Vocabulary Week 13

1. solace (n): comfort in a time of stress

2. insipid (adj): lacking taste or class

3. pedestrian (adj): lacking inspiration

4. visceral (adj): inept

5. inept (adj): having or showing no skill

Vocabulary Week 12

1. gauche (adj): lacking social grace

2. zenith (n): the top of a trajectory, the highest point

3. futile (adj) incapable of producing any result

4. ruminate (v): to think deeply

5. acrimony (n): tense bitterness in a relationship

The Giver Rhetorical Analysis: Your Midterm Assignment

                                                 The Giver Rhetorical Analysis

This assignment has you writing at least a three-page response to The Giver. You must include Paragraph One, Paragraph Two, and the Conclusion. You must choose three other paragraphs from the list below for a total of six paragraphs. 

Paragraph One: Introduction

Choose a topic to discuss in relation to Lowry’s novel that interests you. Here are some examples of banished items or concepts in the novel: love, hate, religion, pain, music, dancing, books or literacy, art, history, memories of the past, war, protest, rudeness, race, color, vehicles, climate, and biological families.

What does Lowry seem to argue in relation to the topic that you have chosen? In your introduction, use the Oxford English Dictionary to define your essay’s topic. Use the definition as a springboard or catalyst for your essay’s thoughts. Starting off with a definition lets the reader know that you are laser-focused on the particular theme you have chosen, and it defines your terms. Remember, we don't want to give the reader the opportunity to misunderstand us. 

Paragraph 2: Rhetorical Analysis

Does The Giver succeed or fail in its rhetorical argument? How can you tell? Choose three characters to represent the use of pathos, ethos, and logos. Discuss them at length. Review our definitions to refresh your memory of Aristotle’s appeals.

Paragraph 3: Visual Rhetoric 

If you enjoy films, watch the movie The Giver. How does the film version of The Giver use visual rhetoric to persuade the viewing audience? What aspect of the film stands out to you in your memory as the most compelling or striking scene? Why? Talk about this.

Paragraph 4: Sameness

Define the term “Sameness” in this novel as used by Lowry. Why is Sameness a bad thing in this novel? Why is it evil? Why is it dangerous? Explain. Discuss in depth.

Paragraph 5: Politics

Think about our current global or national politics as they are somehow connected to the ideas that you are discussing in your essay. Tie in the current global or national politics in this paragraph. For example, if you are writing about the idea of a false sense of “safety” that exists within the community of The Giver, it might work well to focus this paragraph on a discussion of a recent issue dealing with safety in America (think gun control, school shootings, terrorist attacks, etc). You do not have to do any research for this paragraph, but be sure to prove that you are “at the party” in terms of paying attention to what is going on in the world or current events so that you can write coherently on the topic you have selected. Know the facts!

Paragraph 6: History

Do some historical research that is relevant to your topic. Include it here. Be sure to cite sources in the text of your essay as well as on the works cited page.

Paragraph 7: Personal Narrative

Share a personal narrative. This story should help to further prove your point and strengthen your argumentation and should relate somehow to your overall theme. 

Paragraph 8: Conclusion

Restate your main assertion and leave the reader with an interesting thought or question.

MINIMUM 3 pages total. Highlighted paragraphs are required. You choose three other paragraphs from the list. Your rough draft is due November 6th. The final draft is due November 13th. 

October 16th

Class,

Today we considered the ways we can manipulate meaning by adding images, choosing specific words, and emphasizing tone. I hope this is all coming together for you as the layers of rhetoric are pieced together. We will continue to work on this next week when we consider editorial cartoons and music.

In the meantime, continue reading The Giver. You do not have a writing assignment this week because I really just want you to focus on two things: Reading your novel and studying the rhetorical devices we learned about in class. (Dominick, I will give you this handout on Thursday in Mystery class!)

Make flashcards, if necessary, for your rhetorical devices. I want you to know them inside and out. I want you to know how to apply them, how to use them, and how to spot them. (I just used one there. The first one to identify it and name it in the comments scores house points.)

I hope to have your essays graded by next class. In the meantime, work on the above tasks, and I'll post your next writing assignment.

Vocabulary Week 11

1. kismet (n) : destiny

2. exonerate (v): remove blame or guilt for wrongdoing

3. altruism (n): a selfish act

4. myopic (adj): so focused on one small thing that the whole picture can't be seen

5. galvanize (v): shock or excite, typically into taking action

Vocabulary Week 10

1. engender (v): to cause or give rise to

2. nuance (n): a subtle difference

3. covert (adj): not openly displayed

4. renown (n): the state of being known and celebrated by many

5. tangent (n): a completely different line of thought

Oct 2nd Assignment

Class,

We reviewed four different types of sentences yesterday, which I know can seem overwhelming, but you managed to discern most of them by the end of class. That's pretty good work! Good writing requires the same kinds of skills as good music. This is why they both use the term composition. If we only have a drum beating out a single rhythm, the writing gets boring. Vary your sentence length. Engage your readers. Take them on a wild ride filled with imagery, metaphors, and thoughtful prose.

We also discussed arguments. Now, arguing is a skill. Sometimes you may not feel like you have a strong opinion one way or the other, but your opinion really isn't at play in a composition class. The effectiveness of your defense in writing is. Write with conviction. Take a stand and defend it. Maybe you like chocolate and vanilla, but that's not what we are worried about in argumentative writing. Aristotle described a good rhetorician as somebody skilled in arguing both sides of a position. What we need to learn to do is to convince our opponent to choose one side, and we want it to be ours. Nobody is going to lose sleep over our position. Instead, we want to learn how to use Reasons, Examples, Names, Numbers, Sensory Words, Questions, and Quotations (RENNSQQ) to back up our position. Someday, taking a stand on a topic may be necessary. You may need to consider merging a business, buying one house over the other, or any other decision. The topics in class are generally playful, but we will add in more complex issues. For those of you considering college courses, the SAT and the TSI require a cold argumentative essay, which means you do not know the topic, and you must argue ONE side. My goal is to prepare you for this.

For class next week, you need to bring in your rough draft of your advertisement essay. We will work on these in class with our peers through a peer editing workshop. Next, read the first five chapters of The Giver and prepare for your literary circle. We will begin introducing Rhetoric next week.

Week 9 Vocabulary

1. curmudgeon (n): a bad-tempered person

2. sojourn (n): a temporary stay

3. gregarious (adj): fond of company or outgoing

4. augment (v): to increase

5. insidious (adj): advancing in a gradual way to cause harm