Why Don

1
Why Dont We Complain?

• Word Choice
• Where did you find the writers word choice to be
  compelling?
• What was the impact upon his tone?
• How was this essay informal? How was it formal?
• Was it more an appeal to reason or to emotion?
  Why?

2

• Write a phrase that stood out to you in this
  essay on the white board.

3
Is this word choice lively?

• The conductor walked down the aisle past us, but
  no one complained about the heat in the car.

4
What words and allusions stand out in this line?

• The conductor had nonchalantly walked down the
  gauntlet of eighty sweating American freemen, and
  not one of them had asked him to explain why the
  passengers in that car had been consigned to
  suffer.

5
What is a gauntlet? What is interesting about the
combination of the word nonchalant and gauntlet?
6
Word Choice

• In a more virile age
• Doleful eyes of my seatmate
• Thermostat maladjusted
• Irksome distortion
• Passive compliance
• Heedless endurance

http//dictionary.reference.com/browse/virile ht
tp//dictionary.reference.com/browse/viral http/
/dictionary.reference.com/browse/virulent
7

• Stimulated by the gastric juices of resolution
• We are all increasingly anxious in American to be
  unobtrusive
• Impervious to my telepathic reproof
• Brazenly insensitive
• I looked up manfully- into a score of man-eating
  eyes.
• Alienation of personal power

8
Why Dont We Complain?

• How did his word choice impact his tone?
• How was this essay informal? How was it formal?

9
Writing Task

• Going back to your brainstorming from Tuesday,
  write three lines that have compelling word
  choice.
• You may choose to draw on a narrative example
  like Buckley does in his essay. Write your three
  lines on the back of the page from Tuesday. I
  will collect this again from you.

10
Why Dont We Complain?

• What is strong about his appeal?
• Is this emotional or logical? Why?

11
Formal versus Informal

• Informal persuasion uses casual language, but
  still relies on reasoning and specific examples.
• Formal persuasion uses a more formal voice and
  tone. It refers to specific research statistics
  and examples.

12
Reminders

• If you want to turn in TWO revisions this
  semester, the first of those is due April 30th.
• The second revision is due by May 17th. I
  strongly urge you to turn this in early.
• Once you have the revision complete, we set a
  time to conference. These conferences typically
  take 10-15 minutes.
• Please submit your Casablanca essay to
  Turnitin.com

13
Solid Persuasive EssaysIs this essay solid?

• Articulate a clear and compelling purpose
• Avoid sweeping generalizations
• Vigorously engage the audience with tone
• Demonstrate fairness and complex thinking
  (counterargument)
• Explain and articulate assumptions with clear and
  specific evidence

14
Data - Claim - Warrant

• Data evidence
• Claim what you are proving
• Warrant reasoning

15
Data

• Narrative experience on the train
• Narrative experience in the movie theater
• Narrative experience in the ski shop
• Editorial board of national weekly magazine
  responds to complaints even if not numerous
  because they receive so few complaints.
• Premier Khrushchev came to America expecting
  protests to his tyranny he primarily was
  received cordially.

16
Claim

• What is his claim? Do you see a thesis?

17
Thesis

• I think the observable reluctance of the
  majority of Americans to assert themselves in
  minor matters is related to our increased sense
  of helplessness in an age of technology and
  centralized political and economic power.

18
Warrant

• Uncomfortable people often wont complain.
• People dont like disruptions to the status quo.
• People in America accept quietly things that are
  illogical and unnecessary- irrational things that
  might logically puzzle them.
• When something is wrong we often expect that
  someone will fix it eventually. Often no one does
  because we expect someone else will take the
  initiative.

19

• I takes a series of provocations to inspire
  action and at that point the action is very
  emotional and intense because it has been held in
  for so long.
• Sometimes this emotional intensity can cause us
  to stand up about the wrong things at the wrong
  times.
• Yet, sometimes we put up with things that really
  could easily and logically be fixed.

20

• Our inability to assert ourselves in minor
  matters stems from a disconnection.
• Whereas people in the past had to do things for
  themselves, we hire others to fix or do many
  things for us or we expect technology in some
  form to fix it for us.

21

• The technification of life has conditioned us
  into acting helpless.
• Our political system is influenced by this
  powerlessness. We feel that we have little
  individual power and we feel an alienated as a
  result
• The little things like the train, condition us in
  a way that impacts the larger sense of apathy and
  alienation we see in American culture.

22
Inductive versus Deductive

• Inductive- Examples and evidence lead to a thesis
  or central claim.
• Deductive- Claim is made and then evidence and
  specific examples are given to support the claim.

23
Examples / Reasoning

• If you were writing on this issue, what examples
  would you use?
• Is Buckleys reasoning inductive or deductive?

24
What examples could you add to your brainstorm
from Tuesday?

• Historical examples
• Cultural allusions
• Narrative examples
• Evaluate your own warrant. Does it flow
  logically? What pieces are missing?

25
Logical Fallacy

• Sometimes writers and speakers make leaps of
  logic.
• This can be due to inadequate examples or
  explanation, but it can also be from other types
  of logical fallacies.
• See page 442 and read about logical fallacies.
  Complete the logical fallacies exercise on the
  yellow sheet A-G. Put this into your spiral.

26
Prepare Your Warrant

• I will give you a specific prompt on Monday that
  relates directly to what you have brainstormed
  this week.
• We will start with a Strunk and White warm-up
  each day followed by 30 minutes of writing.

27
Prepare Your WarrantGather your examples

• I will access your writing based on the 6 traits
  of effective writing
• ideas and content
• word choice
• sentence fluency
• voice
• conventions

28
Prepare Your Warrant

• The specific ideas and content criteria will be
  explained in the prompt. The organization should
  follow a clear logical and persuasive structure,
  the word choice should set a clear and
  appropriate tone. (Use the lines you wrote in
  class yesterday!)