Argument by Joyce Carol Oates
English III/11 th Grade Collections Textbook
Pages 221-229

Joyce Carol Oates has written two to three books every year, authoring over 50 novels.
Oates also writes nonfiction, short stories, and poetry. Oates believes that “We are stimulated to emotional response not by works that confirm our sense of the world, but by works that challenge it.”
1. Epigraphs, or quotations, often appear at the beginning of a work to summarize or emphasize author’s purpose. Why did Oates choose the two epigraphs to open her essay?
2. “Against Nature” is an essay. What are some other types of essays and what is their purposes?
3. Read lines 1-5 again, then identify the author’s main purpose for writing while supporting your opinion with evidence from the text.
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In persuasive writing, the author’s general purpose is to argue a point of view. To determine the author’s goal of writing, the reader can ask, “What opinion or viewpoint does the author want to convey to the audience?” or
“What action does the author want the audience to take in response to this argument?”
4. What does Oats think about nature as a topic for writing (lines 6-14)?
Informative writing informs or explains, while narrative writing tells a story.
5. Reread lines 29-45. What is the type of essay approach the author uses, and what is the topic?
6. Cite supporting details that inform the reader about the facts about the topic.
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Authors sometimes use second-person point of view to elicit in the reader of feeling of being a part of the experience. Addressing the reader as “you” blurs the line between narrator and the reader.
7. What effect does the use of second-person point of view have in lines 46-59?
Authors may impose a single essay structure or incorporate two or more structures.
Authors vary the structure for several reasons: to make a particular point, to add layers of meaning and complexity, or to connect with their audience.
8. Reread lines 63-68 and cite the text that suggests narrative writing structure.
9. Reread lines 63-68 and cite the text that suggests informative writing structure.
10. What is the effect of the use of multiple structures in this essay?
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Readers must distinguish between fact and opinion to effectively assess the author’s support of an argument. Facts are pieces of information that can be verified, while opinions cannot be proved true or false.
11. Cite an assertion in lines 76-78 that is a fact and infer why Oates included this detail.
Narrative writing is storytelling—it entertains and draws the reader in to the world of the story.
12. Identify the three brief narratives in lines 80-97.
13. Why did Oates include these stories at this point in her essay?
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Persuasive essays engage readers in discussion or debate. Readers must analyze the evidence authors use to support their claims. Authors often build evidence over the course of their essays to further their claims.
14. Identify what claim Oates makes in lines 117-124 and how it furthers her claims about nature.
15. What evidence does Oates use to support her claims about nature in lines 117-124?
16. How did Oates’s comments about Thoreau in lines 125-136 connect her ideas in the previous paragraph? Cite the textual evidence to support your inference.
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To express their position in a compelling and convincing manner, authors of argumentative writing often use rhetoric, the art of speaking or writing for persuasive effect. For example, an author may ask a rhetorical question, or a question that does not require a reply but is asked for rhetorical effect.
17. Cite examples of rhetorical questions in lines 147-156.
18. What effect do these rhetorical questions in lines 147-156 produce?
In argumentative writing, authors may include quotations to support their opinions.
Although opinions cannot be proven, the opinions of respected authorities can add weight at crucial points in an author’s argument.
19. How did the quotation on lines 160 through 178 from Wilde support Oates’s argument?
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Counterarguments present an opposing viewpoint. Authors may quote a differing opinion simply to refute it or to strengthen their own argument.
20. Summarize the idea Thoreau expresses on lines 187-198.
21. Is Oates convinced by Thoreau’s argument? Cite textual evidence to support your answer.
The author’s tone is his or her attitude toward the subject or toward the reader, and it is expressed by the author’s choice of words, syntax, examples, and details.
22. Consider the tone Oates takes in lines 194-197. How does the tone differ in the two sentences?
23. What effect does the Oates’s tone have on the essay?
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Oates uses narrative elements to add dramatic effect and to illustrate her claims at specific points in her essay. The narrative of her mystical vision functions as an analogy, or comparison of two things. Oates implies the connection instead of spelling it out.
24. Using evidence from lines 229-239, describe how Oates’s “mystical” vision similar to nature writing?
25. Why does the writer include this example at this point in her essay?
Authors may draw attention to their main idea, key reflection, or central argument by beginning an essay with an intriguing statement or question and circling back to it at the end.
26. Why, beginning on line 252, does oat refer to Johnson’s quote from the epigraph?
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