Because Back in the World is not available, I have give you your assignment based on the following online stories. No book is required:
Bullet in the Brain, Say Yes, and Powder on PDF.
A good source for your research paper: "The Liberation of Lying" by Judith Shulevitz
Lesson on Using Sources (adapted from The Arlington Reader, fourth edition)
We use sources to establish credibility and to provide evidence for our claim. Because we want to establish credibility, the sources have to be credible as well.
To be credible, the sources must be
Current or up to date: to verify that the material is still relevant and has all the latest and possibly revised research and statistical data.
Authoritative: to insure that your sources represent experts in the field of study. Their studies are peer-reviewed and represent the gold standard, meaning they are the sources of record that will be referred to in academic debate and conversation.
Depth: The source should be detailed to give a comprehensive grasp of the subject.
Objectivity: The study is relatively free of agenda and bias or the writer is upfront about his or her agenda so that there are no hidden objectives. If you’re consulting a Web site that is larded with ads or a sponsor, then there may be commercial interests that compromise the objectivity.
Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Summarizing Sources
“A summary restates the main idea of a passage in concise terms” (314).
A typical summary is one or two sentences.
A summary does not contain your opinions or analysis.
Paraphrasing Sources
A paraphrase, which is longer than a summary, contains more details and examples. Sometimes you need to be more specific than a summary to make sure your reader understands you.
A paraphrase does not include your opinions or analysis.
Quoting Sources
Quoting sources means you are quoting exactly what you are referring to in the text with no modifications, which might twist the author’s meaning.
You should avoid long quotations as much as possible.
Quote only when necessary. Rely on summary and paraphrase before resorting to direct quotes.
A good time to use a specific quote is when it’s an opposing point that you want to refute.
Using Signal Phrases or Identifying Tag to Introduce Summary, Paraphrase, and Quoted Material
According to Jeff McMahon, the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.
Jeff McMahon notes that the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.
Common identifying tags (put link here)
Theme for "Bullet in the Brain": The story’s theme is the danger of a particular type of narcissism: intellectual pride.
Anders is book smart but not savvy. His intellectual pride blinds him from being street smart (you have skills in dealing with humans and real life conflicts in an improvisational manner.
His lie is that he is superior to others when in fact he is malformed psychologically.
Another lie is that Anders is a misanthrope; he hates the human race, a distraction from his frustration that he lacks human connection. Rather than face his responsibility for his suffering, he sees himself as an innocent victim, a genius surrounded by a "confederacy of dunces," and this too is a lie.
Two. Signs That Anders Is Not Street Smart
- He doesn’t know how to make allies among his enemies. 200
- His sarcasm doesn’t hit the right note because it’s too strident. 200, 201
- He can’t turn off his supercilious sarcasm when the situation warrants it. 201
- He doesn’t know when to talk and when to shut up. 202
- He has allowed his critic persona to take over his entire personality and this has given him delusions of omnipotence resulting in his death. 203
- His flashbacks punctuated by “he didn’t remember” all the meaningful moments of his life show a man who grew increasingly lonely.
Evaluate the Problems in the Following Student Thesis Statements That Pertain to Essay Assignment
Tobias Wolff's fiction is informed by the great lies from narcissism, which is one of the great plagues of the human race.
The lies of narcissism should be a crime punishable by law.
The narcissists in Tobias Wolff's short story collection are selfish, immature, full of self-pity, and pathological liars.
The narcissists in TW's collection are selfish, immature, and self-pitying.
We're all narcissists to some degree; therefore, writing about narcissism, or trying to identify it, is an act of futility and a waste of time.
In class our teacher McMahon said a Stage 10 Narcissist is someone without self-awareness and therefore the worst type of narcissist of all. Our teacher McMahon is in serious error, for in fact a close examination will reveal that it is the very self-aware calculated narcissist, the Great Manipulator, who is the worst narcissist of all. This becomes evident when we see that the Manipulating Narcissist is a sociopath, an exploiter, and a cunning, unmerciful foe and trickster to all his victims.
3 Traps of Life As They Are Embodied in the Story's Characters
Trap One: Hopeless Despair: The doctor who wouldn't let go of his divorce pain and walked around an empty house.
In a similar trap, many of us feel like a nonentity, a cipher, a nobody. We are looking for a sense of place, purpose, distinction, and belonging. We are looking for hope yet we often feels like an outsider, Often we are overcome by the paralysis of self-pity.
In "Say Yes" the wife may feel trapped in a marriage to a bully. But the hell of her marriage becomes more apparent to her and that ironically may motivate her to leave.
Trap Two: Vainglorious Pride: We believe we're superior to others while being blind to our grotesque flaws, which are obvious to everyone else.
A woman died because she wouldn't take off her body-length mink coat in Buenos Aries, an an outdoor bazaar.
Anders in "Bullet in the Brain"
The husband in "Say Yes"
Hipsters say "we're educated, hip, cosmopolitans, not like those close-minded provencial tribalists," and in doing so these hipsters become the very tribalists they claim to despise.
Pride always results in blindness. Look at "Bullet in the Brain."
Audrey and George, the two illicit lovers embody pride and vanity. They feel morally and spiritually superior to the man they’ve betrayed, Truman. They are in fact blinded by their vanity, which is ironic in the context of Miguel whose passions make him blind.
Audrey and George think they're better educated than most; they think they're special; as a result, they are blind to their vanity.
Trap Three: Self-Satisfied Mediocrity and Complacency: The couple in Torrance who have separate TVs and pills and fast-food refuse on their porch.
The husband in "Say Yes" is content with living his lie and life of mediocre stagnation. He shows that you can belong to more than one of the three traps.
Essay 1: Back in the World by Tobias Wolff, 150 points
Option One
We read in Judith Shulvit's Slate book review of Our Story Begins the following:
To read a collection of Wolff's work that spans the years is to realize that he is obsessed with the act of lying. Asked in an interview why so many of his characters lie, Wolff replied, "The world is not enough, maybe? … To lie is to say the thing that is not, so there's obviously an unhappiness with what is, a discontent." A recent outbreak of faked memoirs has set off a storm of outraged pontification about why people pass off false histories as their own, so it's satisfying to read about liars who lie for interesting reasons rather than the usual despicable ones. Wolff is, in fact, a genius at locating the truths revealed by lies—the ancient and holy tongues, you might say, the otherwise inexpressible inner realities that lies give voice to.
In a 5-page paper, typed and double-spaced, develop a thesis that analyzes the characters' need to lie in Tobias Wolff's collection Back in the World. Address at least 4 stories in your essay. For your Works Cited, use Wolff's collection, my blog, and a book review.
Option 2
In one of his darker moods, our instructor McMahon said this about the human race:
"We are a lost and sorry lot, hopelessly imprisoned by self-deception: false narratives we rely on to define our identities; tantalizing chimeras that assuage the boredom of our banal existence, and willed ignorance that prevents us from seeing the grotesqueries roiling just underneath the facade that we present to the world and to ourselves. As a result, we are crazed and deformed creatures forever lost in a world of solipsism."
In a 5-page essay, analyze McMahon's remarks in the context of no fewer than 4 stories from Tobias Wolff's collection Back in the World.
For your Works Cited, use Wolff's collection, my blog, and a book review.
Option 3
One camp of readers argue that Wolff's fiction is redemptive in that its characters are delivered from their delusions through life-changing epiphanies that propel them back into the world of reality and personal accountability. Another camp of readers say the epiphanies come too little too late and only serve to speak to the characters' lives, which can be defined by endless cycles of futility and as such Wolff's stories are not redemptive but nihilistic.
What camp are you in? Develop an argumentative thesis that defends your position in a 5-page essay. For your Works Cited, use Wolff's collection, my blog, and a book review.
By "lies" in Tobias Wolff's fiction, what do we mean?
direct lies
creating a parallel universe (what does that mean?)
delusions
narrative and counternarrative (the story people have about us and the story we tell ourselves)
chimera (the mirage that becomes our obsession)
All of the above are forms of escape.
What are the characters escaping?
learned helplessness
feeling beaten down
feeling threatened by the narratives people tell about ourselves and then we want to control the narrative
monotony and boredom with life: the existential vacuum
social conformity feels like a prison and we need escape
What patterns do we see in the characters?
Escape is alternated by a crash landing to reality.
Look at centrifugal and centripetal character development for the last essay option.
Some thesis statements to avoid:
Wolff's stories are rich in irony.
Irony really hits the characters with a wallop.
I really like all the irony in Wolff's stories.
We learned that irony is part of seeing the world in a new way and that once you see irony, really see it, you can't go back to your pre-ironic existence.
I feel better about myself now that I learned the definition of irony and have decided to change my major.
Understanding irony in Wolff's stories really opens your eyes to life's deeper truths and now that I've read this book I'm a better person. Thank you, McMahon.
Understanding irony makes me feel special, like I'm a member of an elite club, but the downside is now I feel lonely because so few people understand life the way I do. McMahon, you ruined my life.
I've studied irony in McMahon's class and read all the stories but now I'm more confused about irony more than ever and will probably drop McMahon's class and take 1A from another instructor.
Irony is not really that big of a deal. I see it everywhere. I don't see why McMahon has to make a big production of it. Frankly, I'm bored with the subject of irony and am ready to give up on McMahon.
Studying irony makes you a better person so spend a lot of time studying it and you'll see how much better your life is.
I don't believe in irony. It doesn't exist. It's just a cynical attitude McMahon has about life and he's trying to infect us with his cynical attitude. I resent him and I resent the class. At the end of the semester I'm filing a complaint.
Signal Phrases to Integrate Quotations into Your Essay
Essential and Nonessential Clauses
McMahon Grammar Exercise: Essential and Nonessential Clauses
Circle the relative clause and indicate if it’s essential with a capital E or nonessential with a capital N. Then use commas where necessary.
One. I’m looking for a sugar substitute that doesn’t have dangerous side effects.
Two. Sugar substitutes which often contain additives can wreak havoc on the digestive and nervous system.
Three. The man who trains in the gym every day for five hours is setting himself up for a serious muscle injury.
Four. Cars that operate on small turbo engines don’t last as long as non-turbo automobiles.
Five. Tuna which contains high amounts of mercury should only be eaten once or twice a week.
Six. The store manager who took your order has been arrested for fraud.
Seven. The store manager Ron Cousins who is now seventy-five years old is contemplating retirement.
Eight. Magnus Mills’ Restraint of Beasts which is my favorite novel was runner up for the Booker Prize.
Nine. Parenthood which is a sort of priesthood for which there is no pay or appreciation raises stress and cortisol levels.
Ten. I need to find a college that specializes in my actuarial math major.
Eleven. UCLA which has a strong actuarial math program is my first choice.
Twelve. My first choice of car is the Lexus which was awarded top overall quality honors from Consumer Reports.
Thirteen. Mangoes which sometimes cause a rash on my lips and chin area are my favorite fruit.
Fourteen. A strange man whom I’ve never known came up to me and offered to give me his brand new Mercedes.
Fifteen. My girlfriend who was showing off her brand new red dress arrived two hours late to the birthday party.
Sixteen. Students who meticulously follow the MLA format rules have a greater chance at success.
Seventeen. The student who tormented himself with the thesis lesson for six hours found himself more confused than before he started.
Eighteen. There are several distinctions between an analytical and argumentative thesis which we need to familiarize ourselves with before we embark on the essay assignment.
Nineteen. The peach that has a worm burrowing through its rotted skin should probably be tossed in the garbage.
Twenty. Peaches, which I love to eat by the bucketful are on sale at the farmer’s market.
Twenty-one. Baseball which used to be America’s pastime is declining in popularity.
Qualities of an Effective Thesis
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.”
Class Activity:
Write a tentative thesis for Essay 1.
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