Essay Assignment #3: 

Writing to Understand and Respond to a Text

First Draft Due November 1st (minimum 3 pages):

In this paper, you will refer to one of our readings, either Arlene Croce's “Discussing the Undiscussable” or Michael Moore's “Idiot Nation,” supporting or refuting the author's viewpoint, and using a particular piece of art to back up your claim. You may choose any piece of art (an image of a painting, an animation image, a drawing, an image from a magazine, a photograph, or a cartoon, for example). Assume that your audience is a group of people who disagree with you. So if you're writing in support of Moore's claim, for instance, that the United States is a nation that turns out millions of ignorant students every year but goes out of its way to remain ignorant and should therefore not be running the world, then pretend you're writing for people who believe that the United States is a nation of intelligent people who should be world leaders. If you're writing to refute Croce's claim that it is impossible to critically discuss art that uses “victims” in it because it forces the critic or viewer to feel sorry for them, and then pretend you are writing for people who believe that art should be free of such “victims” and “issues” that tugs at people's emotions. 

The special skill you will need to exercise in this essay is the ability to use pieces of a text—an essay and an image of art —to support your point of view. You will be quoting little passages of text and making reference to your chosen image to illustrate for your reader that what you're claiming is supportable. Be sure to discuss specific material from your image — (color, form, the image itself, symbols, style, use of lines, etc.) and WHY it backs up your argument or exemplifies your argument. It will be important for you to support your observations and assertions with specific examples of this kind. 

As you can probably see, this assignment involves several kinds of activities and steps of critical thinking. You'll need to clearly understand the claim you want to agree or disagree with, and you'll need to be able to point to specific passages from the essay where this claim is made most clear. You'll also need to be able to relate the claim to your image, “reading” the image in terms of the ideas put forth by the author you're working with. This kind of close “reading” of an image will require you to look at the image again and again, and read the essay again and again. 

* You must have a copy of your image that MUST accompany your paper. If the image is in color, you must either find a way to print it in color or email it to me as a jpg AND give me the original image, like if it was a cartoon you cut out, or print it in black and white to accompany with your paper. 

So again, your task is this: Write an essay in which you support or refute one or more of the claims made in Arlene Croce's “Discussing the Undiscussable” or Michael Moore's “Idiot Nation,” using a particular piece of art to back up your claim. As you write, imagine yourself addressing a resistant audience. 

** Always, always back up your thoughts with some example, quote, or explanation.