Quiz
For this quiz you must imagine you are Bin's wife and writing him a letter of divorce. In 600 words, you, Bin's wife, must write an argument, using evidence from the novel, why you are divorcing him.
Your quiz must have an argumentative thesis and will be judged on its persuasiveness and its concrete support from the novel In the Pond.
The 12 Fallacies That Wreak Havoc on Bin and His Family
Fallacy One: If only we had so and so, page 1: If only we lived in a better place. Meilan the wife longs for better living conditions but the real problem is her nutty husband Shao Bin. Her husband's problem is that he craves attention and the esteem of others rather than he cares for the needs his family.
Meilan needs a sane husband more than she does a bigger apartment.
Fallacy Two. The myth of presumed justice: “I have more seniority over the others.” Only a nincompoop would subscribe to such an asanine belief. Justice is not the fuel of the world. Nepotism and corruption are and anyone with a modicum of streets smarts would know this. Expecting fairness and just rewards for something like seniority is a sign of stupidity.
According to The Social Animal by David Brooks, most people have an inflated self-esteem that doesn't correspond accurately to their low competence and talent. A smaller percentage of the human race have self-doubt and this smaller group is more talented and more competent. This isn't right that the majority are deluded. But it's the way it is. Accept it.
Fallacy Three. The myth of presumed merits (the “stubborn ass,” as Bin’s wife calls him, is street smart and wants her husband to bribe his superiors, but Bin believes in propaganda slogans. Bin would rather get into an ego war with his superiors than play the game and get a bigger apartment for his family.
Fallacy 4: The danger of pomposity (belief in one’s superiority over others) results in blindness to how others perceive you, a condition of narcissism that afflicts Bin. Our main character is described as arrogant, as a man who believes he’s smarter than others when in reality he has no emotional intelligence or savvy.
Fallacy 5: Anal retentive affect evidenced by his meticulous hand-writing shows that he may have a variation of Asperger Syndrome. (research paper topic option): Bin’s Asperger Syndrome evidenced by his failure to pick up social cues, his lack of empathy, fastidious characteristics, and his need for strict routines.
Fallacy 6: Retaliation against Superiors, called “barking up the wrong three,” on page 4. Only dumb people think that “exposing” their leaders’ corruption will make the leaders repent. In truth, you will enrage your superior who will be less likely to cater to your wants.
Fallacy 7: Obstinate: Bin is too stubborn to see that he is at fault for not bending to his wife’s advice about giving a bribe to his superiors. Bin has a pit-bull personality. Once he bites his teeth into something, he cannot let go, even if he's biting his own tail. When we are caught in the pot of boiling water, we cannot step back and see the bigger picture; we cannot develop strategies that will empower us.
Fallacy 8: “Bite my nose to spite your face.” Bin is so consumed with rage, we see on page 7, that he is compelled to “teach is superiors a lesson,” even though such a “lesson” will no doubt backfire and shoot his own foot off (to mix metaphors).
Fallacy 9: Book smarts too often precludes street smarts. Bin obsesses over learned passages from classic books but can’t see the larger ramifications of his actions. Knoweldge without common sense is worthless.
Fallacy 10: Sophomoric rage: juvenile and unsophisticated mockery and caricature of his bosses is confused with “punishing evil” and a noble act of heroism. There is a huge disparity between Bin’s self-image and the juvenile person he really is. Bin, my friends, is just a child or what we call a “man-child.”
Fallacy 11: Bin confuses blind fury and self-aggrandizement with heroism. He is no hero. He is, as I stated earlier, a child posing as one by indulging in self-righteous fury.
Fallacy 12: Bin, AKA the Hater, feeds off hate. He loves to hate. Hate is his hobby. He is only happy when he is hating. What would he be without hate? He's invested so much in hating, he needs to be an embattled victim in order to vindicate all of the negative emotional investment he has put into hating his perceived enemies.
Part Two. Distinguishing Characteristics of Asperger Syndrome As They Apply to Bin
One. Repetitive, ritualized patterns of behavior. Everything must be the same way. For example, the meal has to be just so.
Two. No social reciprocity. They often don’t make effort to return social interaction or friendship.
Three. They often show a lack of empathy.
Four. They often don’t pick up on social cues.
Five. They’re usually not good listeners.
Six. They lecture down to people rather than converse with them.
Seven. They’re more book smart than street smart.
Eight. They become preoccupied or obsessed with only one or few interests.
Nine. They become self-absorbed in their interests, losing awareness of their surroundings.
Ten. They are often perceived as “geeks” or “nerds.”
Part Three. Essay Options (some of these topics overlap)
Option One.
In 2 pages, profile someone you know who has Asperger Syndrome. Then in 4 pages, analyze Bin as someone who suffers the same condition evidenced by _________________, _________________, ____________________, and ________________________.
Profile Example (must include physical description): Roland Beavers
I just assume call Roland C. Beavers something else like Pest or Nuisance because all he does all day is impose himself on the rest of us at poolside and bloviate about how he was recently discharged from the army for unappreciated heroism or how he soon after hurt himself at his new job at Burger King, saving the life of his lady supervisor, or how he's reading another fascinating book on World War II or something just as trite. When I say he's bugging us, I am referring to us hard-working tenants who bust our butts during the week to pay for the outrageously high rent at The Springs luxury apartments, unlike Roland who is faking some disability, one of those mysterious back injuries that he claims he got working in the oil fields. I suppose his charade is working well enough, since his employer has been sending him some handsome checks over the last year or so.
Roland's got himself a free ticket to paradise, while the rest of us bust major buttocks for the privilege of living here. Busting buttocks all week entitles us to a little peace and quiet by poolside, I'd say. Only Roland's been what you might call a thorn in the side. Hogging the adult pool from the rest of us, always getting his favorite location and guarding it throughout the day with a frightening degree of tenacity. We're talking from seven in the morning till seven at night, seven days a week, no exaggeration. You see, Roland has some pathological need to be at the pool which is more powerful than religion itself. Just watching him at poolside, playing the role of lifeguard, warning little kiddies not to run on the pavement and ordering people to be quiet while he reads his war books, I have come to the conclusion that he is experiencing delusions of grandeur. Roland C. Beavers fancies himself the official water god of The Springs apartment complex.
The problem is that our wannabe water god here, Roland C. Beavers, hardly looks like any kind of god. He's a clumsy, chinless, pasty-skinned mass of uncarved lard with thick, hirsute patches of pale golden hair all over his legs and back. On top of it, he wears these foolish red terry cloth bikini briefs, only they're real saggy in the ass. Hell, he might just as well be wearing diapers. Looks like he's got a load in his pants. The least he could do is cover up them hips. He's got a bunch of squiggly stretch marks all over them, which he claims, a story he tells over and over, resulted from his world-championship diving tournament off the cliffs of Acapulco. You don't get stretch marks from diving into water. Either you get pregnant or you they just come naturally. But for Roland C. Beavers everything is subject to fantasy and endless embellishment. His mission, it seems, is to torment the rest of us till we can't stand hanging out at poolside any longer. And by God, if we don't do something soon, he's gonna succeed.
Another nincompoop with a genius for tormenting normal people is Bin from the novel In the Pond. Like Roland Beavers, Bin seems to suffer from Asperger syndrome evidenced by ____________, ______________, ________________,________________, and ____________________.
Option 2:
Write a 6-page research paper about the anti-hero and show its application to Bin.
Option 3: Write a 6-page research paper that contrasts the character who sees the big picture and one who is focused on the small picture. Use people you know and characters from the novel to explain these two diametrically opposed orientations.
Option Four: Write a 6-page research paper about the "Lessons of Power" we can learn from the novel.
Option Five: 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
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