Writing Topic: Rules for Writers Chapter 16

In chapter 16 of Rules for Writer the author teaches about keeping sentences tight without losing meaning.  It teaches that there are several ways that the author recommends when tightening sentences, they vary from restructuring sentences, to eliminating unnecessary words.   The chapter teaches that eliminating redundancies is one of the ways of tightening a sentence.  It says that when the writer says the same thing twice such as, true fact, it is a redundancy and only one of the words is necessary in the sentence.  Much of what the chapter teaches is to eliminate different things that can make your sentences run on.  Using modifiers, which are adjectives or verbs that lead into a word that already gives the notion of the descriptive word used, can help add meaning to the word they modify, but are many times redundant and should be left out of the writing. 
Empty phrases are another thing that should be cut from writings as well according to the chapter.  Saying "in my opinion," or "I think that,"  adds unnecessary length to sentences because the readers already know that they're reading what the writer believes.  The chapter teaches us about many different ways to reduce the amount of words in sentences and that many of the phrases that we use can be converted into single words, which it provides examples for. 
I've always been hard on myself after reading over sentences I have written and realizing that they are too long but could never figure out how to shorten them while maintaining the meaning.  After reading through the chapter, I've realized that there are several ways to do that.  The biggest part of the chapter that I'll use in my writing is the section on eliminating redundancies.  Before reading this I didn't even know what redundancies were, now that I can identify them, I will be able to eliminate them before they even make it onto paper.  The other major section of the chapter that I will take with me is the section on reducing clauses to phrases, phrases to single words. 

Smoke Signals Dialogue

What do you think about the relationship between Thomas and Victor?

     The relationship between Victor and Thomas reminds me of the relationships of brothers who live with seperate parents have.  They are both raised in the same area, know the same people, and have known the same people throughout their lives, but the way they were raised makes Victor hate Thomas.  Since Victor's parents were young, alcoholics, and his father was abusive, he developed a hatred of his life on the reservation, but eventually succumbed to reservation life and became a sloth by the time he was a young adult.  Thomas' parents passed away in the fire at the beginning of the movie, so he was raised by his grandmother, who appears to be more traditional and is definately more mature than Victor's parents.  Thomas' grandmother obviously spent a lot of time with him, raising him to be a respectful, intelligent man, and she passed her tribes traditions on to him and taught him how to be a traditional Native.  The differences between the two, Victor's hatred for his childhood, particularly the situation surrounding his father, and Thomas' pride in being a Native American and admiration of Victor's father made Victor resent Thomas.
     It is not until Victor's father passes, that him and Thomas' relationship begins to grow into a relationship that tight brothers would share.  At the beginning of the trip to recover Arnold's ashes and belongings, there was still a lot of friction between the two which is all caused by Victor because he doesn't like the way Thomas is.  It is easy to see why Victor felt this way; growing up, Victor learned that you have to look tough and be tough, nothing else matters.  Since Thomas was anything but tough, Victor felt Thomas was wrong and portrayed himself in a bad way as a Native.  Throughout the trip, Victor attempts to instill his beliefs on the way Natives should be into Thomas; Thomas attempts to learn more about Victor's feelings towards his father and shares fictional stories of Victor's father with him which only upsets Victor.  Though Victor is often upsetted by the way Thomas is on their journey, they begin to know each other more than they ever had during this short period, and their bond begins to grow.
     After leaving Arnold's home in Arizona, Thomas and Victor's fight that ends in a car accident, their bond as brothers is sealed.  This is proven by the fact that even though Arnold is the reason Thomas' parents died in the house fire at the beginning of their lives, he says nothing to Thomas about it.  The reason he doesn't tell Thomas isn't only to defend his father's name, but also to retain the relationship that him and Thomas gained on their trip.  When they arrive back home, Thomas and Victor share a moment as Thomas is being dropped off.  They both have the same plan for Arnold's ashes, and they have an "inner" understanding that the relationship that they gained on that journey, will be the relationship they'll have for the rest of their lives.

Writing Topic: Chapter 48

     The main focus in chapter 48 of Rules for Writers is to teach how to evaluate arguments.  The chapter teaches that there are several different ways to evaluate an argument to deteremine if it is fallacious, unfair, or both.  There are many different argumentative tactics that the writer can use, and a number of them are unreasonable, according to the chapter, these are called logical fallacies.  One of the things the reading states that all writers and thinkers do is generalizing, which is when the writer/thinker looks at a small portion of the information they are writing about and assumes that the rest of the information they get the portion from will be exactly the same and that's how they draw their conclusion.  By doing this, the chapter states that the writer is engaginig in inductive reasoning, meaning it deals with probability instead of certainty.  To ensure the argument is not unreasonable when using inductive reasoning the chapter gives three questions for the writer to ask him/herself: is the evidence sufficient? Is the evidence representative? Is the evidence relative?  When the writer uses insufficient or unrepresentative evidence to come to their conclusion, this is called a hasty generalization and is an unreasonable argument tactic.      Another of the tactics the chapter mentions is drawing analogies, which is used extensively in our court systems.  The chapter states that analogies "point out a similarity between two things that are otherwise different."(373)  When reasoning by analogy, the writer must consider that just because two things are alike in one way does not mean it will be a reasonable analogy to use in an argument, if the analogy is clearly off point, the chapter says it is a false analogy.  There are several other tactics the chapter mentions to conduct an argument including weighing options,  making assumptions, tracing causes and effects, and deducing conclusions.  The chapter also teaches about distinguishing between legitimate and unfair emotional appeals.  What it teaches in dealing with this is that many arguments attempt to win our sympathy instead of our intelligen agreement.  Some of the arguments that strive for unfair emotional appeals use biased language and attach the people who have a different feeling about the issue.  The final topic the chapter teaches is about handling the opposing views fairly.  To do this, the writer must fairly explain the opposing views when it is necessary and counter the views with their own facts.     I plan on taking all of the information from this chapter into account when it comes time for me to write an argumentative paper.  I've never had to write one, and I have never been taught about writing them, so all of the information throughout the chapter will be used in my writing of an argumentative paper.  What stuck out to me the most in the chapter was all of the different tactics one can use to develop an argumentative paper.  Some of the tactics I can relate to arguments that I have read in the newspaper, or magazines, and others I have probably seen but never realized.  The biggest thing the chapter has taught me, is to open my eyes and realize that there can be a lot that goes into an argumentative paper but more importantly, the writer should ensure that is written fairly and logically.    

Obituary Dialogue

     Lovey's English teacher, Mr. Harvey, resorted to shaming his students into wanting to learn to speak standard English.  He constantly tells the students that they sound uneducated and says that they will go nowhere in life.  Mr. Harvey does this because his Hawaiian students speak pidgin English, which Mr. Harvey refers to as a "low-class form of good Standard English" and he is very frustrated that he cannot change the way they speak.   Mr. Harvey had a major impact on Lovey, he made her ashamed of who she was, what she ate, even her family.  Though Mr. Harvey may have intended to do good by constantly ridiculing and making the students feel little, the things that he said to them only forced them to accept that they will never make anything of themselves.
     I find the reasoning behind the way Mr. Harvey teaches very odd and interesting.  I think Mr. Harvey may have, at one point, attempted to treat the students how they deserved to be treated, like ordinary people.  After a few years of failing at his job, he began giving the students images that they won't be able to forget by treating them like garbage.  Mr. Harvey believes that if he informs the students of the worst image they may be seen as it will give them motivation to change their form of English.  What Mr. Harvey doesn't realize is pidgin English is the only form of English that the children know besides what they watch on television.  It seems that Mr. Harvey constantly ridicules the students, but doesn't take the time to actually teach the children how to speak proper English and inform them of the benefits of speaking proper English, vice the downfalls of speaking pidgin.
    

Writing Topic Rules for Writers Chapter 47

The main focus in chapter 47 of Rules for Writers is to inform the readers how to construct a reasonable argument.  The chapter starts by telling the readers that when writing an argument, the writer takes a stand on a debatable issue, it then gives several examples of debatable issues concerning public policy.  When constructing the argument, the chapter says that the argument is not about getting the last word in, or winning, but it's written to "explain your understanding of the truth about a subject or to propose the best solution available for solving a problem."(359)The chapter says that in the introduction of the argument, the writer should state his/her stance on the issue in the thesis.  Using the sentences before hand to gain creditibility by showing that the writer is knowlegable on what he/she is writing about and is a fair person.  According to the chapter, the argument should persuade the readers and prove to them that the thesis is correct.  The chapter states that the argument should also include evidence to support the claims that the writer makes, the information the chapter recommends using are facts or statistics.   Finally, the writer should think of the arguments that can be written against his/her arguments, include them in his/her argument and counter them so the readers can see that there is a more reasonable argument in his/hers.
This chapter included a lot of useful information to take in and I plan on using much of it in my future arguments that I will write.  The most useful piece of information that I can see myself use from the chapter is the section on anticipating objections and countering the opposing arguments.  Without that knowledge, I couldn't see myself thinking of mentioning arguments that would counter the argument that I'm trying to get across.  Another piece of information that I will use from the chapter is the sample argument paper.  Since I've never written an argument paper, having this sample to give me an idea of how to construct an argument will be very valuable.

Essay 2 Workshop

          Being born six feet underground makes it extremely difficult to crawl out of the hole that you call home, but when you’re determined and led to the right path, the feel of green grass under your feet is only a short leap away.  That’s what I’ve learned from seeing what I’ve seen in my short time on this planet.  When you’re born into that life, already in a hole, most everything around you has a goal of blocking the right path.  That’s how it was for Sherman Alexie and me, but, with the examples of great men in our lives, we both found a way of overcoming all of that and clearing a path to success.

            The city I was born in, Tacoma, Washington, was at the time plagued by gang violence, corruption, and drugs.    It was the 1990s, the “gangster rapper” hype had reached it’s peak, all of the children in my neighborhood wanted to be a gangster just like Tupac, Biggie Smalls, or Brotha Lynch.  Being raised in that environment made it impossible to fit in with your peers when you are trying to stay in school and out of jail.  My brother was in and out of Juvenile Hall, my sister began her addiction to drugs, and I watched, helplessly from the sidelines, doing the only thing I knew would keep me away from that, I learned.

Like Sherman Alexie, I was raised poor by most American’s standards, but given the condition of my surroundings, my family was well into the middle class.  Unlike Alexie though, my parents always had jobs, I’m not saying they were good ones, my father worked at Jack in the Box for some time, and my mother at a bank, but they had jobs nonetheless.  My siblings and I were never given many gifts, but that was okay, because every day after school I got the best gift I could’ve been given, given the situation I was raised in, an education in the form of a newspaper.

Being raised below the poverty level in a God forsaken city, there were many kids my age that had nothing to do besides getting into trouble.  Luckily, I was given an alternative to this.  One of the memories I have from growing up is of my father keeping up with the world’s issues by reading the newspaper.  I was always so interested in what he was reading, even before I knew how to read.  Why would this interest him 365 days a year?  How could they possibly come up with something new and exciting enough to keep him entertained so often?  I began answering these questions before I could read; looking through the comic section laughing at the pictures even though I had no idea what was going on in them. 

            By the time I’d learned to read I already had skimming through the newspapers, looking at the Toys R’ Us ads as a daily routine in my life so it wasn’t hard for me to read into the articles and begin to learn about everything important enough to be in the newspaper.  This transformed me into an information gathering fiend.  I learned from reading the newspaper that there is something to be learned from everything, the political comic strips that lined the comic section, how the ads were displayed to target a certain audience, what was on the front page that the editor wanted to grab the city’s attention. 

            At this point in my life I was after every bit of information I could find, but I started looking for the knowledge in different areas.  Whenever I stepped out of my house, or even when I was inside of it, I would learn as much as I could.  Whether the knowledge that I gained was from watching: The Discovery Channel, people as they worked, as they drove, how they interacted with different people.  I was on a mission to learn whatever there was to be learned, and this was the only way I knew of doing it.

            I gained a great deal of knowledge from watching my peers interact with each other.  Being the quiet kid in class, I had a lot of time to do this and I made the most of that time.  It’s amazing how much some people can change their character given the group that their around.  I think the knowledge that I’ve gained from that is the most valuable that I’ve received to date.  Watching my classmates and others that I’ve been around change their character, and in turn, seem like a fool to the people who really know them taught me to always be myself.  It taught me to not try to be a gangster, thug, or anything else that you’re not.  Especially if what you’re trying to be will never amount to anything. 

            Since I never tried to be anything I wasn’t, and I was shown what path to take to make a successful life; I used my desire to gain knowledge as a shield to keep all of the bad from my neighborhood from getting to me.  Now that I’m older and understand even more, I look back on my life, the people I knew in my neighborhood, they’re now drug addicts, gang members, or dead.  I can’t help but be thankful for the direction that I was given, like Sherman Alexie, my life was saved at such a young age by the example from my father. 

            Now that I can feel the green grass under my feet, and have the golden road full of opportunity in front of me, I can’t help but to look back.  All of the young children growing up in circumstances like mine, in bad neighborhoods, with bad influences surrounding them.  I feel horrible for all of the children that are forced to grow up the way I did and the feeling will only get worse as they grow older and I watch the kids I knew when they were 10 years old being put in caskets.  I haven’t done it yet because I’m still developing a life for myself, but my mind is set on giving to the community that has given me nothing but bad examples to learn from.

Rules for Writers Chapter 4

     In chapter four of "Rules for Writers,"  the author teaches how to build effective paragraphs.  The chapter starts with stating the main point in a topic sentence.  A topic sentence is a lot like a thesis except it lets the readers know what will be in the paragraph to follow vice an entire draft.  The topic sentence should clearly state the reason for the paragraph and relate to the thesis.  According to the chapter, the topic sentence usually is the first sentence in the chapter, but for different types of writing or for writers with different styles, could be in the second sentence, or even at the end of the paragraph.  Next, the author explains how to develop the main points.  When doing this, she says that the main point, like a thesis must be proven and that it must be developed enough depending on purpose and audience.
     The author then teaches how to choose a suitable pattern of organization.  She gives several examples of standard patterns of organization that are frequently used by writers including: examples and illustrations, narration, description, process, camparison and contrast, analogy cause and effect, classification and division and definition.  There are different reasons for using each of these organization processes, and the process that the writer will use will depend on the writer's style and purpose.  The next section in the chapter covers making paragraphs coherent.  As with patterns of organization, there are several examples that the writer gives to help writer's make their paragraphs coherent.  Finally, the author teaches how to adjust the paragraph length if necessary.  The chapter states that there are several reasons to begin a new paragraph, or combine paragraphs.  Some reasons for beginning new paragraphs are to signal a shift to a new idea, mark off the introduction and conclusion, break up text that looks too dense, or to highlight a contrast.  Reasons to comine paragraphs include clarifying the essay's organization and connecting closely related ideas.
     Like the other chapters that we've read so far in this book, I will benefit from all of the material the author has written in it.  All of the points in the chapter are points that I haven't been taught in the past and will only help to make me a better writer.  One of the more important lessons that I will take with me from the chapter is the section on organizing paragraphs.  All of the descriptions in that sections are very detailed, and the examples make it very easy to understand and will help me apply the styles to my writing.  Another of the lessons that I will take from this chapter, is the section on making paragraphs coherent, more specifically on providing transitions.  I've always had issues with transitioning between sentences, but this section gives examples on transitioning the I believe will help me.  I like how the author italicizes the words in the paragraphs to show the readers the words that the writer uses to transition, it's a great example and will really help me apply the information in my own writing.