One. Office, E-mail, 1A Winter Syllabus and Website: Office 121 P.
Email:
jmcmahon@elcamino.edu
Website: Breakthrough Writer: http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/
Two. Required Materials
Required Texts: Where
I’m Calling From by Raymond Carver; Acting
Out Culture edited by James Miller; Rules
for Writers by Diana Hacker.
Three. Bring to Class: Spiral-bound notebook for your in-class
journal
In-class journal will contain two kinds of journal entries: Personal
responses to the stories and essays and explication of quoted material. BOTH
types of journal entries are not busy work. They can be used in the
introduction or body of your essay, so they are a valuable use of your time.
Example of personal response in your journal entry (From our first
assigned reading, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” on page 170 from
Where I’m Calling From):
Find a character weakness in yourself that is similar to Mel’s and
describe a situation that brought out that weakness.
Mel is both an idealist searching for perfect love and an arrogant
self-centered bully. While I cannot claim to be as idealistic or boastful as
Mel, I am guilty of falling short of the ideals that I, or society, impose upon
me. For example, Christmas is supposed to be a time for giving and sharing
love. But falling short of this ideal, I am rather lazy and feel resentful over
the inconvenience Christmas imposes upon me. I refuse to devote the energy
buying gifts for people, yet people insist on buying me gifts. What is my
solution? I re-gift, meaning that I simply take the label with my name on it
and replace it with the name of the person I am going to re-gift the gift to. This
is the extent of energy I devote to Christmas. I am, like Mel, overcome with a
tinge of guilt for falling short of an ideal. In my case, it’s a combination of
laziness and revulsion for the contrivance of “love and generosity” that
Christmas is supposed to generate inside of us that causes me to feel
threatened by this holiday because Christmas highlights my most salient
character defects: laziness, selfishness, and contempt for rituals and
pageantry of all kinds. The painful disparity between the way we think we
should be and the way we really are racks us with guilt. Such is the case of
Mel in Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” On the
surface he is a bully and a pompous ass. But if we look closer at the Mel’s
contradictions, we see that he is a sympathetic character, a tormented soul,
looking for answers to the questions that perpetually vex him. His torment is
the result of _____________, __________________, __________________, and
_________________________.
The above example shows that the journal entry provided an introductory
paragraph for my research paper that segued or transitioned me from my personal
account to the essay’s thesis (which I’ve underlined). The blanks are the mapping components
of the essay. They determine what goes in your body paragraphs. The advantage
of having mapping statements is that they outline your essay for you.
Example of Explication of a Quoted Passage from an Assigned Reading
Mel is threatened by Terri’s former boyfriend, Ed, who in a heartbroken
rage, shoots himself in the mouth and dies. Mel is irate that Terri looks at
Ed’s obsessive, demonic behavior as love. Mel says, “If you call that love, you
can have it.” Mel’s dismissing words reveal that he is threatened by any
expression of love that deviates from his textbook ideal, his sterile
definition. But as the story shows, Mel’s theory of love, tidy and safe in its
simplicity, is in direct contradiction to the reality of love—messy,
paradoxical, elusive, and often indefinable.
The above passage does three things:
1. It provides context for the quote. I introduce the
quote.
2. It has the quoted passage.
3. I analyze the quote and connect it to one of the
story’s theme. This passage could be used in your introductory paragraph or in
one of the body paragraphs.
Part Four. Essay
Assignment: The War Between the Ego and Empathy in Where I’m Calling From
In page one, profile
someone who suffers “the type of swollen ego that results in solipsism and
isolation from sanity, maturity, and the human race.” Then in your second page,
profile someone who embodies the “sweet grace of empathy” and show how this
person’s empathy connects him or her to others.
Then using an
appropriate paragraph transition such as "Similarly" or
"Likewise," you might start your thesis paragraph this way:
The above characters
are antithetical to each other. Similarly, the stories pit characters at war
between their egos and the liberation of empathy. Egotism in the stories
(choose no fewer than 3) of Raymond Carver has grave consequences, which
include _______________________, _________________________,
________________________, and ____________________________. In contrast,
empathy has a healing effect on the downtrodden evidenced by
_________________________, _______________________, __________________________,
and ______________________________.
Your body paragraphs
will correspond to the components you use to fill in the above blanks. Your
conclusion will be one sentence, a brief, dramatic restatement of your thesis.
Your final page, your Works Cited page, will show the sources you used from Where
I’m Calling From, from my blog, from
interviews, or from other helpful sources you find. Your Works Cited page
and manuscript must conform to MLA format. Be sure to make your own catchy, creative
title.
Essay is due on
January 14 for first half of the class in my office 121P in the Humanities
Building. For the class’s second half, the essay is due January 15.
Part Five. Grading
Success in
McMahon’s Class Is Predicated on Three Major Components:
One. Turn in 4
five-page research papers with correct MLA format ON TIME. Research Papers (all
4 of your essays) have a minimum of 4 sources.
Two. Do the reading
assignments so that you can write a one-paragraph response that is cohesive,
coherent and well developed in the five surprise closed-book reading tests.
Three. Show up on time
to 90% of the classes. Missing 3 out of 30 classes is 90%.
Grading (based on
mandatory 24 pages):
Four Research
Papers (1,250 words, 5 double-spaced
pages): 210 each for total of 840 points, 84% of your grade.
Four Reading Exams that are a 1-page 250-word paragraph, 40 each for
total of 160 points, 16% of your grade. Your 250-word paragraphs should be
grammatically correct, contain a topic sentence, and have relevant supporting
details that show your comprehension of the assigned readings.
Grand Total: 1,000
points
Policies:
Late Papers: Reduce one full grade ; no late papers accepted AFTER
ONE WEEK. Since not turning in a paper will probably fail you, I’ll drop you at
that point.
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.
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