Fall 2024 1A Essay Prompts
1A Essay 1: Is Following Your Passion Bad Career Advice?
The Purpose of Essay 1:
The purpose of your first essay is to explore the potential dangers and weaknesses of following your passion at the exclusion of other factors to achieve success. In what ways is following your passion dangerous? In what ways is the notion of passion a meaningless cliche? Why do such meaningless cliches become influential? What kind of audience hunger
for these empty platitudes? How is Cal Newport’s idea of the craftsman mindset offered as an antidote to the dangers of following your passion? What moral considerations should be factored into cultivating a craftsman mindset?
To explore these questions, you can choose from one of the following 2 prompts:
Choice A:
In a 1,200-word essay that adheres to current MLA format and provides a minimum of 4 sources for your Works Cited page, write an argumentative essay that defends, refutes, or complicates Cal Newport’s claim from his YouTube video "Core Idea: Don't Follow Your Passion," his online article “The Passion Trap” and "The Career Craftsman Manifesto" and Ali Adbaal's YouTube video "Follow Your Passion Is Bad Advice. Here's Why" that the career advice to follow your passion is dangerous and should be replaced by the craftsman mindset. Be sure to have a counterargument-rebuttal paragraph before your conclusion. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources.
Choice B:
In a 1,200-word essay, address the claim that the Netflix movie The Founder, about McDonald’s Fast-Food King Ray Kroc's rise is a cautionary tale about following Cal Newport’s notion of the craftsman mindset without a moral compass. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources.
1A Essay 2: Frederick Douglass Champions the Real Version of African-American History
The Purpose of Essay 2:
You will examine Frederick Douglass as the Northstar of African-American history to address the claim that teaching African-American history is a form of anti-American, “woke” indoctrination by examining Frederick Douglass’ rigor in presenting the truth of American history. By studying Frederick Douglass’ life, you can interrogate common assumptions about freedom, democracy, and social justice. You can study Frederick Douglass’ witness to slavery as an antidote to the American revisionist myth of the Lost Cause, which perversely celebrates slavery as a blessing by God ruined by “Northern aggression against state rights.” You can also study Frederick Douglass’ life as an exemplar of discipline, literacy-fueled transformation, continual self-improvement, and commitment to helping others overcome what Jordan Peele calls the Sunken Place. In sum, the life of Frederick Douglass is a repudiation of false claims and Strawman arguments that depict African-American history in a derogatory manner to silence African American voices.
For Essay 2, choose one from the following:
Choice A: Frederick Douglass Lifted Others Out of the Sunken Place
In recent years, there have been critics of teaching slavery, Jim Crow, and racial injustice in the classroom. These critics claim that such teachings have degenerated into biased and extremist political ideology that is intended to indoctrinate students into an anti-American mindset with America painted as the unredeemable devil; that this anti-American mindset encourages helplessness and victimization, and that this mindset has corrupted educational institutions so that rather than teach critical thinking, they foster “Woke” political indoctrination. However, some will counter-argue that such renditions of African-American history are a perversion of real African-American history, which through ignorance or malice twist the essence of African-American history in order to attack it and silence African-American voices. These defenders of African-American history will posit that while it's true there are political dimensions to the study of African-American history, there are also spiritual, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. To truly understand African-American history, we are well advised to look to Frederick Douglass whose writings were designed to uplift the oppressed from what Jordan Peele calls The Sunken Place. Based on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, American Slave (available as a PDF online) and Clint Smith’s essay “Monuments to the Unthinkable,” write a 1,200-word essay that addresses the claim that teaching about the life of Frederick Douglass and learning about Germany’s post-World War II moral reform is a way of learning about racial injustice that avoids the aforementioned pitfalls because Douglass’ life and Germany’s moral reform embody the importance of helping others rise above the Sunken Place, bearing witness to the truth, embracing individual self-agency to resist societal injustice, fighting to redeem a society’s past racial sins, and championing the wisdom of the Ancients for our continual self-improvement. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources. For this assignment, I recommend two excellent books for further reading: Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight and The Pursuit of Happiness by Jeffrey Rosen. I also recommend the 2022 documentary Becoming Frederick Douglass.
Choice B: Frederick Douglass and the movie Black Panther Point to a Way Out of the Sunken Place
In recent years, there have been critics of teaching slavery, Jim Crow and racial injustice in the classroom. These critics claim that such teachings have degenerated into biased and extremist political ideology that is intended to indoctrinate students into an anti-American mindset with America painted as the unredeemable devil; that this anti-American mindset encourages helplessness and victimization, and that this mindset has corrupted educational institutions so that rather than teach critical thinking, they foster “Woke” political indoctrination. However, some will counter argue that such renditions of African-American history are a perversion of real African-American history, which through ignorance or malice twist the essence of African-American history in order to attack it and silence African-American voices. These defenders of African-American history will posit that while it's true there are political dimensions to the study of African-American history, there are also spiritual, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. To truly understand African-American history, we can compare the themes in the 2018 Ryan Coogler movie Black Panther and Frederick Douglass whose writings were designed to uplift the oppressed from what Jordan Peele calls The Sunken Place. In this context, write an essay that compares the way we can learn the essence of African-American history in the movie Black Panther and the writings of Frederick Douglass. This comparison should address the importance of helping others rise above the Sunken Place, bearing witness to the truth, embracing individual self-agency to resist societal injustice, fighting to redeem America, and championing the wisdom of the Ancients for our continual self-improvement so that we can find our “Inner Wakanda.” Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources. For this essay, I recommend the following YouTube videos: “Black Panther: Symbolism Explained” and “Black Panther--Creating an Empathetic Villain.”
Choice C. Glory Vs. The Lost Cause
The Lost Cause is a perversion of African-American history, a fabrication that claims that slavery was blessed by God and that in the system of slavery, whites and blacks lived in peaceful harmony, but the evil North ruined this harmony through “Northern aggression” and the “violation of state rights.” Write an essay that addresses the claim that the 1989 movie Glory provides an effective counter-narrative to the heinous mythologies behind The Lost Cause. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources.
Choice D. Misinformation Is the Enemy of the People
Write an essay that addresses the claim that the misinformation that fuels The Lost Cause as interrogated by Clint Smith’s essay “Why Confederate Lies Live On” and the the lies of Alex Jones evident in the HBO Max documentary The Truth Vs. Alex Jones makes a persuasive case that misinformation is the enemy of moral decency and a liberal democracy. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources.
Choice E. Condescension and Stereotyping
Comparing Jordan Peele’s movie Get Out with Cord Jefferson’s movie American Fiction, write a 1,200-word essay that analyzes the way both films are a critique of white liberal condescension toward African Americans and how this condescension can be a subtle cause of the Sunken Place. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources.
1A Essay 3: Is Social Media Manipulating Us?
The Purpose of Essay 3:
The purpose of Essay 3 is to interrogate the claim that social media is manipulating us and turning us into “thirsty” social media addicts. Is this claim true? Or is social media not the cause of our downfall? Is social media merely exposing the pathologies and mental frailties that are already there? Could it be that we are in the beginning stages of a Social Media Learning Curve and that our mental strain in the face of social media is both natural and predictable?
To examine social media more critically, choose one of the following 3 prompts:
Choice A
Using as your sources the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, Jonathan Haidt's essay "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid," and Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk video “Connected But Not Alone," write a 1,200-word essay that explains the "nosedive" or mental breakdown of Lacie Pound in the Black Mirror episode "Nosedive." Did social media cause her “nosedive” or merely expose the “nosedive” that would have happened regardless? Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources.
Essay 4: Groupthink, Moral Compromise and Mass Hysteria
Choice A: Comparing two works of fiction, movies, or media content, develop a thesis about the connection between Groupthink, moral compromise and mass hysteria.
For paragraph 1, define Groupthink and write about yourself or someone you know who succumbed to Groupthink resulting in a degree of self-destruction and moral compromise.
For paragraph 2, your thesis, compare two works of fiction, movies, or media content. Be sure your thesis is demonstrable in that it presents at least 5 points of comparison so you can have at least 5 body paragraphs.
Paragraphs 3-7 are your body paragraphs.
Paragraph 8 is your conclusion, a powerful restatement of your thesis.
Your last page is your Works Cited page in MLA format. It should have a minimum of 5 sources.
Here are a list of stories and movies you can use for your comparison:
- “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
- "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin
- “The Country of the Blind” by H.G. Wells
- The 1976 movie Network
- The 1998 movie The Truman Show
- The 2019 documentary FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
- The Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”
Fall 2024 1A Building Blocks
1A Essay 1 Option A Building Block 1
In a 200-word paragraph, write about the conflict you have between passion and practicality in the context of your college major. Use at least two signal phrases to address content from the recommended online articles for Option A.
1A Essay 1 Option B Building Block 1
In a 200-word paragraph, write a psychological profile of Ray Kroc based on your viewing of the Netflix movie The Founder. Use at least two signal phrases to address dialogue that is pertinent to your profile.
1A Essay 1 Option A Building Block 2
Write a 200-word counterargument-rebuttal paragraph to gain credibility with your readers by showing them you have considered opposing views to your thesis or claim. Use at least one signal phrase to address quoted or paraphrased material.
1A Essay 1 Option B Building Block 2
Write a 200-word paragraph, which will be your second paragraph, write your thesis or claim: This is the paragraph that addresses the claim that the Netflix movie The Founder, about McDonald’s Fast-Food King Ray Kroc's rise is a cautionary tale about following Cal Newport’s notion of the craftsman mindset without a moral compass.
1A Essay 2 Option A Building Block 1
Write a 200-word paragraph that defines Jordan Peele’s Sunken Place in the context of Frederick Douglass’ interrogation of slavery’s inhumanity as rendered in his memoir. Be sure to use at least two signal phrases that address Douglass’ memoir.
1A Essay 2 Option B Building Block 1
Write a 200-word paragraph that defines Jordan Peele’s Sunken Place in the context of Frederick Douglass’ interrogation of slavery’s inhumanity as rendered in his memoir. Be sure to use at least two signal phrases that address Douglass’ memoir.
1A Essay 2 Option C Building Block 1
Write a 200-word paragraph that defines The Lost Cause. Be sure to cite credible articles in your definition and use no fewer than two signal phrases and quote or paraphrase credible sources for your definition.
English 1A Essay 2 Option D Building Block 1
Write a 200-word paragraph that defines The Lost Cause. Be sure to cite credible articles in your definition and use no fewer than two signal phrases and quote or paraphrase credible sources for your definition.
English 1A Essay 2 Option E Building Block 1
Write a 200-word paragraph that defines Jordan Peele’s Sunken Place in the context of the movie Get Out. Be sure to use at least two signal phrases that quote or paraphrase dialogue from the movie.
English 1A Essay 2 Option A Building Block 2
Write your thesis paragraph and be sure to have at least 4 reasons in your paragraph that you’ll show support your claim.
English 1A Essay Option B Building Block 2
Write your thesis paragraph and be sure to have at least 4 reasons in your paragraph that you’ll show support your claim.
English 1A Essay Option C Building Block 2
Write your thesis paragraph and be sure to have at least 4 reasons in your paragraph that you’ll show support your claim.
English 1A Essay Option D Building Block 2
Write your thesis paragraph and be sure to have at least 4 reasons in your paragraph that you’ll show support your claim.
English 1A Essay Option E Building Block 2
Write your thesis paragraph and be sure to have at least 4 reasons in your paragraph that you’ll show support your claim.
English 1A Essay 3 Option A Building Block 1
Write a 300-word paragraph that compares how the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma and Jonathan Haidt's essay "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” interrogate how social media manipulates us into a condition of stupidity, tribalism, and political polarization.
Essay 1A Essay 3 Option A Building Block 2
Write your thesis paragraph and be sure to have at least 4 reasons in your paragraph that you’ll show support your claim.
Essay 1A Essay 4 Option A Building Block 1
Write a 300-word introduction paragraph that defines Groupthink and write about yourself or someone you know who succumbed to Groupthink resulting in a degree of self-destruction and moral compromise.
Essay 1A Essay 4 Option A Building Block 2
For your thesis paragraph, your thesis, compare two works of fiction, movies, or media content. Be sure your thesis is demonstrable in that it presents at least 5 points of comparison so you can have at least 5 body paragraphs.
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English 1C Essay Prompts
1C Essay 1: How People Are Persuaded and Manipulated by Clever Storytelling
The Purpose of Essay 1:
With subjects as varied as weight-loss management, tabloid misogyny, and the Silicon Valley Tech Grift, we want to interrogate the claim that people without critical thinking skills are all too easily persuaded and manipulated by clever storytelling, tropes, and memes. With this in mind, choose one of the following prompts for Essay 1:
Choice A: Is Losing Weight Based on a Fiction?
Consider the difficulty of losing weight as argued in Johann Hari’s “A Year on Ozempic Taught Me We’re Thinking About Obesity All Wrong,” Harriet Brown’s essay “The Weight of the Evidence” and Sandra Aamodt’s essay “Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet”; consider the advantages of having disposable income to have access to Ozempic and similar drugs. Then write a 1,200-word argumentative essay that addresses the claim that losing weight and keeping it off is based on an over-simplistic narrative about self-agency, nutrition literacy, and self-discipline, regardless of our economic standing. Is this story of “staying in shape” based on truth or a myth that obscures inconvenient facts? Does the story of free will and healthy eating obscure society’s capitalistic machine that conspires to get you sucked into the addictive Industrial Food Complex and then transition to the Diabetes-Management Complex? Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 sources.
Choice B: Interrogating Fantasy Narratives of Amanda Knox and Elizabeth Holmes
Analyze the witch-hunt-like persecution in the Netflix documentary Amanda Knox in which a young woman is victimized by a misogynistic legal system and a media enterprise that relies on misogynistic fantasies to sell a murder trial as salacious entertainment. Then analyze the rise and fall of grifter Elizabeth Holmes in the HBO Max documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley in which Holmes manipulates others and sells herself as a Steve Jobs-like super tech savior who comes to save the world. Then write a 1,200-word essay titled, “Fantasies of the Femme Fatale Archetype and the Tech Super Savior" in which you explore the way fantasies misled the public, resulting in mass deception, chaos, injustice, and ruined lives. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 credible sources. You can include the assigned movies as 2 of the sources.
Essay 1 Option A Building Block 1:
Two Paragraphs:
Introduction Paragraph
Based on your reading of Johann Hari’s “A Year on Ozempic Taught Me We’re Thinking About Obesity All Wrong,” Harriet Brown’s essay “The Weight of the Evidence” and Sandra Aamodt’s essay “Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet,” write a 250-word paragraph that explains why losing weight and keeping it off is so fraught with difficulty. Be sure to use at least three signal phrases that introduce quoted or paraphrased material from your readings.
Thesis Paragraph
Write your thesis that addresses the claim the claim that losing weight and keeping it off is based on an over-simplistic narrative about self-agency, nutrition literacy, and self-discipline, regardless of our economic standing. Is this story of “staying in shape” based on truth or a myth that obscures inconvenient facts? Does the story of free will and healthy eating obscure society’s capitalistic machine that conspires to get you sucked into the addictive Industrial Food Complex and then transition to the Diabetes-Management Complex? Be sure to have at least four reasons to support your thesis.
Essay 1 Option B Building Block 1:
Two Paragraphs:
Introduction Paragraph
Using credible sources, research the idea behind the Femme Fatale and how it ascribes both power and menace to women as the Femme Fatale in the context of the documentaries Amanda Knox and The Inventor. Based on your research, write a 250-word paragraph that defines the Femme Fatale in the context of the two documentaries. Be sure to have no fewer than three signal phrases that introduce quoted or paraphrased material for your paragraph.
Thesis Paragraph
Write a thesis that addresses the claim that fantasies in Amanda Knox and The Inventor misled the public, resulting in mass deception, chaos, injustice, and ruined lives.
Essay 1 Option A Building Block 2
Write a 200-word counterargument-rebuttal paragraph that presents a compelling oppositional view to your thesis and interrogate that oppositional view with a rebuttal.
Essay 1 Option B Building Block 2
Present a 200-word conclusion paragraph that explains how gender informed the myth-making behind the deception that surrounded the persecution of Amanda Knox and the aggrandizement of Elizabeth Holmes.
1C Essay 2: Interrogating the False Avatars of Personal Transformation
Choice A “The Overcoat” and the 1988 movie Big
Gogol’s famous short story “The Overcoat” is about a marginalized isolated man, Akaky, whose new overcoat magically transforms him into another being. He becomes the object of envy and desire. Wearing the magical coat, Akaky is showered with maudlin enthusiasm and treated like a celebrity. He internalizes this sycophantic enthusiasm so that his giddiness and exuberance become unbridled and disconnect him from his powers of reason. Akaky’s transformation proves to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, the coat gives him hope, self-confidence, and a renewed love of life. On the other hand, the coat instills in him an unexamined enthusiasm that makes him unhinged and demonstrates that the radical change that thrust him into public life was a change he was not ready for. Perhaps slower change accompanied by hard-fought wisdom would have been more in his self-interests. But this relatively rapid metamorphosis that Akaky enjoys as the result of a new overcoat seems to be a metaphor for the rapid change that afflicts many people. Some win millions in a lottery or an inheritance. Some take weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and get a new slender body. There are those suffering a midlife crisis who assuage their malaise by buying a new sports car. We can conclude therefore that the magical garment in Gogol’s “The Overcoat” represents a chimera for radical change and the hope for a new life, but upon interrogation this supposed change and hope is based more on a fever swamp of delusion than reality. In this context, write a 1,200-word essay that compares the false avatar of change in Gogol’s “The Overcoat” to the transformation in the 1988 movie Big. You might consider the following points of comparison: the hunger for transformation and identity; the loss of innocence; leaving the sheltered womb and confronting a brutal reality that contradicts our ideal image of happiness; and the unintended consequences of fulfilling our dreams. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with a minimum of 3 sources. You can use the story, the movie, and my Canvas lessons for your sources.
Choice B “The Overcoat” and “Winter Dreams”
Gogol’s famous short story “The Overcoat” is about a marginalized isolated man, Akaky, whose new overcoat magically transforms him into another being. He becomes the object of envy and desire. Wearing the magical coat, Akaky is showered with maudlin enthusiasm and treated like a celebrity. He internalizes this sycophantic enthusiasm so that his giddiness and exuberance become unbridled and disconnect him from his powers of reason. Akaky’s transformation proves to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, the coat gives him hope, self-confidence, and a renewed love of life. On the other hand, the coat instills in him an unexamined enthusiasm that makes him unhinged and demonstrates that the radical change that thrust him into public life was a change he was not ready for. Perhaps slower change accompanied by hard-fought wisdom would have been more in his self-interests. But this relatively rapid metamorphosis that Akaky enjoys as the result of a new overcoat seems to be a metaphor for the rapid change that afflicts many people. Some win millions in a lottery or an inheritance. Some take weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and get a new slender body. There are those suffering a midlife crisis who assuage their malaise by buying a new sports car. We can conclude therefore that the magical garment in Gogol’s “The Overcoat” represents a chimera for radical change and the hope for a new life, but upon interrogation this supposed change and hope is based more on a fever swamp of delusion than reality. In this context, write a 1,200-word essay that compares the false avatar of change in Gogol’s “The Overcoat” to the transformation Dexter Green seeks in “Winter Dreams.” You might consider the following points of comparison: the desire to feel whole and complete; ambition and social mobility; the hunger for transformation and identity; the unexamined appetite for validation, recognition, and veneration; the unintended consequences of fulfilling our dreams; the failure of the avatar (the overcoat and Judy Jones as the embodiment of Dexter’s “winter dreams”) to cure us of our essential loneliness, alienation, and brokenness. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with a minimum of 3 sources. You can use the two stories and my Canvas lessons for your sources.
Choice C: “Winter Dreams” and “Gooseberries”
Addressing the quest for a happy and moral soul, Cicero in his Tusculan Disputations observes that the soul must be “tranquilized by restraint and consistency.” In such a state, the soul “neither pines away in distress, nor is broken down by fear, nor consumed with a thirst of longing in pursuit of some ambition, nor maudlin in the exuberance of meaningless eagerness--he is the wise man of whom we are in the quest, he is the happy man.” Therefore, we can conclude that unhappiness and misery are the result of the maudlin disposition, which we can define as having the “exuberance of meaningless eagerness”--investing our emotions in the false avatars of personal transformation: idolizing people, things, and pleasure and investing our hopes in false cures or fraudulent panaceas for our ailments. The maudlin person invests so much emotion and thought in these meaningless enthusiasms that they cannot engage and connect in the real world with any meaning or coherence. Disconnected from life and others, the maudlin person seeks refuge in fantasies of the perfect life. The therapist and author Phil Stutz calls this imagined perfect life a “Moment Frozen in Time.” Constantly craving these Moments Frozen in Time, the maudlin person becomes drunk and intoxicated by these fantasies of perfection while real life passes them by. Unable to engage in the real world or find meaningful connections with others, the maudlin person retreats into a world of excessive, drunken, and foolish sentimentality for anything that has been elevated to something undeserving of such excessive emotion. Therefore, to be a maudlin person is to be fragile, weak, immature, and unhinged because to be maudlin is to be disconnected from reality and other people. To be in this state of disconnection and loneliness, maudlin people rely on their excessive sentimentality and misguided affections to compensate and escape from their miserable loneliness and disconnection. Another egregious flaw of the maudlin person is that they confuse the object or idea of their maudlin emotions with reality when in fact the cause of their sentimentality is a mirage or a chimera. Therefore, we can conclude that maudlin people are disoriented, unhinged, weak, fragile souls who console themselves feebly with their hollow sentimentality, anguish, and regret. All the while, they retreat more and more into Moments Frozen in Time. In the context of the maudlin personality type, write a 1,200-word essay that addresses the claim that the two fictional characters Dexter Green in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Winter Dreams” and Nicholai Ivanich in Anton Chekhov’s short story “Gooseberries” have squandered their time on Earth, have retreated into Moments Frozen in Time, aggrandized themselves into vainglorious narcissists, and disconnected themselves from the meaningful relationships that are necessary for a happy and fulfilled life because they have succumbed to the maudlin condition in which they have lavished excessive emotion for false idols, be they people or things. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with a minimum of 3 sources. You can use the two stories and my Canvas lessons for your sources.
Essay 2 Option A Building Block 1
Addressing the short story “The Overcoat,” write a 300-word paragraph that analyzes Akaky’s journey into madness as a result of pursuing the overcoat as a false avatar of change. What contradictions does he encounter? What is the double-edged sword of his transformation? Be sure to use at least 3 signal phrases to introduce quoted or paraphrased material from the story.
Essay 2 Option B Building Block 1
Addressing the short story “The Overcoat,” write a 300-word paragraph that analyzes Akaky’s journey into madness as a result of pursuing the overcoat as a false avatar of change. What contradictions does he encounter? What is the double-edged sword of his transformation? Be sure to use at least 3 signal phrases to introduce quoted or paraphrased material from the story.
Essay 2 Option C Building Block 1
Addressing the short story “Winter Dreams,” write a 300-word paragraph that analyzes Dexter Green’s journey into madness as a result of pursuing Judy Jones as a false avatar of change. How does he fixate on maudlin and self-aggrandizing emotions rather than engage with reality? How does he squander time? How is he emotionally crippled by his fixation on Moments Frozen in Time? Be sure to use at least 3 signal phrases to introduce quoted or paraphrased material from the story.
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Essay 2 Option A Building Block 2
For paragraph 2, write your thesis that compares the false avatar of change in Gogol’s “The Overcoat” to the transformation in the 1988 movie Big. You might consider the following points of comparison: the hunger for transformation and identity; the loss of innocence; leaving the sheltered womb and confronting a brutal reality that contradicts our ideal image of happiness; and the unintended consequences of fulfilling our dreams.
Essay 2 Option B Building Block 2
For paragraph 2, write your thesis that compares the false avatar of change in Gogol’s “The Overcoat” to the transformation Dexter Green seeks in “Winter Dreams.” You might consider the following points of comparison: the desire to feel whole and complete; ambition and social mobility; the hunger for transformation and identity; the unexamined appetite for validation, recognition, and veneration; the unintended consequences of fulfilling our dreams; the failure of the avatar (the overcoat and Judy Jones as the embodiment of Dexter’s “winter dreams”) to cure us of our essential loneliness, alienation, and brokenness.
Essay 2 Option C Building Block 2
For paragraph 2, write your thesis that addresses the claim that the two fictional characters Dexter Green in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Winter Dreams” and Nicholai Ivanich in Anton Chekhov’s short story “Gooseberries” have squandered their time on Earth, have retreated into Moments Frozen in Time, aggrandized themselves into vainglorious narcissists, and disconnected themselves from the meaningful relationships that are necessary for a happy and fulfilled life because they have succumbed to the maudlin condition in which they have lavished excessive emotion for false idols, be they people or things.
1C Essay 3: The Manipulation of Young People
The Purpose of Essay 3:
You will be evaluating social influencers who peddle paranoid notions of “anxiety” and “trauma” and fashion companies who peddle FOMO and body dysmorphia to manipulate, control, and exploit young people.
Choice A: FOMO and the Manipulation of Young People
Read Derek Thompson’s essay “How Anxiety Became Content” and watch the documentary Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion (HBO Max). Then 1,200-word essay that addresses the way Derek Thompson’s essay and the documentary show how young people are manipulated by FOMO (fear of missing out), a pathologized notion of anxiety, a pathologized notion of fashion, herd behavior, peer pressure, social status, and how the marketing of extremes is used to exploit, manipulate, and abuse young people. Be sure to have a Works Cited page in MLA format with 4 credible sources. You can use my Canvas modules as sources.
For paragraph 1, write about how you were once manipulated into doing something as a result of desiring belonging, social status, and FOMO.
For paragraph 2, summarize the major points in Thompson’s essay and the documentary.
For paragraph 3, your all-important thesis paragraph, write a claim that compares how social influencers market exaggerated maladies and Brandy Melville markets pathologized fashion resulting in a toxic, self-destructive culture.
In terms of structure, your thesis might look something like this:
“How Anxiety Became Content” and Brandy Hellville expose a toxic culture that manipulates and exploits young people by unscrupulously relying on _________________, _________________, _________________, and _____________________________, _________________________
Your body paragraphs, 4-8, would expound on the mapping components represented by the blank spaces that follow the above thesis structure.
Because this essay analyzes the causes of a toxic culture and is more of an analysis essay than it is argumentative, there is no counterargument-rebuttal section.
Paragraph 9, your conclusion, is a powerful restatement of your thesis.
Your last page is your Works Cited page in MLA format. You need 4 sources, the documentary, Thompson’s essay, and at least one of my modules from Canvas.
Choice B Consumer Body Shaming
Comparing the documentaries Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion (HBO Max) and White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch (Netflix), write 1,200-word essay that addresses the claim that both documentaries expose the way young people are manipulated by a cult-like culture of toxicity, body shaming, racially-biased beauty standards, and exploitation. Be sure to have an MLA-format Works Cited page with 4 sources.
Essay 3 Choice A Building Block 1
Write a 250-word paragraph about how you were once manipulated into doing something as a result of desiring belonging, social status, and FOMO. This will be your introduction paragraph.
Essay 3 Choice B Building Block 1
Write a 250-word paragraph that summarizes the documentaries Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion (HBO Max) and White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch (Netflix). Be sure to use at least three signal phrases to introduce quoted or paraphrased material from the documentaries.
Essay 3 Choice A Building Block 2
Write a thesis that addresses the way Derek Thompson’s essay and the documentary show how young people are manipulated by FOMO (fear of missing out), a pathologized notion of anxiety, a pathologized notion of fashion, herd behavior, peer pressure, social status, and how the marketing of extremes is used to exploit, manipulate, and abuse young people.
Essay 3 Choice B Building Block 2
Write a thesis that addresses the claim that both documentaries Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion (HBO Max) and White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch (Netflix) expose the way young people are manipulated by a cult-like culture of toxicity, body shaming, racially-biased beauty standards, and exploitation.
1C Essay 4 Cultural Appreciation Vs. Cultural Appropriation
The Purpose of Essay 4:
We will explore the idea that when we embrace cultural appreciation, such as the deep love for Mexican food, inevitably that appreciation will cross the line into appropriation.
Choice A
For choice A, our fourth essay will be a 1,200-word argumentative essay that defends, refutes, or complicates food and culture writer Gustavo Arellano’s claim in his essay “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food” and elsewhere that in the realm of food, especially Mexican food, we must step away from the Cult of Authenticity and embrace the idea that the greatness of Mexican food is related to its constant evolution from stealing, borrowing, synthesizing, and even culturally appropriating from one ethnic culture to another and that cuisines that fail to evolve lack relevance and vitality.
Sample Outline:
Paragraph 1: Summarize the main ideas in the article by Gustavo Arellano titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food.” Or summarize the main ideas in the YouTube video “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.”
Paragraph 2: Then transition to an argumentative claim in which you show support or repudiation of Arellano’s main ideas.
Paragraphs 3-6 would be your supporting paragraphs.
Paragraphs 7 and 8 would be your counterargument-rebuttal.
Paragraph 9 would be a powerful restatement of your thesis, which is your conclusion.
Your last page would be your Works Cited page in MLA format and a minimum of 4 sources.
Choice B: American Chinese Food
Based on the Ian Cheney documentary The Search for General Tso and the essays “Who’s Afraid of Chop Suey” by Charles W. Hayford, “More Than ‘Just Takeout’” by Cathy Erway, “‘Not Real Chinese’: Why American Chinese Food Deserves Our Respect” by Kelley Kwok, and “Searching for America with General Tso” by Jiayang Fan, write a 1,200-word argumentative essay that addresses the claim that to scorn American Chinese food as a betrayal of authentic Chinese food is an oversimplification that overlooks the complications and contradictions of American Chinese food, which is a story about surviving racism and xenophobia, overcoming economic struggle, and establishing a strong and pervasive cultural influence.
Essay 4 Choice A Building Block 1
Two Paragraphs
For paragraph 1, summarize the main ideas in the article by Gustavo Arellano titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food.” Use at least two signal phrases to introduce quoted or paraphrased material from Arellano’s essay.
For paragraph 2, write your thesis in which you support, refute, or complicate Arellano’s claim.
Essay 4 Choice B Building Block 1
Two Paragraphs
In paragraph 1, summarize the reasons American Chinese food is sometimes held in low esteem. Use at least two signal phrases to introduce quoted or paraphrased material from the readings mentioned in the essay prompt.
In paragraph 2, write your thesis in which you address the claim that to scorn American Chinese food as a betrayal of authentic Chinese food is an oversimplification that overlooks the complications and contradictions of American Chinese food, which is a story about surviving racism and xenophobia, overcoming economic struggle, and establishing a strong and pervasive cultural influence.
Essay 4 Choice A Building Block 2
Write a 200-word counterargument-rebuttal paragraph that addresses your thesis.
Essay 4 Choice B Building Block 2
Write a 200-word counterargument-rebuttal paragraph that addresses your thesis.
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