In case, you missed it in your email, here it is:
TC BOYLE “ESSAY” DUE DATE:
Must be uploaded to Turnitin by midnight, OCTOBER 23
I put essay in quotes because this is not an essay, per se.
It is more, a synthesis exercise. After you read the assignment below you may
say, didn’t we just do that on the blog? And I would respond, absolutely! That
was why you did it; to begin to consider the meaning of the book, one sentence
at a time.
As you read TC Boyle, number on a page from 1-10. Write out
the ten sentences from the book that catch your eye or make you think. After
each sentence, give a brief description of what the sentences means to you or
why you included it. At the end of those ten sentences comes the more difficult
but rewarding part. You are going to write a synthesis. A synthesis is a type
of writing where you take various unrelated writings and find some insight
drawn from them. It is writing that creates connections between thoughts. You
are not comparing the thoughts, but you are using these ten sentences to say
one thing. When you examine the ten sentences together, what new insight do you
gain that may have been undeveloped just by looking at one or two sentences.
That will be labeled “Synthesis” and will be at the bottom of
the numbered ten sentences.
As I said, this is a little weird, but it usually produces
good writing. You are simply numbering and writing about ten sentences and then
writing about how they are connected.
Since it is a bit odd, I wanted to give you one good example
of the synthesis part. The length is right now. I would have maybe included one
more sentence as example. But as you can see, the author has located clearly
what the one area is that ties his ten sentences together.
EXAMPLE Synthesis:
The similar connection between most of
the chosen passages would be the racist or hate aspect. The focus on race or
between being Mexican or not is a huge factor throughout the book. It seems as
though all the characters want to be or think that they are better than the
person next to them. “Fucking Beaners. Rip it up man. Destroy it.” (page 64).
This is an example of a quote from the book that shows the anger or animosity
towards different races. Most of the quotes are also driven with anger or hate.
I found that harsh words were spoken when characters were most upset or seemed
to be in some type of turmoil. The unique choice of words Boyle uses for these
passages is also a connection between the quotes. It seems as though Boyle
chooses words that build some type of emotion or fire within the reader, as if
he was aiming to provoke emotion within the reader. At the very least these
quotes cause the reader to pause and think or feel the anger or pain the
characters are feeling at the time. Another link between these quotes would be
their context they are almost all referring to someone other than themselves,
or trying to pass the blame a different way. Overall this book and these quotes
are thought provoking as well as emotion filled passages that allow a person to
feel what the characters are feeling.
As always, ask if you need help!
Dr. S
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