules bu ilt into the system des ign , can
Th i s method i s o f t e n
he l p s o lve r e a l prob l em s . 11 8
argued aga inst because it does not include subj ect ive
aspects , such as interviews and j ob samples , that may
give the manager more of a personal " feel " for the in­
An expert system approach
dividua l be ing evaluated .
19
may be best used in conj unct ion with one or more of the
subj ect ive methods which woul d a l l ow managers to have a
more rounded col l ection of i nformat ion on whi ch to base
the i r dec i s i ons .
As used in personnel management , an expert system
has as its base information on j ob analys i s , eva luat ion
procedures , personnel selection , organizat ional make­
up , psychol og ical testing , and performance appra i sal .
The interest ing aspect o f thi s process i s the ab i l ity
of the program to make eval uat ions and recommendati ons
and not j ust to store information .
A contemporary method , which i s an alternative to
the " facts and f igure s " empha s i s ,
i s the asses sment
center .
Thi s method is a performance-based system that
observes and eva luates an indiv idual in j ob-relat ive
s ituat ions to determine how the individual is l ikel y to
perform on the j ob .
A person may be evaluated by the
use of rol e-pl aying and in-basket exerc i ses , as wel l as
written tests and interv iewing .
An a s s e s sment c e nt e r " i s a s y s t emat i c app r o a c h
ba sed o n the analysis of s ki l l s , knowledge , and work­
orientation factors needed for the positi on ;
it em­
phas izes �atch ing candidates and organizat ional expec­
tations . "
Assessment centers cons ist of a series o f
standardized evaluation procedures that are comb i ned
with the assessments of v8 rious evaluators to examine
an ind iv idual ' s behavior . 1
These evaluators may be an
ou t s i d e f i rm s p e c i a l i z i n g i n a s s e s s m e n t p r o c e s s
devel opment or they may be tra ined managers and super­
v i sors of the emp loyee - seeking company .
A s s e s sment c enters c a r ry b e n e f it s f o r both the
company and the prospective employee .
The company has
the benefit of seeing the person in work rel ated s itua­
tions over a relative peri od of t ime ( anywhere from 1
h r . to a coup le of days ) , and gett ing a good idea of
th e individual ' s performance l eve l , and c l a r i fy ing the
j ob requirements to the i nd ividual .
The prospect ive
empl oyee ' s benef its are s im i lar in that he is g iven the
opportunity to show the manager h i s ab i l ities , and gain
a c l earer understand ing of what the j ob enta i l s , in or­
der to know more accurately whether the j ob matches hi s
ski l l s and interests .
Assessment centers speak h ighly
of the company that chooses to invest \�e t ime and ef­
fort to ensure a good j ob/person match .
Summary
Matching individua l s and j obs i s a v ital part of
personnel management .
It i s bene ficial in hi ring new
personnel , evaluat ing exist ing employees and pos it ions ,
20
and in succession planning .
There are trad it ional and contemporary methods of
reaching a successful j objperson match .
Examples of
trad itional methods are :
j ob descriptions ,
resumes ,
interviews , re ference checks , and manager ' s intu it ion .
Trad itional methods are thought to be obj ect ive but are
actua l ly very subj ect ive , and there fore do not always
p rov ide a c cu rate i n format i on wh i c h may l e ad to b a d
matches .
Addit ional ly , the variable in the trad it ional
approach is the person .
The j ob rema ins constant and
the person is the one sought a fter to " f it" the con­
stant .
Contemporary methods are obj ective because they
provide a manager with an analytical and cons i stent
form of evaluat ion .
Contemporary methods seek to view
the j ob and the person as equal l y important variables
in the pursuit of a good match .
An overv iew of the
contemporary methods discussed fol lows : ,Surveys involve question ing employees , and
prospective empl oyees , about the i r percept ion
of wh at behav i o r is expe cted of them and
about the behavior they are apt to express
based on the ir persona l ity .
From the ques­
tionna ire a system is estab l i shed to deter­
mine the character istics of the posit ion and
The two a re c ompa red t o
th e i n d i v i du a l .
determine whether o r not a good match exists .
Pro f i l e Ana lys is defines the j ob clearly
and then a l ist is composed of the ski l l s and
knowl edge required , and the amount of the se
needed for the posit ion .
These are graphed
on a cont inuum .
The same is completed on the
ind iv idual being cons idered for the posit ion .
He is evaluated based on how wel l the data on
h i s cont inuum matches the company ' s requi re­
ments ( the j ob cont inuum ) .
Expert Systems are data - based computer i z ed
eva luat ions of the j ob and the ind iv idua l .
The computer does an ana lys i s of the in forma­
t i o n a n d m a k e s r e c o mm e n d a t i o n s o n t h e
j obj p er s on match up .
Th i s s y s tem i s b e s t
u s e d in conj unct i o n w i th o t h e r methods o f
eva luat ion .
Assessment Centers are per formance based
eva luat ions .
An individual is cons idered for
emp l oyment b a s ed on per f o rma nce in j ob ­
re l ated s ituations .
These s ituat ions include
role -playing and in - basket tests .
21
Conclusion
I n it ia l l y the title of thi s report was "Matching
Individual s To Jobs . "
In the midst o f the research it
became evident that it was more important to match an
individua l and the j ob .
A person ' s ab i l ities , inter­
ests and persona l ity a l l combine to make up that per­
Likewise ,
a pos it ion has needs and characteris­
son .
tics that make up that pos it ion .
Both o f these factors
need to be examined thoroughly in order to get a good
match .
And a g ood match i s what w i l l p rov i d e the
productivity a company demands and the s at i s faction a
person i s l ooking for .
I n the methods for j ob/person matchi ng that have
One of
been examined , three common factors stand out .
these factors i s that o f examining and defini ng the j ob
before selecting an empl oyee .
It became c l ear that in
order to know who will best f it a position , that pos i ­
t ion needs t o b e clar ified ; a manager cannot know who
wil l meet the needs of the company i f he doesn ' t know
what those needs are .
The second factor , i s the pro f itab i l ity o f using
j objperson matching in three ma in area s :
new h ires
( for appropriate p lacement ) ,
evaluat ions of present
emp l oy e e s a nd p o s i t i o n s ( fo r d e t e rm i n i n g i f p o o r
productivity i s l inked t o bad j ob/person matching ) , and
for success ion pl anning .
The thi rd factor was the mutua l bene fit of proper
j ob/person matching to the company as wel l as the in­
The fact of having an organizat ion or com­
d iv idua l .
p a ny funct i o n w i th the m a j o r i ty o f ,
i f not a l l ,
employees in appropriate j ob matches i s a pos s ib i l ity
i f the t ime , e ffort and money is expended to make that
pos s i b i l ity a real ity .
Recommendations
Th rough th i s in ve s t i g a t i o n two r e c ommen da t i o n s
emerge .
F irst , it appears more than bene f i c i a l t o have
a j ob def i nition for each pos ition with in a company or
organizat ion .
Having thi s information on f i l e wi l l
save t ime and e ffort when needs for hi ring , reorgan iza­
t ion , or future pl anning emerge .
S econdly , j ust as individual s and j obs need to be
matched up for maximum bene f it , a company needs to be
examined and its personal ity discovered in order to
f ind the best method of j ob/person matching within that
parti cular organization .
22
Notes
1
c. Thomas Dortch , "Job-Person Match , " Personnel
1 9 8 9 , p . 50
Journal , Jn .
2
N o Author Listed , " Survey Concepts Tie Person­
nel to Pos itions , " Beverage World , Dec . 1 9 8 3 , p . 1 7 7 .
3
Ibid .
4
Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard , Management of
Organi z at ional Behavior/Ut il i z ing Human Resources ( New
Jersey :
Prent ice-Hall , I nc . , 1 9 8 2 ) , p . 6 2 - 6 3 .
5
Beverage World , p .
177-18 0 .
6
Darreel E . Owen , " P rofile Analy s i s :
Matching
Pos itions and Personnel , " Superv isory Management , Nov .
1 9 8 41 P• 15 •
7
Ibid .
I
p. 20.
8
No Author Listed , "Matching People to Jobs :
An
Expert System Approach , " Personnel Management ,
S ept .
1987 , p . 42 .
9
Lynn Slavenski , "Matching People to the Job , "
Tra in ing and Development Journal , Aug . 19 8 6 , p . 5 5 .
10
Wayne E . Casc io , Appl ied Psvcholoqv in Person­
P rent i c e - Hall , I n c . ,
nel Man aqement ( New J e r s ey :
1 9 8 7 ) 1 P• 3 18 .
11
.
Lynn Slavensk1 , p. 57 .
Bibl iography
C . Thomas Dortch , "Job-Person-Match , " Personnel Jour­
nal , Jn . 1 9 8 9 .
Darreel E . Owen , " Pro file Analys i s :
Match ing Pos itions
and Personnel , " Superv i sory Management , Nov . 1 9 8 4 .
Lynn Slavenski , "Matching People to the Job , " Train ing
and Development Journal , Aug . 1 9 8 6 .
An Expert
No Author Li sted , "Matching People to Jobs :
System Approach , " Personnel Management ,
S ept . 1 9 8 7 .
23
No Author Li sted , " Survey Concepts Tie Personnel to
Pos it i ons , " Beverage World , Dec . 1 9 8 3 .
Paul Hersey and Ken Bl anchard , Management of Organiz­
ational Behavior/Uti l iz ing Human Resources ,
( New Jersey :
Prent ice-Hal l , Inc . , 1 9 8 2 ) .
Wayne F . Casc io , App l ied Psychology in Personnel
Prent ice-Ha l l , I nc . ,
Management ( New Jersey :
19 8 7 ) .
The Evaluat ion :
The strengths i nc lude ,
but are not l imited to , appropriateness
o f subj ect , organization and writ ing
sty le , and a rel evant l iterature
review .
24
Untitled
by Tom Falat
( Engl ish 1 0 1--Smith )
The Ass ignment :
I wanted my students to
have an opportunity to write an essay
about values because of a l l the demands
and poss ib il ities such an a s s ignment
can prov ide .
However , the convent ional
top ics about values--abort ion , the
death penalty , euthanas ia--have been
exhausted , and are perhaps too
serious , to l end themselves to fresh
approaches .
"My Worst Meal " i s
something the writer has to rea l l y
think about .
For instance , what are
the value systems by which we j udge
a meal ?
My mother saying , " They are supposed t o b e here by
twelve , " meant two things to me .
F irst , that I was
go ing to have to protect my valuabl es , and second , that
I had unt i l two o ' clock to do it .
Al l the Thanksgiv­
ings that I can remember were thi s way :
the rush and
preparat ion before their arrival to ensure a survival
through their stay .
The in-laws , or " the outlaws " a s my dad l iked to
cal l them , always came to our house for Thanksgiving
d i nn e r .
S i n c e my r e l at iv e s a r e i n f amous f o r b e i n g
l a te , th i s p rov i ded t h e needed t i me t o t r y t o make
everything in the house " relative res istant , " which was
bas ically cl eaning up and putt ing everyth ing of any
v a l ue away .
The f am i l y s t a rted c om i ng in at about
quarter to two .
My youngest aunt and her husband entered the house
arguing .
They must have been gett ing a head start be­
cause they have a ful l daily itinerary to communi cate
through .
I should have thought of them a s be ing the
comic rel ief of my day , although s omet imes they don ' t
have su ffic ient evidence to back up the ir points , and
then that c a n s ometimes l e ad to a l u l l i n the i r
" entertainment value . "
After getting a headache ,
I
l e ft the room to discover that my unc l e had arr ived .
Unc l e S ta n w a s a p l ayboy/ d i s c o k i ng o f the
seventies who thought of h imse l f a s a devastatingly a t­
tractive l adyki l ler .
H e woul d drive around in h i s 1 9 7 7
Thunderb ird convert ible with the . top down whi l e h e was
wearing a pa ir of shorts and no shirt in the middle of
He was so macho ,
winter , then tel l you he wasn ' t cold .
he could walk into a room and make women gag by the
dozens when they got a whi f f of h i s att itude and h i s
I thought he was much too macho to l ive in
a ftershave .
the e ighties , or anywhere e l se for that matter .
Earl ier that day , I had put away a h ighly prized
fatherj son proj ect model boat which was under construc­
I was l ater surpri sed to f ind that someone had
t i on .
taken it out and done work on it .
When I asked what
was going on , Stan , the compl ete man , informed me that
he had bu ilt the front subcompartment of the boat and
was presently quitt ing for the day to l et the glue dry .
He then went upstairs to g ive me more room so that I
cou l d clean up h i s mess eas ier .
On top of th i s , I had
to carefu l l y scrape o f f the plastic cement he had used
and replace it with a cement made for bal sa wood .
My o l de st aunt h ad a r r ived , a nd I moment a r i l y
stopped to talk to her .
She bas ical ly had wasted her
l i fe .
It was said to be due to a l ow l evel of con­
fidence which caused her to think negat ively about her­
sel f .
Many people outs ide my fam i ly cal l it l az ines s .
An ironic characteristic about thi s fact was that she
was perfectly w i l l ing to talk about how she was power­
l e s s t o do anyt h i ng t o c o nt r o l h e r f a t e i n g r e a t
deta i l , but the fact rema ined that she never took any
She was
type o f a c t i on to imp r ov e h e r l i f e sty l e .
e l ig ible but never appl ied for wel fare ; she must have
thought that money woul dn ' t h e l p h e r .
She told me
about a t ime she was so down that my grandma l ent h e r a
credit card to purchase neces s ities , l ike food :
she
ended up buy in g choc o l at e covered s t rawb e r r i e s at
Fannie May .
My aunt and I would o ften talk about books because
she , being the only one of my aunts to attend col l ege
and , in the proces s , earn many degrees , had worked a
rel atively l arge a l l owance into her minuscul e "budget"
for book buying ; l ower down on her plan was probab ly
food and cl othing .
She was very sharp and many t imes
enl ightening in her viewpo ints upon certain subj ects .
But , n o matter wh at the c o nv ers at i on wa s about , i t
would a lways l ead t o her l i fe and d i f ferent ways i n
whi ch she was s o poverty stricken .
I briefly ta lked to
her in the foyer o f my house and , becoming even more
26
depressed , I decided to move on .
Another aunt a rr ived and b rought w ith h e r h e r
l ittl e darl ing .
Her daughter was in the process of
going through a " spo iled rotten" phase , and it seemed
to me that her parents were content to s it back and see
i f it would " burn itse l f out . "
The l ittl e one made my
day by taking a rel atively expens ive bal sa model and
dissembl ing it into ten p ieces then p i l ing the p ieces
next to the bal sa boat as if to send a threat .
Then ,
she went to the next l evel o f the house and broke a
b ishop from an expens ive ches s set in hal f and pl aced
that by the set as i f to re inforce her original mes ­
sage .
Her parents , when informed , l ightly " scolded"
her , in other words , did nothing about it .
I get along wel l with my rel atives , as long a s I
take them in sma l l doses .
I f I get any more than that ,
I usua l ly have a bad reaction and get adverse s ide ef­
fects .
The food was finally prepared and the whole
family was seated around the dining room table .
I did
not appreciate much , even when they were subdued and in
s ight , eating my Thanksgiving meal whi l e l ooking across
the table at the outlaws .
The Evaluat ion :
The cl ever para l l e l
construct ion in the f irst l ines
announces that thi s essay understands
that meal s are not j ust about food ,
and it spends very l ittl e t ime on
It treats
the Thanksgiving d inner .
with the humor generated by t ime
the feel ing of helpless v i ct imizat ion
of the narrator as a l ittle kid by
a col l ection of relatives from
hel l .
Yet , the author writes with
restra int , even employ ing under­
statement .
27
Exh i l aration
by Geral d Giba
( Engl i sh 1 0 1--Sherer)
The Ass ignment :
The students were
to write a focused s ingle paragraph
description that appeal s to the senses .
The su n w as an emerg i n g f i re - b a l l i n the c o o l
early morn ing mist as I reached down , turned the key ,
and 1 5 0 s l eeping horses coughed to l i fe .
The smoke
from the exhaust hung heav i l y over the water behind the
I put my r ight hand
s leek , metal - f l ake red bass boat .
on the bl ack throttl e handle eas ing it forward , and the
motor ' s raucous idle smoothed out as we s l owly moved to
the ma in r iver channel .
When we reached the channel , I
s l ammed the throttl e forward .
The motor roared to ful l
l i fe , and the s l eek red boat catapulted forward , com­
press i ng us back in our seats with the force of ac­
We l eveled out , and the cold wind in my
celerat ion .
face was exh i l a rat ing as the boat pi cked up speed , - 3 5
- 5 5 - 6 5 m i l es an hour - hurtl ing over the icy smooth­
When the red proj ect i l e
ness of the water ' s surface .
l i fted and began a gentle s ide t o s ide rocking moti on I
knew " DAS BOAT " h ad r e a c h e d " F i n a l P ad . "
I felt a
heady surge o f exc itement with the con f i rmat ion that we
were NOW l itera l ly rocket ing scant inches over the sur­
I turned my head and looked beh ind
face of the water .
us , and once aga in I was awe struck with the f i fteen
foot rooster ta i l of water a rci ng up from the back of
the boat .
We hurtl ed along , barely skimming over the
ice - l ike smoothness of the water ' s surface , the speed­
chi l l ed w ind whipping our ha i r and coat coll ars around
our faces .
We reached our destinat ion , and I pul l ed
the throttl e back .
S eeming to be unhappy that the ride
28
was over , " Das Boat " shuddered sl ightly and then reluc­
tantly settl ed back into the water .
The Evaluat ion :
This vividly concrete
paragraph shows a writer who has a
clear sense of persona and who has
a mature contro l over connotatively
charged and figurative l anguage .
29
A Good F isherman
by Geral d Giba
( Engl i sh 1 0 1--Sherer)
The Ass ignment :
Students were asked
to write a stipul at ive definition o f
an abstract ion or a rol e a person
might p l ay .
George , one o f the f i shermen in a c lub I used to
bel ong to , taught me respect for nature and the f i sh I
caught ; for examp le , i f I released a f i sh a fter enj oy­
ing the thr i l l of the capture I coul d come back at a
l ater date and catch the s ame f ish over , and over , and
over again .
I can sti l l hear him .
"A good f i sherman
doesn ' t k i l l h i s catch ,
but preserves thi s valuabl e
res ource b y releas ing h is quarry a l ive . " And once when
I was about to throw a pop can into the water George
stopped me and s a id , " Don ' t pol lute the water by toss­
ing your trash over the s ide ; a good f isherman respects
the e nv i ro nment and h au l s h i s t r a s h out w i th h im . "
George was a good f isherman .
A good fisherman i s a sportsman who , l ike George ,
has c l ear respect for the natural world ; however , he
a l s o needs to know h is techniques , be an observer and
experimenter , and most important , be extremely patient .
A good f i sherman does not l ounge in a boat with a f ish­
ing pole in one hand and a can of beer in the other
wh i l e he s t a r e s at the c l ouds f l o a t i n g ov erh e ad .
Ra th er , he l i st e n s t o
a nd o b s e rv e s h i s p e e r s a nd
spends l ong hours on the water .
He l earns that minnows
j umpi ng from the water are an excel l ent indicator that
l arger f ish are nearby .
He l earns that l arger f i sh
l ike to hide beneath floati ng l i ly pads and that f i sh
h ide bes ide l ogs lying in the water .
In May o f 19 8 0 , I went on a one week f i sh ing trip
with Pete , another member o f our f i sh ing club ; unt i l
Pete
t h a t t ime , I thought I w a s a g o o d f i s he rman .
squel ched that idea within the f irst hour o n the water
by c onduct in g wh at I n ow l augh i ng l y ca l l an on the
He expertl y skipped h i s plastic worm
water cl inic .
across the water ' s surface to l and far underneath a
30
boat dock .
I was awed as I watched the lure bounce
l ightly across the water ' s surface .
Pete , us ing th is
" skipp ing" technique caught several f ish , and they were
Not being one who l ikes to l ose , I tried to emu­
big .
The r e s u l t I e x ­
l a t e Pete ' s c a s t ing techn i qu e .
p eri enced w a s n ' t m y l ure gent l y sk ipp i ng o v e r the
water ' s surface , but rather my lure splash ing into the
water about two feet in front of me .
Frustrated , I
turned to Pete and asked , " Just how in the hel l are you
doing that? "
W ith a smi l e on hi s face , Pete turned to
me and asked , " Do you remember when you were a kid , and
you skipped rocks? "
I repl ied ,
"Yes . "
Then he said ,
"You take a flat power-head j ig and thread a plastic
worm onto the hook , and then you skip it j ust l ike you
used to skip a flat rock . " I mumbled , " Thank you , " and
began to pract ice thi s new techn ique .
On thi s day ,
Pete taught me more than " skipping , " for he taught me
Pete was
to experiment with new techniques and lqres .
a good f isherman .
Paul , another member o f our f ishing club , taught
me to be aware of the sounds of nature around us ; when
I hear
frogs croaking , b i rds s inging , and squi rre l s
chattering , the f i sh are more act ive and more incl ined
to strike at my lure .
He taught me that a good fi sher­
man is keenly attuned to the act ivity around him , and
h is tra ined eye doesn ' t miss the s l ight ripple on the
water that tel l s him of a f i sh moving beneath the sur­
face .
P au l wou l d s a y , "A good f i sh erman i s a lways
al ert , and h is tra ined powers of observat ion are ful ly
aware of a l l the s ights and sounds around him .
A bad
f i sh erman is too busy guzz l i ng b e e r and t o s s ing
cigarette butts and trash over the s ide of the boat to
Paul was
be aware of anything except the next belch . "
a good fi sherman .
A good f i s herman a s s emb l e s the p i e c e s o f the
puzzl e as a Swiss watchmaker assembles a Rolex unt i l
a l l the pieces f i t together .
A good fi sherman wi l l
then land h is quarry .
A bad fi sherman doesn ' t even
know there is a puzzle ; he j ust th inks he has bad luck .
Perhaps the most valuable l esson a good fi sherman can
l e a rn i s to be pat i ent , f o r not a l l f i sh i ng t r i p s
result i n fish caught ; however , with pat ience and hard
I ' 1 1 stead fastly
work , fi shing success w ill fol l ow .
work to be pat ient and practice the techniques of the
good f i shermen I have known .
One day then I wi l l be
31
the teacher , and a student might remark ,
good f i sherman . "
" G iba was
The Eval uat ion :
Gerry ' s es s ay " il lustrate s "
the power and force of concrete i l lustrat ion
as a minor pattern of de finit ion . Here ,
a l so , the language and speaker
partic ipation inv ite our interest ,
and the varied sentences exhibit
para l l e l i sm and economy .
32
a
Hawg Heaven
by Gerald Giba
( Engl ish 1 0 1 -- Sherer )
The Ass ignment :
students were to
comb ine narrative and descriptive writ ing
as they focus on a spec i f i c place and
inc ident .
I t w as f iv e - th i rty A . M . ; the c o o i ng o f m o r n i n g
doves mingled with the croaking of frogs a s a s l ight
chop on the water gently lapped aga inst the s ide of the
boat .
I turned back to Pete and asked , " I sn ' t thi s
great?
No water skiers and no crazy boaters , only us
I ' m gonna kick
and the f i sh. "
Pete rep l ied , " YEAH !
your a s s. "
Our good luck ritua l out of the way , we
could concentrate on fishing .
We had picked our favorite channel , float ing l i ly
pads down one s ide , fal len trees and brush p i les on the
other - " HAWG COUNTRY . " Here was our l ittle stretch of
fi sherman ' s heaven.
We began working the shorel ine on the brush p i l e
s ide o f the channel , casting our favorite l ures - top
water Buzz-ba its - up on the shore and cranking them
back into the water .
Our lures , gurgl ing and squeak­
ing , danced merrily across the water ' s surface on a bed
of bubbles , above the hidden dangers beneath the choppy
water ' s s u r f a c e .
Next to a tree s tump I s potted a
tel l tale bulge in the water as a fi sh moved .
I cast my
lure up on the bank j ust past the tree stump , held my
The lure sprang to
breath , and started my retrieve .
l i fe a s it ente red the water and p a s s ed w i t h i n two
inches of the tree stump ; however , noth ing happened .
I
This time my lure struck the tree stump .
cast aga in.
My lure wa s s ix inches past the stump when the water
My lure and the
bulged again , and the race was on .
f ish went at it .
The disturbance in the water behind
my lure told me the fish wa s winning th is battle , but
she was to lose the war .
The f i sh rocketed up from beneath the water ' s sur­
face and clamped down on my lure. T ime seemed to stop
33
a s the f i sh hung suspended before fal l ing back into the
water and send ing fountains of l iquid cascading i nto
the a i r .
When the f i sh real ized she was hooked , the war was
on in earnest .
I l eaned back , pul l ing on my f i sh i ng
The f i sh responded by l eap ing
rod as hard as I could .
into the a i r and p irouett i ng on her t a i l across the
Only then did I real ize how bi g she
water ' s surface .
rea l l y was , and I thought , "Holy shit , the f i sh of a
l i fet ime and she ' s on my l ine . " My next thoughts were ,
" The l ine could break .
The lure could pul l out .
Any
number o f things could go wrong . "
Then my brain chose to function independentl y of
my body .
My brain said , " HOLLER T O PETE , GET THE NET ! "
What rea l ly came out was " GMNUPFLANKNUTE . " Pete l eapt
He grabbed the net and started
from the rear deck .
ho l l ering instruct ions to me , " KEEP YOUR ROD T I P UP !
G I VE HER A L I T T LE DRAG !
THAT ' S I T ; T I RE HER OUT !
DON ' T LOSE HER !
MAN , WHAT A FISH ! "
The f i s h j umped aga i n , a nd h e r huge maw s p r e a d
wide to expose v iv id red g i l l s .
Her powerful broad
ta i l danced on a cush ion of air as she shook her mas ­
s ive head back and forth , spewing gigant ic drop l et s of
water .
I couldn ' t help but marvel at how gorgeous she
was , a j agged black l ine separat ing her dark black i sh­
g r e e n b a c k f rom a p e a r l e s c ent wh i t e b e l l y .
She
ep itomized a bass f isherman ' s fantasy .
The l ady was t i ring now , so Pete gently s l ipped
the net under her and hoisted her into the boat .
She
was MINE !
I did it .
We gently unhooked her and s l id
her i nto the f i l l ed and aerated l ivewe l l .
High f ives were exchanged and Pete congratul ated
me on my catch ; however , s omething wasn ' t qu ite right .
I was happy , and Pete was happy .
Then it struck me ,
and I knew what to do .
I got out my Polaroid camera and said to Pete , " I
want you to take my picture with her .
Okay? "
I went
back , reached i nto the l ivewe l l , and gently p icked her
up .
I m e a su r ed h e r , twe nty - s i x i nche s , ov er e i gh t
I thought to mysel f , " S o
pounds of Largemouth bass .
THIS i s what it ' s l ike t o catch a rea l HAWG ! TH I S i s
great ! "
I held her up for a coupl e o f pictures .
I thought Pete was going to croak when I wa lked to
the s ide of the boat and gently l owered thi s beaut i ful
femal e back into the water where she bel onged .
She
gave a f l i ck o f h e r pow e r fu l t a i l a s i f to wave
goodbye ; then she was gone .
When I stood and turned , Pete was standing there
with h i s hand outstretched .
We shook hands , l eav ing
unsa id what we both knew in our hearts , and turned to
34
Pete hol lered back , " I ' m
go back to our f i shing seats .
F ive forty - f ive A . M . , and
st i l l gonna kick your ass . "
some things never change .
The Evaluat ion :
This essay is fresh
and engaging in topic , imagery ,
and sentence style .
An involved
and exc ited persona sets an easy and
relaxed tone as he invites us to
part ic ipate in the f i sh ing exper ience .
35
Chi ldren ' s Sexual ity
by Laura Halatek
( Honors Engl i sh 1 0 1--S imonsen )
The Assignment :
Write an argumentat ive
essay in response to the psychol ogist
Karen Horney ' s essay , " The D i strust
Between the S exes . "
Defend or
attack one o f Horney ' s principal
idea s .
A general ly wel l -accepted idea in psychol ogy i s
that chi l dhood patterns a f fect adult behavior .
Karen
Horney strongly advocated this theory and the introduc­
t ion to her work reports that Freudians supported this
idea also ( 3 2 8 ) .
For pract ical purposes th i s can be
as sumed to be true , except to draw conclus ions from
thi s observat ion , one must a l so understand the general
nature o f ch i ldren .
I n her work , " The D i strust Between
the S ex e s , " Ka ren H o rney at temp t s t o i nt e rp r e t the
psychol ogy o f chi l dren without strongly support ing her
bas i s for these conc lus ions .
H o rn ey r e l i e s heav i l y on ch i l dh o o d a n a l y s i s t o
supp o r t h e r v i ew s on r e l at i o n s h i p s b e tw e e n men and
F o r h e r i d e a s o n adu l t b eh av i o r t o a p p e a r
wome n .
p l au s ib l e , the underlying analys i s o f chi l dren must be
bel ievab l e .
Unfortunately , the chi l dhood examples she
provides do not appear to be accurate .
A common error
of behaviora l ists is to study the i r extreme cases ex­
tens ively and then draw general conclusions about the
who l e of mankind from these observat ions .
The maj ority
of peop l e , even a minority of peop l e , are not repre­
sented by this type of summa r i z at i on .
The f i rst as sumption Horney makes that i s d i sturb­
i ng c o n c e r n s the e x i s t en c e of s e xu a l de s i r e s in
ch i ldren .
She demands o f the reader , "We need only
r e c a l l the c a p a c ity t h a t c h i l d r e n p o s s e s s , even i n
the i r very early years , for pas s i onate and instinctive
sexua l des i res s im i l ar to those of adults . . . " ( 3 3 2 ) .
" Recal l ed " examples of thi s trait in chi ldren do not
c ome e a s i l y to m i n d .
Ch i l d r e n po s s e s s a n a tura l
curios ity about the ir bodies that i s o ften d i f f i cult
36
for insecure adults to deal with openly , but th i s s e l f
examination does not imply sexual overtures a r e be ing
i n it iated .
Horney does not provide the proper prompts
for images of passionate preschoolers to come to mind .
S i nc e she c a n not r e l y on h e r aud i e n c e ' s m i nd t o
provide examples , she shoul d support her ideas hersel f .
But no examples are g iven to estab l i sh that prepubes ­
No b io l ogical proof i s ob­
cent sexual drives exist .
vious , for to what end woul d sexual appetites bene f i t a
child?
A ch ild ' s body is not yet prepared to further
the perpetuat ion of the species .
The hormones that in­
fluence sexual drive are not present unt i l maturat ion ,
so there i s no drive present to become sexual ly active
as Horney suggests chi ldren do .
I f Horney is dea l ing
with individual s who have achieved maturity with its
mixed bless ing o f overabundant hormones , then indeed
At this point , though , the
sexual des i res are present .
'
i n d i v i d u a l i s no l on g e r a ch i l d and shou l d n o t b e
c l a s s i f i ed as such .
H o r n e y ' s a s s um p t i o n a b o u t
ch i ldren ' s sexual urges should there fore e ither b e bet­
ter supported or more clearly de fined if the reader i s
t o agree with her .
The next controvers i a l area Horney dea l s with i s
the violent fantas ies o f chi ldren .
She tries t o inform
the reader that pent-up sexual frustrat ions take the
form of " fantasies that range from taking by force and
stea l ing to those about ki l l ing , burning , cutt ing to
pieces , and choking " ( 3 3 2 ) .
I f Horney ' s premise that
sexual frustrat ions exist in children has been doubted ,
then th is mani festation o f that condition should not
ex i st e ither .
This passage must st i l l be examined ,
th ough , f o r the b en e f i t o f the r e a d e r wh o h a s e r ­
roneous ly accepted a l l o f Horney ' s ideas to thi s po int .
The strongly graphic imagery Horney uses might have
been intended to further coerce the reader into agree­
ment with her , but instead shows a start l ing l ack of
knowledge about chi ldren on the part o f the author .
Chi l dren do possess a certa in capab i l ity o f violence at
a young age , but thi s does not ordinarily extend to the
Ch ildren
point of seriously ma iming another person .
are very much aware of the l aws of natural select ion
from b i rth onward , and surv ival o f the fittest p l ays a
l a rge role in thei r actions .
A r ival s ib l ing vying for
Mother ' s attent ion might be suf f i c ient cause to try and
" push" the o f fender out of the way .
Thi s push could be
a phys ical shove or a more dev ious maneuver on the part
o f the ch ild , but neither action would enta i l Horney ' s
images o f complete destruct ion .
Horney i s not rely ing
on the average child for this observat ion , or i f she
i s , she does not know the average ch ild wel l .
37
The exampl e Horney attempts to use to extricate
hersel f from th is confus ion of theories begins on page
3 3 3 , w ith :
" the l ittle girl who was badly hurt through
some great disappo intment by her father w i l l t rans form
her innate inst inctual wish to rece ive from the man
into a v indict ive one of taking from h im by force . "
F i rst , what kind o f di sappointment can be so great to a
l ittle girl that she can never f ind forgiveness within
hersel f ?
Let it be assumed that such a s ituation i s a
repeated occurrence that stead i ly wears down the girl ' s
Cont inued beat ings or drunken
bel i e f in her father .
rage s m i ght p roduce a t e r r i b l e d i s a pp o i ntment i n a
young s te r , but woul dn ' t t h a t ch i l d deve l op ev a s iv e
m e c h a n i sm s to avo i d d e a l i ng w i t h the f a t h e r ' s
condit ion? The ch i l d would st i l l be able to cont inue a
semb l a n c e o f a n o rma l l i f e s ty l e w i th o u t s ev e r e l y
restricting her ab i l ity t o interact w ith other people .
A certain measure o f di strust might surely ex ist within
the c h i l d as she exp l o r e s r e l at i o n s h i p s w i t h other
p e op l e , but t h i s d o e s not m e a n s h e w i l l b e c ome the
black w idow that Horney accuses her o f developing i nto .
Horney bu i lds a girl ' s " d i s appointment in her father"
through a series of i l logical steps into a s ituat ion
where " she w i l l sh i ft the ent ire respon s ib i l ity for her
he l p l e s s n e s s onto the man , r ob b i ng h im of the v e r y
breath o f l i fe " ( 3 3 4 ) .
Thi s does not make sense unless
perhaps the " d i sappointment " experienced was a sexua l
abuse , which seems to be a favor ite theme o f Horney ' s .
I n t h i s c a s e , then , a s l i gh t l y s t ronge r wo rd t h a n
" d i s ap p o i ntment " shou l d have b e e n u s e d ,
for that
changes the enti re emphas i s o f the examp l e .
Karen Horney ' s ideas are presented in a way that
makes them very d i f f icult to accept .
Th is may for the
m o s t p a rt d e r ive f r om t h e f a c t that s h e d o e s not
genera l ly support hersel f wel l enough to make anyone
want to agree w ith her .
E i ther her ideas on ch i ldhood
need to be better def ined , or else they must be dis­
carded a s only a col lect ion o f disj ointed words that
have no rea l meaning .
The Eva luat ion :
Ms . Hal atek
method ica l ly d issects Horney ' s
pos ition .
Her skeptica l , wry tone
and forceful reasoning compel the
reader to reassess Horney ' s
arguments .
38
The Box
by Katrina Hartwig
( Engl ish 1 0 1 - -Mottla )
The Assignment :
Ms . Hartwig was asked
to write an autobiographical p iece in
which the experience l ed the
narrator to a new awarenes s .
The day i s one o f seasonal perfect ron .
The sun i s
warm , and the sky blue with large marshmal l ow c l ouds .
Mom says it ' s a spec ial day .
We are going to v i s it
God ' s house today .
Everyone i s up and a l ready moving
I ' m to
around .
Mom says I can ' t wear my Sunday dress .
wear my b lack and grey one .
I don ' t l ike thi s one as
much a s my Sunday dress .
It has no white l ace on the
bottom and no bright red bow in the m iddle .
" Mom , i f we are go ing to church , why can ' t I wea r
my Sunday dres s , l ike always? "
" Th i s i s a day o f mourning , " she rep l ies .
" Every day has a morning , Mom . "
" Th i s i s d i f ferent , " she says with a soft voice .
She motions with her hand for me to come s it down next
to h e r .
H e s i t a t i ng she s a y s , " Th i s i s a t ime whe n
peopl e express the i r grief for a person who has l e ft . "
" Oh , " I repl y .
We enter through the t a l l doors o f God ' s house .
Mom and Grandma d ip thei r f ingers into the water cup
and touch the i r foreheads .
I ' m too short to reach , s o
M o m l i ft s me up s o I , t o o , c a n put the wate r o n my
We start walking towards the front o f the
forehead .
Windows everywhere .
church .
I t ' s such a big church .
The
Most o f them are open to l et the cool bree z e i n .
breez e f l ows softly into the church .
It ' s n ice to fee l
it on my face .
The sme l l o f the b looming flowers in
the garden i s l ike grandma ' s homemade banana nut bread .
The best thing about the windows i s that the sun f i l ­
ters through the colored glass , making rainbows on the
wooden benches .
I know that God ' s house is d i f ferent .
Mom says you have to be quiet .
No noise .
No runn ing
up the a i sles .
No fun .
I not ice a l l the usual things in the church .
The
39
t ab l e , the s o f t s ound s o f the o r g a n mus i c , a n d the
c l ean sme l l l ike that o f an early morning rain .
The
tabl e i s set up in front of the church .
It �as candles
on i t .
The c a nd l e s are l it .
I can s ee the f l ame s
bouncing up and down o f f the t ip o f the candle , l ike
gold coins being fl ipped by a man ' s big hand .
I ga z e
at the f l ames for awh i l e unt i l my eyes wander .
They
I hadn ' t not iced
f i na l ly stop on a l arge wooden box .
that be fore .
It ' s dark brown w ith carved des igns on
the s ide s and down the top .
The top is open , yet I
can ' t see ins ide it .
I s it down between Mom and Grandma .
They s it me
b e tw e e n them s o I do n ' t s t a rt me s s i ng a ro u n d w i th
things .
No fun .
I grab the book that i s on the back
of the wooden bench .
I f l ip the pages , want ing to see
colored p ictures or funny anima l s , but a l l there is i s
I get bored qu ickly , so I
a l ot o f writ ing .
N o fun .
I dec ide I want to l ook
put the book on the bench .
a round .
I can ' t see a th ing .
Everyone i s too tal l .
I
get on my knees to boost mysel f up , l ike I do when I
There are a l ot more peopl e
s it down to eat dinner .
here now .
The front ha l f o f the church i s ful l .
I 'm
wondering when things are going to start .
He is
The priest comes in through the rear doo r .
wear ing a dres s , a s usual .
He walks down the middle
towards the front , where the tab l e i s .
He starts to
talk , and I know thi s is the part that I don ' t l ike .
The priest a lways ta l ks for a century .
I can never
keep my m ind on what he is say ing .
I think it ' s be­
cause I never quite understand what he i s t ry ing to
s ay .
F i nal l y after about a hal f an hou r , a l though . it
seemed l ike days , the priest ends h i s sermon w ith the
f a m i l i a r " Amen . "
We a l l a re now s t a rt i n g t o wa l k
Just
towards the front .
Wa l k to where the box i s .
then Mom starts to cry .
I can see the tears rol l down
her face .
"What ' s the matter? " I ask .
Mom says noth ing .
I know now that someth ing i s
not right .
I feel mysel f f i l l ing up w ith tears , yet
now knowing why .
We are now at the box .
Mom l eans over into the
box .
I can ' t see her face anymore - I can only hear
her sob s .
She kisses whatever i s in the box and l i fts
She then takes me and l i fts me i n the a i r
her head .
I s udde n l y f e e l
towa r d s the o p e n i n g o f t h e box .
anxious and very warm .
I ' m going to see what is in the
box .
A man .
A man dressed in a bl ack su it is ly ing in­
s ide the box .
His hair is grey with s l ivers o f brown
running through it .
His ha i r is nicely combed to one
40
s ide .
H i s hands are l a id on h i s wa i st , softly folded
over one another .
He l ooks so white , l ike the por­
celain china doll at home .
His eyes a re cl osed t ightly
shut as if he i s taking a l ong nap .
" K i s s him good-bye " Mom says .
"Who i s he? "
"He i s your grandfather . "
I don ' t remember
I ' m not sure what I shoul d do .
him as being my grandfather .
I stick my f i nger out and
s l owly reach into the box .
My f inger touches h i s hand .
I pul l my hand back so fast I think I have ripped it
off .
He is so cold and so hard l ike the ice cubes in
I have never f e l t anyone 1 i k e t h i s
our f r e e z e r .
before .
I worm out o f Mom ' s a rms and pract ically run
to the door where Grandma is standing .
Mom is close
behind me .
I ' m confused .
I don ' t understand why he is
so cold or why he is in the box .
" Are you a l l right? " Mom asks .
"Why i s grandfather so cold?
Why doesn ' t he open
h i s eyes and say that he is cold? "
"He has passed away . "
" What do you mean? "
"He has gone to God . "
" I f God is so good , why has he made grand father
l ike th i s ? "
" God didn ' t make him that way , grandfather has met
death . "
I d idn ' t under­
Death .
Wh at a h or r ib l e word .
stand .
I didn ' t know i f I wanted to .
That night when Mom tucked me into bed , I a sked
her i f death was always so cold .
" I ' m not sure .
Nobody rea l ly knows , but I do know
that you get to meet God and go up to heaven to l ive .
It ' s a n ice p l ace where you never get s ick or get into
trouble .
I ' m sure grand father wi l l l ike i t there . "
Mom said a few last words , k i ssed me good night ,
and turned out the l ight .
As I l ay in bed , I st i l l
wasn ' t sure that death was a good thing .
I d idn ' t want
to be cold .
T e n y e a r s l a t e r , i n the unea s i n e s s o f s l ee p , I
dream .
I dream I am in Grandma ' s old house , walking
down the hal lway towards the family room .
I stop at
the last door on the l eft .
It i s open .
There s it s a
man on the old dusty cha i r .
It i s grandfather .
He has
crystal blue eyes .
They are very bright and shiny l ike
the moon on a clear night .
His eyes see r ight through
me .
H i s arms are open and cal l me to him .
I s l owly
walk towards h im and s it on his l ap .
He doesn ' t say
anything with his l ips , yet I can feel h im s aying that
everyth ing is a l l right .
He is saying that death i s
41
H i s eyes a re gett ing
o . k . and not to be a fraid o f it .
brighter and a re burning a hole right through me .
I
have to l ook away .
I wake up in a sl ight sweat .
I rea l i z e I am in my
home , i n my room , in my bed .
I l ie back on my p i l l ow ,
remembering the d ream I had .
I st i l l didn ' t bel ieve
that death was good .
I st i l l don ' t .
The Eva luat ion :
Ms . Hartwi g captures
the chi l d ' s perspective very wel l ,
and at the end ski l l fu l ly moves her
idea through t ime by the use o f the
dream sequence .
42
Unt it l ed
by Tracy M . Hayes
( Engl ish 1 0 1 --Shere r )
The Ass ignment :
Students were a sked
to narrate a s ign i f i cant incident
us ing concrete , descriptive l anguage .
As I watched my father o rd e r a n o t h e r s co t c h , I
s imultaneously maneuvered Mr . Pac-Man around the d i g i ­
t a l game board .
I t was another typical weekend v i s i t
with my father , and I had reluctantly agreed t o accom­
pany him to h i s favorite Pol ish bar on the south s ide
of Chicago .
My dad had proudly handed me ten dol l ars worth o f
I stared
change and taken h i s seat a t the bar , a lone .
b lankly at the video machine as I wondered what the
other fourteen year olds in the world were doing that
night .
I could bet that they were not at a bar w i th
thei r fathers .
The waitress smi led sheep i shly at me a s
s h e p u t down y e t another Coke i n f r o n t o f m y othe r
three hal f- ful l drinks , obviously ordered by my gu i l ty
father .
Hours s e emed t o p a s s i n the d e s o l at e , d a rk b a r
My father and I sat with our backs to each other
room .
as if we were embarrassed to be seen w ith each other .
When he had fina l ly had his share o f alcohol , I not iced
that my init i a l s were the only ones on the game screen
sign i fying that I had become a rea l pro at the game in
a matter of hours .
He congratul ated me through b l ood­
shot eyes as we l e ft .
As I was opening the door to h i s car , he asked me
"Right here , " I
i f I remembered where we had parked .
wh i s p e r e d .
S omehow w e managed t o d r i v e t o the e x ­
Periodically I would
pressway without getting k i l l ed .
catch him doz ing o f f at the wheel .
At those moments , I
would ramble on a imlessly about anything from h i s new
puppy to h i s new girl friend j ust to keep h im awake .
Then I began s inging along w ith Kenny Rogers and Dol ly
Parton on the radio .
Soon I was screaming the songs .
In mid-verse , I l ooked up to see a huge truck had
come to a compl ete stop directly in front of our Cad i l 43
lac .
I f e l t my s e l f s c r e e ch ing and s l i d i ng ,
oc­
cas iona l ly feel ing the we ight o f my father a lmost on
We fina l l y came to a crashing halt , and I
top of me .
l ooked up to see the hood o f the car bent vic ious ly and
b l ocking my view of the retaining wal l that d iv ided the
highway .
" Are you o . k . baby , are you o . k? " my father
s lurred .
I felt a trickl e o f salty b l ood on my nose a s
I burst into tears .
And a s I gl anced u p a t h i m with
the f lashing red l ight o f the Ramada Hotel b l inking on
h i s s i lhouette , I rea l i z ed I was as gui lty as he .
The Evaluation :
This moving l ittle
essay tel l s of a daughter ' s relat ion­
ship w ith her estranged father .
The voice i s the honest voice o f a
pained and frustrated adolescent .
Detail i s viv id , and the essay
moves eas i ly as tens ion increases .
44
THE DREAM AND THE AWAKENING :
Al legory in W i l l iam Faulkner ' s " Barn Burning "
by Sherri Hines
( Engl i sh 1 0 2 --Hickey )
The Assignment :
Write a l iterary
analys is o f a short story .
Substant iate
your interpretat ion with ample
reference to the primary source .
It is not poss ible to separate W i l l i am Faulkner ' s
words from the South , the l and which g ives h i s words
It is from here any o f h i s work must be viewed ,
voice .
wh ence the autho r and the s t ory a r e b o rn .
" Barn
Burning " is n o except ion .
In thi s story Faulkner ad­
dresses the inherent probl ems o f Yoknapatawpha County ,
a f i ct ional county in Miss i s s ipp i , but interchangeabl e
w i th n e a r l y ev e ry c ounty t h a t i s t h e S outh .
" Barn
Burning , " l ike Faulkner ' s works in genera l , i s not rib­
bon t ied prett ily into bows , needing only a gentl e tug
to free h i s meanings .
It is , rather , the mar i ner ' s
monkey fist , twi sted and turned , up , through , behind ,
before .
A gentle tug only tightens it further .
Each
strand , each nuance , must be pat iently p icked through ,
unwound , and carefully traced to its next convolut ion .
I n the most acce s s i b l e strand ,
S arty ,
the
protagonist , must make a cho ice e ither t o fol l ow h i s
destruct ive father o n a path o f inevitabl e despair and
ruin or to break away from h i s father ' s grasp and l ive
Abner Snopes , Sarty ' s
according to his own values .
father , is a tenant farmer , without roots , always on
the run , driven by a weakness for fire .
F ire i s , to
ne
r
,
the
u
l
t
imate
j
u
s
t
i
c
e
,
a
nd
,
wh
en
he f e e l s
Ab
wronged , he does not hes itate to use it .
Abner has ha­
rangued Sarty repeatedly to be true to the " ol d f ierce
pul l of blood , " but Sarty p ro foundly des ires a world o f
peace , gent i l ity , and stab i l ity .
Th is i s the world
S arty env i s ions in the p i l l ared and port icoed world of
Maj or DeSpa in , a wealthy farmer w ith whom Abner has
contracted to work .
Abner does not . share Sarty ' s v iew o f th is idyl l ic
sett ing
and proceeds with calm del iberation to track
45
Maj or
horse manure on the rug in DeSpa in ' s hal lway .
DeSpain ins i sts Abner wash out the sta i n , but , in the
proces s of so do ing , Abner l eaves the rug permanently
s c a r re d .
In 1 i ght of th i s , DeSp a i n charges Ab n e r
After
twenty bushel s o f corn t o pay for the damage .
unsuccess ful ly seeking redress through the courts , Ab­
ner resolves to burn DeSpa in ' s barn .
At thi s po int ,
Sarty must dec ide to uphold " the pul l o f b l ood " and
s t a y s i l e nt o r to a s s er t h i s own v a l u e s a nd w a r n
DeSpa in .
H e warns DeSpa in and Abner i s shot in the en­
suing fraca s .
Now , the ep iphany is comp l ete : the death
o f Ab n e r i s s ig n i f i c ant o n l y in the c on t e xt o f h i s
physical absence , for Sarty departed forever from h i s
father when h e went to warn DeSpa in .
A t th i s l evel ,
" Barn Burning " i s an enterta ining story o f a boy ' s com­
ing of age , but it is only at the fol l owing , subsequent
l eve l s that the story unfolds in intriguing comp l exity ,
redol ent w i th symbol and overlapp ing themes .
One o f the two a l l egorical tabl eaus interwoven in
" B a r n Burn i ng " i s a p o r t r aya l o f the i n t e r n a l d i f ­
f i cu l t i e s wh i ch c o n t r ibuted t o the Wa r b etween the
States .
V iewed from thi s perspective , Maj or DeSpa in
represents the landed gentry- -corrupt ,
yet insul ated
from h i s own deprav ity , convinced on the correctness o f
h i s ways .
Witness Faulkner ' s description o f DeSpain ' s
mans ion a s seen through Sarty ' s eyes :
Presently he could see the grove o f oaks and
c e d a r s and the other f l ow e r i ng t r e e s and
shrubs where the house would be , though not
the house yet .
They wa lked bes ide a fence
massed w ith honeysuckl e and Cherokee roses
and came to a gate swinging open between two
brick p i l l ars .
F ive paragraphs l ater Faulkner exp l ores Abner ' s v i s ion
o f the mans ion :
" Pretty and wh ite , a in ' t it? he said .
That ' s sweat .
N i gg e r swe a t .
Mayb e i t a i n ' t wh i t e
enough yet t o suit him .
Maybe he wants t o m i x some
wh i t e sweat w i th i t . "
Both descript i ons are
appropriate ; the house i s the result o f s l ave l abor ,
but it i s an el egant , beaut i ful th ing .
The beauty o f
its facade d i sguises the depravity o f its owner .
Ab n e r S n o p e s r ep r e s e nt s the u n d e rc l a s s :
wretchedly poor and emb ittered by the inequ ity o f the
system which prevents h i s change in status .
He is ,
however , l ike DeSpa in , unaware o f h i s own deprav ity and
c o nv i nc e d o f the r i ghtn e s s o f h i s way s .
F a u l kn e r
refers to Snopes o ften in h i s " st i ff b l ack coat , " a l ­
luding t o the Southern institut ions and trad it ions that
46
The disparity of the l anded class and the
b ind him .
undercl a s s culminates in its ult imate form :
war .
With
the burning of the barn , Faulkner a l ludes to the war in
paragraph 1 0 7 :
. . . the tranquil early summer n ight sky which ,
even before the shape o f the horse and r ider
v a n i shed ,
s t a i ne d abrup t l y and v i o l en t l y
upward :
a l ong , swirl ing roar incredible and
soundl ess , blotting the stars . . .
Thi s remarkabl e description o f the barn swa l l owed in
flame could a s easily describe the torturous purgatory
of cannon she l l and art i l lery fire .
After the war , a
denuded l and i s l e ft to become whatever it w i l l .
Sarty
is th is beginning .
I n the f i n a l s t rand o f a l l egory i n t h i s s t o ry ,
DeSpain is the romant i c i z ed ,
f ict iona l i z ed v i s ion of
the South , the fanci ful imaginings o f both North and
South of what the post-bel lum South i s .
He is wrapped
He cush ions
in the trappings of gent i l ity and d ignity .
and pads his world with the " suave turn to the carpeted
sta i r and a pendant gl itter of chandel iers and a mute
gl eam of gold frames , " a l l to dece ive both those within
and those without .
The mans ion which i s h i s doma in is
portrayed as " wh it e , " imp l y i ng the i nn a t e g o o dn e s s
which h e is heir to .
This v i s ion seduces S arty , who
na ively bel ieves herein l ies re fuge from the terror and
fear that permeate h i s l i fe .
Here is peace .
Faulkner
makes thi s clear in paragraph 4 1 , w ith Sarty ' s descrip­
t ion o f the mansion .
Sarty i s aghast that his father
would , without hes itat ion ,
sul ly the l ight rug w ith
manure .
What Sarty does not yet rea l i z e i s that the
dirt may be ashed from the carpet but a scar w i l l a l ­
ways rema i n , j u s t a s t h e wrongs o f t h e p a s t m a y b e
righted but the scars wi l l a l s o always rema i n .
Abner Snopes i s , in th is view o f the story , the
embod iment of " the system , " the South which by its very
He i s the
nature b rings about its own destruct ion .
viol ent , destruct ive forces that were the rea l S outh :
the crue lty , the slavery , the inequities .
Abner i s
repeatedly descr ibed a s " st i f f " and made " from t in . "
He i s the dark s ide of the South , its h idden shame and
degradation , its rigid , t in-l ike mores which refuse to
bend .
And so , the persons o f Abner Snopes and Maj or
DeSpa in make up the whole of what i s the S outh , the
post-bel lum South , its true past and its painted past .
Both are dangerous and both are destruct ive and , l ike a
s i l ent fungus in a cornf ield , they must be burned out
to l eave the soil ripe for another crop .
Sarty i s the
47
phoenix r i s ing above these a shes .
F i re i s a d e s t ruct ive powe r , but i t i s a l s o a
c l e a n s i ng f o r c e , and i t h a s r e l ea s e d S a rt y a n d the
S outh o f the con f ines o f both its imagined grace and
He i s ultimately the product o f
its actua l depravity .
these three :
DeSpa in , as the f ict ional S outh , Abner ,
as the actual S outh , and f ire , a s the agent o f freedom .
He i s the new South and what it must be to succeed :
aware o f its past and free o f delus ion about its failed
and f a b l ed a r i s t o c ra cy .
F au l kn e r i l l u s t r a t e s t h i s
el oquently i n h i s repeated reference t o S arty ' s drive
to r e s i s t the " f i e rc e p u l l o f b l o od , " re f e r r i ng t o
S a rt y ' s a nd the S outh ' s n e e d t o ove r c ome the p a s t .
F a u l kn e r want s S a rty t o g row beyond not o n l y h i s
father , but the seduct ion o f the delusion o f DeSpa in .
A perspect ive on the past , a v i ew o f the future , a
v i s ion , and a warning a l l are present in " Barn Burn­
ing . 11
The depravities of the past , embodied in Abner
and Maj or DeSpa in , are not only a brief v i s it to h i s ­
tory , but a portent for tomorrow , i f h istory ' s l e s sons
a re l e ft unheeded .
Faulkner , despite the b l eak warn­
ing , l eaves Sarty to the world as a note o f opt imism , a
hope for the future .
The f inal gl impse o f S arty in
" Ba rn Burn ing " f inds him in the thin , cool l ight o f the
dawn ; inherent in thi s scene is the pro found des ire
that the chi ld w i l l indeed l ea rn from the mistakes o f
the fathers .
The Evaluation :
Sherri ' s lucid
analys i s , complemented by her ref ined
styl e , reaches a degree o f
sophi st icat ion unusual in an under­
graduate ,student and worthy o f
W i l l iam Faulkner ' s complexity .
48
Analyz ing Poetry :
" Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening "
by Akemi Horimoto
( Writing for Col l ege ; Engl i sh as a
Second Language--Kathi Halper )
The Ass ignment :
Write an essay analyz ing
Robert Frost ' s " Stopping by Woods on
a Snowy Evening . "
Focus the inter­
pretation on e ither personal experiences
relevant to the poem andjor spec i f ic
imagery .
On a freez ing night , the woods are covered w ith
Whi l e the speaker i s ap­
snow , and sunk in darkness .
prec iat ing the beauty o f the woods with h i s horse , h i s
mind i s s t i l l captured by the rea l it ies in l i fe .
I
feel that thi s poem is sad .
There are moments that my mind i s compl etely ab­
s o rbed by n a t u re .
S aturated w i t h n a t u r e , I f o rget
about everything .
Nothing is on my mind .
I l ike the
quiet t ime .
I think it is fair that nature g ives such
a great moment to everybody who watches it , regardless
o f riches .
S o , I guess that there must be a spec ial reason
for his concern about the ownership o f the woods .
I
imagine that the woods bel onged to him before , and that
he was ob l iged to sell h i s favor ite woods .
The more he
l oved the wood s , the deeper h i s a t t a chment to them
In modern soc iety , trespass ing on
might have rema ined .
Yet , I think that
others ' property is not a l l owed .
woods a r e nature ' s b e l ong ings .
I t i s s a d t o watch
s i lent nature through the glasses o f soc i a l rul es , be­
cause in a sense , the exi stence o f the woods is beyond
human be ings ' pos sessions .
Li stening to nature ' s wh isper in the dark woods ,
he i s awake enough t o l i s t e n t o h i s i nw a rd v o i c e .
Urged by the voice , he thinks about what he has to do
tonight .
And , he rea l i zes that he has many things to
49
do be fore h i s eterna l s l eep .
Like snow f l akes , the
voices are fall ing on him repeatedly , and l ie on h im .
It i s heavy to be snowed upon by the sense o f respon­
s ib i l ity w ithout a n ice rel i e f .
The s t i l l ness o f nature consoles everybody ' s m ind
at any t ime .
But , even i f he is in nature , he doesn ' t
l et h i s mind return to its calmnes s .
I t seems to me
t h a t t h i s p o e t r i ng s the h a rne s s b e l l s l i ke a s o f t
warning against the too stra ined human ' s mind .
The Evaluat ion :
Akemi Horimoto has
very successful ly used the imagery
of the poem to rel ate to her
personal feel ings about nature .
Her ab i l ity to s e l ect the most
appropriate vocabulary is superior
for a student who i s writing in a
second l anguage .
50
Journal # 4
by Brent Hunter
( Engl ish 1 0 0 -Buss )
The Assignment :
Take a persona l ,
narrat ive j ournal and rewrite it for
an audience .
Whi l e a j ournal is
introspective , the essay must a l l ow
the reader to share the writer ' s
experience .
S ix o f my friends and I had j ust fini shed basic
tra ining and the Advanced Ind iv idua l i z ed Tra ining ( AI T )
We had a l l been in the
t o become medics in the army .
army for only several months , and so far it had been
cha l leng ing for a l l of us .
There was one more cha l ­
l enge that l ay be fore us : Airborne schoo l !
I t w a s May 2 2 , 1 9 8 7 , one day b e f o r e my twenty­
We were at 8 0 0 feet travel ing at a l ­
f irst b irthday .
most 1 6 0 knots .
I was second man in the door , and the
j oke in the pl ane was " I s Brent going to l ive to see
his twenty-first b irthday? "
The red l ight suddenly
turned green , and in forty to f i fty seconds I wou l d be
on the ground .
The j oke would be answered .
The pl ane had taken off in Georgia , but I would be
parachut ing onto Frye drop zone somewhere in Alabama .
It was my l ast j ump ; a l l I had to do was wal k away from
thi s l ast j ump and I would f ini sh the Un ited States
I t was hot , and I knew the hot
Army Airborne School .
air r i s ing would help for a so fter l and ing .
So far it l ooked l ike the best j ump o f the week .
I h a d no one a round me f o r a hundred f e e t .
I wa s
steering my control l ines c loser to the wood l ine to
help keep away from the creek below me .
I t had ra ined
the n i ght b e f o r e , and the mud f r om the c re e k c ou l d
eas i l y break some bones i f I hit there .
I was descend­
The ground was coming up quickly .
ing at a lmost 18 feet per second .
By th is t ime I was
almost tree top l evel .
I began to steer into the wind
51
to s l ow down my fal l .
With my feet and knees together
I h i t the ground .
I rel eased my ma in chute .
Then I j ust l ay there .
I felt no pain .
Maybe I was dead?
No , I had used my
hands to release my chute .
I wiggled my toes ; they
worked !
So I stood up and l ooked a round to make sure
the rest of my friends had landed okay .
They were a l l
okay , s o I gathered my chute and rucksack and met my
f ri ends at the rendezvous point .
We were a l l happy and l aughing a l oud .
Out o f s i x
hundred and twenty people ,
three hundred and twelve
made it .
There would be no more j ok ing about me see ing
my twenty - f i rst b irthday .
The school was over and I
wou l d b e going home for two weeks to celeb rate , keep ing
in m i nd that I would be j umping out of a p l ane for a
l iv i ng now .
I wonder i f I w i l l be j ump ing out o f a
p lane the day be fore my twenty- second b irthday?
I hope
not ; who needs to worry .
The Eva luat ion :
Brent shares h i s
experience w ith his readers by
s e lecting spec i f i c deta i l s and
inc ident s .
The essay has a t ight
organi z at ion and moves the reader
f rom beginning to end .
52
Smoking :
A Hard Habit To Qui t
b y Anne Ka ider
( Engl i sh 1 0 1 --Dodds )
The Assignment :
Write a personal
experience essay in the part ic ipant ' s
role describ ing a l ong process o f
s ign i f icant change .
Tel l your story
in the "vignette styl e , " breaking it
into a series of separate yet cl osely
rel ated epi sodes .
Smok i ng i s non add i ct iv e .
o r s o the p r o smokers would have u s bel ieve .
They would a l so have us
be l i ev e t h a t it d o e s n ' t c a u s e d i s e a s e , in s p i t e o f
ma j o r e v i dence t o the cont r a ry .
Be ing a r e f o rmed
smoker , I always feel a surge o f p ity for anyone who
I f there is anyone
actual ly bel ieves th is nonsense .
who doubts what smoking is and what it does , they have
obviously never had the experience of trying to qu it .
My f i rst c igarette was out beh ind a factory in an
industrial sect ion of our ne ighborhood ,
hidden from
tra f f ic and , most importantly , from l ittle s i sters and
brothers who would tattle without hes itat ion .
I was
with two of my best friends , a l ready old pros , and they
were go ing to teach me how to inhale .
What is worse
It ' s hop ing
than thinking that you are going to d ie?
you w i l l die soon to rel ieve the mi sery and knowing
that you won ' t !
And that ' s how my first c igarettes
made me feel .
The smoke felt l ike sand in my lungs ,
tr iggering violent , painful coughing and the unfam i l iar
It ' s not easy
nicot ine made me nauseous very quickly .
to learn to smoke , but when you ' re 1 4 and trying very
hard to be grown up it ' s a sma l l price to pay .
Just
look at the number of people who have accomp l i shed it .
When I f irst j o ined the ranks of smokers , I got
cigarettes the only way I could .
I took them from my
moth e r ' s p u r s e o r I b o r rowed them f rom o l d e r k i d s .
Somet imes I stole a dol lar from my mother ' s purse so I
could have someone buy me a whole pack .
Of course ,
th i s w a s j u s t one o f th o s e reb e l l i ou s t h i ng s that
53
I couldn ' t have been devel op i ng a need
teenagers do .
for c igarettes at that age .
Right?
Over the years , I smoked more and more heav i l y ,
unaware o f the harm I was caus ing mysel f .
My body ' s
init i a l warning came when I was 2 1 .
I devel oped b ron­
chi t i s for the f i rst t ime .
I thought i t was a cold and
refused to go to the doctor and in a coup l e of days , I
was so congested that I couldn ' t l ie down and cont inue
b r ea th i n g .
T h a t n i ght , I s l ep t s i t t i ng up a nd my
mother and boyfriend took turns s itting w ith me a l l
n ight so that I wouldn ' t f a l l over onto my s ide and
suffocate .
The next day I gave in and agreed to get
med icat ion , but I was so breathless that I could hardly
walk to the car , even w ith help .
It took a l ong t ime
to recover and i t was rea l l y hard to smoke .
I t hurt my
lungs so much I a lmost dec i ded to stop unt i l I was bet­
ter .
From then on , I got bronch i t i s twice every year ,
in the winter and aga in in the spring .
After severa l
years o f l i sten ing to my family doctor tel l me that I
h a d t o qu i t s m o k i ng o r I w ou l d p e rm a n en t l y s c a r my
lung s , I got t ired G f hear i ng his l ecture and I dec ided
I s t a rt e d g o i ng t o
to do the o n l y r a t i o n a l t h i ng .
various cl inics for antibiotics every t ime I got bron­
chit i s , so my doctor wouldn ' t know I had it aga in .
Wh e n I w a s 2 8 , my b o dy t r i ed o n c e m o r e .
I had
devel oped a v i ra l in fection in my eyes and once a week ,
for 2 months , an opthamol ogist chemica l l y cauter i z ed
the l e s ions on my upper eyes and the ins ide surfaces o f
my upper l ids .
When that w a s over , I w a s warned t o
avoid anything that could cause trauma to my eyes and
trigger a recurrence , such as hard contact lenses , dust
or any aerosol sprays that would l inger in the a i r .
I
was very careful .
I made sure that when I smoked I sat
where a dra ft would cause the smoke to dri ft away from
me , because when i� got in my eyes the les ions reap­
peared .
S evera l t imes , it got so bad that I had to
return to the doctor , but I didn ' t ment ion that I was
smoking .
I j ust promised mysel f that I woul d be more
careful in the future .
As ide from heal th probl ems , some o f my worst mo­
ments as a smoker were when I ran out of c igarettes and
didn ' t have enough money to buy another pack .
Th i s
didn ' t happen o ften , bel ieve me !
I usua l ly replenished
O f course ,
my supply when I got down to 3 packs or so .
by then I was smoking 3 to 4 packs a day , s o they were
I suppose everyone has heard the stories
used quickly .
about peop l e rummaging in a shtrays l ooking for butts
when they run short .
It ' s an amusing p i cture in your
sort o f l ike a raccoon going through the
mind .
54
In fact , I did hunt through the
backyard garbage pail .
garbage many t imes and once I went so far as to bring
back a b a g o f g a rb a g e that I had t aken out s i d e and
empty in on the kitchen floor , w ith the hope o f f ind ing
that one l arge butt I j ust KNEW was in the a shtray when
I dumped it .
I f the worst happened , i f I found mysel f
tota l ly without c igarettes , too late at n ight to wake
up a neighbor to borrow , I would get dressed and drive
to an a l l -night supermarket where I could get some .
I
have been known to do thi s at 3 : 0 0 A . M . a fter tearing
the house apart f irst whi l e searching .
S l eep was im­
poss ib l e , mostly due to the thought of waking up in the
morn i n g w i t h noth i ng to smoke .
O f c o ur s e , I t o l d
mysel f , i t wasn ' t that I rea l ly needed a c igarette .
It
was j ust that I enj oyed them with my breakfast .
Are c i ga rett e s enj oyab l e ?
S ure they a r e !
The
nicotine rush makes you feel rel axed and a l ive at the
same t ime .
They a l so speed up your metabol ism so you
can eat a l ot more than you would be able to otherwise
and not gain weight .
They are a terr i f i c subst itute
for exercise in a weight loss program .
They save you
from those nasty torn l igaments that can result from
dangerous a c t i v i t i e s l i ke j ogg ing and a e r ob i c s .
I
never l iked j ogging or j umping anyway .
They made me
gasp for breath too much .
Every so o ften , I would l ook around at the burns
on the tables and in my cl othes and dec ide that perhaps
I should quit for a whi l e .
Each t ime I went through
F i r s t I checked my supp l y o f
the s am e r it ua l .
I f there were too many l e ft , I put off
c igarettes .
I
quitt ing for a day or two unt i l I could use them up .
reasoned that it would be waste ful to throw them away
a fter spending good money on them .
Of course , a fter a
day or two , I usual ly l ost the des ire to quit anyway ,
and I was thankful then that I hadn ' t thrown away a l l
those perfectly good cigarettes .
I f there was only one pack l e ft , I h id it where it
wouldn ' t tempt me , but would be there if th ings got
tough .
Not that they would , but .
j us t in case .
Then I went without any cigarettes at a l l for a whole
day .
A fter that , having proved to mys e l f that I could
qu it anytime I wanted , I decided that it would be j ust
as good to cut down and only a l l ow mysel f one pack a
day .
S oon , I was aga in smoking as much as ever , but at
least I knew it was by cho ice , because I l iked it and
not because I couldn ' t stop .
Somet imes , I chose a t ime to qu it when I had run
out comp l etely .
In that case , I had to go and buy one
pack for emergency use .
. j ust in case .
And s ince
they were so expens ive by the pack , I reasoned it would
55
be a waste o f money not to buy a carton .
And then ,
s i nce I couldn ' t poss ibly quit with a carton i n the
hou s e , and it was wasteful to throw them away , I aga in
postponed my p l ans .
Does thi s sound ridicu l ous?
I t i s . It ' s a l so what
I went through over and over again .
And do you know
something?
It never once seemed ridicu l ous to me at
the t ime .
S o how did I finally quit?
E ach year at Chri stmas , my mother and s ister were
in the habi t of giving me a carton o f c igarettes a l ong
Three y e a r s a g o , t h r e e d ay s
w i th my othe r g i ft s .
My dad had
before Chr i stma s , my mother passed away .
d i ed when I was 2 1 , so my s ister , brother and I felt
th i s new l o s s very deep l y .
A l l the p r e s e n t s w e r e
bought , but w e put everything on hold unt i l w e could
face open ing the g i fts Mom had chosen for us .
It was
February before we had our Christma s .
After the g i fts
were opened , I commented that I hadn ' t gotten my annual
cigarettes and my s i ster rep l ied , " I threw them away .
I don ' t want to lose you too . "
I r ep l ayed tho s e w o r d s i n my m i n d f o r a w e e k .
Then I took every c i garette in the house , shredded them
comp l etely into the garbage , threw away every a shtray
in the house and qui t .
Comp l etely .
It wasn ' t easy ,
but my s i ster had g iven me the motivat ion I had lacked
for 2 5 years .
One o f my happiest moments was last summer when
someone a sked me how l ong it had been s ince I qu it , and
I couldn ' t remember exactly .
Up unt i l then , each t ime
someone asked that quest ion , I could answer immediately
that it was 6 months and 3 days , or two years , 2 months
and 1 2 days .
S o when I couldn ' t remember , I rea l i z ed
that I was no l onger counting each day that I had been
free o f c igarettes .
The fear o f s l ipp ing back was no
l onger w i th me ,constantly .
I was fina l ly and truly a
rea l nonsmoker !
The Evaluat ion :
As a former fourteen­
yea r , two-pack-a-day smoker , I enj oyed
Anne Ka ider ' s essay immensely .
She
made me forget I was an Engl i sh
teacher reading her es say--the h ighest
pra i s e I can g ive col l ege writ ing .
She has written vividly , humorously ,
and ins ightful ly .
I especi a l l y
enj oyed the i ronic way she captured
smokers ' rat iona l i z at ion .
56
" Barn Burning " - Faulkner :
S arty
by Lisa Kaufman-Lindahl
( Engl i sh 1 0 2 --Mott l a )
The Assignment :
T o stimul ate d iscuss i on
in an evening 1 0 2 class o f bright but
tired working students , I a lmost
casua l ly ass igned a character ana l y s i s
o f Sarty in Wm . Faulkner ' s " Barn
Burn ing . "
I expla ined the reason
for the ass ignment , then I told them
to focus on a s ingl e character
tra it or two .
I added that the
fol l owing week ' s di scuss ion would be
based on the i r writ ings , but that the
writ ings would not be col lected or
graded .
S a rty i s smart .
He knows a nd unde r s t a n d s m o r e
than h i s ci rcumstances could ever a l l ow him t o expres s .
We see h im in strong contrast to h i s older brother :
a
shadowy , tobacco chewing re fl ect ion of the i r father .
One who never quest ions , doesn ' t think , never speaks .
We compa re Sarty with his s i sters :
two fl accid crea­
tures who plod through the narrat ive ; they are sto l id
and stup id as one .
But S arty thinks ; Sarty feel s .
Sarty l ongs for a
tie that wi l l b ind him to the mysterious , terrib l e man
who is h i s father .
He aches for that connect ion and
would de fend it most fearsome ly regardless of whether
or not it truly exists .
From the moment we meet him , Sarty i s trying to
connect .
" Our enemy , " he thinks .
When the father is
s e n t e n c e d t o h a nd i ng over twenty bushe l s o f c o rn ,
Sarty ' s long ing springs up , uncontro l l ed :
" they won ' t
get hit - we ' l l hide it . "
Yet each t ime , a l though he
is not rebuked , his l ong ing meets with no response ,
noth ing , l ike the pass ionless blows h i s f ather dea l s
with " n o heat " beh ind them .
I t is because he is smart that S arty must forever
s e ek to make th i s connect i on , and it b e c a u s e he i s
smart that he ultimately must break it .
He cannot be
57
content - to accept l i fe as it happens for thi s family ,
( fa rm to farm , town to town ) , without seeking to make
some sense of it .
He would have some understanding and
some peace i f he only had that connect ion , i f he had a
bond , a deeper bond with h i s father .
Then i t would be
a l l r ight ; then he would have something to de fend .
S a rty quest ions .
He knows what h i s father does
i sn ' t r ight .
He knows somehow too , though , that h i s
father i s compel l ed t o d o i t , that he can ' t help it .
And because S arty i s smart , he l ongs for somethi ng that
w i l l change h i s father and " keep h im f rom what maybe he
couldn ' t help but be . "
S a rty ' s father doesn ' t change .
S arty does .
He
breaks the pattern , the cha in of events that has been
repeated many t imes over , even in the short course o f
It i s because he i s smart that he
Sarty ' s young l i fe .
I don ' t
cannot accept , that he is compel l ed to act ion .
th i n k h e k n ow s what the c o s t w i l l b e - o r maybe he
d o e s , a n d s e e s no ch o i ce .
H e c o u l d have run ; he
He stays to do what he does , to stop
chooses to stay .
the madne s s .
I s ee h im s itting a l one on that h i l l and wonder
wh a t c o u r s e he n ow choo s e s .
D o e s h e r e t u r n t o the
Or is thi s the moment that he
fam i ly and face them?
takes to ca l l h i s , that he takes with h im to the world ,
young , smart and very a l one .
The Evaluation :
Ms . Kaufman- Lindahl ' s
response i s an excel lent sample o f
how intel l igent , h ighly-mot ivated
students think and work .
Her
analys i s is sharply focused and
extremely perceptive .
F irst she
v i ews Sarty in relation to h i s
family , then she moves in t o probe h i s
i nner conf l ict .
Her ending i s
perfectly appropriate t o Fau l kner ' s
own amb iguous ending .
The Ass ignment and Evaluat ion :
I was
so impres sed w ith Ms . Kaufman-Lindahl ' s
writ ing on Sarty S nopes that I a sked
her to pursue a few of her ideas
further .
I n the resulting p iece
Ms . Kau fman-Lindahl reta ins her initial
sharp focus , discovers yet more o f
58
Sarty ' s character and strengthens
her cont inuity of idea .
The
assignment rema ined ungraded .
S a rt y i s smart .
He knows and und e r s t ands more
than h i s c ircumstances could ever a l l ow him to express .
We see him in strong contrast to h i s older brother :
a
shadowy ,
tobacco chewing re flect ion o f the i r father ;
one who never questions , doesn ' t think , never speaks .
We compare Sarty with h i s s i sters :
two f l accid crea­
tures who plod through the narrative ; they are s tol id
and stupid as one .
But Sarty thinks ; Sarty fee l s .
Sarty l ongs for a
tie that w i l l b ind him to the mysterious , terribl e man
who is h i s father .
He aches for that connection and
would defend it most fearsomely regardless of whether
�
or not it truly exi sts .
From the moment we meet him , Sarty is try i ng to
connect .
"Our enemy , " he thinks as he and his father
face j ustice in a storefront courtroom .
During another
brush with the l aw , when Sarty ' s father is sentenced to
hand i ng ov e r ten bushe l s of c o rn , S a rty ' s l o n g i ng
springs up , " they won ' t get hit - we ' 1 1 hide it ; ' he
cannot control h i s yearning , h i s aching for l i fe to
rea l ly be "us aga inst them . "
Yet each t ime , a lthough
he is not rebuked , his l onging meets with no response ,
nothing , l ike the pass ionless blows h i s father dea l s to
both S arty and the mules , blows with " no heat " behind
them .
It is because he is smart that Sarty must forever
seek to make thi s connect ion , and it is because he is
smart that he ultimately must break it .
His brother
w i l l only fol l ow along where the i r father l eads ; his
s isters will surely do the same .
They do not have the
strength of character to do anything more .
But S a rty
cannot be content to accept l i fe as it happens for th is
fami ly , ( farm to farm , town to town ) , w ithout seeking
to make some sense o f it .
I f only he had some connec­
t ion , a bond - a deeper bond with his father , then he
would have some peace .
Then it would be a l l right be­
cause then he would have something to defend .
Sarty quest ions .
He knows what h i s father does
i sn ' t r ight .
He knows somehow too , though , that his
father is compel l ed to do it , that he can ' t help it .
And because Sarty is smart , he longs for something that
w i l l change h i s father and " keep him from what maybe he
couldn ' t help but be . "
Sarty ' s father doesn ' t change .
Sarty does .
He
breaks the pattern , the cha in of events that has been
repeated many t imes over , even in the short course o f
59
It i s because he i s smart that he
S a rty ' s young l i fe .
cannot accept , that he i s compel l ed to act ion .
He i s
breaking from the fear , the hatred , and the shame o f
h i s l i fe .
I don ' t think h e knows what the cost wi l l b e
- o r maybe h e does , and s e e s no cho i ce .
H e could have
run ; he chooses to stay .
He stays to do what he does ,
t o stop the madness .
I see him s itting a l one on that h i l l and wonder
D o e s he r e t u rn t o the
wh a t c o u r s e he n ow choo s e s .
fam i l y and face them?
Or is thi s the moment that he
t akes to c a l l h im , that he takes with h im to the world ,
young , smart and very a l one .
60
That I s Why
by Katj a Laepke
( Engl i sh 1 0 1 - -Sternberg )
The Ass ignment :
Ms . Laepke was a sked
to write about something that s eemed
to color her l i fe for a l ong t ime and
to devel op an appropriately emphatic
structure .
You ask me why I don ' t write you anymore?
Why I
don ' t cal l you anymore?
You a sk me why I do th i s to
you? Why I do thi s to your son? Why I make it s o d i f­
You ask me why I
f icul t for him and your grandchild?
I w i l l tell you ,
am so comp l i cated?
Why I hate you?
even though you won ' t l i sten anyway .
I am i l legitimate .
To you i l l egitimacy means a
s candal .
You think it has to be concea led from your
You pract ice
fami ly , your friends , and your neighbors .
social d i scrimination aga inst mother s o f i l legit imate
ch ildren and constitute an obstacle to the rea l i z at ion
o f a normal l i fe for these mothers and the ir chi l dren .
W o r d s l i ke " d i s d a i n , " " s hame , "
" c ont empt "
and
" condemnation" come to your mind .
Al though you seem to
bel i eve it , I did not ask to be born .
I did not ask to
grow up feel ing l ike a second-rate person , and even
worse , a superf luous one whose very r ight to be a l ive
i s in quest ion .
I did not ask to be a product of the
immoral and irresponsible behavior of my mother and my
biological father , as you ca l l it .
Accord ing to the dictionary , i l legitimacy i s the
status of a chi l d to an unmarried woman or to a married
woman i f her husband i s not the father .
Article 1 of
the Un iversal Decl aration o f Human Rights provides ,
" A l l human be ings are born free and equa l in d ign ity
and right s " :
furthermore , Article 2 adds , " Everyone i s
entitled to a l l the rights and freedoms s e t forth in
thi s Declarat ion , without di stinction of any kind , such
as race , color , sex , l anguage , rel igion , pol it ical or
other op inion ,
nationa l or social origin ,
property ,
b i rth , or other status . "
I hope you know th i s .
It i s
as s impl e as that .
61
Let me tel l you what i l l egitimacy means to me and
my f am i l y thanks to y o u r h e a r t l e s s a t t i t u d e and
hum i l iating behavior .
I l l eg i t imacy means feel ing gui lty .
Why does my
mother have to suffer and put up w ith you j ust because
I am born? Had you ever tried to understand my mother ,
her chi l dhood , her social background , before you ca l l ed
h e r a n immo r a l a nd i rr e s p o n s i b l e p r o s t i t ut e ?
She
t rusted and l oved my b i o l ogical father , but when she
told h im that she was pregnant , he l e ft her and never
spoke a word to her aga i n .
Don ' t you think that i s
To my mother i l ­
rather immoral and i rresponsible?
l e g i t imacy means having had t o face the dec i s ion o f
ra i s ing m e and be ing burdened w ith the respons ib i l i t ies
o f e a r n i ng money w ithout any h e l p o f my b i o l og i ca l
father , g iv i ng me up for adopt i on , or abort ing me .
I
st i l l can hardly bel ieve that you , who c l a im to be to­
t a l l y aga inst abort ion , would have regarded an abort ion
more appropr iate than del ivering and ra i s ing an i l ­
l e g i t imate child .
T o me i l l egitimacy means feel ing
re spons ibl e for l e ssening my mother ' s chance to l ive a
decent , succes s ful , and accepted l i fe .
I was so happy and proud when my mother married my
father .
I t seemed to take the gui l t o f f o f me .
My
mother found someone who l oved her and whom she could
t rust .
You
But you made me feel even more gui l ty .
weren ' t happy and proud to have a granddaughter .
Sud­
denly i l l eg i t imacy meant you t rying to h ide me f rom
Il­
your fam i ly , your friends , and your neighbors .
l eg i t im a cy m e a n s you n o t a l l ow i n g m e t o c a l l you
Grandma and Grandpa , even though you are my father ' s
I t means you ignoring me .
Consequently , to
parents .
y o u r son b e i ng the f athe r of a n i l l eg i t im a t e ch i l d
meant being torn apart between my mother and me and
you , h i s parent s , whose att itude and behavior he never
understood .
No matter how he reacted , what he s a id , or
what he did , he hurt someone he l oved .
He had to make
a deci s ion to e ither fol l ow h i s fee l ings or your w i sh
t o l eave us , and that dec i s ion a lmost b roke h i s heart .
I l l eg i t im a cy m e a n s b e i ng f or ev e r t h a nk f u l t h a t my
father accepted me as h i s own chi ld .
I l l e g i t ima cy m e a n s f ee l i ng t h e n e e d t o p r ove
mysel f worthy of being l oved and constantly hav i ng to
a ch i eve something .
My s i ster i s born , and maybe now
y o u r e a l i z e t h a t t h e r e i s no s u c h t h i ng a s an i l ­
l eg i t imate chi l d , but that a chi l d i s a chi l d .
Maybe
now you rea l i z e that ch i ldren a re equa l ; however , you
do not .
Instead you love my s i ster uncondit iona l ly
f r om t h e m om e n t s h e i s b o r n , and y o u a re happy and
p roud o f your grandch i l d .
You introduce her to your
62
family , to our friends , and to your ne ighbors .
You do
not change your att itude or behavior towards me ; on the
cont r a ry ,
you deny me the r i ght t o b e y o u r
granddaughter ' s s i ster because an i l legitimate chi l d
has a n immoral inf luence o n her .
I desperate ly try to
I write you letters ,
deserve your l ove and attent ion .
you don ' t answer ; I cal l you , you don ' t talk to me ; I
draw you p ictures , you throw them away ; I remember your
But you write my s ister ,
birthdays , you forget mine .
you cal l her , you hang her pictures on your wa l l , and
you remember her b i rthday and give her presents .
Il­
l e g i t ima cy means not unde r s tand ing why my s i s t e r
deserves your love and attention and I don ' t .
To my
s i ster i l l egitimacy means the spl it feel ing o f loving
her s i ster and loving her grandparents who hurt her
s ister so much for a reason she doesn ' t understand .
I l legitimacy is being depressed and heartbroken .
It is worrying my parents because I don ' t know how to
I t i s going through
go on .
I t is attempt ing suic ide .
many psychological treatments .
It is hearing :
" You
You don ' t have to feel
have the r ight to be al ive !
It is not your fault to
guilty - you are not guilty !
be born !
Don ' t g ive yoursel f up !
I f you never get
love and attent ion in return , you might start to hate
your g randparent s .
I gn o re them ! "
Do I hate you
al ready?
I l l eg i t imacy i s r e a l i z ing that my b i rth s t a t u s
changed the way I feel , think , and react forever .
It
Who is my b iologica l father?
is an ident ity cris i s .
Where is he?
Do I look l ike h im?
Am I l ike him? How
could he l eave my pregnant mother?
I s he a heedless
and s e l f i sh person and wanted t o e s cape the c o n ­
Or was he
sequences o f h i s relat ionship t o my mother?
s u d d e n l y o v e rw h e l m e d by a n a d u l t w o r l d f u l l o f
respons ib i l ities? Doesn ' t he ever wonder who and where
his daughter i s ?
I l l egitimacy is having to f ight for
I t is trying
the right to see my own fl esh and bl ood .
to make my mother understand why it is so important to
I cannot
me to see my biological father j ust once .
share her feel ings of pure hate and anger , but I ex­
per ience the confus ing feel ings of hate , ange r , and at­
tachment at the same t ime .
Searching for my b io l ogical
father is trying to ensure my father that I w i l l always
love and regard him as my father , no matter what and in
sp ite of it a l l .
I l legitimacy is being a fraid of l oving and trust­
ing a p a r t n e r .
I neve r want my ch i l d t o b e an i l ­
legit imate ch ild .
I l legit imacy is asking for financ ial help , because
you are upset that your son is pay ing for my l iving and
63
educat ion � even though I am not even adopted .
To take
o f f at l east a l ittle bit of the pressure on my father ,
I go to a l l these social security institut ions , exp l a in
my s ituation over and over again , and f inal ly f i l l out
a request for social wel fare .
I l l eg i t imacy is be ing
a shamed of l iv ing on social wel fare , but at l east fee l ­
ing a l ittle less gui lty .
I l legitimacy i s a l ong pa inful struggle towards
sel f-esteem .
Now , do you know why I don ' t write you anymore?
Why I d o n ' t c a l l you anym o r e ?
N o w l et me a s k y ou :
" Why don ' t you ever write me?
Why don ' t you ever cal l
me?
Why do you do thi s t o your son?
Why d o you make
it so d i f f icult for us?
Why a re you so comp l icated?
Why do you hate me?
And why don ' t you j us t ask the
only que stion you want an answer to anyway , "Why are
you a l ive? " I sn ' t that what you rea l ly want to know?
Why I made your pure family l ook so immora l ?
T o you i l l egit imacy means having l ost your son .
Because a fter a l l , the woman you cal l an immora l and
i rrespon s ib l e prostitute is your son ' s w i fe and the
woman he l oves , and the child you deny the very right
to be a l ive i s your son ' s daughter and the ch i ld he
l oves .
The Eva luat ion :
E f fect ive repet ition ,
p l enty o f concrete i l lustrat i on ,
ful l development and j udici ous
word cho ice power thi s essay .
64
Critique/Response
by John Lockner
( Engl ish 1 0 1--Nj us )
The Assignment :
In the critique­
response , a student discusses the
thesis of an essay assigned for c l a s s
and uses short , relevant quotations
in support o f this view .
What prompts Eiseley to conclude that he has seen
a miracle?
Explain .
( "More Thoughts on W i l derness , "
Loren E i se ley ) .
E i s e l ey was trekking through an area he described
as , " The l and , if one can cal l it a land , is a waste as
l i f e l e s s a s that va l l ey in wh i c h l i e the k i n g s o f
Egypt .
L i k e the Va l l ey o f the K i ngs ,
it is a
mau s o l eum , a p l ac e o f d ry bones i n wha t o n c e w a s a
The Badl ands o f Nebraska
pl ace of l i fe " ( page 1 5 0 } .
and South Dakota are a desolate , l i feless p l ace , and
the locat ion of an event which E i seley cons idered to be
a miracle .
Wh i l e standing on a large h il l , E iseley sp ied a
f l ock o f w a rb l e r s head i ng towards h i m t h r ough the
darkening a i r of dusk , a spectacle whi ch most would
cons ider commonpl ace , yet E iseley had a d i f ferent v iew :
" It may not strike you as a marvel .
It would not , per­
haps , unl ess you stood in the middle o f a dead world at
sunset , but that was where I stood" ( page 1 5 1 ) .
Noth­
ing grows in the Badl ands .
The pl ace is a graveyard
f i fty m i l l ion years old with the hi story of a world
l ong dead l ocked within its s o i l .
Through E i s e l ey ' s
scient i fic understanding and knowl edge o f anthropol ogy
he comes to a unique conclus ion about the l i fe that
" Now they
once prospered in the Badl ands eons ago :
were s t i l l here , or , put it as you wi l l , the chemica l s
that made them were here about me in the ground " ( page
151) .
E i sel ey was awed by the strength of t ime and the
cycle of l i fe .
The vis ion of the warblers coupl ed with
the presence of beasts m i l l ions of years dead at h i s
feet brought E i seley clarity o f mind and an apprec ia65
t ion for l i fe described in paragraph seven :
" I l i fted
I held it whi l e that wild
up a f i stful of that ground .
f l ight south-bound warblers hurtl ed over me into the
oncoming dark .
There went phosphorus , there went i ron ,
there went carbon , there beat the cal cium in those hur­
rying wings .
Al one on a dead pl anet I watched that in­
c r ed i b l e m i ra c l e s p e ed i n g p a s t " ( p a g e 1 5 2 } .
As he
stood amidst the sandstone p innacles contain ing the
l ong forgotten l i fe of ages past he ident i fies with the
men who roamed the l and at that t ime :
" I dropped my
f i st ful o f earth .
I heard it ro l l inanimate back into
the gul ly at the base o f the hi l l :
i ron , carbon , · the
chemica l s of l i fe .
Like men from those w i l d tribes who
had haunted these h i l l s be fore me seeking v i s ions .
I
made my s ign to the great darkness .
I t was not a mock­
E i s e l ey ' s
ing s ign , and I was not mocked " ( page 1 5 2 ) .
v i s ion o f the warbl ers free from the ground and reve l ­
ing i n l i fe a s h e stood among the dead bones and l i fe­
l ess chemica l s o f beasts l ong forgotten brought him to
Th i s wa s h i s
an i n t imacy w i th the p ow e � s o f l i f e .
m i racl e .
T o see the inanimate l i fe within the ground
and watch the animate l i fe soar above with the freedom
only a b ird can have gave E iseley a v i s ion most w i l l
never enj oy .
The Evaluat ion :
John Lockner ' s critique­
response uses conc ise language and
we l l -chosen quotations to expl icate
E i s e l ey ' s thes i s .
In his writ ing ,
John a l so captures some o f E i seley ' s
tone .
66
Phi l osophy of a Tree--The O l d Questi on
by Eric Mann
( Poetry 1 0 5--Burwe l l )
The Assignment :
Students were a sked
to exp l i cate a poem of thei r choos ing
in about 5 0 0 words .
?
The Sp ider holds a S i lver Bal l
I n unperce ived Hands And dancing softly to H imse l f
H i s Y arn o f Pearl - unw inds He pl ies from Nought to Nought In unsubstantial Trade Suppl ants our Tapestries with His I n ha l f the period An Hour to rear supreme
His Cont inents of Light Then dangle from the Housewi fe ' s Broom His Boundaries - forgot --Emily Dickinson
A common theme in poetry and therefore a topic for
b r o a de r d i s cu s s i o n s is the que s t i o n :
wh a t is the
relat ionship between the world of man and the natura l
wo r l d ?
The que s t i o n i n ev i t ab l y a r i s e s :
a r e man ' s
world and the world o f nature close enough " in sp irit"
to "peacefully" coexi st with one anothe r , or must they
a l w a y s c o n f l i c t w i t h e a c h o t h e r i n d e s t ru c t i v e
confrontations? And i f they must con f l ict , which typ i ­
c a l ly proves itsel f t o b e the stronger? One way to try
to answer these quest ions , for ourselves , is to examine
our interpretations o f poems which d i scus s these con­
f l icts through the i r central theme .
" The Sp ider Holds
a S i l v e r Ba l l , " b y Emi l y D i ck i n s o n , i s j u s t such a
p o em .
I n dep i c t i ng a con f l i c t b e tw e e n men a n d the
67
natura l , . it gives its own answer to the question o f
which i s the stronger .
The poem bestows upon man the
brute force necessary to "win" a " phys i ca l " confronta­
t i on , yet y i e l d s to n a t u r e the " t rue v i c t o ry , " the
power of mag i c and beauty .
D i ckinson ' s poem begins with the spider , who sym­
bol i z es the natura l world ,
" s imply" do ing a natural
th ing for a spider to do , weav ing a web .
What isn ' t
s impl e about th is f irst stanz a , however , i s the wonder­
ful image showing us the beauty o f the sp ider ' s ac­
t ions .
He " holds a S i lver Bal l " and dances " so ftly to
Himsel f , " whi l e unwind ing his " Yarn of Pearl . "
Above
and beyond th i s image we a re treated to , however , the
sp ider ' s possess ion of the " S i lver Bal l " and " Yarn o f
Pearl " h a s spec ial s ign i f icance .
Dickinson ' s u s e o f
s i lver a n d pearl , I argue , gives both beauty and value
to the sp ider ' s construction , due to the fact that both
s i lver and pear l s suggest values to the reader because
they are expens ive commod ities .
The second l ine o f
this stanz a contains special s ign i f i cance a l s o , because
it sugge sts a gul f between nature and man :
" In unper­
ceived Hands . "
Th is hints at the fact that man is in­
capab l e o f t ruly understanding nature , or even see ing
certa in facets o f it .
Try to imagine a human construc­
t ion worker , atop a highrise , danc ing softly to h imsel f
wh i l e weaving h i s " tapestry . "
In the second stanz a , we see a cont inuation o f the
d i f ference in end products o f man and those o f nature .
The spider " p l ies from Nought to Nought - In unsubstan­
t ia l Trade , " reveal ing that he seems to be working with
nothing ; h i s work i s almost inv i s ibl e , and perhaps even
meaning l e s s .
Yet , somehow he " supp l ants our Tapestries
w i th H i s - In h a l f the p e r i o d . "
S imp l y put - the
sp ider beats us " hands down " ; his work i s more mys ­
t e r i ou s a nd b e aut i fu l t h a n m an ' s .
By i n f u s ing the
sp ider with superior maj esty in h i s creat ions in rela­
t ion to man ' s , D i ckinson seems to be attempt ing to pay
homage to all o f nature ' s inherent beauty , wh i ch is so
d i f ferent from man ' s .
Whereas man ' s beauty is insp ired
by h i s own mind and heart , nature ' s i s almost awesomely
powerful in its mystery .
With th i s idea in mind , let ' s examine the th ird
stan z a o f D ickinson ' s poem .
Here , we see the spider ' s
" reward " for h i s work o f mysterious beauty .
He has " an
Hour t o r e a r supreme H i s C o nt i n e n t s o f L i g h t , " the
world o f his own creat ion , only to see it destroyed by
brute force .
T h i s s e ems t o b e the o n l y a r e a wh e r e
D i ck i n s o n h a s g i v e n man sup e r i o r i t y ove r n a t u r e i n
thei r con f l i ct .
Man ' s only act ion in the poem is to
d e s t r oy n a t u r e ' s c o n s t ru c t w i th t h e sw i p e o f a
68
"Housewife ' s Broom . "
S t i l l , there i s the last l ine o f
the poem to consider :
"His boundar ies - forgot . "
In
my v iew , there i s another interpretation o f thi s l ine
bes ides the expl icit one .
Expl icitly we are s imply
b e i n g t o l d the sp i d e r ' s magn i f i c ent web h a s b een
obl iterated , but perhaps we can see Dickinson making an
important dist inct ion between the worlds o f man and na­
ture .
P e rh ap s D i ck i n s on ' s f i na l l in e o f the p oem e x ­
presses the spider ' s l ack o f concern over h i s web , now
Here , the spider i s being
that it has been destroyed .
held up to us so that we may see another total ly d i f ­
ferent gul f between the natural and Mankind , the fact
that the spider is unaware o f the beauty o f h i s crea­
t i on .
H e i s o n l y p e r f o rm i ng one of h i s " d e st i n e d "
functions .
Therefore ,
it is entirely pos s ib l e that
Dickinson is express ing the idea that ,without man ' s ex­
i s tence , even though he d o e s not unde r s t a n d a l l o f
nature ' s mysteries , there would b e no creature capabl e
o f apprec iating i t s beauty , and therefore it would be
truly meaningless .
Which is " stronger , " the mus ician
or h i s audience , and does it real ly matter?
The Evaluation :
In his articulate essay ,
Mr . Mann looks closely at Dickinson ' s
poem and discovers in its twelve
l ines not only a relationship o f
nature t o man but something o f the
unique " natural " g i ft g iven only to
humans :
the abi l ity to appreciate
beauty .
69
A Letter to S enator S imon
by Martha Moore
( Engl i sh 2 0 1 -- Dodds )
The Assignment :
Write a persuas ion in
a format most l ikely to be read by
your aud ience--an essay , l etter , a rt i c l e ,
or editoria l .
Aim to persuade by
us ing a rgument , emoti onal appea l , and
the force o f your persona l ity .
S enator Paul S imon
50 4 6 2 Dirksen Building
Washi ngton , DC 2 0 5 1 0
Dear S enator S imon :
We have entered an era in which man may be con­
s idered an endangered species .
Tragic inc idents occur­
r ing in Bhopal , Love Cana l and Chernobyl demonstrate
our inab i l i ty to deal w ith isolated chemical ly caused
d i sasters .
How then can we deal with a chemical d i s ­
a ster a f fect ing the enti re human race , namel y the e f ­
f e c t o f ch l o r o f l uo ro c a rb o n s o n the o z on e l ay e r ?
A
l e g i s l at o r , a p e r s u a s i v e p ub l i c v o i c e i s n eeded t o
propose and support measures des igned to safeguard our
habitat and its m i l l ions of inhabitants .
S enator Al ­
b e rt G o r e o f T enne s s e e h a s i nt roduced a b i l l i n
Congress requ i r ing the United States t o phase out CFCs
by 1 9 9 5 .
I urge you to j o in with h im to support and
de fend thi s measure which is the only pos s ib l e solut i on
to the most serious i s sue confront ing our world today ,
the dep l etion o f our oz one l ayer .
A s a s tudent I b e c ame aware o f the C F C p r ob l em
wh i l e sea rch ing for a writing proj ect .
As a mother I
b e came a l a rmed a s my r e s e a rch made m e awa re o f t h e
grave danger posed by chl orofluorocarbons .
Ch l o ro f l uo ro c a rb on s , rema rkab l e chemica l s , have
These non-tox i c ,
enhanced our l ives beyond measure .
i nert compounds which are extremely stable in our at­
m o s p h e r e are used in p a ckag i ng and i n s u l at i o n ,
in
70
re frigeration and air conditioning , a s propel l ants and
as c leaning solvents - - and they are cheap and s imple
to manufacture .
The problem is that CFCs in the upper
stratosphere break down into their chemical components
and the freed chlorine atoms attack and destroy our
o z on e l ay e r .
As our o z on e l ay e r i s d e s t r oy ed , our
world i s subj ected to intense radiati on .
Al l human ,
plant and animal l i fe suffer when exposed to excess
radiation from the sun .
According to the Env ironmental
Protection Agency " destruction of the oz one l ayer wi l l
result in 4 0 m i l l ion cancers and 8 0 0 , o o o deaths for
coming generations of Americans " ( Wel lborn 7 2 ) .
The fact of oz one dep let ion i s indisputable .
An­
tarctic researchers confirm that we have a "hole in the
sky . "
In 1 9 5 7 , oz one concentrat ion was 3 2 0 parts per
b i l l ion .
By 1 9 8 7 the figure was 12.5ppb .
More than
7 0 0 , o o o tons of CFC- 1 1 and CFC- 12 were rel eased into
the atmosphere in 1 9 8 5 and in that same year the total
amount produced but not y et r e l e a s e d w a s 1 , 6 0 0 , 0 0 0
tons .
S ince the l i fetime o f CFCs i s 4 0 to 1 5 0 years ,
the " h o l e " w i l l cont i nue t o grow even i f we c e a s e d
product ion , sales and use of " new" CFCs today .
Every
abandoned re frigerator , every a i r - conditioned auto con­
s igned to the j unkyard , every discarded foam conta iner
Is thi s to be our legacy?
I
compounds the problem .
hope not .
Americans , reluctantly and hes itantly , somet imes
by force eventual ly fol low the correct course of ac­
t ion .
Col lectively we have a conscience which con­
fronts us and cal l s us to action for causes which are
r i ghteou s .
An Ame r i c an c rea ted the chem i ca l ,
an
Ameri can discovered the danger .
Americans are produc­
ing sub s t itutes ( a nd they w i l l e a r n s ub s t a n t i a l
American pro fits ) .
It is incumbent that Americans take
the l ead and enact legislat ion , institute regulations
and enforce an orderly phase out of CFCs .
To reach thi s
The goal i s a total ban on CFCs .
goal w e need t o propose the fol lowing :
1.
A total and immediate ban on CFCs for
which substitutes are ava i l abl e .
2.
A tax on CFCs yet to be sold and yet to
be produced .
3.
A recycl ing program to contain and reuse
CFCs
( this program to be paid for by
the tax in item 2 ) .
S ince substitutes such as Bioact 7 and f iberglass
71
are ava i labl e , we should p l an an immediate and per­
manent ban on CFCs used in packaging , solvents and in­
sul ation .
No compromise is necessary .
Let ' s use a
product whi ch poses no threat to our envi ronment .
Substitutes are a l so ava i l ab l e for CFCs used in
r e f r i g e r a t i o n a nd a i r cond i t i on i ng .
I C I i n Great
Britain and DuPont in the United States have expanded
p r oduc t i on o f C F C - 2 2 ,
a c omp ound wh i ch i nc l u d e s
hydrogen , which i s destroyed before reaching the tropo­
sphere ,
a nd F l u o r o c a rb on 1 3 4 A , wh i c h c on t a i n s n o
chl orine .
These subst itutes cannot , a t present , be
u s e d i n e x i s t i n g m a c h i n e ry .
M a nu f a ct u r e r s o f
re frigerators and a i r conditioners need to redes ign and
retool for these new products .
Thi s should not be a
formidabl e task .
Auto makers introduce new cars with
styl ing changes each fal l .
Within s ix years they could
certa inly produce a redes igned air conditioner .
( In
Vermont they may have to , as the Vermont legislature is
c o n s i d e r i n g a t o ta l b a n o n auto a i r c ond i t i o n e r s
equipped with CFC - 1 2 ) .
I n the meant ime we need t o im­
pose a tax on new production o f CFCs .
A tax woul d help
to el iminate the cost d i f ference between cheap CFCs and
the more expens ive repl acements .
I f old and new cost
the same , what cho ice do we have?
Even a fter the ban on product i on and s a l e of CFCs
is in force , we sti l l have to concern ourselves with
the CFCs currently in use .
Recycl ing of CFCs , reus ing
thi s chemical rather than a l l owing it free reign in the
sky , i s a workabl e solut ion .
Under regulat ion by the
E PA ,
an d u s in g the C F C t a x money ,
r e cy c l i ng i s
Recyc l i ng i s c ommonp l a c e a nd moneta r i l y
f e a s ib l e .
Aluminum recycl ing has become big bus iness
sat i s fy ing .
now s ince the price of aluminum has risen to $ . 5 0 per
pound .
Michigan , Oregon and Canada charge a depos it on
each and every aluminum can sold in those areas .
The
result- - less l itter and succe s s ful recycl ing .
Local
c ommun i t i e s in I l l i no i s a re n ow a s ke d to bund l e
newspapers and separate cans and glass from " regular"
g arbag e .
A s a nat i on we a re b e c om i ng aware o f the
necess ity of recyc l ing .
I n the p a s t Ame r i ca n s h ave b e e n f o r c e d to d o
without f o r the common good .
Just recently we have
been forced to buy new cars equ ipped with cata lytic
converters , with a corresponding increase in price .
We
have been forced to use unl eaded gasol ine in our cars
with the cata lytic converters .
Woul d we have done th is
voluntarily , without leg i s l ation requiring the action?
Probab ly not .
Will I sti l l buy a refrigerator or an
a i r c o n d i t i o n e r i f there is a tax i n c l uded in the
p ri ce?
Probably yes .
Like most Americans , I enj oy
72
comfort and convenience -- and I w i l l pay the price for
it at the same t ime I ' m paying the price for a cl eaner
environment .
High taxes on l iquor and c igarettes and
ga s o l i n e have not d i s couraged d r i nk e r s , smoke r s o r
automobi l e - l oving Americans from buying " essent i al s . "
Environmentally I suppose that I am sel ect ive .
On
the nightly news I watched whil e two of the most power­
ful nations on earth expended money and manpower to
I ' m not
save two wha l e s caught in the Arct i c i c e .
anti--whale , but I do bel ieve the money and manpower
could have been spent on more "human " proj ects .
I have
l istened day a fter day to reports of the great Alaskan
oil spi l l .
Devastation and destruction , no doubt . Thi s
i s a s e r i ou s i s sue and o f cour s e Exxon shou l d make
every ef fort to clean up the mes s .
Yet thi s i s an iso­
lated region , a f fecting an ultimately sma l l proport ion
of the populat ion of the world .
The ef fects of the
In 2 0 or 3 0 years the coastl ine
sp i l l are trans itory .
wi l l recover a s the Ca l i f o rn i a c o a st l i ne recovered
after the Santa Barbara o i l sp i l l of 1 9 6 9 .
S ave the
humans first .
Humans are infinitely more important
than property , more important than money .
As John Gribbin said in his book Hole in the Sky ,
" The O z one Layer i s a s i gn o f l i fe ,
a p l a n e t a ry
procl amat ion that Earth , out of a l l the p lanets , har­
bors l iving things" ( 2 1 ) .
Without protect ion provided
by the o z one l ayer , l i fe as we know it would cease to
exist .
Senator , I hope that your concerns are the same as
mine .
I hope s i ncerely that you will become a selec­
tive envi ronmental i st and vote for measures intended
for the preservation of human health and l i fe .
S incerely ,
Martha Moore
Works Consulted
Cohn , J . P .
" CFC and the Ozone Layer . "
( 19 8 7 ) :
647-650
Biosc ience 9 : 9
crawford , Mark .
" EPA :
O z one Treaty Weak . "
25.
Comment 7 Oct . 1 9 8 8 :
Tough Barga ining Ahead . "
" O z one Plan :
1099 .
4 Sept . 1 9 8 7 :
Edel son , Edward .
News and
Sc ience
" The Man Who Knew Too Much . "
73
Popular
S c i ence
Jan .
1989 :
Encycl opedia Britann ica .
60 .
1 9 6 6 edition .
Gannes , Stuart .
"A Down to Earth Job :
S av ing the
Sky . "
Fortune 14 Mar . 19 8 8 :
133 .
Gribb i n , John .
The Hol e i n the Sky .
1988 .
Bantam Books :
Lemonick , Michael .
5 8 -6 3 .
19 8 7 :
" The Heat i s On . "
" Deadly Danger in a Spray Can . "
42 .
Toronto :
T ime 19 Oct .
T ime 2 Jan . 1 9 8 9 :
Poo l , Robert .
" The Elusive Repl acements for CFCs . "
S c i ence 4 Nov . 19 8 8 :
66 .
Report of Federal Task Force on Inadvertent Mod i fica­
Fluorocarbons
t ion o f the Stratosphere ( IMOS ) .
and the Environment .
Washington :
GPO , 1 9 7 5 .
Thomp son , Dick .
" The Env i ronment :
Cleaning up the
Mes s . " T ime 19 S ept . 1 9 8 8 :
2 3 -2 4 .
Wel lborn , Stanley .
" Putting a Free z e on Freon . "
72
U . S . News and World Report 17 Nov . 19 8 6 :
The Evaluat ion :
Martha Moore writes
persua s ively , f i rst , because she has a
good argument - - fu l ly supported and
c l osely reasoned .
Her sel f-portra it -­
as a student , parent , and consumer-­
earns /her audienc e ' s trust .
And she
moves him toward her position w ith
a sentence sty le that empl oys dev ices
o
74
(+) .
A Visit Back
by Marie l l e Morran
( Engl ish 1 0 1--Sherer)
The Ass ignment :
students were a sked
to compose a s ingle descriptive
paragraphs in which they woul d
concretely focus on a place with
,.
spec ial meaning .
A d u s ty , mu sty o l d b a r n may not be the m o s t
e l egant o r roman t i c o f p l a c e s , b u t a s a c h i l d , I
th ought o f my aunt ' s stab l e a s my own p e r s ona l
playhouse of wonders .
As I crept in s i l entl y through
the thin , r ickety , spl intered doors I always felt that
I was entering a private castle where no intruder could
encroach to invade my sol itude .
The earthy sme l l s and
soft rustl ing sounds of various anima l s comforted me
Tal l bales o f scratchy ,
with fami l iar ity and wel come .
dul l yel l ow straw were stacked high to the c e i l ing l ike
a l adder to the sky and concealed homes for many crea­
tu re s l a rge and sma l l .
C a t s n e s t l ed there to h av e
the ir kittens and many furry l ittle bundles took the i r
first steps under that sagging old roof .
Somet imes , I
would s imply l ie in the straw and stare upwards , watch­
ing dreamily as beams of l ight shone down through the
cracks in the ra fters .
The beams would cri ss-cross at
times l ike spotl ights and that sma l l shadowy world be­
came my own private stage .
I l oved to watch the bright
particles of dust as they gleamed and seemed to dance
with a l i fe of the ir own , and then vani sh as the l ight
was broken .
Recently , I v i s ited that barn aga in , and
although I am no l onger a chi ld , when I stepped over
the threshold I once aga in felt that magica l , t imel ess
peace .
The roo f sti l l sagged and the dust st i l l danced
and the cats sti l l cuddled in the straw .
And it was
n i ce to s e e that in a wo r l d o f h a s t e and hurry and
progress , that old barn st i l l stands as an oas i s for
75
whatever travel ers may chance by there to
wh i l e .
rest
The Eval uation :
Thi s short essay
bathes the senses with its appropriate
The
and helpful concrete d iction .
observer pos itions hersel f so that
she can ef fectively spati a l l y order
her deta i l and o f fer the reader
an essay tour of the barn .
76
for a
" Baby That Went Thi s Way and That "
by Mary Muel l er
( Engl i sh 1 0 1--Dodds )
The Assignment :
Write an essay o f sel f ­
discovery in the participant ' s role .
Tel l of an experience in which you gained
ins ights to our l i fe , past or present .
Use description to dramat i z e your
discoveries .
/
Here it was two days before Christma s , and I was
doing what I say I won ' t do every year , walking up and
down the a i s l e s o f T oy s - R-Us , l oo k i ng f o r that one
last , "best Chri stmas ever " item for my kids .
I was
not al one .
Not only did I have my friend , Debb ie , but
I
a m i l l ion other moms and dads were doing the same .
wa s w a l k i ng i n the do l l s e c t i o n when I got th i s
strange , unexpla inable feel ing .
It was a l onely fee l ­
T ry i n g t o
ing , s o rt o f s a d and down i n t h e dump s .
cheer mysel f up , I picked up thi s beauti ful baby do l l .
As I was holding the dol l , I found my eyes tearing up .
There was something about her that I recogn i z ed .
After
what s eemed l ike hours , I wa s sure that it w a s the
sme l l of her .
Debb ie came over to see what the prob l em
was , I gave her the dol l , and told her to take a wh i f f .
I was shocked when she sa id , " Christma s , she sme l l s
l ike Christmas . "
We di scus sed our feel ings about the hol idays on
our way home that night , and l aughed about the react ion
we had to the smell of the dol l .
We compared it to the
way the sme l l of a new box of crayons reminded us of
our school days as sma l l children .
The v inyl o f the
dol l reminded us of Chri stmas .
Later that night , when
a l l was qu i e t at h ome , I r e f l ected on our t a l k .
I
rea l i z ed that Debb ie had been happy and ful l o f excite­
ment when we talked about our past Christma s , but I was
f i l led with the same lonely , uncomfortabl e feel ing that
I have every year .
I sat for a long t ime in front of
our own beaut i fu l , f re sh sme l l ing Chr i s tm a s t r e e ,
77
thinking about my Chr istmas o f l ong ago , and I gues s ,
maybe unfolding some of the mysteries o f my unavo idable
sadnes s year a fter year .
It was Christmas Eve o f my s ixth year .
My mother
was home from the hospital for the hol idays .
She had
had a heart attack and had been in the hosp ital for
some t ime .
My dad had worked extra hard to make thi s a
He brought home a smal l tree , and we spent
happy t ime .
t ime decorat ing it .
It was beauti ful when he turned on
There
the l ights .
My brother Bob and I were so proud .
were a few packages under the tree , and I knew S anta
would bring me something spec ia l .
Mommy had a beaut i ful new robe on .
It was bright
The
red and had smal l s i lver threads going through it .
l ight from the tree made the robe sparkle .
I was s it­
I had b e e n
t i ng o n h e r l a p , l o o k i n g at the t re e .
a fraid t o sit o n her lap , because I knew she was s ick
and Daddy had told us to be extra good and not t i re her
out .
She put me to bed that night and we talked about
S anta coming in the morn ing .
It was a great n ight for
me , and one I had been miss ing for a l ong t ime , bedt ime
with my mom .
We said our prayers together j ust l ike
old t imes , and when she tucked me in , I was sure things
were back to norma l .
When I awoke on Christmas morning I went into the
l iv ing room where Mommy was s itt ing in the cha i r in
front o f the tree .
But the f i rst th ing I saw was the
most l i fel ike dol l I had ever seen .
She was big , not a
baby dol l , but a walking dol l .
She had bl ond curly
ha ir , rosy cheeks , and b ig blue eyes .
Her mouth was a
l ittl e open and you could see t iny white teeth . Mommy
and I held her l ittle hands , and she took sma l l steps .
E ach t ime she took a step , her head went from s ide to
s ide .
I c a l l ed her "my baby that went th i s way and
that . "
The next few Qays were fun for us , we had a l ot of
peop le come to v i s it , and my mom got to see some o f her
friends .
When I woke up on New Year ' s Day , I knew someth ing
was strange .
I d idn ' t know what , but I dec ided to in­
vest igate .
I walked down the l ong ha l l to my parents '
bedroom , and saw a l ot of act ivity .
I n her room were
some f iremen , our parish pr iest , and my dad .
Then I
went i nto the l iv ing room and saw my mother ' s bright
I t was not sparkl ing
red robe j ust lying on the cha i r .
as it had be fore , the l ights from the tree were not on ,
and the room was dark and qui et .
I dec ided the best way to f ind out what was going
I stood
on was to take her robe in and give it to her .
at the door and watched her .
She was gasp ing , and her
78
body was j umping around on the bed .
As the f iremen
tried to save her , and the priest was bless ing her , my
dad s t o o d by her s i de he l p l e s s l y wa tch i ng as t e a r s
ro l l ed down h i s cheek s , s ometh i ng I had never s e e n
before .
It was strange for me .
I knew this was a bad
th ing happening , but I didn ' t know why .
I was sent from the room , so I went to see Bob in
his room .
I lay on the bed next to him , and showed him
what Mommy was doi ng .
He was older , and wiser , so when
he cried and said Mommy was dying , I knew he was right .
I heard the word " dead , � but I d idn ' t real i z e dead
was forever .
T ime moved s w i f t l y a ft e r that .
We spent three
long days at the funeral home , havi ng what I remember
The day
to be a good t ime , gett ing a lot of attent ion .
We were riding in a l imo ,
of the funeral was terrible .
and that seemed exc iting to me .
But , I wi l l never for­
get standing in the freez ing cold , the rain blowing i n
our faces .
I watched as the man put into the ground
the b ox that my mommy w as i n .
We s aw them put the
f l ow e r s a nd a shovel of d i rt o n t op .
I could h e a r
people around me crying , but a t s i x years o l d I had no
idea that she was not coming back .
The morning a fter the funeral I went out to the
l iving room , and there under the tree was my " do l l y
that went thi s way and that , " all alone , and forgotten .
I don ' t remember when , or who decided , but my dol l
was put away in the att ic with the Chri stmas decora­
t ions , only to be brought out at future Chri stmas .
I
must have been agreeable , because I remember for years
a fter , taking her out of her box and enj oying her for
the few weeks she was with me , dre s s ing and undress ing
her and helping her with her special walk .
S omet imes I
would think about that Christma s , and a s young chi ldren
do , wonder why my mommy left me .
As I s at i n front o f the t r e e that n ight , I
finally rea l i z ed why I sometimes get a l ittl e blue at
Christmas , and why the smell of that doll brought back
j oyful memories for Debbie , and sad ones for me .
The Evaluation :
Mary Muel l er tel l s her
story of childhood mis fortune and
adult real i z at ion so vividly that I
got the chi l l s when f irst reading it .
I am impressed by the cons i stent
way she adopts a childhood po int
of v iew to rel ive her experience
and by the tel l ing deta i l s that
s imultaneously describe and suggest
her story ' s meaning .
79
The Day The Pigs Got Loose
by Therese Ortlo f f
( Engl ish 1 0 1--Sternberg )
The Assignment :
Ms . Ortloff was asked
to write an essay about the changes
that fol l owed upon the serious i l lness
or death of someone close to her .
The p i g s are l oo s e aga i n ,
root i ng i n the
neighbor ' s yard , their thi ck , tough snouts l eaving dark
furrows in the meticulous ly mani cured l awn .
I stand
and watch unable to cope with thi s constantly occurring
The thought c omes l i ke a f l a s h - g e t my
p r ob l em .
grandfather ' s 2 2 r i fle and shoot the bastards dead .
Today has been no ordinary day .
Today my son has d ied .
It d idn ' t seem right leaving the hospital earl ier
That con s t ant hab i t o f m i ne to count
w i thout h im .
heads has not readj usted to thi s loss and I f ind mys e l f
looking for h im a t every turn .
The rea l i z at ion that he
wi l l never be here aga in is l ike a punch in my gut .
The who le day seems so unreal and I j ust don ' t know
what to do with mysel f .
My husband , Bob , has gone with
the funeral home people back to Mi lwaukee to pick Rob
up from the hosp ital , something he says he has to do ,
but I feel so left out , so lonely and the thought hits
aga in - what am I supposed to do?
There were no lessons in death in my past , no role
model I could emulate and I fl ounder around the house
unable to deal with trivial everyday th ings , dinner for
instance ; I can ' t bel ieve people eat a fter th ings l ike
thi s .
I need to feed my l ivestock , the chickens , rab­
bits , my sheep and steer and of course those damn p igs .
I can ' t l et them go without , so zombie-l ike I do my
I feel so dead ins ide ; actual ly it would be
chores .
Bob
closer to the truth to say I did not feel at a l l .
comes home l ater wrapped up in the cocoon of h i s own
gri e f and I am unable to reach him .
I feel I am los ing
him too .
My grief i s on hold , I cannot l et it out .
I do
not cry .
Strangers are cryi ng at the wake and funeral
and I - I am a s t one woma n , a n i ce l ad y .
I am s o
80
detached that I scare mysel f .
There must be something
wrong with me that I cannot feel what these others are
fe e l i ng .
S omeone ha s t o h o l d what ' s l e ft o f th i s
family together and I focus o n Bob who i s drinking and
withdrawing more than ever and Kate , my daughter , who
does not cry .
She imitates me in thi s matter o f not
griev ing .
Tanya , my eldest , does her mourning el se­
wh ere .
I t s e em s th i s fam i l y is shatter i ng , p i e c e s
fal l ing every which way .
Worrying about them keeps me
from having to deal with mysel f .
I talk about Robb ie with anyone who wil l l i sten ; I
need to know he was real , to remember and reminisce , to
know he was a part of other peopl e ' s l ives and that
they remember too .
The ones who do not acknowledge h i s
existence , the ones who pretend h e never was , I shut
out of my l i fe as easily as I would close and l ock a
door .
Weeks a fter that day I f ind stuc k in the back cor­
ner of the laundry closet , wrapped in the plastic bag
from the hospital , the denim cut-offs he wore swimming
that h ot , st eamy , J u l y day , s t i l l damp and fu l l o f
The pain and tears that have been buried a l ive
sand .
ins ide me rip out l ike my sheep stampede out of the
barn at feeding time - crowding , crush ing , tramp l ing
I sob and sob endl essly .
each other to get out first .
My heart fee ls l ike someth ing i s squee z ing the l i fe out
of it .
I feel l ike I w i l l never stop thi s crying .
I
cry every day for over a month a fter the girls have
gone to school and Bob has gone to work .
In the begin­
ning I must do this grieving alone , but the ice l ady i s
melt ing , the stone woman i s crumbl ing into sand and
though it w i l l take years , and perhaps even a l i fet ime ,
the heal ing has begun .
The p i gs were f i na l l y caught that d a y by s ome
friends . Rick , a fi fteen-year-old kid who hung out at
our place to avo id h is stepmother , and his dad stopped
by to express the ir sorrow .
None of us knew what to
say a fter the initial hugs so we j ust went about the
bus iness of repenning the escapees .
In the long run it
has been friends who have helped me through these d i f­
ficult t imes , Kathy who came to cl ean my unkempt house
be fore the funeral , Sue who would l et me come over and
mope at her house when mine felt too empty , Syb i l who
helped me to find a Higher Power again , a l l those who
cried with me or better yet cried when I couldn ' t , who
81
accepted me wherever I was at emot i ona l l y , who fina l ly
j ust l oved me .
The stunning power o f
The Eva luat ion :
the first image f iguratively conveys
the narrator ' s state of m ind .
We watch
sympathet ica l l y as anger b l ends i nto
sadness then into l ove .
82
Food for Thought
by Ben Rodat z
( Engl i sh 1 0 1--Sherer)
students were to
The Ass ignment :
write a focused paragraph description
that appeal s to the senses .
T i red and hungry , I s tumb l e d into the k i tchen
'
after another gruel ing day at work .
S t i l l facing me
yet thi s even ing , however , i s thi s week ' s Eng l i sh 1 0 1
writing ass ignment .
But be fore I start my stud i es , I
have t ime to sit down and apprec iate a plate of food
The
wh i ch h a s been thought f u l l y prepared f o r me .
steaming angel hair pasta , cooked to perfection ,
is
bl anketed in a creamy , mild al fredo sauce conta in ing a
Swimming in the sauce are smal l
fine bl end of sea food .
fresh shrimp , succulent bay sca l l ops , and tender red­
Florets of broccol i , s auteed
flecked bits of crabmeat .
in o l ive o i l and onions , interrupt the gentl e white
flow of sea food and sauce with a deep green color of
ocean plant l i fe .
The flavor and texture are further
enha nced by chee s e s wh i ch me l t i nv i s ib l y i nt o the
s a uc e . The a r oma of g ar l i c w a f t s through the a i r ,
awaken ing my senses .
My mouth beings to water in an­
t i c i pat i on o f the f i rs t mouthfu l .
A t h i ck , c ru s ty
sl i ce of sourdough bread , pip ing hot from the oven ,
teeters precarious ly on the edge of my plate , soaking
up the ove r f l ow o f s au c e .
The c r i sp s a l a d , i n a
ch i l l e d bowl , w i th a c o l o r f u l a r ray o f v e g e t ab l e s
t o s s ed a m i d s t i t s l e ave s , s i t s t o the l e ft o f the
Ital ian salad dress ing cl ings to the l ettuce ,
pasta .
beads of it dripp ing down onto the tomatoes and cucum­
bers .
Freshly ground bl ack pepper speckles the l et­
tuce , along with sharp bits of cheddar cheese and crun­
chy herb croutons which top off the who le ensembl e .
It
is obvious to me that a great deal of care ful prepara­
tion has gone into this entree .
It seems a shame to
83
destroy thi s masterp iece ,
would be a shame not to .
but
on the
other hand ,
The Evaluat ion :
Thi s vivid descript ion
of a meal does wel l at appeal ing to
a variety of phys ical senses .
We
l isten to the voice of a hungry man
who apprec iates a working man ' s mea l .
84
it
Diabetes :
A Point of View
by Barbara Sales
( Engl i sh 1 0 1--Sherer )
The Ass ignment :
Students were asked
to write a stipulative de finit ion of
a concrete obj ect , an art , a procedure ,
an event , or a condition .
Preface
Barbara Sales was a friend and
an inspiration .
I spoke with her the
day be fore she died and through her
mother arranged to obta in a few of her
writings .
When I spoke with her , her
spirit was strong and sweet .
I bel i eve
she had a gift for writing which she
could never ful ly expl ore because d i abetes
c l a imed so much of her t ime and
hea lth .
In February of 1 9 8 8 she dec ided
a fter a prol onged hospita l i z ati on to
fight no more .
She made peace with her
fel low man and her Creator , dying
within a few days of her dec i s ion .
Thanks for touchi ng us , Barbara .
( Tom Thompson , Coordinator , Di sab l ed
Student Service s )
"You thought having diabetes meant taking your in­
sul in and fol l owing your diet , didn ' t you? " inqu ired
Dr . McKiel .
I had had d i a b e t e s for
I nodded whi l e I wept .
twenty - three years , and n o one had tol d me d i f ferently .
I had al ready lost a good port ion of my v i s ion , and now
I was in renal fa ilure - my kidneys were
mal function­
i ng .
Mayb e i t w a s t i me to f i nd out j u s t what th i s
diabetes thing rea l ly was .
85
D i ab e t e s i s the body ' s i n ab i l i ty t o metab o l i z e
sugar e f f i c i ently and ef fect ively .
Every c e l l i n our
body requ ires sugar to surv ive , and insu l in acts a s the
key to unl ock the cel l s ' doors to a l l ow the sugar ' s
The pancreas i s an organ which , among other
entry .
When
th ings , produces insul in through its beta cel l s .
i n su l i n p r od uc t i on i s i n su f f i c i e nt t o u n l o c k t h e s e
d o o r s , t h e s u g a r s r er o u t e t h em s e l v e s t o t h e
b loodstream , pass from the body through the urine , and
cause the cel l s ' s l ow death .
The results are stagger­
ing .
There are many misconceptions regarding this d i s ­
eas e .
S ome diabetics ma inta in good con s istent contro l
S ome l et the d i s ­
and have few i f any compl ications .
e a s e control them and have a mul t i tude o f prob l ems .
The reverse i s a l s o true .
No control - no prob lems .
Good control - a wide variety of comp l ications .
D e sp i t e the deg ree o f c o nt r o l o n e m ight have ,
d i abetes plunges l ike a th i e f in the night .
He usua l l y
steal s one pri z ed possess i on a t a t ime ; and j ust when
the v i ol ated fee l ing begins to d i s s ipate , he returns
The templ e guards have
for yet another prec ious pi ece .
l ittle defense aga inst thi s monstrous i ntruder .
F i rs t h e s na t c h e s v i s i o n .
Then he a t t a c k s the
heart or k idneys whi l e he p l ans the demise o f a l imb or
And wh i l e he draws the b l uepr i n t s f o r th e
two .
aforement ioned destruct ions , he continuously c a l cu l ates
the ma s t e r p l an w i th h i s c o - c o n s p i r a t o r s - v i rus ,
G a ng r e n e ,
the " nob l e " Kn i gh t Arter i a l S c l er o s i s ,
Frustrat ion ,
Depress ion ,
Desperat ion and on occas ion
S u i c ide .
Qu ite a hierarchy , I would s ay .
The u l t imate goa l o f th i s pulve r i z e r i s
demonstrated through h i s constant probe at the mind .
He s l ithers and poi sons therein and s its for a t ime
He conquers those who
with h i s bold army of slea z e .
become vul nera�l e and hopel es s .
He attempts to i s o l ate
them f r om th e i r f am i l y and f r i e n d s by m a n ipu l at i ng
the i r cop ing mechan i sms and devel opi ng a helpl ess ter­
ror i n thei r hearts .
But then t h ere ar e t h o s e who c om e t o know the
s igns of h i s plots .
Sometimes they succeed , confront
him face to face and arise v ictorious over h i s threats
and attacks .
Other times , there is no cho ice but to
succumb and retreat , l ick the wounds and prepare for
the next bel l igerent stand on the field .
For those o f
us fortunate enough t o recogn i z e the venomous v iper , we
may lose a few battles , but we wi l l NOT lose the war .
86
Sweet Jesus ,
binding .
Amen .
pl ease
rescue us
from thi s
The Evaluat ion :
Barbara Sales , a
l ong suf ferer from Diabetes , responded
in writing to the ins idious di sease
The
in a way that only she could .
speaker here is aware , pained ,
val iant in the struggle - pl eadi ng
in the end - as she personi f ies
diabetes , as an unfeel ing savage
Barbara S a l e s
and th ief in the n ight .
knew this speaker wel l .
87
satanic
Take Home Exam :
Evaluation o f McFague ' s
Models of God
by John S e idel
( Ph il osophy 2 2 0 - - Stone )
The Ass i gnment :
Evaluate a key idea
o f S a l l y McFague ' s Model s of God .
4.
I persona l ly agree with S al l ie McFague ' s model
of l ooking at the world as God ' s body .
The kingship­
hierarch i a l -model has presented a percept ion of a God
that is d i stant , l ittle concerned with the worl d , oc­
cas iona l l y act ing on the worl d , and o ften j udging the
world .
I am feel ing and l ooking for a more personable
and hol is t i c approach and McFague o f fers an open ing to
a more coherent , con sistent , and f l owing understanding
I l ike and am cha l ­
between God , man , and creat ion .
l enged by her goa l i n a hol istic approach that produces
vulnerab i l ity ,
risk ,
respons ib i l ity ,
and caring not
o n l y of ma n but a l s o of God so that a n u r tu r i ng ,
l ov i ng ,
b e f r i en d i ng re l a t i on sh ip b e tw e e n G ad - m a n ­
creation i s created through " radica l " interdependence .
I find four points important .
F irst , the body - God
model presents a deeper understand ing of a l oving God .
I find that Jesus Chri st does speak to the model of
God ' s body in h i s parab l e teachings , h i s tab l e fel l ow­
ship , h i s cruc i fixion , and h i s resurrect ion .
His l i fe
spoke to and o f destab il i z ing dua l i sm and hie rarchy and
was inclus ive of a l l men directly .
Concern and gentl e ­
ness for all creat ion i s a l so the sense I perce ive from
spiritual " g iants " such as Merton , Gandhi , S i ster Ter­
resa , and s ome Eastern ph i l osophers .
They a l l show and
l ive a l i f e of more complete and s impl istic l ove and
respect .
Second , there is a need for a personal or
more personal God .
The body - God model presents a more
caring , r i sking , and present God than the hi erarch ial
The process and partnership that th i s then of­
model .
fers , I f ind most chal l enging and hope ful .
The proces s
of body - God ; evi l d i scussed earl ier brings out mutual
risk without the power struggle of bl ack and wh ite , win
88
o r l o s e ment a l ity ,
j udgment ,
and f i n a l i ty .
The
partnersh ip in God-roan-creat ion i s interdependent and
thus not fear-based , punishment threatening , andjor law
j udged ( at least not directly as in the hierarch ial
model ) .
This opens the door to freedom , respect , and
cho ice so that a personal relationship can be enj oyed
Third , the God-body model
between God-roan-creation .
o f f e r s G o d -ro an - c r e a t i o n a more mature " b ody l ove "
rather than "hierarchial l ove . "
To reach thi s "body
love" the model offers growth , respons ib i l ity , and in­
timacy to a l l --God , man , and creation .
I bel ieve thi s
growth , respons ib i l ity , and int imacy is only pos s ibl e
in a positive creati on phi losophy as seen in Jewish and
eastern phi losophies that emphas i z e the goodness of
The God body model of fers me such an inter­
creat ion .
pretation and bas i s .
I see no deeper growth , respon­
s ib i l ity , and int imacy than in a ri skin� God be ing in
and w i t h ev i l and the deeper i nt e rdependence that
result .
Fourth , I bel ieve the God-body model i s more
important than the mother-lover- friend model s .
Al­
though I agree with the bas is of these mode l s , I do not
bel i eve the body model has to rest only on the mother­
lover-friend concept .
I can perce ive it based on an
idea l or "healthy " view of kingship that would not be
( a s ) hierarchial j ust as I can perce ive prob lems when
l ooking at a non- ideal or healthy view of parent-lover­
friend model where hierarchy , non risking , contro l l ing ,
and j udgment can be viewed andjor expressed .
I sense
McFague compar ing an unhealthy kingsh ip concept to an
idea l parent-lover- friend model .
Thi s is OK and i s
de finitely - needed t o expand my "views " o n the concepts
I bel ieve whatever combina­
of God ' s being and l ove .
tion of model s are used of a personal relat ing God that
the God body model of the world and its interdepen­
dence ,
vu l n erab i l i ty ,
r i sking ,
and car ing o f
God : man : creat ion is most important .
The Evaluation :
The student showed a
good understanding o f McFague , l ogical
statement o f the four points , and
careful thinking to work out hi s own
ideas .
Bas i c writing ski l l s had
been mastered .
89
Al l H igh S chool Students Should Be Requi red
To Learn A Fore ign Language
by Dem i l e Teshome
( Writing for Col l ege Engl ish as a
S econd Language - - Kath i Holper)
The Ass ignment :
Choose a c ontrovers i a l
top ic .
Decide your position and
write an essay with adequate support
for your argument .
I do remember that I felt happy and exc ited when
one American s a id , " Tena Y i stelegn , " to me in a fore ign
accent in one of the Ethiop ian restaurants in Chicago .
I t was a greeting i n Amaharic , the o f f ic i a l language o f
Eth i op i a , and i t means , "Hel l o , how are you? "
I felt
good and suddenly became c loser to this person who hap­
He was a
p e n e d to be a p r o f e s s o r o f anthrop o l ogy .
sc ient i st who did research in my country .
I agree a l l
h i gh s ch o o l st u den t s shou l d b e r e qu i red t o l e a rn a
s econd language .
Knowledge of another tongue other
than one ' s own can develop friendship , is important for
s c ient i f ic research ,
and is bene f i c i a l for bus ines s
reasons .
I n the s c i ent i f i c c ommun i ty , s ome d i s c i p l i n e s
require a knowledge o f a foreign language i f one wants
to do re a l i s t i c a n d unb i a s ed r e s e a rch about othe r
S o today ' s anthropolog i st or soc i ol og i st can
peop l e .
ful f i l l thi s task by l earn ing the language of other
peopl e .
Those scientists who wanted to know more about
the nat ives of Africa , As i a , and Lat i n American cannot
invest igate without a proper knowledge of the nat ive ' s
l anguage .
That i s how thi s professor wrote very inter­
est ing books about my peopl e and the i r culture .
In ad­
d i ti on to research reasons knowl edge of another l an­
guage becomes important when the United Nat ions and
other international agencies sponsor sc ient i f i c con­
ferences .
Here you can exchange ideas and experiences
with your col l eagues .
Trade i s becom ing more and more internat ional .
As
90
a result , a knowl edge of another l anguage becomes es­
One should know the people with whom he i s
sent ial .
One should understand how to negotiate with
trading .
the people of d i fferent cultures and be aware of the ir
But people who do not see
value systems and attitudes .
the importance of language in the field of bus iness
That was what happened to
could be doomed to fai lure .
Genera l Motors when they produced a car cal l ed Chev­
rolet "NOVA" which means in Spanish a car that does not
run .
Then they tried to export these cars to Spanish­
speaking countries .
So to avo id such mistakes in the
future , students should be taught to understand the im­
portance of l anguage in high school .
The f inal reason for the importance of a second
language is to develop friendship .
The camaraderie of
language is so enormous the a forement ioned pro fessor
Occas iona l ly he comes to the
and I are sti l l friends .
cultural program of our community .
Another th ing I had
observed was that language promotes emotional together­
ne s s b etween two peop l e .
I c a n ima g i ne how the
H i sp a n i c c ommu n i ty of Texa s was h appy w i th M i chae l
Dukakis during the 1 9 8 8 pres ident ial campa ign when he
addre s s e d the crowd i n S p a n i sh .
I f we know e a ch
other ' s language , we can win friends .
Through deve lop­
ing friendship we understand other people , the i r cul ­
ture , the ir thinking and att itudes , so we can avo id
misconcept ion and prej udgment about others .
I t i s c l e a r that a h igh s chool s tudent i s not
studying for the sake of knowl edge .
He has an a im in
m i nd , to pursue a c a re e r .
One day he m i ght be a
bus inessman , a sc ientist , or a president .
In some c i r­
cumstances he might make a dec is ion which requires him
to have some degree of knowledge of a fore ign language .
Thi s may help to know other people , respect them , and
make a real i stic moral , pol itica l or bus iness dec i s ion .
Consequently , to prepare for that cha l l enge , i s not the
best place in h igh school?
The Evaluat ion :
Because Demile Teshome
is himse l f a second l anguage l earner ,
his pos ition in thi s argumentative
paper is obvious .
He has organi zed
three items of support into a
meaningful essay complete with appropriate
examples .
91
My Grandmother
by Tara Tolczyk
( Engl i sh 1 0 1 --Chri stensen)
The Assignment :
Write a descript ive
essay that creates a vivid image in
the reader ' s mind .
Use not only
v i sual deta i l s but a l so sound , smel l ,
taste and touch .
Her b lue veined , arthritic hand reaches pa i n fu l l y
u p t o rep l a c e a s t r a y l ock f rom h e r f o re h e a d .
She
tucks back this wi spy rebel whi ch has sl ipped def iantly
from the almost inv i s ib l e ha i rnet that holds captive
her soft ly-permed , s i lver gray hair .
The p l at inum wed­
ding band , worn thin over the years , gl i stens on her
gnarled f i nger .
It has never once been removed :
not
s i n c e the day it w a s f i r st p l a c ed there by my
grand father .
I see it , in my mind ' s eye , encrusted
with the dough she steadi ly kneads and punches , kneads
and punches , into shape .
I can a lmost sme l l the del i ­
c i ous aroma that permeates her sma l l home o n baking
day .
My mouth begins to sal ivate .
I can taste the
warm , buttered s l ice of homemade bread that she o f fers
to me .
Her wavering , soft voice beckons me back to
rea l i ty , " He l l o dear . "
I l ook up into her pal e blue
eyes , once bright and sparkl ing , now watery and d immed
by i n va s ive c at a ra c t s .
I n them I c a n s t i l l r e a d
strength and the wisdom o f her years .
She squi nts t o
br ing her surroundings into sharper focus as she ad­
j usts her wire-rimmed " granny " glasses .
The corners o f
her th in mouth turn up in a smi l e as she ga z es l ov ingly
upon me .
I have never felt closer to her than I do now . She
extends her t iny , frag i l e arm to touch me gently and
a f fect ionately , glad for my presence .
I embrace her
hesitantly - - a fraid that if I hug her too t ightly , her
fra i l she l l may shatter .
As I do so , I catch the scent
of the fragrance that is uniquely hers , a mixture o f
bl each , l avender soap and the musty odor that i s so
92
pecul iar of the elderly .
I gently kiss her wrinkled
cheek then run my tongue across my l ips .
I can taste
the cold cream that she uses - -her a l ly in the constant
battl e that she wages aga inst the ravages of old age .
I watch her shuffle towards her favorite cha i r ,
her s l ippered feet whi spering across the floor .
She
l i fts each foot gingerly , one in front of the other .
Eas ing her body s l owly and methodically into her seat ,
she wriggles deeper into the cushions .
Unabl e to f ind
a comfortable position , she s ighs res ignedly .
E ach
movement seems an exhausting ef fort .
I ask her about her day , and she begins to tel l me
of the things that she has seen in her surve i l l ance at
the front room window : the l ittl e girl next door , the
young coupl e down the street with the i r new baby , the
postman , a lways cheery .
Her thoughts dri fting , she
r eache s b a c k in t ime a nd beg i n s to s p e a k o f h e r
girlhood--those memories fresher than the present .
Her
mind p l aying tricks on her , she confuses me with her
s i ster .
" Do you remember when we used to drive the
cows back from the pasture in the evening? "
" Remember
how you hurt your l eg when you tumbl ed down the h i l l
beh i nd o u r o l d hous e ? "
" Rememb e r how we u s ed t o
strol l , hand in hand , down Ma in Street showing off our
pretty dresses ? " Pondering , l ost deep in her past , she
forgets that I am there and begins to doze contentedly ,
her head nodding j erki ly over her breast .
Above the mantle , behind her cha i r , hangs her wed­
d i ng p i cture .
There , in m o c k i ng contr a s t , I s e e a
young , blushing bride , her beaut i ful face framed by
dark , thick lustrous ha i r .
A white ve i l forms a halo
around her head .
Long , curly lashes outl ine her c l ear
blue eyes .
Her ivory skin i s smooth and fl awl e s s , her
mouth f u l l a nd sensuou s .
B e s i d e he r , s t r a ight and
proud , s tand s my grand fath e r , b e am ing .
She was a
pri z e ; she sti l l i s .
Once aga in I gaze upon her st i l l do z ing form .
I
gl impse my future in her wrinkled countenance .
I see
my s e l f s i tt i ng in the s ame r o c k i ng cha i r i n the
presence of my own granddaughter .
The room grows dark as the day s l ips away and she
stil l doz es .
The shadows f a l l i ng a c r o s s h e r f a c e ,
reminiscent of things to come , make me shudder .
It
seems to me that she i s l ike an autumn rose , fad ing
The fresh peach blush of youth
be fore my very eyes .
has been repl aced by the tired , gray fabric of age .
I
93
want to hold her c l ose to me and protect her from our
mutual enemy , t ime .
The Eval uation :
Tara ' s essay i s
beaut i fu l l y written i n the descript ive
mode and creates a strong dominant
impres s ion of l ove .
Her use o f
the language i s impress ive and creates
intense emotion in her reader .
Her
v ivid use o f deta i l makes the aging
p rocess a real ity for a l l .
94
In a State of Unconsc ienceness
by Ed Wal l ace
( Engl i sh 1 0 1 --Nj us )
The Assignment :
In the Def in it ion
Essay , by describing and narrating
experiences , a student i l lustrates
a personal de finit ion of an
abstract concept .
�
THES I S :
A consc ience
dened with .
is
a terrible thing to be bur­
Most peop le are of the general op 1n1on that having
a conscience is a great thing .
Many woul d probably say
it is the greatest attr ibute , bes ides a large bank ac­
count , that a person could poss ibly have .
They are
wrong .
Having a consc ience rel egates a person to a
l i fe of ruined friendships , not making quite as much
money as the other guy , and , worst o f a l l , having to
study .
Bel ieve what I am tel l ing you , because I ' ve
been l iv ing that l i fe .
One of the f irst spec i f ic examples I can rec a l l
My second­
occurred whi l e I was in the fourth grade .
best buddy , Bobby , I and some other friends were at the
local Jewel on the way home from schoo l .
" Come on , Eddie ; everybody e l se i s going to do it .
What are you , a wimp? "
Here I was , being cal led a wimp by my second - best
buddy in the whol e world , j ust because my consci ence
wouldn ' t let me stea l a stup id pack of Grape Hubba­
Bubba !
" Forget it , man ; no wimps can hang out with us .
W imp s c a n ' t be i n the p i l ot s ' c l ub , e i ther , " s a i d
Frankie .
Frankie was referring to the treehouse that
was serving us as an airplane right now .
Now my con­
science had not only cost me my friends , but I had lost
my p i l ot ' s l i c e n s e as we l l !
I l e ft J ewe l qu i et l y ,
hop ing they would get caught .
They didn ' t .
95
A consc ience not only cost me friends , but money
as wel l .
"Here ' s an extra twenty for ya !
Just make sure
cus t om s d o e s n ' t check the b r own s u i t e a s e ,
okay ,
skycap? " said the burl y guy who had j ust come o f f of
the KLM fl ight from Amsterdam .
I refused , instead getting another skycap , Hous­
ton , to help the man .
I watched a s Houston s l id the
brown sui tease by the customs inspector without h i s
I was wa iting for j ustice to stri ke , for my
seeing it .
consc ience to be v indicated .
Nothing happened ; once
aga in my conscience had cost me .
Today it had cost me
twenty d o l l ars ; throughout the whol e summer , who knows?
Worst of a l l , it was because o f my consc i ence that
I was home study ing cal culus whi l e most of my friends
were at Mary ' s house , throwing a Thursday n ight party
to warm them up for the Friday night one .
The reason I
wa s s tudy i n g that n ight a nd my f r i end s w e r e n ' t i s
s imp l e .
I have a conscience .
" Ed , Jeff got a copy of the calc test ; now we ' l l
a l l a c e that t e s t w ithout even study i ng a m i nute ! "
My conscience turned down
squealed my friend , Debbi e .
the o f fer to l ook at the test ; instead I went home and
stud ied .
Thi s was the worse !
Not only was my con­
science forc i ng me to stay home and study , but I was
miss ing a bash a l s o .
How l ong would my consc i ence con­
t inue to burden my l i fe?
Actual ly , as my l i fe has gone on I ' ve s l owly come
to rea l i z e something .
Al l the peop l e who didn ' t l isten
Bobby ,
to or have a consc ience somehow a l s o got hurt .
my s econd-best buddy back in the fourth grade , i s now
serving t ime at the Cook County Correctional Center for
breaki ng and
entering .
Houston , the skycap who took
bribes , was caught the next week and f ired .
He was
a l s o charged with consp i ring to import i l l egal goods ,
The calc test?
I got
though the charges were dropped .
an " A . " S o did a l l my friends who looked at the stol en
test , but on the next test , which was based on th ings
we were supposed to know for thi s test , most of them
did terribl y .
When I open my eyes a nd see the whol e
p icture I real i z e a conscience i sn ' t such a terribl e
It ' s gotten me through l i fe with
creature a fter a l l .
no crimina l records , a good j ob record , and I ' ve
96
learned some calculus al ong the way .
the party was a bore .
Bes ides ,
I heard
The Evaluation :
Ed Wa l l ace's es say
defines " conscience " by us i ng three
personal narratives . Origina l ly , in h i s
view , a conscience only pun ished , but
I asked h im whether a consc ience
With ni ce
couldn't a l so reward .
humor , Ed ' s final de finition balances
these two perspect ives .
97
What Makes Writing Good?
The Anthol ogy Judges Give The ir Standards
Rex Burwel l
I l ook for c lear , preci se , economical prose that
develops important topics in l ogical and art i sti c ways .
For me , writing i s good which "understands" the reader
and seeks to serve , report to , a f fect , and persuade
h im .
I f that writ ing also suggests the mystery , com­
plexity , and contradiction of humankind , it approaches
Art .
Carrie Dobbs
I l ike writing that uses syntax , vocabulary , and
rhetorical structure to ef fect any of the fo l l owing :
Teach me something I didn ' t know , l et me see a new or
old exper ience through someone el se ' s eyes , amuse me ,
or show me another way of looking at something .
I a l so
l ike a we l l -reasoned argument--whether I agree with it
or not .
Jack Dodds
Wh enever I read I l o ok for d e t a i l s , det a i l s ,
deta i l s approp r i ate to the wr i t e r ' s purpo s e o r the
occas ion :
descriptive deta i l s , fresh facts or figures ,
support ing instances ,
ins ight ful observat ion or ex­
pl anation .
Good wr iting i s dense with informat ion .
the writer ' s
Good wr it ing i s a l s o a l ive with voices :
voice ( persona ) ,
dial ogue ,
quotation ,
and a l lus ion .
Good wr iting a lways talks to me .
103
Barbara Nj us
In an authent ic VOI CE , us ing e ffective and f igura­
t ive language , to an estab l i shed purpose and audience ,
from a c l early organi z ed THES I S , GOOD WRITERS DEVELOP
I DEAS i n a coherent , c o n c i se , un i f i e d e s s ay u s i ng
S PECIFIC evidence from read ings and from personal ex­
perience to analyze opposing pos itions about top ics
hav ing STRONG S IGIFICANCE for that writer , that may in­
volve the writer in taking RISKS and that the writer
wi l l resolve and evaluate from a CONS IS TENT point o f
view .
Peter Sherer
Wr i t i n g th at f o cu s e s a nd b o l d l y g o e s wh e r e i t
promises t o g o al erts and engages me .
I l ike writing
that i s i ntel l igent , cons i stent i n its l ogi c , and con­
crete in its deta i l .
I 1 ike examples and I want to
hear an honest voice whi ch speaks to me in sentences
which are fresh , cra fted , varied , economical , and mus i ­
cal .
Joseph Sternberg
I l ike writing that l ets me touch the writer--the
I want to feel a
real writer or the created persona .
person--a person through h i s words .
I l ike writing
that f i l l s me with deta i l s ; I ' m a glutton for them .
And I l ike writing whose sentences make my tongue and
throat a n d l ip s move :
s t rong , p owe r f u l s en t e n c e s ,
graceful , shapely sentences .
G i l bert T ierney
A good student essay has a clear focus :
clear ,
e f fect ive organi z at ion ; concrete , spec i f ic devel opment ;
correct , c l ear l anguage ; and a writer who i s invo lved
in the paper .
A supe r i o r e s s ay g o e s beyond the s e a nd h a s a n
authent i c voice ; a n e ffect ive title , l ead , and end ;
t e l l i ng f a c t s and det a i l s ; and g r a c e f u l , f re s h
language ; i t has a power that comes from the writer
taking r i sks , tackl ing s igni fi cant top ics , and see i ng
oppos i ti ons and tensions and resolv ing them .
104