Essay Instructions: Lesson 3 Journal Entry # 10 of 16
Journal Exercise 3.6A: Mock Versus Real Epic
"The Rape of the Lock" literally means "the violent theft of a lock of hair" and is based on a real incident. This mock epic examines the relationships between men and women in high society of the eighteenth century. A mock epic is a comic narrative poem, written in dignified language, which parodies the serious epic genre by treating a trivial subject in a lofty, grand manner.
• As you're reading I'd like you to create and complete a chart similar to the one below, which directly compares mock and heroic epic poems.
• If a counterpart to a convention of heroic epics is not immediately apparent in the mock epic, you can leave it blank.
Lesson 3 Journal Entry # 11 of 16
Journal Exercise 3.6B: Alexander Pope
Respond to the following questions in your journal. Be sure to follow the directions for each question carefully.
1. List five examples of antithesis found in Alexander Pope's "Heroic Couplets." Identify the parallelism in each example.
2. In almost every sentence in our excerpt from "An Essay on Man," Pope says something flattering about the human race, only to follow it with something critical. What characteristics does he think we should be proud of? What does he think we should be ashamed of?
3. Do you disagree with any of Pope's opinions or pronouncements in the Heroic Couplets or "An Essay on Man"?
4. Based on what you have read of "The Rape of the Lock," what do you think the poem's theme or central message is? What or who are the objects of his satire?
Does the epic, "The Rape of the Lock" apply in any way to society today? Identify two passages that could serve as satiric commentaries on people's behavior today. Your answer should discuss both the passage and the comment that applies to contemporary life.
Lesson 3 Journal Entry # 12 of 16
Journal Exercise 3.7A: Analyzing Humor
Satire relies on many techniques usually associated with comedy, including exaggeration, understatement, warped logic, improbable situations, and ridiculous names.
• In your journal, make a chart like the following where you list each of the five techniques and as many examples you can find for each technique.
• I'd like you to list at least four examples for each technique (exaggeration, understatement, warped logic, improbable situations, and ridiculous names).
Part 2: Looking back at the chart you made for Part 1, use the details you gathered on that chart to write a brief analysis of Voltaire's humor. When you analyze something, you take it apart and examine its elements to see how it works. The chart will show you many techniques used by Voltaire to ridicule his character and to make us laugh. At the end of your essay, describe the targets of Voltaire's satire.
Lesson 3 Journal Entry # 13 of 16
Journal Exercise 3.7B: Comparing Satires
Answer each of these questions in your journal. Make sure to follow the directions for each question.
1. Voltaire wrote Candide more that 230 years ago. In your opinion, how well has his satire held up? What value, if any, does Candide hold for someone growing up into today's world? Does Voltaire's underlying message against intolerance, cruelty, and smugness still apply? Write a brief paragraph addressing these questions.
Support your answer with specific examples from the text.
2. In his parody, Cervantes uses the techniques of exaggeration, verbal irony, incongruity, and humorous imitation. List one example of each technique used in this selection.
3. A foil is a character that is used as a contrast to another character. In what ways is Sancho Panza a foil to Don Quixote? Identify three behaviors of each of the two men that suggest they are opposites.
How do Don Quixote's optimism and idealism compare with Candide's? Do both of these characters "tilt at windmills," or do they manifest their philosophies in profoundly different ways? After you have addressed whether or not the main characters are similar or different, I'd like you to address the purpose of each satire, as well as the techniques each author uses to achieve his purpose. Your response should be three paragraphs long.
Journal Exercise 3.7A: Analyzing Humor
Satire relies on many techniques usually associated with comedy, including exaggeration, understatement, warped logic, improbable situations, and ridiculous names.
• In your journal, make a chart like the following where you list each of the five techniques and as many examples you can find for each technique.
• I'd like you to list at least four examples for each technique (exaggeration, understatement, warped logic, improbable situations, and ridiculous names).
Part 2: Looking back at the chart you made for Part 1, use the details you gathered on that chart to write a brief analysis of Voltaire's humor. When you analyze something, you take it apart and examine its elements to see how it works. The chart will show you many techniques used by Voltaire to ridicule his character and to make us laugh. At the end of your essay, describe the targets of Voltaire's satire.
Journal Exercise 3.7B: Comparing Satires
Answer each of these questions in your journal. Make sure to follow the directions for each question.
4. Voltaire wrote Candide more that 230 years ago. In your opinion, how well has his satire held up? What value, if any, does Candide hold for someone growing up into today's world? Does Voltaire's underlying message against intolerance, cruelty, and smugness still apply? Write a brief paragraph addressing these questions.
Support your answer with specific examples from the text.
5. In his parody, Cervantes uses the techniques of exaggeration, verbal irony, incongruity, and humorous imitation. List one example of each technique used in this selection.
6. A foil is a character that is used as a contrast to another character. In what ways is Sancho Panza a foil to Don Quixote? Identify three behaviors of each of the two men that suggest they are opposites.
How do Don Quixote's optimism and idealism compare with Candide's? Do both of these characters "tilt at windmills," or do they manifest their philosophies in profoundly different ways? After you have addressed whether or not the main characters are similar or different, I'd like you to address the purpose of each satire, as well as the techniques each author uses to achieve his purpose. Your response should be three paragraphs long.
Journal Exercise 3.8A: Your Views on Women’s Rights
Are men and women truly equal? Do they, or should they, have equal rights in society? Why or why not? What institutions in modern society help to promote equality or keep it from being achieved? What do you think of feminism? Do you prefer the terms human rights or women's rights?
• Spend 10 minutes writing in your journal about your own views on women's rights and roles. Include in your discussion what term you think is most effective in discussing women's quest for equality.
Journal Exercise 3.8B: Patterns of Organizations
Part 1: Page 485 gives you a general idea of the most common pattern followed by authors who write persuasive essays. The pattern is:
• State a position.
• Clarify the position.
• Offer supporting arguments or evidence.
• Restate the position and make recommendations or judgments based upon it.
As you are reading "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," I'd like you to answer the questions posed in the margins on a separate piece of paper or in a blank document. Your answers will help you complete Part 2.
Part 2: After reading, "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" I'd like you to outline the main points of the essay and show the details that the writer uses to support them. Your answers to the questions posed in the text will guide you in making your outline. Your outline should be written in outline form (see sample) and should include the main points covered by the author.
Outline:
I. Main Idea A. Supporting Detail
1. Further evidence
2. Further evidence
B. Supporting Detail
1. Further evidence
2. Further evidence
II. Second Main Idea A. Supporting Detail
1. Further evidence
2. Further evidence
B. Supporting Detail
1. Further evidence
2. Further evidence
Journal Exercise 3.8C: Responding to Literature
1. "Of Studies" was written almost four hundred years ago. Do you think Bacon's views are still relevant today? Are any of his points outdated? Do you disagree with anything Bacon says? Write a paragraph answering these questions.
2. In the Tilbury Speech, Queen Elizabeth says that she has the body of "a weak and feeble woman" but "the heart and stomach of a king." What inference can you draw about implicit and explicit ideas and assumptions concerning women and men? (An implicit idea is one that is not stated directly and must be inferred from the details. An explicit idea is stated directly). Why do you think she finds it necessary to mention her gender?
3. Review the excerpts from Margaret Cavendish's Female Orations (332). Characterize the speaker in each section. What arguments does each speaker present? What assumptions about women may have been valid in the seventeenth century but are no longer valid today?
4. Each of these writings makes strong claims about the rights of women. Discuss the effectiveness of each text, not only for what it says, but for how it gets its message across. What rhetorical devices do these writers use? Which writer, in your opinion, creates the most powerful and memorable argument. Your response should be at least three paragraphs long and should list at least four examples of rhetorical devices for each text discussed.
Mary Wollstonecraft uses wit and satire throughout the essay whenever she discusses the qualities conventionally assigned to men and to women. List three of those qualities. How does the writer satirize the belief that educating women will make them masculine?