Breakthrough Writer

For Summer 2009 Semester, McMahon's Office Will be in Humanities Building 121P

Because of the heavy construction that impedes getting to McMahon's PE4 Office, his office for Summer of 2009 will be Humanities 121 P, first floor of the Humanities Building, across from the Writing Center. Thank you.

McMahon Commentary on “The Chain” by Tobias Wolff

 

Brian Gold, a lowly video store clerk, is a man with an addiction: Like a ravenous glutton, he chews on the fat wad of self-pity. He is so bloated on his sense of victimization, so embattled by the sense that the world owes him and so emasculated by his own deflated masculinity that when Tom goads Brian into a revenge plot, Brian is more than ripe for the picking, so to speak. 

In many ways, “The Chain” is a morality tale: It warns us of taking actions to preserve our image in the eyes of others. It warns us of acting compulsively when our passions take over our powers of reason and common sense. And it warns us of the narcissistic delusion that the world owes us and that our humble lot is a condition of humiliation that entitles us to wage war against our perceived enemies so that we may “turn the tables” and “get even” when in fact our spite against our “foes” is really an act of self-mutilation leaving us the biggest victim of all.

 

1C Lesson for “The Chain” by Tobias Wolff 131

One. The Foundation of any Writing Class: Thesis

Qualities of Successful Thesis:

1.    One sentence that establishes a demonstrable argument or purpose.


2.    Demonstrable means two things: writer has authentic emotional connection to material so he or she doesn’t run out of gas at the midway point. Secondly, it means writer can support the thesis with mapping statements.  Sample: The popularity of SUVs reveals a malignancy about American consumerism. First, SUV makers market their vehicles toward people who wish to dominate and bully on the road; second, SUV drivers feel entitled to cheap gas to quench their driving habits, at the expense of American dependency on oil from hostile countries; third, SUV drivers often recklessly multi-task as they live inside their little cockpit fantasy. Lipstick, DVD, Carl’s Jr. gluttony, cell phone, etc. SUV drivers don’t care that their vehicles decapitate car drivers. 

3.    A good thesis defies the obvious or The So-What Factor: Sample: Tom Cruise and Terrell Owens are jerks. A better thesis: Society requires grotesque celebrities, such as Tom Cruise and Terrell Owens, to be our punching bags. First, these vile celebrities refute the unhealthy notion that riches result in goodness; second, our communal hatred for them gives us a sense of shared values; third, our loathing for these miscreants gives us catharsis and we vent our class envy and middle class frustrations.

4.    A good thesis answers a compelling question. Why does no one care about Barry Bonds, even as he closes in on Hank Aaron’s record? In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, how did the US government leave so many people to die in a country that is the richest and freest in the world? Why do women continue to outnumber men in college enrollment? Patience, fortitude, humility, pride, long-term vision. What is it?

Sample Thesis Statements

Taking your date to a restaurant on Valentine’s Day is an exercise in foolishness and futility because _______________________, ____________________________, _____________________________, and ________________________________.

The popularity of American Idol is rooted in our unquenchable appetite for seeing others mocked and humiliated. This appetite stems from our ____________________________, _________________________, _______________________, and ____________________________.

There is a certain type of SUV driver who embodies the most malignant characteristics of American narcissism. These characteristics include ___________________________, __________________________, _____________________________, and ______________________________.

Contrasting thesis: The SUV driver and the Mini Cooper Driver give us a picture of two very different types of Americans, the low-brow troglodyte vs. the high-brow hipster. The trog can be distinguished by his penchant for ________________________, ______________________, and _______________________ while the hipster’s calling card is his _________________________, ____________________________, and _______________________________.

 

Two. “The Chain” 131

One. Spite: The impulse for revenge. More specifically, spite is an obsessive appetite for harming and injuring someone as a form of self-gratification and the misguided pursuit of justice.

Two. Self-Destructive Spite: “Bite your nose to spite your face” captures the Faustian Bargain of revenge in which the avenger suffers self-mutilation as he seeks misguided “justice.”

Three. What are Brian Gold’s psychological weaknesses that fuel his spite?

1.    Self-pity causes resentment, which seeks relief through lashing out at one’s perceived enemy. Gold pities his low station in life. See page 136. 


2.    Lacking in self-esteem and self-worth, he needs an enemy to elevate his self-regard and to appear heroic toward others. See page 132 in which Brian Gold is obsessed with boasting of his heroism to others. See page 137 where he fears people perceive him as being weak and passive for being a Jew.


3.    He resents that people, including himself, question his masculinity and he seeks revenge to impress people like Tom Rourke so that they will give him “Man Points.” See page 135 in which Tom goads Brian into admitting he liked the taste of blood because, we can infer, real men like blood. 


4.    He feels alone in his anger, feels that his anger is not understood (certainly Brian Gold’s wife doesn’t understand it) and he seeks those who will help him coddle his anger because in part this newfound anger empowers him. See page 133. 


5.    The aggrieved oversimplifies a single event and allows that one event to be a repository for all the anger and frustration in his life so that in seeking to avenge one injustice when in reality he has consolidated all his anger from many areas of his life and focused on one thing. This is the case of Brian Gold. 

6.    He has an injured ego, which seeks to restore itself by dominating its perceived enemy.

7.    He has a sense of violated honor, which results in the aggrieved lashing out as misguided attempt at restoring his honor. In an attempt to restore his honor, he resorts to the cheap propaganda of the Taliban, calling the disc jockey a “Child of Satan” to justify his vandalism. See page 144.

8.    He possesses self-righteous indignation, which gives the aggrieved an unlimited license to exact justice against his perceived enemy.

9.    He is stricken by envy, which causes self-pity and resentment and turns the aggrieved into a “hater” who seeks consolation by degrading and humiliating those he sees enjoy an unfair advantage in life over him. See page 138 where Gold ponders the wealth the owners of the dog enjoy.

10.    He has too much alone-time, which allows the aggrieved to dwell and obsess over his perceived grievance, nurturing it and giving it life until it grows beyond his wildest dreams.

Four. What does the story tell us about the unintended consequences of spite?

1.    The aggrieved “bites his nose to spite his face,” meaning that in the process of injuring his enemy he suffers an even greater injury.


2.    The aggrieved is so intoxicated by his own self-righteous indignation that he is blind to the self-destruction that results from his spite.

3.   The aggrieved often forms alliances with unsavory, even satanic individuals like Tom Rourke, who promise to help carry out his acts of revenge. Once the pact is made with the likes of Rourke, Gold now owes a debt to him and here we arrive at the Faustian Bargain. See pages 140 and 142.

4.    Once the aggrieved tastes revenge, he develops an addiction to it so that revenge becomes his only form of “pleasure.”

5.    Once the aggrieved begins his act of revenge, he sets into motion a chain of events that grow beyond his control resulting in destruction that is disproportionate to the original infraction.

6.    Fixation, stagnation; also called arrested development or emotional retardation. 


7.    Perdition, a form of shame and punishment that lasts a very long, long time. See page 148.

Five. What is the link between self-pity, entitlement, resentment, and narcissism? 

Definition of narcissism by Geoffrey Miller, author of Spent: Narcissism "combines an intense need for admiration by others with a lack of empathy for others."

Six. Sample Essay Structure for Essay #1

 

In a page, profile a narcissist you know, someone who is afflicted with self-pity, neediness, vanity, resentment, and the kind of insecurity that makes he or she resort to embellishing his or her life with a grand facade, a mask of bling and braggadocio that cannot conceal an emptiness, a self-loathing, and a lack of real meaningful connection to self, others and life. Use concrete details, snippets of dialogue, and a salient anecdote to bring to life this sorry narcissist, who for better or worse, is your friend, relative, family member, or acquaintance. 

 

In your second page, build a bridge between your profile and your analysis of the Tobias Wolff stories. Your bridge, or transition, might start like this: "Likewise, the stories in The Night in Question feature characters who highlight the same narcissistic qualities as my friend. These qualities include _________________________, _____________________________, ________________________, and _____________________________.

 

Your body paragraphs will expound on the mapping components (indicated by the blanks above)

 

Seven. In-class exercise: Write down the name (use a fake name if you want but make-up a name that captures the personality of your subject) of a narcissist you know and make a list of 5 things that evidence his or her narcissism.

 

Top Ten Reasons Students Do Poorly in College

 

I’ve observed these Failure Factors from nearly 25 years of teaching at the college level. 

1.You hate college—the entire experience, driving to campus, finding a parking space, sitting in class, studying, gathering the necessary materials—but you attend college to please parents, a girlfriend, or to get financial aid or whatever. You have to have the hunger for achievement within yourself to succeed.  Otherwise, you’re doomed to flounder in a haze of apathy, laziness, and despair. No one on Planet Earth is responsible for you having this fire. You’re responsible. As some Americans like to say, “Get in the game.”

2.You have unnecessary drama in your life. You’re in a destructive, addictive relationship that consumes all your thoughts and energy. You find yourself always fighting and making-up with your Other. Or you hang out with knuckle-head buddies, immature troglodytes,  who are always getting you into trouble.

3.You engage in the Hot and Cold, studying like a maniac for a few days and then retreating into intractable laziness. In other words, you lack consistency and you don’t pace yourself.

4.You feel sorry for yourself for whatever reason and use your self-pity as an excuse to fail.  The Psychology Department calls this loathsome condition Learned Helplessness.

5.You’ve got money problems. No matter what the reason, justified or not, responsible living or not, money problems usually result in you working more hours at work or taking on more jobs and the more you work the more you compromise school performance.

6.You’re addicted to BS. BS includes chatting on the Internet, text-messaging, gossiping on your cell, watching crap on TV, etc. All these addictions take your focus off college. The Psychology Department calls this behavior Motivational Priority Inversion in which lame addictions take priority over more important matters such as excelling in school. According to Dr. Drew on his Loveline radio show, addiction is all about the addiction taking priority over everything else.

7.You have no social skills (you’re too shy, you’ve got low-self-esteem, you’ve got an inferiority complex, you’re still licking your wounds from your last breakup, you’re still grieving over some family tragedy, etc.)  so you don’t communicate with your instructors and other students resulting in an ability to clarify important issues that will help you succeed in college. Social skills also help you to build alliances and to network, skills that are essential to succeeding in the real world.

8.You eat crap and you eat sporadically. I’ve got students who come to class who haven’t eaten for 8 hours and they’re in my class noshing on a bag of Funyuns and gulping a fruit drink made of high-fructose corn syrup. If you don’t feed your brain nutrients, you’re brain-dead, which means you’ll absorb less than 1% of what the instructor is saying.

9.Sleep deprivation. Simple math: If you don’t get enough sleep, you’re worthless—to yourself and to society. Period.

10.                 You exaggerate the difficulty of college so that you convince yourself you can’t succeed at it. The Psychology Department puts this under the category of Learned Helplessness.

If you have 3 or more of these Failure Factors, then you are at a high risk for failure. Identifying these risk factors is not pleasant, but it’s the beginning of you doing the number one thing you were put on Planet Earth for: TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE. 

 

McMahon 1C Summer 2009 Syllabus

 

Classroom: H 312

e-mail: jmcmahon@elcamino.edu; Office: PE4; extension 3673

Website for students:http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/ 

 

Required Texts, a total of 3 books: Signs of Life in the USA, Sixth Edition; The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff; Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker 

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

This course focuses on the development of critical thinking skills and on the application of these skills to written argumentation. Students will examine logical reasoning and apply its principles when reading and writing analytic and evaluative essays about argumentative, persuasive, narrative and expressive works and topics. At the end of English 1C, students should be able to:

 

1. Employ proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling in writing.

2. Employ standard MLA guidelines for formatting assignments and citation.

3. Identify the major components of an effective argument.

4. Write with clarity to communicate effectively.

5. Adapt writing for different styles or forms, including argumentative essays, web pages, and blogs, to name a few.

6. Respond critically to course material, using synthesis and analysis

7. Create effective argumentative texts using a variety of models such as refutation, concession, and critique.

8. Develop methods and strategies for analyzing and interpreting texts.

9. Utilize proper MLA citation and bibliographic form.

10. Identify and locate a variety of sources relevant to a research topic.

11. Utilize research materials to make and present an analytical argument.

12. Compose an argumentative essay supporting a claim about issues, argumentative prose, or literary interpretation.  The essay will show the student’s ability to support a thesis using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of materials and ideas.  The essay will be well organized, will follow proper MLA format, and will be technically correct in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and usage. 

 

Grading (based on mandatory 24 pages):

Four Research 5-Page Research Papers: 220 for 880 subtotal

Four Surprise Closed-Book Reading Exams that are a 1-page paragraph, 30 each, 120 subtotal

Grand Total: 1,000 points.

 

Policies:

 

You can’t make-up reading exams. Points are irretrievably lost.

 

Late Papers: Reduce one full grade ; no late papers accepted once new set of essays is due.

Research Papers should be approximately 1,200 words, 12 font, Times New Roman, page numbers, name, and essay title in upper right hand corner (headers in Microsoft View) and Works Cited should have minimum 3 sources and spacing using MLA format.

 

Revisions: You may revise ONE paper for 10-30 pts. depending on the quality of the rewrite. Revision must be turned in ONE WEEK after original due date.

 

Plagiarism Policy: If you plagiarize, steal previously written material and attempt to make it appear as if you wrote it, you will get ZERO points on the essay. For a rewrite, the HIGHEST POSSIBLE GRADE WILL BE A C MINUS, based on an A-level paper. A B paper will be a D, a C paper an F.

 

(20 points deducted for not having headers (your last name and page number in the upper right corner of every page and 40 points deducted for not having a correct Works Cited page)

 

Attendance Policy: For 16-week semesters, students may be dropped after missing 6 classes for ANY REASON, including medical. For Summer and Winter sessions, students may be dropped after missing 4 classes for whatever reason, including medical.

 

Riding Policy: You cannot “ride” my class. A “rider” is a student who does nothing and tries to turn in papers all at once during the end of the semester. If by the third essay due date, you have turned in only one essay or none, I will drop you. I will be dropping “riders” on November 12 of this semester.

 

Etiquette Policy: If you’re text-messaging, receiving phone calls, privately conversing or studying for other courses during my class, you will be asked to leave the class.

 

Reading and Writing Schedule

 

June 22 Introduction: Essay 1: Draw from no fewer than 3 Tobias Wolff short stories to write an extended definition of narcissism. You should have a single-sentence definition, your thesis, followed by about 4 distinguishing characteristics, your mapping components or mapping statements. Your essay should be 4 pages long plus a Works Cited page

 

June 23 “The Chain” 131 from The Night in Question

 

June 24 “The Other Miller 86 from The Night in Question

 

June 25 “Life of the Body” 38 from The Night in Question

 

June 29 “Mortals” 3 and “Bullet in the Brain” 200 from The Night in Question

 

June 30 Essay 1 due in my office

 

July 1 Essay 1 due in my office

 

July 2 Holiday: Reading assignments from Signs of Life in the USA Sixth Edition

 

July 6 The More Factor 86-92: Essay 2 Option: Apply the moral degradation described in “The More Factor” by comparing the Faustian Bargains made in A Simple Plan and Goodfellas and Wall Street. You can use one, two, or all three films.

 

July 7 The Signs of Shopping 101-107: Essay 2 Option: Reading the Signs Number 3 on page 107.

 

July 8 Mixed Messages 502-522

 

July 9 The Parable of the Democracy of Goods 182-190. Essay 2 Option: Analyze three ad campaigns (or TV or magazine ads) that draw from the myths described in “The Parable of the Democracy of Goods” and “The More Factor.”

 

July 13 Essay 2 due in my office

 

July 14 Essay 2 due in my office

 

July 15 “Men’s Men and Women’s Women 202-213 and Metrosexuals Come Out 217-221. Essay 3 Option: Reading the Signs Number 4 on page 213. (Troglodyte against the hipster. SUV vs. Mini Cooper)

 

July 16 The Simpsons, Hyper-Irony and the Meaning of Life 283-295 and South Park and the Open Society 296-302. Reading the Signs Number 6 on page 295.

 

July 20 Essay 3 due in my office

 

July 21  Essay 3 due in my office

 

July 22 Voting Democracy off the Island: Reality TV and the Republican Ethos 265-271. Essay 4 Option: Show how Prose’s essay illuminates the principles of Darwinian capitalism and/or Machiavellianism. 

 

July 23 Superhero Worship 351-354 and Creating the Myth 356-364 and Move Fantasy vs. Classroom Reality 402-405. Essay 4 Option: Reading the Signs Number 4 on page 355.

 

July 27 One Nation, Slightly Divisible 487-494

 

July 28 Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising 524-534. Essay 4 Option: Reading the Signs Number 2 on page 534.

 

July 29 Essay 4 due in my office

 

July 30 Essay 4 due in my office

 

 

 

 

Classroom: H 312

e-mail: jmcmahon@elcamino.edu; Office: PE4; extension 3673

Website for students:http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/ 

 

Required Texts, a total of 3 books: Signs of Life in the USA, Sixth Edition; The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff; Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker 

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

This course focuses on the development of critical thinking skills and on the application of these skills to written argumentation. Students will examine logical reasoning and apply its principles when reading and writing analytic and evaluative essays about argumentative, persuasive, narrative and expressive works and topics. At the end of English 1C, students should be able to:

 

1. Employ proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling in writing.

2. Employ standard MLA guidelines for formatting assignments and citation.

3. Identify the major components of an effective argument.

4. Write with clarity to communicate effectively.

5. Adapt writing for different styles or forms, including argumentative essays, web pages, and blogs, to name a few.

6. Respond critically to course material, using synthesis and analysis

7. Create effective argumentative texts using a variety of models such as refutation, concession, and critique.

8. Develop methods and strategies for analyzing and interpreting texts.

9. Utilize proper MLA citation and bibliographic form.

10. Identify and locate a variety of sources relevant to a research topic.

11. Utilize research materials to make and present an analytical argument.

12. Compose an argumentative essay supporting a claim about issues, argumentative prose, or literary interpretation.  The essay will show the student’s ability to support a thesis using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of materials and ideas.  The essay will be well organized, will follow proper MLA format, and will be technically correct in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and usage. 

 

Grading (based on mandatory 24 pages):

Four Research 5-Page Research Papers: 220 for 880 subtotal

Four Surprise Closed-Book Reading Exams that are a 1-page paragraph, 30 each, 120 subtotal

Grand Total: 1,000 points.

 

Policies:

 

You can’t make-up reading exams. Points are irretrievably lost.

 

Late Papers: Reduce one full grade ; no late papers accepted once new set of essays is due.

Research Papers should be approximately 1,200 words, 12 font, Times New Roman, page numbers, name, and essay title in upper right hand corner (headers in Microsoft View) and Works Cited should have minimum 3 sources and spacing using MLA format.

 

Revisions: You may revise ONE paper for 10-30 pts. depending on the quality of the rewrite. Revision must be turned in ONE WEEK after original due date.

 

Plagiarism Policy: If you plagiarize, steal previously written material and attempt to make it appear as if you wrote it, you will get ZERO points on the essay. For a rewrite, the HIGHEST POSSIBLE GRADE WILL BE A C MINUS, based on an A-level paper. A B paper will be a D, a C paper an F.

 

(20 points deducted for not having headers (your last name and page number in the upper right corner of every page and 40 points deducted for not having a correct Works Cited page)

 

Attendance Policy: For 16-week semesters, students may be dropped after missing 6 classes for ANY REASON, including medical. For Summer and Winter sessions, students may be dropped after missing 4 classes for whatever reason, including medical.

 

Riding Policy: You cannot “ride” my class. A “rider” is a student who does nothing and tries to turn in papers all at once during the end of the semester. If by the third essay due date, you have turned in only one essay or none, I will drop you. I will be dropping “riders” on November 12 of this semester.

 

Etiquette Policy: If you’re text-messaging, receiving phone calls, privately conversing or studying for other courses during my class, you will be asked to leave the class.

 

Reading and Writing Schedule

 

June 22 Introduction: Essay 1: Draw from no fewer than 3 Tobias Wolff short stories to write an extended definition of narcissism. You should have a single-sentence definition, your thesis, followed by about 4 distinguishing characteristics, your mapping components or mapping statements. Your essay should be 4 pages long plus a Works Cited page

 

June 23 “The Chain” 131 from The Night in Question

 

June 24 “The Other Miller 86 from The Night in Question

 

June 25 “Life of the Body” 38 from The Night in Question

 

June 29 “Mortals” 3 and “Bullet in the Brain” 200 from The Night in Question

 

June 30 Essay 1 due in my office

 

July 1 Essay 1 due in my office

 

July 2 Holiday: Reading assignments from Signs of Life in the USA Sixth Edition

 

July 6 The More Factor 86-92: Essay 2 Option: Apply the moral degradation described in “The More Factor” by comparing the Faustian Bargains made in A Simple Plan and Goodfellas and Wall Street. You can use one, two, or all three films.

 

July 7 The Signs of Shopping 101-107: Essay 2 Option: Reading the Signs Number 3 on page 107.

 

July 8 Mixed Messages 502-522

 

July 9 The Parable of the Democracy of Goods 182-190. Essay 2 Option: Analyze three ad campaigns (or TV or magazine ads) that draw from the myths described in “The Parable of the Democracy of Goods” and “The More Factor.”

 

July 13 Essay 2 due in my office

 

July 14 Essay 2 due in my office

 

July 15 “Men’s Men and Women’s Women 202-213 and Metrosexuals Come Out 217-221. Essay 3 Option: Reading the Signs Number 4 on page 213. (Troglodyte against the hipster. SUV vs. Mini Cooper)

 

July 16 The Simpsons, Hyper-Irony and the Meaning of Life 283-295 and South Park and the Open Society 296-302. Reading the Signs Number 6 on page 295.

 

July 20 Essay 3 due in my office

 

July 21  Essay 3 due in my office

 

July 22 Voting Democracy off the Island: Reality TV and the Republican Ethos 265-271. Essay 4 Option: Show how Prose’s essay illuminates the principles of Darwinian capitalism and/or Machiavellianism. 

 

July 23 Superhero Worship 351-354 and Creating the Myth 356-364 and Move Fantasy vs. Classroom Reality 402-405. Essay 4 Option: Reading the Signs Number 4 on page 355.

 

July 27 One Nation, Slightly Divisible 487-494

 

July 28 Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising 524-534. Essay 4 Option: Reading the Signs Number 2 on page 534.

 

July 29 Essay 4 due in my office

 

July 30 Essay 4 due in my office

 

 

 

McMahon 1A Summer 2009 Syllabus

 

Classroom: H 312 (contrary to Summer Catalog)

E-mail: jmcmahon@elcamino.edu

Website for students: http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/ 

This course is designed to strengthen students’ ability to read with understanding and discernment, to discuss assigned readings intelligently, and to write clearly. Emphasis will be on writing essays in which each paragraph relates to a controlling idea, has an introduction and a conclusion, and contains primary and secondary support. College-level reading material will be assigned to provide the stimulus for class discussion and writing assignments, including a required research paper. 

Student Learning Objectives: 

1. Compose a clear introductory paragraph relevant to the topic.

2. Compose a clearly defined thesis statement that limits and focuses the topic of the essay.

3. Organize information to be used in the development of one's own thesis.

4. Write logically developed, organized paragraphs that support the controlling idea or thesis.

5. Develop and use varied sentence patterns effectively.

6.  Use transitional words, phrases, and sentences to provide for coherence between and within paragraphs.

7. Choose and effectively use a rhetorical strategy appropriate to the topic.

8. Develop a conclusion that effectively closes the essay.

9. Paraphrase and summarize referenced material.

10. Incorporate direct quotes into one’s own exposition.

11. Use MLA documentation guidelines.

12. Avoid plagiarism.

13.Write an out-of-class writing task and find multiple sources related to a particular topic, write a research report, which shows the ability to support a thesis using analysis, to synthesize and integrate materials effectively from a variety of sources, and to cite sources in MLA format (including a works cited page). The report is organized, technically correct in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling and word use, and demonstrates thoughtful treatment of the topic.

 

Required Texts: Acting out Culture, edited by James Miller; Cooked by Louis Jeff Henderson; Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker.

Grading: 

Four Research Papers 220 maximum points for 880 subtotal.

Four Surprise Closed-Book Reading Exams for 30 a piece, 120 subtotal.

Total Possible Points: 1,000 (A 900; B 800; C 700; D 600) 

Policies: 

You cannot make-up surprise closed-book reading exams. If you miss one, you lose 25 points. The reading tests are designed to encourage consistent attendance and reading. A class with lousy attendance and “no readership” is a class low in morale. 

Late Papers: Reduce one full grade ; no late papers accepted once new set of essays is due. 

Research Papers should be approximately 1,000 words, 12 font, Times New Roman, page numbers, name, and essay title in upper right hand corner (headers in Microsoft View) and Works Cited should have minimum 3 sources and spacing using MLA format. 

Revisions: You may revise one paper for 10-30 pts. depending on the quality of the rewrite. Revision must be turned in one week after original due date. 

 

If your research paper has no headers, your last name and page number on every page, your essay will be deducted 20 points.

 

If your research paper has no Works Cited page, you’ll lose 40 points.

 

Reading and Writing Schedule

 

June 22 Introduction

June 23 Cooked 1-39

June 24 Cooked 40-100

June 25 Cooked 101-159

June 29 Cooked 160-end

June 30 Essay 1 due in my office

July 1 Essay 1 due in my office

July 2 Holiday

July 6 The Big Organic 174-196

July 7 The Wages of Sin 192-203

July 8 Add Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem 217-230

July 9 Bring your introduction and thesis paragraph for Essay 2 to McMahon’s office

July 13 Essay 2 due in my office

July 14 Essay 2 due in my office

July 15 Love and War in Cyberspace 380-397

July 16 The Baby Genius Edutainment Complex 450-471

July 20 Essay 3 due in my office

July 21 Essay 3 due in my office

July 22 AWOL in America 358-367

July 23 Watching Torture in Prime Time 109-113

July 27 Mate de Coca 235-248

July 28 Bring your introduction and thesis paragraph to my office

July 29 Essay 4 due in my office

July 30 Essay 4 due in my office

 

 

Writing Assignments

 

Essay One

 

In the context of Cooked by Jeff Henderson, write an extended definition of the word “redemption.” Your first page should be a personal anecdote of someone who experienced the Fall followed by redemption.

 

Your second paragraph should transition your essay to your thesis paragraph in which you define redemption. Your definition should contain a single-sentence definition followed by about 5 distinguishing characteristics, your mapping components or mapping statements. Your body paragraphs will correspond to your mapping components. 

 

Your research sources should include the book Cooked, McMahon’s website The Breakthrough Writer and one other outside source.

 

Essay Two Options (choose one)

First Option: In the context of Michael Pollan’s essay “Big Organic” (174), analyze the fraud and deception the food industry uses to market foods that are allegedly “organic” and “natural.” 5-page outline: In 2 pages, summarize Pollan's major points. Then write a thesis. As my research and Michael Pollan's essay show, the idea of "organic" is a marketing fraud evidenced by _________________, _____________________, ___________________, and ______________________. Your last 3 pages would flesh out these mapping components.

Second Option: Write a research paper that argues that the obesity crisis is neither a sin (see “The Wages of Sin” 192) nor an illness, but a complex problem that cannot be explained by a simple diagnosis. Your 6 mapping statements will explore 6 major causes of obesity. No doubt, a 5 or 6-page essay can’t address all 15 causes. That would require a book.

Third Option: In the context of Caroline Knapp’s essay, write a research paper that analyzes the causes of eating disorders.

 

Third Essay Options (choose one)

First Option: Analyze the mental breakdown and general pathology of the computer addicts in “Love & War in Cyberspace” on page 380.

Second Option: Defend or refute the efficacy and helpfulness of the Baby Genius Edutainment Complex as described on pages 450-471.

Fourth Essay Option (choose one)

First Option: Address a thesis that defends the right to go AWOL.

A thesis against AWOL: The military will save itself a lot of grief if it stops enforcing its stringent AWOL policies.

A Variation

It is morally bankrupt for the military to enforce stringent AWOL policies resulting in keeping the soldiers in the military service against their will. One, it is immoral to force people to kill against their will. Second, the morale of the soldiers will be compromised if the eager fighters are forced to mingle with the reluctant ones because there won't be cohesiveness. Third, soldiers not willing or able to perform their assigned duties will put their comrades' lives in peril. And finally, our armed forces recruit many marginalized people. It is certainly conceivable that these people did not fully understand what they signed up for.

An Opposing or Contrarian View of AWOL

It is crucial that the military uphold its stringent AWOL policy. Failure to do so will result in a waste of tax money used to train lame duck soldiers. Secondly, lenience will inevitably create a two-tiered system whereby the rich use their leverage to pay their way out while the poor are stuck where they don't want to be. Third, good soldiers may feel emboldened on a whim to get out of their duty. In other words, lenience creates too much temptation for even the solid soldiers. And finally . . .

Second Option: Refute or defend the use of torture as an effective form of intelligence. See “Watching Torture in Prime Time” and other sources. 

Third Option: Refute or defend this thesis that addresses “Mate de Coca”:

Taras Grescoe’s essay convincingly shows that the “War on Drugs” is an absurdity wrought with contradictions, hypocrisy, cultural insensitivity, scientific humbug, and arbitrary notions of what constitutes health and pestilence to society. 

The mapping components would pertain to “contradictions,” “hypocrisy,” “cultural insensitivity,” scientific humbug,” and “arbitrary notions of what constitutes good health to society” on one hand and “pestilence to society” on the other.  

 

Classroom: H 312 (contrary to Summer Catalog)

E-mail: jmcmahon@elcamino.edu

Website for students: http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/ 

This course is designed to strengthen students’ ability to read with understanding and discernment, to discuss assigned readings intelligently, and to write clearly. Emphasis will be on writing essays in which each paragraph relates to a controlling idea, has an introduction and a conclusion, and contains primary and secondary support. College-level reading material will be assigned to provide the stimulus for class discussion and writing assignments, including a required research paper. 

Student Learning Objectives: 

1. Compose a clear introductory paragraph relevant to the topic.

2. Compose a clearly defined thesis statement that limits and focuses the topic of the essay.

3. Organize information to be used in the development of one's own thesis.

4. Write logically developed, organized paragraphs that support the controlling idea or thesis.

5. Develop and use varied sentence patterns effectively.

6.  Use transitional words, phrases, and sentences to provide for coherence between and within paragraphs.

7. Choose and effectively use a rhetorical strategy appropriate to the topic.

8. Develop a conclusion that effectively closes the essay.

9. Paraphrase and summarize referenced material.

10. Incorporate direct quotes into one’s own exposition.

11. Use MLA documentation guidelines.

12. Avoid plagiarism.

13.Write an out-of-class writing task and find multiple sources related to a particular topic, write a research report, which shows the ability to support a thesis using analysis, to synthesize and integrate materials effectively from a variety of sources, and to cite sources in MLA format (including a works cited page). The report is organized, technically correct in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling and word use, and demonstrates thoughtful treatment of the topic.

 

Required Texts: Acting out Culture, edited by James Miller; Cooked by Louis Jeff Henderson; Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker.

Grading: 

Four Research Papers 220 maximum points for 880 subtotal.

Four Surprise Closed-Book Reading Exams for 30 a piece, 120 subtotal.

Total Possible Points: 1,000 (A 900; B 800; C 700; D 600) 

Policies: 

You cannot make-up surprise closed-book reading exams. If you miss one, you lose 25 points. The reading tests are designed to encourage consistent attendance and reading. A class with lousy attendance and “no readership” is a class low in morale. 

Late Papers: Reduce one full grade ; no late papers accepted once new set of essays is due. 

Research Papers should be approximately 1,000 words, 12 font, Times New Roman, page numbers, name, and essay title in upper right hand corner (headers in Microsoft View) and Works Cited should have minimum 3 sources and spacing using MLA format. 

Revisions: You may revise one paper for 10-30 pts. depending on the quality of the rewrite. Revision must be turned in one week after original due date. 

 

If your research paper has no headers, your last name and page number on every page, your essay will be deducted 20 points.

 

If your research paper has no Works Cited page, you’ll lose 40 points.

 

Reading and Writing Schedule

 

June 22 Introduction

June 23 Cooked 1-39

June 24 Cooked 40-100

June 25 Cooked 101-159

June 29 Cooked 160-end

June 30 Essay 1 due in my office

July 1 Essay 1 due in my office

July 2 Holiday

July 6 The Big Organic 174-196

July 7 The Wages of Sin 192-203

July 8 Add Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem 217-230

July 9 Bring your introduction and thesis paragraph for Essay 2 to McMahon’s office

July 13 Essay 2 due in my office

July 14 Essay 2 due in my office

July 15 Love and War in Cyberspace 380-397

July 16 The Baby Genius Edutainment Complex 450-471

July 20 Essay 3 due in my office

July 21 Essay 3 due in my office

July 22 AWOL in America 358-367

July 23 Watching Torture in Prime Time 109-113

July 27 Mate de Coca 235-248

July 28 Bring your introduction and thesis paragraph to my office

July 29 Essay 4 due in my office

July 30 Essay 4 due in my office

 

 

Writing Assignments

 

Essay One

 

In the context of Cooked by Jeff Henderson, write an extended definition of the word “redemption.” Your first page should be a personal anecdote of someone who experienced the Fall followed by redemption.

 

Your second paragraph should transition your essay to your thesis paragraph in which you define redemption. Your definition should contain a single-sentence definition followed by about 5 distinguishing characteristics, your mapping components or mapping statements. Your body paragraphs will correspond to your mapping components. 

 

Your research sources should include the book Cooked, McMahon’s website The Breakthrough Writer and one other outside source.

 

Essay Two Options (choose one)

First Option: In the context of Michael Pollan’s essay “Big Organic” (174), analyze the fraud and deception the food industry uses to market foods that are allegedly “organic” and “natural.” 5-page outline: In 2 pages, summarize Pollan's major points. Then write a thesis. As my research and Michael Pollan's essay show, the idea of "organic" is a marketing fraud evidenced by _________________, _____________________, ___________________, and ______________________. Your last 3 pages would flesh out these mapping components.

Second Option: Write a research paper that argues that the obesity crisis is neither a sin (see “The Wages of Sin” 192) nor an illness, but a complex problem that cannot be explained by a simple diagnosis. Your 6 mapping statements will explore 6 major causes of obesity. No doubt, a 5 or 6-page essay can’t address all 15 causes. That would require a book.

Third Option: In the context of Caroline Knapp’s essay, write a research paper that analyzes the causes of eating disorders.

 

Third Essay Options (choose one)

First Option: Analyze the mental breakdown and general pathology of the computer addicts in “Love & War in Cyberspace” on page 380.

Second Option: Defend or refute the efficacy and helpfulness of the Baby Genius Edutainment Complex as described on pages 450-471.

Fourth Essay Option (choose one)

First Option: Address a thesis that defends the right to go AWOL.

A thesis against AWOL: The military will save itself a lot of grief if it stops enforcing its stringent AWOL policies.

A Variation

It is morally bankrupt for the military to enforce stringent AWOL policies resulting in keeping the soldiers in the military service against their will. One, it is immoral to force people to kill against their will. Second, the morale of the soldiers will be compromised if the eager fighters are forced to mingle with the reluctant ones because there won't be cohesiveness. Third, soldiers not willing or able to perform their assigned duties will put their comrades' lives in peril. And finally, our armed forces recruit many marginalized people. It is certainly conceivable that these people did not fully understand what they signed up for.

An Opposing or Contrarian View of AWOL

It is crucial that the military uphold its stringent AWOL policy. Failure to do so will result in a waste of tax money used to train lame duck soldiers. Secondly, lenience will inevitably create a two-tiered system whereby the rich use their leverage to pay their way out while the poor are stuck where they don't want to be. Third, good soldiers may feel emboldened on a whim to get out of their duty. In other words, lenience creates too much temptation for even the solid soldiers. And finally . . .

Second Option: Refute or defend the use of torture as an effective form of intelligence. See “Watching Torture in Prime Time” and other sources. 

Third Option: Refute or defend this thesis that addresses “Mate de Coca”:

Taras Grescoe’s essay convincingly shows that the “War on Drugs” is an absurdity wrought with contradictions, hypocrisy, cultural insensitivity, scientific humbug, and arbitrary notions of what constitutes health and pestilence to society. 

The mapping components would pertain to “contradictions,” “hypocrisy,” “cultural insensitivity,” scientific humbug,” and “arbitrary notions of what constitutes good health to society” on one hand and “pestilence to society” on the other.  

McMahon Spring 2010 Class Schedule

English 1A Section 6366 3:45 P.M. Start Time. Location: H209

English 1A Section 6373 6:00 P.M. Start Time. Location: H209

English 1C Section 6532 2:00 P.M. Start Time. Location H301

English 1C Section 6536 4:15 P.M. Start Time. Location H301

1A Lesson #1 for Cooked

One. The Four Questions I Ask When I Grade Your Essay

1. How clear is your purpose (thesis) and how effectively do you keep focused on your purpose throughout the essay?

2. How well do you develop your ideas with concrete detailed paragraphs?

3. How well do you bring the "Excitement Factor" into your essay by finding an approach that stirs your emotional fire, passion, and conviction?

4. How effectively do you execute the mechanics so that in terms of grammar, precise word choice, and formatting you deliver a polished, professional manuscript?

Two. The Five Writing Traps to Avoid

 1. Turning in late papers—I set my sights on the new cycle of essays so that when a late paper, from the old cycle, comes my way I look at that paper with disdain. In fact, my heart is “dead” to the late paper and I will mark that late paper with a C or D grade no matter what the paper’s virtues. My hostility to the late paper is exacerbated when students give me their grossly tardy expositions during the last two weeks of the semester, a time in which I am  already inundated with stacks of on-time papers, thereby making me especially vitriolic toward late essays, which I see as an affront to my dignity and self-respect and which therefore compel me to mark those essays with a D or F grade. I harbor enormous suspicions towards alleged “medical and family emergencies” which “necessitate” turning in a late essay. While I concede that compelling circumstances do exist and while I address those alleged compelling circumstances on an individual basis and with sympathy, I have found over the last twenty years of teaching that well over 99% of the students who claim special circumstances  are a constant source of chafing agitation and demonstrate a highly annoying predictable pattern of lame excuses, “bad luck,” and emotional neediness which, for their sake, I do not indulge lest I should be guilty of encouraging their dysfunctional behavior. In conclusion, do not, I repeat, do not turn in late essays. 

2.    Writing essays that are full of the obvious and self-evident—an essay full of obvious truths and clichés has no reason to exist, no matter how well organized and well written. Writing about the evil of greed and materialism or the way in which we are withdrawing into our technology or how we have forgotten to love and respect one another are all true and noble sentiments but they have no business in your papers since, presumably, we already have those beliefs so that these papers are superfluous. To capitulate to obvious truths about the human condition is to sermonize or to lecture down to your reader. Also, if the material is obvious, you will be bored with your own essay and your reader will even be more bored. Therefore, strive to challenge your intellect and argue for a position that requires vigorous defense and sophisticated analysis. 

3.    Writing essays from your head but not your gut—intellectual explorations can only take you so far. A memorable essay must be fueled by both your mind and a fire in your belly. If you can’t muster a fire of passion for your topic, then your essay will be flaccid, perfunctory, and lackluster, sins which your reader will never forgive. You cannot fake passion. Either you have it or you don’t. It is your responsibility to find a way to bring authentic passion to your essay. 

4.    Writing half-baked essays—a half-baked essay is a rough draft, a seed of a good idea. It may contain a recognizable structure, topic sentences, a clear focus, and an exciting approach but it falls on its face because the essay lacks details, color, and concreteness. A telltale sign of a half-baked essay is short paragraphs. Fully developed paragraphs, 100-150 words, are a sign of a fully baked exposition, which I can spot immediately just by glancing at your paragraphs. A lack of details, haphazard sentences, redundant syntax, lack of word variety—all these things evince a half-baked essay written in the rush of a moment or with one hand on the keyboard and other holding a cell phone. I have sadly received many half-baked essays because students carried on with cell-phone conversations while writing their essays. 

5.    Relying on your computer or a tutor for spelling, grammar, and other facets of your exposition—realize that your computer is a nincompoop that is incapable of discerning the difference between possessive case and a contraction (whose/who’s or your/you’re or its/it’s) and many other spelling scenarios. Its grammar check is a complete stinker. Its ability to detect other syntax errors is at best weak. Do not rely on it. Do not rely on your tutor for grammar either. Over the last twenty years I have received thousands of “tutor-approved” essays rife with comma splices, run-ons, fragments, noun-pronoun errors, dangling modifiers, faulty subordination, elephantine syntax, and other egregious errors that have prompted full investigations into the credentials of these so-called “tutors.”  I have also over the last twenty years graded horrific, cliché-laden essays that the students defended by saying, “But my tutor liked it,” or “It was my tutor’s idea.” I don’t care what your tutor thought or said about your essay. Your tutor means absolutely nothing to me. Therefore rely on no one but yourself. This is a life lesson in being street smart, the most valuable kind of intelligence. Remember that Rule Number One in being street smart is trusting no one. Rule Number Two is don’t make your pride, performance, and excellence dependent on others. Your excellence and success is your responsibility and no one else’s.   

Three. Qualities of a Successful Thesis, the Foundation of Your Essay

1.     One sentence that declares or asserts a position that can be demonstrated with examples.

2.     
The examples can be expressed in mapping statements or mapping components.

3.      Avoids being self-evident or obvious but creates new insights.

4.     
A good thesis is visceral, from the gut, meaning you have an immediate emotional connection to it. The intellect comes later.

Sample Thesis with Mapping Statements

Phil Connor’s time warp in Groundhog Day is an excellent illustration of Wallace’s warning about the dangerous consequences of us settling into our morally bankrupt “default setting.” First, Connor is a man who has become a slave to his “template” of self-centeredness, unable to connect with the outside world, a form of insanity. Second, he is absent of any beliefs other than conviction of his own vanity making him blind to his own repulsiveness. Third, his misanthropic bitterness creates a self-fulfilling prophesy that brings out the worst in others and therefore reinforces his cynicism. Fourth, he cannot escape his private hell until, in Wallace’s words, he develops a “critical awareness” of his misguided “certainties” and realizes he is “totally wrong and deluded.”

Four. An effective way to write a thesis is to give it concession, refutation, and mapping components (underlined below).  Example:

While ABC's Gray's Anatomy is often cleverly written and deals with timely topics that are dramatized in a complex, compelling  manner, the show too often is sodden with cutesy dialogue, predictably needy characters who are less endearing than they are chafing,  and highly annoying, "sensitive" scenes that deteriorate into over-stylized MTV-style music videos accompanied by precious and cloying indy-pop folk rock.

The above example has concession by conceding that the show is often "clever," "timely," and "complex"; at the same time, in the thesis' independent clause the writer refutes the show by accusing it of being "cutesy," "chafing," and "annoying." Finally, the thesis has mapping components that outline the body paragraphs and thus give the writer a road map or organizing structure for the essay.

 

Five. Jeff Henderson grows up and gets infected with the virus of concupiscence.

Six. Concupiscence and Its Causes

1. Concupiscence is the search for happiness based on gratifying pleasure and ego without a moral compass. The result is moral dissolution, a fancy term for the loss of morality and sanity. Tennessee Williams became famous after writing the play A Streetcar Named Desire and lived in a fancy hotel where he had room service and escorts visit him every day. One evening he poured gravy over his banana split and realized he had become insane. He left the hotel, went to Mexico and resumed with his writing career.
2. Concupiscence is the pursuit of happiness without a moral compass; in other words, you have no vision of anything beyond gratifying your base appetites and therefore have a misguided definition of happiness.
3. When you have no vision beyond your base appetites, you are what we call “Bread and Circus,” which means all you desire is food and entertainment.
4. Concupiscence compels you to feed your irrational appetites, which wage war against your powers of reason. For example, one of my students knows a guy who lives in expensive Brentwood and drives a BMW but he has to eat his sister’s government cheese and other handouts because he has no money for food. That’s not a reasonable situation.
5. Concupiscence grows inside us when we have role models without a moral compass. In Jeff Henderson’s case, he sees all the major “players,” like T-Row, glory in the life of concupiscence.
6. Concupiscence grows inside us from the anger that is born from having a sense of deprivation: “I’m gonna get mine.”
7. The writer Jonathan Franzen gives concupiscence another name, Ache: Being overwhelmed by desires that always outrun our capacity to fulfill them.
8. Another cause behind concupiscence is vanity, also called the libido ostentandi: The need to show off. A rich woman in Argentina wears a body length mink coat at an outdoor bazaar where the temperature is 105 degrees. She wants everyone to know she is of a higher stature. She passes out and dies of heat stroke.  Another example: A student wrote an essay about his friend who, buying a BMW 5 series, had to work 2 jobs and drop out of El Camino College. The misguided young man’s didn’t know how depressed he was when he realized all his friends, the people who would be impressed with his BMW, could not see it since they were attending college. One day this BMW owner made a special trip to the college and yelled to his buddies to come look at his car but they had to go to his class and my student’s final vision of his friend was screaming from his BMW on the Crenshaw parking lot for someone to check out his car. No one cared.

 Seven. Concupiscence and Its Effects

1. If concupiscence goes its full course, we arrive at a condition of moral dissolution like Tennessee Williams mentioned above. Here’s another example: A man cheats on his girlfriend or wife once and feels the searing pain from his conscience. He cheats on her 1,000 times and feels nothing because his conscience has decomposed into what we call moral dissolution. In other words, he’s lost his soul.
2. Another word for moral dissolution is debauchery, which means the moral pillars that hold up your morality have fallen and your morality has fallen with them.
3. Ennui; you’ve filled your senses with so much pleasure that you can no longer feel anything. You have become incurably numb to life and now must suffer the desperation of needing to feel anything, no matter what the cost.
4. Nihilism; the death of meaning. There is no right or wrong. Life has no meaning. The world is merely a playground for your desires. The world is a giant margarita glass and you suck on the straw, slurp every last drop and then die.

Eight. In addition to concupiscence, Jeff Henderson becomes a victim of his own success. One of the memoir’s major themes is that misguided success can be a great misfortune leading to insanity.

1. One of the major themes in Cooked is that in life when we think we’re rising, we’re actually falling.
2. The problem with success is that most of us have a misguided definition of it. If success is based on concupiscence, then the “success” we achieve will drive us insane.
3. Another problem with success is that it creates the illusion of invincibility. The more successful Henderson’s drug operation becomes, for example, the more safe he feels. He believes he is “untouchable.”
4. When we feel invincible we go into denial. For example, Henderson minimizes, to his detriment, his drug dealer associations, some of whom will be kidnapped and killed. He also underestimates the stupidity and back-stabbing nature of another one, which will result in his demise. Finally, Henderson is in denial about the feds’ suspicions regarding Henderson’s covert drug operations. The feds arrest him without even catching Henderson with any drugs at all because they have a long list of records, phone conversations, ancillary transactions, witness testimony, etc.
5. Another form of denial is moral denial. Henderson rationalizes that he is a drug dealer but he does so “strictly as a businessman.” He’s not about violence, taking drugs, or hanging out with gang bangers. But the fact of the matter is his operations are harmful, a painful fact he doesn’t realize until he’s in prison.
6. When our success generates easy money, we go insane because suddenly we lose our sense of value and hard work and our sense of goals. We live in Another Universe, one that most people don’t live in. The films City of God and Goodfellas illustrate this point.
7. When money is easy for us and we see the rest of the world “getting punked,” being forced to do real work to make their money, we start to feel so superior to the rest of humanity that we think we’re gods. We think this to our own detriment.

Nine. Writing an Essay Based on Today’s Themes

Option #1: 

Develop a thesis in which you compare the insanity born from concupiscence and misguided success as you see it in Cooked with the film City of God or Goodfellas.

Cooked and City of God (or Goodfellas) take us on the journey of misguided success, which always results in insanity. As the book and film show, this mental derangement is born from _____________________, ___________________, ____________________, and _________________________________.

Option #2: Write an essay that analyzes Jeff Henderson’s Road to Redemption 

Jeff Henderson’s road to redemption includes _____________________, _____________________________, __________________________, and _________________________________. 

One. The Descent or the Fall: Concupiscence (addiction to power and money), nihilism (a moral abyss in which there is only one value: getting over) , denial, rationalization. 

Two. Perdition: Realizing you’re not invincible; taking responsibility for your actions, doing time or suffering, starting from Ground Zero. 

Three. The Rebuilding Process: Finding a passion. Developing your craft through hard work, fortitude, commitment, focus. 

Four. Being responsible to others rather than your own concupiscence: Caring about your family. 

Sample Structure: 

In a page, write about someone you know who experienced the Fall, Perdition,  and the Rebuilding Process, which in sum resulted in their redemption. Then use a bridge: 

Similarly, Jeff Henderson finds redemption after being an apex drug dealer. His redemption results from _____________________, ___________________, __________________________, and ___________________________. Your supporting paragraphs will correspond the mapping components (indicated by the blanks above).