"Change" Synthesis Essay Assignment

Change Synthesis Essay

Due Tuesday, February 21

Question: What have we learned since The Great Depression?

Select an issue Steinbeck addresses in The Grapes of Wrath – attitudes towards immigration / migrant labor or the poor, the impact of industrialization / technology on society, the banking system, or any other of the many topics Steinbeck covers – and explore how American attitudes and behaviors have changed (or failed to change) over time. Using several of the pieces we have read in this unit, as well as your own personal experiences, reading, and research, evaluate the transformation of society over time. Support your thesis with direct quotations from multiple texts, properly formatted in MLA style.

Typed. Double Spaced. Twelve point. No blank lines between paragraphs, except to indicate a major shift in tone or setting. Four – six pages. Don’t forget a title.

Required:

·      Three rhetorical strategies from The Virtual Salt, underlined and labeled. Push yourself to use the more complex strategies. Do the strategies have a clear, potent rhetorical effect?

·      A minimum of three college level sources - including at least one form Gale - plus The Grapes of Wrath. (That's four sources, if you're keeping score at home.) Everything's an Argument is a college level source.

·      A minimum of two “synthesis” paragraphs.

·      Properly formatted Works Cited Page.

Suggested: Consider the tone you want to set from the outset. Narrative openings emphasize pathos. Openings filled with stats and facts emphasize logos. What is the most effective tone for you to employ?

Suggested: Consider closing your essay with a plan of action. Where do we go from here?

Audience: 1) “Society.”  2) Yourself.

Purpose: 1) To identify changes in American attitudes over time. 2) To evaluate America’s reaction to the problems posed by The Great Depression. In your opinion, are we making progress?

How to approach this paper:

·      Identify an issue.

·      Establish conditions in society at the time Steinbeck was writing; establish contemporary conditions.

·      Develop an opinion on whether we’ve improved / progressed as a society.

·      Gather evidence (from our texts and from research) to support your opinion. This is an argument; therefore, personal experience is valid evidence and first person is an acceptable POV.

·      Consider counter arguments.

·      Create clear, defensible topic sentences.

·      Draft paragraphs with two quotations to support your topic sentences.

·      Draft paragraphs with an eye towards ethos, pathos, and logos.

·      Proofread to ensure your quotations are properly formatted and cited. For this essay, “you will need to include the author’s name in your parenthetical citation” (Kline 1).

·      Create your Works Cited page.

Agenda, February 3

Due Monday: Excerpt from The Communist Manifesto. Write a paraphrase of each paragraph in plain English.
Date TBA: "How have we changed?" synthesis paper.

For your bibliography (you should have about 32 entries):

Title and author: "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
From: One Hundred Great Essays, Edited by Robert DiYanni
Publishing info: New York, Pearson Education, Inc., 2008
and The Grapes of Wrath, too!


1) Argumentative timed write on The Grapes of Wrath

Agenda, February 1

Due Now: Perfect Multiple Choice Test
Due Now: Outline Essay Revisions 
Due Thursday and Friday: Wrath Test, Parts 1 & 2

1. Discuss Multiple Choice Questions
2. Whole Class Question
3. Jigsaw

Some helpful links

Click here to read the lyrics to a song that might answer a question or two. At Steinbeck's request, these lyrics were printed in the beginning of early editions of The Grapes of Wrath.

Click here to see a video of the same song with some remarkable visual rhetoric. I'd also click here for the Johnny Cash version, just 'cause Johnny Cash is cool (although, frankly, it kind of hurt my eyes to watch it).

I'd like to listen to the first 15 minutes of this episode from This American Life in class, but I doubt we'll have time. It's useful information for Argumentative Question 1 and your upcoming synthesis paper.

Agenda, January 31

Due Now: Perfect Multiple Choice Test
Due Wednesday: Outline Essay Revisions 
Due Thursday and Friday: Wrath Test, Parts 1 & 2

1. Discuss Multiple Choice Questions
2. Whole Class Question
3. Jigsaw

Essay Exam Topics

AP Language and Comp

Grapes of Wrath Essay Exam Topics

Argumentative Questions:

1.     Compare the treatment of the migrant “Okies” in the novel to the treatment of modern immigrant workers. What can modern readers learn from the similarities and the differences of these situations?

2.     Defend, Qualify, or Challenge Rick Santorum’s claim that “You can’t have limited government — you can’t have a wealthy society if the family breaks down, that basic unit of society. And that needs to be included in this economic discussion.” For more context, go to:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/santorum-connects-the-family-and-the-economy/2011/03/29/gIQAJcquhL_blog.html

3.     Defend, qualify, or challenge the claim that The Grapes of Wrath is anti-religious.

4.     Defend, qualify, or challenge the claim that The Grapes of Wrath is a patriotic novel.

5.     Defend, qualify, or challenge the claim that The Grapes of Wrath is a pessimistic novel.

6.     Defend, challenge, or qualify the claim that Casy becomes a “better” man after he renounces his faith. Be certain to define what “better” means.

7.     Defend, qualify, or challenge the claim that each of the following is Steinbeck’s purpose in The Grapes of Wrath: 1) We distance ourselves from the evils we do; 2) We are easily corrupted (controlled) by money; 3) We are easily persuaded by a higher power; 4) Capitalism wields too much power; 5) Just because you have faith doesn’t make you a good person; just because you don’t have faith doesn’t make you a bad person.

8.     In the novel, Steinbeck argues that being connected to the land makes people bigger while being disconnected from nature makes them smaller. How does he define big and small? How do these definitions connect to the other arguments in the novel?

Rhetorical Analysis Questions:

1.     Steinbeck did not merely want his readers to be moved by his novel, he wanted them moved to act. What actions does Steinbeck argue for? Be sure to keep your answer to this question rooted in the text.

2.     Consider how Steinbeck’s writing style is a reaction to, rejection of, or embracement of each of the following styles of American Literature: The Age of Faith, The Age of Reason, Romanticism, Gothic Literature, Transcendentalism, Realism, and Naturalism.

3.     Be prepared to write a rhetorical analysis of one of the interchapters. This will require you to identify the purpose of the given chapter and three rhetorical strategies Steinbeck employs to achieve his purpose.

4.     Consider Steinbeck’s thoughts about government in Chapter 17. How do his arguments in this chapter connect to his thoughts about society in other areas of the book?

5.     How does Steinbeck use the structure of the novel to advance his arguments?

6.     Consider the role of nature in the novel. Think both about the connections (or lack thereof) between people and land and the role of weather in the novel. Are his attitudes towards nature consistent? Inconsistent? Contradictory? How do they fit into his arguments about man and God?

7.     Explore the idea that Chapter 1 and Chapter 29 tell the entire story through symbolism.

Agenda, January 30

Due Now: Grapes of Wrath, Chapters 27-30
Due Tomorrow: Perfect Multiple Choice Test
Due Wednesday: Outline Essay Revisions
Due Thursday and Friday: Wrath Test, Parts 1 & 2

1. Well? What did you think?
2. TEP Revisions
3. The What Did You Highlight? Game 
4. Test Questions
5. Multiple Choice Practice (12 minutes)

A Subtle Hint

To transcend means to rise above or move beyond. An example of a character transcending in a surprising way can be found on page 421.

I don't know about you, but if I had been struggling for over 500 pages of a novel, and I finally found a way to transcend - to rise above - my circumstances, I might be kind of happy about it.

Enjoy your weekend!

Agenda, January 26

Due Now: Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26
Due Monday: Finish Grapes of Wrath
Not Due This Week: Vocab 

1. Anything important happen in Chapter 26?
2. Pervasive Problems in your Papers
3. Argument o' the Week
4. Small group TEP's
5. American Lit and Steinbeck
6. The What Did You Highlight? Game

Agenda, January 25

Due Now: Grapes of Wrath, Chapters 23-25
Due Tomorrow: Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 26 (Whew! Only one chapter!)
Not Due This Week: Vocab 

1. American Lit and Steinbeck
2. Anything new?
3. Interchapter TEP
4. The What Did You Highlight? Game
5. The Return of the Essays