Engish 120 – Rosichan
Analyze and Write – Pick One for Chapter 3
Edge’s Article (pgs. 72-74)
A. Write a paragraph or two analyzing Edge’s descriptions:
1. For paragraphs 5-7, 14, and 16-18, choose a few examples of especially vivid naming and detailing.
Also highlight one or two comparisons – similes or metaphors – that work particularly well. What makes
these examples so effective?
2. If you have never seen a pickled pig lip, what more do you need to know to imagine what it looks,
smells, and tastes like, or how it feels and sounds when you chomp down on it? Which details make a lip
seem appealing to you? Which ones make it seem unappealing?
3. Consider the photograph Edge includes in his essay, and explain what it contributes to the dominant
impression. Edge could have used a full-body photograph of a pig or a photograph of the pig lips
themselves. What does the choice of visual suggest about the writer’s perspective?
B. Write a paragraph or two analyzing the organization of Edge’s profile:
1. Skim paragraphs 3-12, and note where Edge presents the following topics: the production process, the
various products produced by Farm Fresh, the source of the products, and the history of the Farm Fresh
business.
2. Reread paragraphs 16-18, and highlight places where the sequence of actions involved in eating a pig
lip are narrated.
3. Explain what, if anything, you learn from Edge’s narrative that you couldn’t find out from the topics he
presents in paragraphs 3-12.
C. Analyze Edge’s dual roles of spectator and participant in “I’m Not Leaving Until I eat This
Thing,” and then write a few paragraphs explaining what the two roles contribute to his profile:
1. Skim the essay, and note where Edge uses the spectator role and where he uses the participant role.
2. Give an example of each role, and explain how the examples show which role he is using.
3. What does adopting each role enable Edge to do?
D. Write a paragraph or two analyzing Edge’s use of telling to convey his perspective:
1. Reread paragraph 1, highlighting the descriptions of the patrons of Jesse’s Place, noting particularly
information suggesting the kinds of work they do and their socioeconomic class.
2. Skim paragraph 15, where Jerry shows Edge how people like to eat pickled pig tips.
3. Explain Edge’s perspective on this popular Southern bar snack and how it may reflect his own class
position.
Engish 120 – Rosichan
Analyze and Write – Pick One for Chapter 3
Coyne’s Article (pgs. 78-80)
A. Write a paragraph or two analyzing Coyne’s use of anecdotes to present information:
1. Reread paragraphs 13 and 26, noting the words that Coyne uses to present Ellie’s reactions and also the
words Coyne uses to present his mother’s reactions.
2. What do you learn from these anecdotes about the effects on Stephanie and Ellie of enforced
separation?
B. Write a paragraph or two analyzing Coyne’s use of narrative organization:
1. Reread the essay , noting when the events are happening in relation to the events in earlier paragraphs
and highlighting any time markers, such as prepositional phrases locating actions in time, clock time, or
verb tenses (past, present, future, and so on).
2. Coyne could have organized her essay topically, by presenting a series of insights and impressions
from the many visits she has made instead of focusing on one Mother’s Day. How does her choice help
you understand the situation of the women and their families?
C. Write a paragraph or two analyzing how Coyne uses these two roles:
1. Analyze the rest of paragraphs 1 and 3, highlighting the first-, second-, and third-person pronouns.
2. Look closely at the way the pronouns are used. Note, for example that writers seldom use the secondperson pronoun you; why do you think Coyne uses it here? Who is Coyne referring to with the firstperson plural pronoun we?
3. Consider the effect that alternating between the spectator and participant roles has on the reader. How
would your experience as a reader be different if Coyne had stuck with one role or the other? Also, think
about how alternating the roles helps convey her perspective – for example, how the pronouns align the
speaker with certain people and distance her from others (us versus them).
D. Write a paragraph or two analyzing how Coyne uses transitions indicating contrast and
juxtaposition to convey her perspective:
1. Skim Coyne’s profile, highlighting transitional words and phrases that indicate contrast. Analyze at
least one of the contrasts you’ve found. What is being contrasted? How does the transition help you
understand?
2. Note which paragraphs focus on Coyne’s sister Jennifer and her son, Toby, and which focus on
Stephanie and her son, Ellie. What differences between the two families does Coyne emphasize?
Contrasts tend to be worth pointing out when there are also important similarities. What similarities do
you think Coyne wants readers to think about?
3. Consider how Coyne’s use of contrast and juxtaposition – between people, between the world of the
prison and the world outside, and between what is and what could have been – helps convey her
perspective on the plight of the women like her sister and children like her nephew.
Engish 120 – Rosichan
Analyze and Write – Pick One for Chapter 3
Thompson’s Article (pgs. 85-86)
A. Write a paragraph or two analyzing Thompson’s decisions about how to present information
from different sources:
1. Skim the essay to find at least one example of a quotation and one paraphrase or summary of
information gleaned from an interview or from background research.
2. Why do you think Thompson chooses to quote certain things and paraphrase or summarize other
things? What could be a good rule of thumb for you to apply when deciding whether to quote, paraphrase,
or summarize? Note that when writing for an academic audience (in a paper for a class or in a scholarly
publication), all source material – whether it is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized – should be cited.
B. Write a paragraph or two analyzing Thompson’s use of time markers and process information:
1. Skim the profile, highlighting the time markers. Why do you imagine Thompson decided not to follow
a linear chronology? How well does he use time markers to keep readers from becoming confused?
2. Why do you think Thompson devotes so much space (paragraphs 6-12) to narrating the process of
cutting lettuce? What does this detailed depiction provide to readers?
C. Write a paragraph or two analyzing Thompson’s use of the participant-observer role:
1. Skim the text, highlighting each time Thompson
* reminds readers of his status as an outsider (for example, when he refers to a coworker as a nearstranger” [par.1]);
* tells readers about something he thinks will be unfamiliar to them (for example, when he explains the
people do not “pick” lettuce [par.6]);
* calls attention to his own incompetence or failings (for example, when he describes his first attempt to
cut lettuce [par.8]).
2. Why do you think Thompson tells us about his errors and reminds us that he is an outsider? What effect
are these moves likely to have on his audience?
3. How do the writers whose profiles appear in this chapter use their outsider status to connect with
readers? What are the advantages, if any, of adopting the participant-observer role (as Thompson does)
instead of the spectator role (as Cable does)?
D. Write a paragraph or two analyzing Thompson’s perspective:
1. Start by identifying the subject of the profile. Point to a couple of specific passages in the text that tell
you what the subject is.
2. Identify Thompson’s perspective on the subject. Consider the title of the profile (“A Gringo in the
Lettuce Fields”) and the title of the book from which it is excerpted, Working in the Shadows: A Year of
Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won’t Do. What do these titles tell you about Thompson’s perspective?
3. What do you think Thompson wants readers to take away from the profile? How does the political
debate raging in this country about undocumented (or illegal) immigration affect how you understand the
subject and perspective of this profile?