Breakthrough Writer

Man’s Search for Meaning Study Guide, pages 100-144

 

1.     Having meaning, your irreplaceable role as another human being or even a work of intellect is uniquely dependent on you, prevents you from throwing your life away, from committing suicide. 101

2.     On page 105, Frankl raises the third psychological state, after release from prison. At the mercy of sadists, the prisoners wonder how can life be so cruel? Worse than people was fate. How could fate be so cruel? 113. They witnessed the world’s two people, the decent and the indecent.

3.     Depersonalization occurred. Everything felt unreal, like a dream. See 110

4.     Some victims felt entitled to wreak havoc upon the world as payback. 113

5.     Logotherapy is “disagreeable to hear” because the moral standard damns most of us. We are forbidden to engage in self-pity. 120.

6.     Logotherapy emphasizes goal setting for the future, finding meaning for the future, not introspection and reflection.

7.     Psychotherapy tends to reinforce the neurotic’s self-centeredness; in contrast, logotherapy is meaning therapy and meaning is never found in narcissism. 121

8.     Logotherapy emphasizes the will to meaning, not the will to pleasure or the will to power. 121.

9.     In the absence of meaning, you are afflicted with neuroses. 123.

10.                         We do not choose the meaning of life for ourselves to fill the vacuum; rather life imposes meaning on us and we must embrace it according to our unique situation. 131

11.                         Live as if you’re getting a second chance. 132

12.                         The meaning test in which you imagine your whole life on your death bed. 140.

13.                         He quotes Psalms where it is written that God preserves all your tears to make the point that suffering can be used to find meaning. 143

Example of an Essay That NEVER Uses "First, Second, Third" Transitions Between Paragraphs

 

 Try to avoid using the same paragraph transitions such as "The first reason I disagree with Jeffrey Masson . . . The second reason I disagree . . . The third reason . . ."

Look at THIS PARAGRAPH TRANSITION LINK to see varied ways of developing paragraph transitions. 

 

Stupid Reasons for Getting Married

 

 

People should get married because they are ready to do so, meaning they're mature and truly love one another, and most importantly are prepared to make the compromises and sacrifices a healthy marriage entails. However, most people get married for the wrong reasons, that is, for stupid reasons.

Alas, needy people glom on to the most disastrous reasons for getting married and those reasons make it certain that their marriage will quickly terminate or waddle precariously along in an interminable domestic hell.

A common and compelling reason that fuels the needy into a misguided marriage is when these needy souls see that everyone their age has already married—their friends, brothers, sisters, and,  yes, even their enemies. They begin to feel terribly needy and anxious and feel compelled to “get with the program.”

Additionally, they see their siblings have received thousands of dollars in wedding gifts and have been lavished with attention from all the relatives.

Thus, the needy are rankled by envy. They are also chafed by a sense of being short-changed when they see their recently-married dunce of a co-worker promoted above them for presumably the added credibility that marriage afforded them. As singles, they know they will never be taken seriously at work. There is also the fear that they as the years tick by they are becoming less and less attractive and their looks will no longer obscure their woeful character deficiencies.

A more egregious reason for marrying is to end the tormented, off-on again-off-on again relationship, which needs the official imprimatur of marriage, followed by divorce, to officially terminate the relationship. I spoke to a marriage counselor once who told me that some couples were so desperate to break-up for good that they actually got married, then divorced, for this purpose.

Other pathological, and often needy, reasons to marry are to find a loathsome spouse in order to spite one’s parents or to set a wedding date in order to hire a personal trainer and finally lose those thirty pounds one has been carrying for too long.

Envy, avarice, spite, and vanity fuel both needy men and woman alike. However, there is a certain type of needy man who finds that it is easier to marry his girlfriend than it is to have to listen to her constant nagging about their need to get married. His girlfriend’s  constant harping about the fact their relationship hasn’t taken the “next logical step” presents a burden so great that marriage in comparison seems benign. Even if he has not developed the maturity to marry, even if he isn’t sure if he’s truly in love, even if he is still inextricably linked to some former girlfriend that his current girlfriend does not know about,  even if he knows in his heart of hearts that he is not hard-wired for marriage, even if he harbors a secret defect that renders him sterile, he will dismiss all of these factors and rush into a marriage in order to alleviate his current source of anxiety and suffering, which is the incessant barrage of his girlfriend’s grievances about them not being married.

Indeed, some of needy man’s worst decisions have been made in order to quell a discontented woman. The needy man’s eagerness to quiet a woman’s discontent points to a larger defect, namely, his spinelessness, which, if left unchecked, turns him into the Go-With-the-Flow-Guy. As the name suggests, this type of man offers no resistance, even in large-scale decisions that affect his destiny. Put this man in a situation where his girlfriend, his friends, and his family are all telling him that “it’s time to get married,” and he will, as his name suggests, simply “go with the flow.” He will allow everyone else to make the wedding plans, he’ll let someone fit him for a wedding suit, he’ll allow his mother to pick out the ring, he’ll allow his fiancé to pick out the look and flavor of the wedding cake and then on the day of the wedding, he simply “shows up” with all the passion of a turnip. 

His passivity and his aversion to argument insure marital longevity. However, there are drawbacks. Most notably, he will over time become so silent that his wife won’t even be able to get a word out of him. Over the course of their fifty-year marriage he’ll go with her to restaurants with a newspaper and read it, ignoring her. His impassivity is so great that she could tell him about the “other man” she is seeing and he wouldn’t blink an eye.  At home he is equally reticent, watching TV or reading with an inexpressive, dull-eyed demeanor.

Whatever this silent man lacks as a social animal is made up by the fact that he is docile and is therefore non-threatening, a condition that everyone, including his wife, prefers to the passionate male beast whose strong, irreverent opinions will invariably rock the boat and deem that individual a trouble maker. The Go-With-the-Flow-Guy, on the other hand, is reliably safe and as such makes for controlling women a very good catch in spite of his tendency to be as charismatic and flavorful as a cardboard wafer.

A desperate marriage motivation exclusively owned by needy men is the belief that since they have pissed off just about every other woman on the planet, they need to find refuge by marrying the only woman whom they haven’t yet thoroughly alienated—their current girlfriend. According to sports writer Rick Reilly, baseball slugger Barry Bonds’ short-lived reality show was a disgrace in part because for Reilly the reality show is “the last bastion of the scoundrel.” Likewise, for many men who have offended over 99% of the female race with their pestilent existence, marriage is the last sanctuary for the despised male who has stepped on so many women’s toes that he is, understandably, a marked man.

Therefore, these men aren’t so much getting married as much as they are enlisting in a “witness protection program.” They are after all despised and targeted by their past female enemies for all their lies and betrayals and running out of allies they see that marriage makes a good cover as they try to blend in with mainstream society and take on a role that is antithetical to their single days as lying, predatory scoundrels.

Additionally, marriage’s well-known neutering effect on over-sexed single males makes these men less threatening and contributes, they hope, to pacifying the scorn of their former lovers.

            The analogy between marriage and a witness protection program is further developed when we see that for many men marriage is their final stab at earning public respectability because they are, as married men, proclaiming to the world that they have voluntarily shackled themselves with the chains of domesticity in order that they may be spared greater punishments, the bulk of which will be exacted upon by the women whom they used and manipulated for so many years.

Because it is assumed that their wives will keep them in check, their wives become, in a way, equivalent to the ankle bracelet transmitters worn by parolees who are only allowed to travel within certain parameters.  Marriage anchors man close to the home and, combined with the wife’s reliable issuing of house chores and other domestic duties, the shackled man is rendered safely tethered to his “home base” where his wife can observe him sharply to make sure he doesn’t backslide into the abhorrent behavior of his past single life.

           Many men will see the above analysis of marriage as proof that their fear of marriage as a prison was right all along, but what they should learn from the analogy between marriage and prison is that they are more productive, more socialized, more softened around his hard edges, and more protected, both from the outside world and from themselves by being shackled to their domestic duties. With these improvements in their lives, they have actually, within limits, attained a freedom they could never find in single life.

Good Link for Writing Varied Paragraph Transitions

 

 

Here's an excellent link for varying your paragraph transitions. 

Chocolate War Lesson 2: Nihilism and Archie Costello (First Revision Fall 2010)

 

Part One. The Best Thesis Statements are Usually Argumentative

 

Sample of thesis statements that focus on argument

The Chocolate War is a dark novel collapsing under the author's extreme nihilistic vision, which proves unrealistic by focusing on exaggerated condition of helplessness, violence, gullibility, and people’s hunger for conformity. 

Claims that The Chocolate War's nihilist vision are exaggerated are delusional. The world is rife with examples of nihilism that make The Chocolate War seem like a children’s book. If anything, The Chocolate War suffers from being too tame, too kind, and too restrained in its depiction of adolescent cruelty and adult corruption.

While many students have attacked McMahon for choosing The Chocolate War, a book, they claim, that is bogged down in depression and helplessness, I defend McMahon adamantly. For it is apparent that McMahon choose this tautly written masterpiece because of the wisdom it contains, not the least of which is its salient depiction of Archie Costello, a smart young man who becomes a victim of his own pride. The connection between his interminable isolation and his pride is evidenced by __________________________, ____________________________, _____________________, and __________________________.

 

 

Part Two. Nihilism in the Novel

 

To suffer from the condition of nihilism means you’ve given up on the idea of right and wrong, free will (the free will to exercise individual conscience over the demands of the tribe), and reciprocity (treating people the way you’d like to be treated) for a better society. As a result, you’ve surrendered to the paralysis of self-pity and learned helplessness and see yourself as a victim at the mercy of powers larger than you.

 

There are two types of nihilists in the world, those who know they’re nihilists and those who don’t know. Most nihilists don’t know they are.

Most people slowly surrender to nihilism and become helpless to the point that it is often too late.

 

Two examples: A doctor who obsessed over his ex-wife taking the furniture from his million-dollar home and the woman who never recovered from her fiancé cheating on her two days before her planned wedding.

 

In contrast, Archie Costello knows he’s a nihilist. He believes everyone, including himself, is bad and cowardly at their core. He sees himself as superior to others because he at least has the courage to recognize that he is a horrible person, a mere puppet in the world’s power play. He knows that no matter how many people he is manipulating, there is always someone above him who manipulates him. His worldview makes him bitter and full of contempt and self-disgust, a condition he attempts to allay by inflicting cruel games on others.

 

Part Three. The Causes of Nihilism in the Novel

 

1.  nihilism, the obliteration of right and wrong, losing any stakes in life, nothing is at stake anymore, beyond caring is the shortest definition, a sort of spiritual death where you wander the world not caring if you live or die or amount to anything. Death of a moral compass. Jerry seems to suffer from nihilism. So does Archie. They are resigned to being helpless to evil and the lust for power. 

2.  Anything Goes Morality or Moral relativism, make up your moral system depending on circumstances. Stealing, lying, cheating, and other immoral conduct can be rationalized under the right circumstances. Archie is the supreme master of rationalizations. He never takes responsibility for his own actions. He always has excuses. 

3.  Populist Fallacy: Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t I? Students see other students doing the "assignments" so they feel that it's okay to do them. 

4.  Slippery slope is when your rationalizations lead to nihilism. Once you rationalize a small thing, like stealing a fruit juice at work, why not take a few twenty dollar bills out of the cash register? 

5.  The fear of having no rules so that “all is permitted” or “anything goes.” We need boundaries. This is the theme of the beloved classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. 

6.  Inconsolable, learned helplessness, a sense that everything is futile: In Chinese:mai ban fa: “Nothing can be done.” This is the emotional state of Jerry about his life. 

7.  Point of No Return; Archie's contempt for others, and himself, is so strong that one wonders if he can ever return to any kind of sympathy for the human race. 

8.               numbness, which leads to sadism, a perverted form of power in which one derives pleasure from inflicting cruelty upon others. Brother Leon loves to play sadistic games with the students such as Bailey when he calls this outstanding student a "cheater and a liar." 

9. Nihilism is a form of self-pity and learned helplessness. 

10. Nihilism is the product of not loving something larger than yourself.

11. The long-term effect of nihilism is anhedonia, the inability to experience happiness or joy.

 

 

Part Four. What are Archie’s values and how do those values connect to nihilism?

1.   See Chapter 2, page 8. In a way, Archie is the novel’s Satan. For Archie, there is no truth, only BS, and some BS is better than other BS. That is the measure of things: the quality of one’s BS. Nihilism means there is no truth and therefore no lie. All is B.S. Therefore, all is the same. People who embrace the B.S. Principle inevitably succumb to nihilism.

2.   Archie prides himself as being beyond the norm, beyond the herd, beyond conventional morality. He is better than everyone and as such he is mired in intellectual pride. Archie sees himself as the supreme psychologist who can penetrate and manipulate anyone. Yet he is the butt of his own joke in that he lives in interminable isolation and anhedonia. While he is full of bluster and braggadocio, there is an underlying sadness and loneliness that afflicts Archie and in the end it suffuses him with a sense of nihilism and hopelessness.

3.   Archie is a determinist. He doesn’t believe people have free will to exercise moral goodness or self-transformation. His “assignments” are designed to show how helpless people are in order to confirm Archie’s deterministic worldview. He lives to re-affirm his pessimism. His nihilistic pessimism is embodied in the statement “Life is shit.” Such a statement is evidence of nihilism.

4.   Reinforcing Archie’s nihilistic pessimism, he sees all adults, including Brother Leon, as frightened children wearing an adult wax mask, which melts rather easily, upon the slightest provocation. The corrupt and cowardly Leon underscores Archie’s belief in nihilism, that the world is a hopeless and meaningless place. Brother Leon poses another nihilistic vision to Archie: Leon is both sadistic and helpless before his own sycophantic cowardice. He is also corrupt.

5.   Archie’s complete absence of self-respect also contributes to his nihilism. Archie prides himself in his powerful role, yet he has no self-respect because in part he knows he is a man with no integrity. He plays the game just like everyone else. Deep down, he knows he sold his soul to the Devil.  He is overcome with self-disgust, for he knows his own actions are vile.

6.   Archie’s misanthropy (hating the human race) also contributes to his misanthropy. See the opening of Chapter 5. His sour attitude toward life is further reinforced by his belief that he is a genius surrounded by a “confederacy of dunces,” idiots who cannot appreciate his scintillating assignments.

7.   Archie’s daily observation of human cowardice and conformity contribute to his nihilism. For example, every day he sees some scared, groveling student obeying the Vigils’ Assignments. No one stands up to the Vigils, evidencing the spineless student body whom Archie has contempt for.

8.   The faculty’s unspoken tolerance of the Vigils reinforces Archie’s nihilism because he knows the faculty stands for nothing. They tolerate the Vigils because the Vigils have power and the Vigils’ control of the students is to the school’s advantage. This is analogous to prison guards and the wardens who tolerate gang leaders, shot-callers, controlling the inmates. In the end, it isn’t about values; it’s about power. And a world that worships power with no values is a nihilistic world.

 

 

Part Five: In-Class Activity

 

Write a one-paragraph profile of someone you know who surrendered to nihilism. If you like your profile, you may use it as an introduction for your essay.

 

 

 

Part One. Lexicon:

 

One. Tribalism: A sense of tribal oneness that entails entitlement and a sense of superiority for the tribe and a sense of subservience and inferiority for The Other. Trinity High consists of The Vigils and the Everyone Else, Us and Them. 

 

Two. Scapegoating, unfairly blaming the misfit or The Other,  often with tragic consequences. The Vigils scapegoat anyone who does not bow down to the Vigil's power evidenced by conformity and obedience. 

 

Three. The Bureaucratic Chain of Death: Genocide or mass slaughter is given official sanction from the state and the responsibility is distributed through a bland, unfeeling bureaucracy so that no one feels personally responsible. The Vigils give "assignments" to students. Some of these "assignments" wreak havoc and even give one teacher a nervous breakdown but the students are simply following orders. 

 

Four.  Deference to authority: You are poised to give credibility to what the authority tells you and are not inclined to resist or question the “intelligence” of that authority. For example, Americans believed in Bush’s “intelligence” that he claimed was a compelling reason for us to invade Iraq in 2003. The consequences are still with us. The chocolate sale is the work of Brother Leon, a corrupt teacher who engages in fraud, graft, kickbacks and other forms of skullduggery but is esteemed because he is an authority figure. 

 

Five. Response to social consensus: Behaving like the Herd, conforming to the majority opinion of your society in order to share a sense of belonging and unity. Brother Leon relies on the Herd behavior for his chocolate sale to be successful. 

 

Six. Willingness to embrace stereotypes, which means you embrace a monolithic definition of The Other when in fact groups are diverse and defy stereotypes. The Vigils demonize anyone who does not conform to their ways. 

 

Seven. The “average” person. By average, we mean you are willing to make moral compromises to insure your security and the security of your family and your tribe. Sadly, most people are “average.” The goal of the "average" person is to be invisible by complying to the norms of society, the collective authority, even if these norms are immoral. An example is racism. If racism is widespread, a moral individual is compelled to fight it rather than go along with the immoral majority. 

Eight. “Decency,” as it is commonly defined, is insufficient to repel evil in others and ourselves because too often “decency” means law-abiding, “nice,” passive, docile, malleable, and indifferent. A coward who conforms to the group is considered “decent.” Does Jerry behave decently in the novel or does he conform to the immorality of the Vigils? You'll have to decide for yourself. 

 

 

Chocolate War Lesson #1 with Essay Options and Resource Links (Third Revision)

 

 

Essay Options for The Chocolate War

One. Essay with Outline:

Develop a thesis that articulates the conflict between tribalism vs. individual conscience. Successful essays will compare this conflict as rendered in the novel with your personal experience. Additionally, you will have to provide single-sentence definitions of tribalism and individual conscience. 

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: Paragraphs that elaborate on your mapping components.

Paragraph 10: Conclusion, a powerful restatement of your thesis

Last page: Works Cited with no fewer than 4 sources.

Two. General Thesis with Outline

Develop a thesis that explains why the novel is so insufferably dark. 

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: elaborate on your mapping components

Conclusion: Restate your thesis

 

 

 Three. Tribalism, Symbiosis, Obedience, Conformity, Determinism, and Individual Conscience in The Chocolate War

In page one, write a personal narrative about a time you compromised your individual conscience in order to obey peer pressure or some authority. 

Then in the second page, start your thesis paragraph in which you connect the themes to the dangers of obedience as it relates to power, authority, and symbiosis. Because this is your multiple-source research paper, you will need to connect the novel’s themes to themes outside the text. You may, for example, look at the theme of obedience in the context of Stanley Milgram’s famous experiments or the abuse of power in the Stanford Experiment.

A thesis might look like this: The Chocolate War shows the demands of tribalism, which compromises our humanity by ________________________, _____________________________, _________________________, and _______________________________.

In your final page, you will write about how you or someone you know had a conflict between individual conscience and conformity but engaged in noble disobedience. 

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 The Chocolate War, 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.

Four. Open-Ended Option for The Chocolate War

(the same as option two with different words) Nihilism in the Novel

Answer the question: Why is the novel saddled in nihilism with no hope of free will or redemption? Consider centripetal motion of the characters, corruption in high places, blind obedience to power, dehumanization, and determinism. 

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: Elaborate on your mapping components

Paragraph 10: Conclusion, restate your thesis

 

Research Paper Sources for your Works Cited Page

Adolescent Literature

Alienation in The Chocolate War

Bryan-Chocolate War

The book's nihilism offends a school, which wants a petition to ban it!

The Chocolate War: Still Tasting Good

Why The Chocolate War Was Banned

LSU Faculty

Chocolate War Resource Guide

 Two. Chocolate War’s Theme of Disobedience as a Moral Virtue

 Lexicon

 

1.  embryonic stage of mental development, psychological immaturity that makes one blindly obey a parent or authority figure. To obey blindly is to never grow beyond the embryonic stage. A man who wants his wife to blindly obey him does not want an adult partner; he wants a child and vice versa. In Chapter 1, Jerry seems to be going out for football because “it’s the thing to do.” He seems to be on autopilot in his blind pursuit of conformity. He is in the embryonic stage. In the novel NO ONE seems to grow beyond this stage. 

2.  Emergence or birth of humanity is predicated on doubting, questioning, and sometimes challenging authority. Heroes and prophets question the status quo, the way things are. Maybe Jerry questions the status quo. Does he?

3.  Placid conformity: this means to be passive and unquestioning, without skeptical powers. You do as your told and instructed because you have blind trust and an eagerness to please

4.  “Bread and Circus”: The disparity between technological and moral development: Even as technology evolves, most humans are content with “bread and circus,” which results in placid conformity. Since the beginning of time, 1% of the human race controls 99% of the masses by placating them with bread and circus. To be afflicted with bread and circus means to have no intellectual curiosity and to live only to feed your animal appetites for entertainment and pleasure; you have no inner life to draw strength from

5.  In our “free society,” most obedience takes the form of consumer obedience, which is conformity to desires stirred by marketing and peer pressure.

6.  Conspicuous obedience

7.  Insidious obedience: you obey without even knowing it because your unconscious directs your actions

8.  Consumer ostracism (not having an iPod): if you don't buy the trendy stuff, you feel like a misfit or you feel low on the status totem pole. 

9.  Tribal obedience, doing what the herd does to avoid being ostracized.

 Part Three. Example of Consumer Obedience: Costco Is a Super Store That Creates “Obedient Consumers”

 1.  Costco shoppers believe they have to buy bulk to get a “good deal” even if their products perish or are consumed in such unhealthy large quantities.

2.  Costco shoppers like to show off what “a great deal” they got to other people.

3.  Costco shoppers feel they are in competition with other shoppers to get a “great deal.”

4.  Costco shoppers pay for an annual membership and are proud they belong to a special club that entitles them to remarkable privileges.

5.  Costco shoppers over-spend because they’re deluded into thinking they are getting a “bargain.”

6.  Costco shoppers are so compelled to “stock up” on “supplies” that they shop with a certain anxiety as if they were preparing for a drought, a famine, or a nuclear shelter. There is a joyless survival mentality.

7.  Costco shoppers shop to escape from a desperation and fear about life and the more they shop the more dehumanized and violent they become.

 Part Four: What Is “Noble Disobedience”?

 One. Noble disobedience; an act of will in which we rebel against our caretakers, regardless of their intentions, when they wish to “protect” us by stagnating our growth and making us like babies in the womb. See the film Pleasantville or The Truman Show.

Two. Smothered by the Caretaker. When an authority figure—God, parents, spouse, teacher, school gang like the Vigils, community—takes care of all our needs but restrains our intellectual and emotional growth so that in essence we remain like fetuses in the womb. We never emerge and become fully human. We should be disobedient toward these smothering caretakers and establish our independence, our autonomy, and emerge as fully-realized adult human beings.

 

Three. Disobeying the Herd. Another form of noble disobedience is when we refuse to conform to the Herd, the group who acts cruel against the outsider, insists that we’re not cool unless we buy an iPod or a pair of True Religion designer jeans. Or there is Jerry’s refusal to sell chocolates, first from his teacher’s order, then from the order of The Vigils.

 

Four. Related the number 3, disobedience to Consumer Culture, which says you can’t define yourself as a “winner in society” unless you have a collection of “essential possessions.” For example, some believe, knowingly or not, that there are only two types of people in the world, home owners and renters.

 

Five. Disobedience as the courage to be different, to produce art that is not popular and then over time it becomes popular. This is called having the conviction of genius.

Six. Disobedience means venturing into the Unknown and leaving your familiar lifestyle behind you because though your familiar lifestyle gives you comfort and belonging, it does not give you a sense of meaning or individuality. For example, it may mean leaving a comfortable relationship that languishes in stagnation. I had a student who left her boyfriend and went to UNLV for this reason.

 

Seven. Disobedience means ignoring the expectations of your family and friends regarding your career and marriage plans.

 

Eight. Disobedience means refusing to worship society’s gods, heroes, and myths when you can see the fraud and emptiness behind the icons.

 

Nine. Disobedience means not being so needy as requiring the approval of others even if this absence of approval results in your having to stand alone. Your courage allows you to stand in solitude without the comfort and approval of the Herd.

 

Ten. Disobedience means “saying no to power.” This means from a philosophical point of view that we desire justice for all instead of a few enjoying power over the many.

Eleven. Disobedience means disobeying the bureaucracy that demands our dehumanization through unquestioned obedience of routine and sometimes immoral actions.

 

Twelve: Psychologist, philosopher, and author Erich Fromm writes: “If a man can only obey and not disobey, he is a slave; if he can only disobey and not obey, he is a rebel. Jerry’s conflict is choosing between being a slave to conformity or a noble rebel against it. We shall see.

Part Five. Reading Questions

 

1.  How is the theme of courage introduced in Chapter One and why is it introduced? The novel addresses the courage to be true to one’s conscience. Also he compares himself to Peter, the man who betrayed Christ. The novel’s theme of cowardice and self-betrayal in the face of conforming to the tribe. Does Jerry Renault even like football? Or is he doing it to conform? He fears being a misfit and stares at the hippies and other misfits at the bus stop, perhaps because he sees a reflection of himself or he longs for a freedom these misfits represent. See the end of Chapter 3.

2.  Describe the relationship between Obie and Archie in Chapter 2. How are they different? How are they the same? They both worship the same thing, power. And they see themselves as cogs in the power machine. Their goals are the same: To be a more important cog than the others, to ascend the hierarchy.

3.  What evidence in Chapter 2 suggests Archie’s sadism or penchant for cruelty? How do you account for this. Was he born this way or did he become like this? Explain. How is his personality crucial to the novel’s theme? Consider the theme of dehumanization, towards others and himself. A critique of Archie: As smart as he is and as smart as he thinks he is, he is blind to the loss of his humanity from playing the power game. He makes the same conventional assumptions about the necessity of conformity as most people do. But he thinks he’s different. He’s deluded. His conformity, his power play, his sadism have all resulted in the loss of his humanity.

Writing an introduction for your essay on The Chocolate War

Write a narrative about a time you compromised individual conscience in order to conform to the group and seek its approval rather than live by your own values and morals

 

McMahon English 1C Syllabus Spring 2011

 

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

Phone extension 5673

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

 Required Texts: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl; The Face on Your Plate by Jeffrey Masson; Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely; In the Pond by Ha Jin 

Grading

4 Six-Page Research Papers 225 each

4 Quizzes 25 each

Grand Total: 1,000 points

 Reading and Writing Schedule

February 15 Writing introductions, go over course outline, grading, etc

February 17 Frankl 1-50

February 22 Frankl 51-100

February 24 Frankl 101-150

March 1 Frankl 151-end

March 3 Quiz 1 turned in to PE4

March 8 Essay 1 for first half in PE4

March 10 Essay 1 for second half in PE4

March 15 The Face on Your Plate, Chapter 1

March 17 The Face on Your Plate Chapter 2

March 22 The Face on Your Plate Chapter 3

March 24 The Face on Your Plate Chapters 4 and 5

March 29 Quiz 2 turned in to PE4

March 31 Consultations in PE4

April 5 Essay 2 for second half of class PE4

April 7 Essay 2 for first half of class PE4

April 19 Ariely Chapters 1-3

April 21 Ariely Chapters 4-6

April 26 Ariely Chapters 7-9

April 28 Ariely Chapters 10-11

May 3 Ariely to the end

May 5 Quiz 3 turned to in PE4

May 10 Essay 3 for first half in PE4

May 12 Essay 3 for second half in PE4

May 17  Ha Jin 1-60

May 19 Ha Jin 61-90

May 24 Ha Jin 91-130

May 26 Ha Jin 131-end

May 31 Quiz 4 turned in to PE4

June 2 Consultations for Essay 4 in PE4

June 7 Second half of class turns in Essay 4 to PE4

June 9 First half of class turns in Essay 4 to PE4

 

Essay Assignments

Essay 1: Man’s Search for Meaning

In a 5-page research paper, explain the search for meaning in the face of the crisis that Frankl describes in his book. What are the consequences of both failing and succeeding in this search?

Your essay should have a salient introductory paragraph, which can be as long as a page; a thesis paragraph with at least four or five mapping components; no fewer than eight body paragraphs, each paragraph about a half page; and a brief conclusion.

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: Elaborate on your mapping components 

Paragraph 10: Conclusion in which you restate your thesis with rhetorical power

Final Page: Works Cited with no fewer than 4 sources

Successful papers will use personal examples to illustrate the major points. Be sure to have a Works Cited page with at least 4 sources.

Essay 2: The Face on Your Plate

In a 5-page research paper, develop a thesis that defends or refutes Masson's vegan ideology by showing the logical fallacies of your opponent. You may use a concession clause if you partly agree with your opponents. 

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: Elaborate on your mapping components

Paragraph 10: Conclusion in which you restate your thesis.

Last Page: Works Cited page with no fewer than 4 sources.

Essay 3: Predictably Irrational

In a 5-page essay use extended definition and classification to analyze Predictably Irrational. Develop a thesis that defines the term "predictably irrational" by breaking it down into 4 or 5 categories (your mapping components) that you will illustrate with examples that ARE NOT IN THE BOOK. 

Paragraph One: Introduction

Paragraph Two: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs Three-Nine: Illustrate and elaborate your mapping components

Paragraph 10: Conclusion, a restatement of your thesis

Last page: Works Cited page with no fewer than 3 sources

Essay 4: In the Pond

In a 1,000-word essay, write a psychological profile of Bin, explaining how his desires for higher self-regard, power, and happiness are sabotaged by his own irrational faculties. Successful essays will use your personal observations that compare to Bin's self-destructiveness. 

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-6: Elaborate and illustrate your mapping components

Paragraph 7: Conclusion, a restatement of your thesis

College Policies and Objectives:

Students with Disabilities:

 If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.

 Student Learning Objectives

 Students will compose an argumentative essay that shows an ability to

support a claim using analysis, elements of argumentation, and

integration of primary and secondary sources.  This essay will be well

organized, follow proper MLA format, and be technically correct in

paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and

usage.

 Course Objectives

The student will be able to: 

1. Read expository prose critically to distinguish between perception and inference, surface and implied meanings, fact and opinion. 

2. Analyze the way arguments are presented in readings and the media. 

3. Demonstrate the ability to organize and develop written arguments and compositions. 

4. Refine writing skills developed in English 1A: focusing a topic, formulating a thesis, providing support, and developing unity and coherence. 

5. Evaluate the accuracy and cogency of arguments by identifying logical fallacies and drawing inferences from readings and media presentations. 

6. Formulate and develop arguments and critical theories about issues, argumentative prose, and literary interpretations. 

 Major Topics

Structures of argument: Thinking, reading, discussing. Evaluate data, credibility, and relevance.

Understanding and evaluating claims: Reasons, purposes, support, ambiguity, vagueness, complexity. Assessing credibility: Causal arguments, moral reasoning.

Evaluating arguments and explanations: Relevance, clarity, testability, and consistency. Identifying assumptions, developing counter arguments and justifications.

Writing argumentative, evaluative, and analytic essays: Prewriting, writing, and rewriting. Topic selection: Narrowing, evaluating validity and relevance. Developing parts of the argumentative essay: Strategies for organizing an argument or evaluation, including evidence, inductive and deductive reasoning. Avoiding logical fallacies.

Literary analysis: Evaluating point of view, inferences, and assumptions. Understanding diction, identification, aesthetic distance, and focus. Exploring rhetorical devices: Satire, irony, paradox, over-statement and understatement, evaluating authority.

Comparative analysis: Analyzing symbols, analogy, ambiguity, and imagery.

Deductive reasoning in expressive or expository literature: Recognizing assumptions in literary criticism and theory.

Political and advertising rhetoric: Slanders, euphemisms, innuendo, loaded questions, downplaying, avoidance, stereotyping, hyperbole, persuasive definitions. Information tailoring and the news media: Loaded language in reporting and advertising.

(Major writing assignments will consist of approximately 6 essays totaling 6000 words.)

 

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, which can include Signs of Life in the USA, my lecture notes, interviews, and online 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%.

 Policies:

 You can’t make-up reading exams. Points are irretrievably lost. This policy encourages class attendance.

 

Late Papers: I don’t accept late papers more than one week after the original due date and I reduce a 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.

 (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 eighth week of the semester you have not turned in your first two essays or are failing the class, I will drop you. 

 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.

 

McMahon 1A Syllabus Spring 2011

 

 

Required Texts: A Good Fall by Ha Jin; Cooked by Jeff Henderson; The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier; Back in the World by Tobias Wolff; The Writer’s Resource; 3^rd Edition.

Email: jmcmahon@elcamino.edu

Website: Breakthrough Writer: http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/

Grading: Four Essays 225 each; Four quizzes 25 each; Grand Total: 1,000 points

Reading and Writing Schedule

February 14 Introduction

February 16 Ha Jin “The Beauty” 25-48 and “Temporary Love” 175-194

February 21 Holiday

February 23 Ha Jin A Composer and His Parakeets” (9) and “Choice” (49)

February 28 Ha Jin “The House Behind a Weeping Cherry” 195, "A Good Fall" 221

March 2 Quiz 1 turned in to PE4

March 7 Essay 1 for first half of class in PE4

March 9 Essay 1 for second half of class in PE4

March 14 Cooked, first fourth

March 16 Cooked, first half

March 21 Cooked, three quarters

March 23 Cooked, finish

March 28 Quiz 2 turned in to PE4

March 30 Consultations in PE4 to discuss your thesis

April 4 Essay 2 in PE4

April 6 Essay 2 in PE4

April 18 The Chocolate War, first fourth

April 20 The Chocolate War, first half

April 25 The Chocolate War, three quarters

April 27 The Chocolate War, finish

May 2 Quiz 3 turned in to PE4

May 4 Consultations in PE4 to check over your thesis

May 9 Essay 3 in PE4

May 11 Essay 3 in PE4

May 16 Wolff “The Rich Brother”

May 18 Wolff “Desert Breakdown, 1968”

May 23 Wolff “Say Yes”

May 25 Wolff “The Missing Person”

May 30 Holiday

June 1 Quiz 4 turned in to PE4

June 6 Essay 4 in PE4

June 8 Essay 4 in PE4

Essay Assignments

Essay 1 A Good Fall

In a 5-page research paper, develop a thesis that develops the contradictions of freedom as those contradictions are evidenced in the stories of Ha Jin’s A Good Fall. Refer to no fewer than 2 stories. Your outline might look like this:

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: Elaborate on your mapping components

Paragraph 10: Conclusion, a restatement of your thesis

Last page is your Works Cited page with at least 3 sources.

Essay 2 Cooked:

A wise man once said that when "we think we're rising in life we're really falling; and when we think we're falling in life we're really rising."

In a 5-page research paper, apply this adage to the memoir of Jeff Henderson as rendered in his book Cooked. Successful papers will use personal comparisons to underscore the salient wisdom above. 

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: Elaborate on your mapping components in these supporting paragraphs

Paragraph 10: Restate your thesis with a dramatic restatement.

Last page: Works Cited with no fewer than 3 sources.

Essay 3 The Chocolate War

In a 5-page research paper, explain why the novel is so painfully dark as to be almost unbearable in its worldview. Your outline might look like this:

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: Elaborate on your mapping components

Paragraph 10, conclusion restates your thesis

Last page is your Works Cited page with no fewer than 5 sources

Essay 4 Back in the World

Using at least two stories from Tobias Wolff's Back in the World, explain the book's title in your thesis. Successful papers will use personal experience to illustrate your major points.

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Thesis with 4 or 5 mapping components

Paragraphs 3-9: Support your mapping components

Paragraph 10. Restate your thesis

Last Page: Works Cited with no fewer than 2 sources

 

Students with Disabilities: 

If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible. 

Student Learning Objective

Given an out-of-class writing task in which students find multiple sources related to a particular topic, students will 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.

 

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, which can include Signs of Life in the USA, my lecture notes, interviews, and online 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%.

Student Learning Objectives:

I. Review of Grammar and Usage 

The student will locate and demonstrate the ability to correct the following errors in a composition: 

A. sentence fragments 
B. comma splices 
C. misused commas 
D. fused sentences 
E. misplaced and dangling modifiers 
F. incorrect pronoun case 
G. faculty pronoun references 
H. pronoun-antecedent disagreement 
I. subject-verb agreement 
J. wrong tense 


II. Instruction in Reading  A. Essays  The student will  1. locate and paraphrase the thesis/preposition 
2. identify the basic types of support used to develop the thesis or proposition: examples, facts, details, reasons, illustrations, anecdotes 
3. indicate the shift from general to specific levels of support 
4. distinguish statements of fact from statements of opinion 
5. identify the method of development/strategy used: comparison, contrast, classification, definition, cause/effect, process, persuasion 
6. summarize the idea and content 
7. advocate or challenge the author's opinions 

B. Short fiction and poetry 

The student will 

1. paraphrase the work 
2. identify and define the central theme or metaphor 
3. assess the aesthetic qualities of the work 
4. compare the work with another, drawing conclusions based on appropriate criteria 

C. Book-length nonfiction 

The student will 

1. summarize the work in its separate units and as a complete entity 
2. identify the central theme or themes 
3. judge the value of the information 
4. advocate or challenge the author's opinions 

D. Novels 

The student will 

1. summarize the plot 
2. identify the central themes 
3. indicate the functions of characters, plot, and setting in relation to the themes 
4. judge the aesthetic value of 2 or 3 and of the whole work 


III. Instruction in Composition 

The student will 

1. compose theses/topic statements of a proper scope for the composition 
2. delimit subjects by brainstorming and outlining 
3. organize the content of a composition using spatial, climatic, and/or chronological principles 
4. use a range of general and specific levels of support with proper transitions to signal shifts from one level to another 
5. compose introductory and concluding paragraphs for a composition 
6. compose a timed essay 
7. perform research techniques (use library resources, cite and document sources) and compose a formal research paper of at least 1250 words, utilizing parenthetical documentation

 

 

Man’s Search for Meaning Study Questions (Second Attempt)

 

 

1.     What is the central theme of existentialism? That to live is to suffer and to suffer demands that we draw meaning in the face of suffering. We must, in other words, find a purpose for our suffering. To be strong enough to choose one’s attitude in the most excruciating circumstances is a good place to begin at finding a purpose and a goal. The question is how do we get there? Frankl sometimes begins with the question why don’t you commit suicide? And his answers contrast his logotherapy or existential analysis.

2.      Frankl warns about searching for happiness and success. He writes on page 17: “Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run—in the long, run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.”

3.     What is “tragic optimism” and what does it mean to say yes to life? See page 17.

4.     Who were the Capos and what made their characters so malevolent? They were losers outside the camp who finally got their chance to assert power. These are the worst kind of people, opportunists, sadists, haters. See page 22.

5.     What happens to morality during a survival “free for all” described on page 24? Scruples become a liability. People lose their souls as they become more and more primitive in the worst sense of the word. See page 25.

6.     Why did Frankl change his mind about publishing the book anonymously? See page 25. You have to have credibility and the courage to stand up to your convictions and to bear witness.

7.     What was the danger of losing one’s will to live? It never returned. Prisoners would smoke themselves to death.

8.     Suffering such extreme abuse and torture, what happens to the prisoners? They go into shock, develop a grim sense of humor, develop an objective curiosity about what will happen to everyone under these extreme conditions; they become apathetic. This apathy is described as an “emotional death” on page 39. On 40, he talks about being numb to everyone’s suffering. Then they undergo depersonalization. Also they learn that what they learned in textbooks about what the body can and cannot take is not true.

9.     The prisoners learn the process of acclimation: “Man can get used to anything.”

10.                        What are the dangers of becoming dependent on false necessities? We define ourselves with these things; we become fearful of losing things we don’t need.

11.                         How does shock become a form of denial and a survival mechanism? See page 37.

12.                         How does he elaborate on apathy and personal insults on pages 42 and 43 and 47? Insults create indignation, a hunger for justice, which fights against apathy. See page 44. On 47 he talks about self-defense mechanism and regressing to the primitive state.

13.                         Why did some of the less robust intellectuals survive the camp better than those of a sturdier build? See page 56.

14.                         What experience does Frankl describe that evidences he does not suffer from apathy? See page 57. And see page 60. And see page 69.

15.                         On page 83, how does Frankl explain the inferiority complex that afflicts the prisoners? We see a form of dehumanization.

16.                        What does Frankl say about freedom during even the most brutal circumstances on page 86?

17.                         What two attitudes toward suffering are described on page 88 and how do they represent the difference between life and death?

18.                        On page 90, how does a provisional existence contribute to the hopelessness and apathy that afflicts the prisoners? What is needed for them to have an “inner hold” on their life? See page 91. And see page 93, top. The crisis they faced was an opportunity for spiritual growth (as is having children, as one struggles with all the chaos, the monotony and tedium of parenting chores)

19.                         How is the process of giving up described on page 95 like unemployment depression?

20.                         What is the prisoner’s state of mind or psychology after being released from the camp? See page 105. How could this happen to me? The SS guards were chosen for being sadistic. Frankl found kindness in some SS; cruelty in some of the Capos and the other way around. He discovers there are only two races: the decent and the indecent.

21.                         Describe the process of depersonalization on page 110. Nothing feels real. Everything feels like a dream. Some were tempted to rage and pillage the world as revenge for what was done to them, but this was causing them to lose their soul all the more and give a victory to evil. Some succumbed to bitterness and disillusionment.

 

New Handbook for McMahon Composition Classes

 

 

 

Starting in Spring of 2011, McMahon is adopting A Writer's Resource by Mimon, Peritz, and Yancey, 3e, published by McGraw Hill. This book is the El Camino College version.

Twelve Compelling Questions We Must Ask When Reading Man's Search for Meaning

 

The Challenges of Teaching Man’s Search for Meaning (Lessons should cover these questions over 4 or 5 classes)

 

1. Are you a nihilist? Rodney Dangerfield, centripetal, centrifugal motion, movies rely on centrifugal narrative
2. Do you believe in Frankl’s main message that you are responsible for your attitude no matter your circumstances? Or are you an agnostic?
3. Can there be meaning in the face of theodicy? Think of God’s Problem by Bart Ehrman.
4. Do you live up to the standard Frankl describes or are you a hypocrite relying on false necessities, false definition of success and happiness and dependent on power?
5. What are the false necessitites of life that make our life a joke: a joke that we don’t see until we face a crisis?
6. Is Frankl giving us a self-help book full of clichés or something more and if the latter, how do you convey the specifics without resorting to homilies? Contrast self-help with Frankl’s prescription, which is far more challenging and doesn’t offer quick easy answers.
7. How do you apply the lessons learned in a concentration camp to less extreme challenges?
8. How do you explain the strong “inner life”? Imagination, intellect, spirit, a parallel universe as Martin Amis spoke of.
9. How do you explain spiritual transcendence with no specific religion?
10. How do you teach the urgency of Frankl’s apparent either/or choice? Nihilism or meaning.
11. How is the process of nihilism and depersonalization gradual and how does logotherapy counteract it?
12. What does it mean to be "life affirming" in the context of "tragic optimism"?