New selections are marked with an *.
Thematic Contents
Rhetorical Contents
Preface
I. THE READER
Getting the Most from Your Reading
Active Reading
Thanksgiving Ellen Goodman
At Thanksgiving, we realize that we are a part of and apart from our families-raised in families...to be individuals.
Discussion of Active Reading
Active Reading as Prewriting
Practicing Active Reading
1. Between Generations
* My Son, My Compass Janna Malamud Smith
A son questions his family's diet, expounding on the inhumanity of mass meat consumption until he finally convinces his parents of the ethical, practical, and ecological issues involved in eating red meat.
* The Long Way Home Jhumpa LahiriI
The stench of asafetida and the sounds of pulverizing ginger root and garlic woke the author when she was a child, but it was many years before her mother would relinquish the kitchen and her secret recipes so her daughter could create her own Indian dinners.
The Good Daughter Caroline Hwang
Immigrant parents make many sacrifices for their daughter. Is she then indentured to her parents, forced to straddle two cultures? A son convinces his parents of the ethical, practical, and ecological issues
* My Grandfather and the Bomb Jennet Conant
The granddaughter of a scientist who helped create the atomic bomb-the most diabolical weapon in the history of mankind-mourns her grandfather's role in the devastation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastation that he never intended but that his family can never escape.
* Breaking Tradition Janice Mirikitani
Having discovered the lies my mother told me, the narrator longs to communicate more openly with her daughter whose secretive eyes are walls of smoke / and music and telephones.
The Only Child John Leonard
Speed kills slowly, and he fiddled too much with the oxygen flow to his brain, says the author of his drug-addicted brother.
Are Families Dangerous? Barbara Ehrenreich
While the family can teach the finest things human beings can learn from one another, too often the family teaches nasty things like hate and rage and shame.
Ignorance Is Not Bliss Eric Marcus
The author's family is afraid that revealing his homosexuality will kill his grandmother. But in the end, the truth brings them closer.
Blue Spruce Stephen Perry
When the town manicurist was pregnant with his child, the barber bundled her out of town. His family turned against him, but the writer remembers his music and laughter.
Your Place Is Empty Anne Tyler
I'm fitting in wonderfully, Mrs. Ardavi wrote her sister, you'd think I was American. But as she approached the plane to return to Iran, she remained undeniably a foreigner.
2. Between Genders
* Time for the Real Thing Barbara Graham
The yearning for fulfillment through love seems to be to our psychic structure what food and water are to our cells, and so we keep hoping with each relationship that this time we'll get it right.
* Virtual Love Meghan Daum
The author discovers that an email relationship is intense and intoxicating, but its remote nature maintains a mystique that can't survive in the physical world.
Peaches Reginald McKnight
Rita's father rejects the rich white boy who attempts to win his daughter's affection by traveling to Africa.
* The White Porch Cathy Song
Preparing for her lover to return home, a woman recalls past days living with parents when this same lover, crouching in the grass . . .would wait for the signal, / for the movement of curtains, before she could smuggle him in.
* Watching My Back Jeff Z. Klein
I hadn't been in a punch-up since I was ten and had no idea what to do in an actual fight. But I had seen [my girlfriend] in class, whupping two heavily mock attackers. I knew what she could do.
Who's Cheap? Adair Lara
Should men treat women as precious and pick up the check on dates, as they did in the past?
Uncle Sam and Aunt Samantha Anna Quindlen
Because women have proven their abilities in military service and combat, they should be required to register for Selective Service just as men must.
* Pigskin, Patriarchy, and Pain Don Sabo
The former football player believes pain stifles men's awareness of their bodies and limits [their] emotional expression.
* The Men We Carry in Our Minds Scott Russell Sanders
When the women I met at college thought about the joys and privileges of men, they did not carry in their minds the sort of men I have known in my childhood.
Real Men Don't: Anti-Male Bias in English Eugene August
Sexist people use language to manipulate gender role behavior and to create negative social attitudes toward males.
Common Decency Susan Jacoby
Convinced that real men can and do control their passion and impulses, the author protests the immorality and absurdity of using mixed signals as an excuse for rape.
When a Woman Says No Ellen Goodman
The author focuses on a change of public mind as well as the confused messages and the yes-no-maybes that sometimes occur in sexual relationships.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Joyce Carol Oates
Connie felt her heart pound faster as she realized Arnold Friend wasn't a kid, he was much older-thirty, maybe more.
3. Between Cultures
Living in Two Worlds Marcus Mabry
A student travels between the universes of poverty and affluence as he moves between home and college life.
Why Does My Race Matter? Yasmine Bahrani
The author claims that the identities we accept are portentous because they follow us around forever and suggests that we stop placing ourselves in racial categories
* Taking a Leap of Faith Michael Skube
The stereotypical post-9/11 view of someone raised a Muslim is that he would be vengeful, even brutal; however, the author describes his Muslim friend Rahim, who attended midnight Mass with him one Christmas Eve, as the kindest, gentlest man I've ever known.
An Identity Reduced to a Burka Semeen Issa & Laila Al-Marayati
Stereotypical assumptions about Muslim women are as inaccurate as the assumption that all American women are personified by the bikini-clad cast of `Baywatch.'
* Let the I's Have It Andrew Lam
While he is flattered that he has a role in confounding college students, the author is bothered that these young people are so eager to avoid thinking about literature for themselves.
Mr. Z M. Carl Holman
Distancing himself from his race, Mr. Z married someone who had somewhere lost her Jewishness, and from there he climbed, unclogged by ethnic weights.
* The Red Convertible Louise Erdrich
Lyman and his brother Henry owned the first convertible on their reservation, and they owned it together until Henry's boots filled with water on a windy night, and he bought out Lyman's share of the car.
Los Vendidos Luis Valdez
The governor's secretary is seeking a Mexican type for the administration, but the model offered is not at all what she expected.
4. Between Perceptions
Living Under Circe's Spell Matthew Soyster
The author describes the decline into a sitting life in a wheelchair: People see through me now, or over me. They don't see me at all.
Georgia O'Keeffe Joan Didion
Free-spirited woman and unconventional painter, Georgia O'Keeffe seems to have understood early in her life who she was and that she would be required to prove it.
The Myth of the Latin Woman Judith Ortiz Cofer
A Puerto Rican girl living in the United States resents the stereotypes that her Hispanic appearance evokes in many people she meets.
* Ring Leader Natalie Kusz
Now that the one-eyed fat girl has a nose stud and hasdeliberately chosen a `facial' flaw, she feels she'sin charge and the glances of strangers seem less invasive.
Black Men and Public Space Brent Staples
The author contends with his unwieldy inheritance...the ability to alter public space in ugly ways.
* Facing It Yusef Komanyaka
The speaker looks at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and confronts his feelings and memories as he examines the 58,022 names on the Wall: I'm stone. I'm flesh.
Discrimination at Large Jennifer A. Coleman
Jokes and attitudes against fat people are as wrong and damaging as any racial or ethnic slur.
O.K., So I'm Fat Neil Steinberg
It is not the social stigma, the medical peril, or discomfort of dragging all that excess weight around. The real problem with being fat is dealing with thin people.
* 'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country Jane E. Brody
Unless we change our eating and exercise habits and pay greater attention to this disease, more than one-third of whites, two-fifths of blacks and half of Hispanic people in this country will develop diabetes.
Bodily Harm Pamela Erens
Eating disorders-bingeing, excessive dieting, and excessive exercising-are rampant among college women. Shouldn't women's liberation have freed women from bodily harm?
Baldness Steven Barrie-Anthony
A young man decides that a hat is a better solution for baldness than many drugs that promise to cure baldness but have serious side effects.
Body of Evidence Jenny Jones
After six surgeries and five sets of implants, a talk show host reveals, I would sell everything I own to be able to have the body back that I gave up.
5. Between Values
In Groups We Shrink Carol Tavris
People in groups do not behave badly because they are inherently bad; their passivity has more to do with the nature of groups than the nature of individuals.
Shooting an Elephant George Orwell
When the white man turns tyrant, it is his own freedom that he destroys.
Three Ways of Meeting Oppression Martin Luther King, Jr.
People handle oppression in different ways, but there is only one practical and moral way to create a community.
Remote Control: How to Raise a Media Skeptic Susan Douglas
Kids can't be quarantined from TV, but they can be exposed to the virus and inoculated with some healthy skepticism.
* Reality TV Salmon Rushdie
The author argues that on reality TV programs, anything resembling a real value-modesty, decency, intelligence, humour, selflessness; you can write your own list-is rendered redundant.
* Brains as Well as Brawn Mike Rose
The distinctions made between white-collar and blue-collar jobs often ignore the intelligence of the laborer-the thought, the creativity, the craft it takes to do work, any work, well.
Coke Philip Dacey
Coca Cola was America / and my Dad drove its truck, boasts the boy, unaware of the dark, sweet flood / of American sleep engulfing him.
Makes Learning Fun Clifford Stoll
What good are glitzy gadgets to a child who can't pay attention in class, won't read more than a paragraph, and is unable to write analytically?
From Learning as Torture to Learning as Fun Don Tapscott
Learning math should be an enjoyable, challenging, and, yes, entertaining activity just like learning a video game.The speaker longs to enjoy thealarming beauty of the sky but a red camaro forces her
* Parking Lot Leslie Monsour
A driver longs to linger in a parking space and contemplate thealarming beauty of the sky but feels forced to move.
* So, Does It Speak to You? Thomas Hoving
An art historian proposes a three-point plan to evaluate a painting: American Gothic
* 6. Between Screens
Responding to An Image
Image as Text
Film as Text
Why Analyze Film?
A Package Approach: Questions and Critics
Between Worlds and Film Choices.
Films that Speak to an Audience
Common Film Terms and Concepts
How to View a Film: Questions to Consider
Active Viewing
Note-taking Matters
Preparing to View a Film
Final Tips for Writing About Film
American Beauty
A satire of American culture as a middle-aged man becomes infatuated with his daughter's close friend.
CRITICAL REVIEWS
Transcending the Suburbs David Denby
Dad's Dead, and He's Still a Funny Guy Janet Maslin
The Rose's Thorns Kenneth Turan
Shakespeare in Love
Will Shakespeare needs a muse to create Romeo and Juliet and then falls in love with his own creation.
CRITICAL REVIEWS
Will in the West End David Denby
A Welcome Winter's Tale Kenneth Turan
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Family members are forces to grapple with avarice, alcoholism, and self-denial as they confront one another and uncover hidden truths.
CRITICAL REVIEWS
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Andrew Urban
The Fur Flies in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Bosley Crowther
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Has Artistic Merit, Shock Value Philip K. Scheuer
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A problematic relationship can be erased from mind and heart-at least in this science-fiction romantic comedy.
CRITICAL REVIEWS
Forget Me Not David Edelstein
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Roger Ebert
Crash
A series of vignettes exposes anxieties about urban life and conflicts exacerbated by racial and ethnic tension.
CRITICAL REVIEWS
Angry People David Denby
Crash Roger Ebert
Bigotry as the Other Side of Inner Angst A.O. Scott
II. THE RHETORIC
7. Getting Started...Now!
Short Assignments Anne Lamott
Prewriting as Discovery
Freewriting
Practicing Freewriting
Journal Writing
Clustering
Listing
Active Reading
Group Brainstorming-Collaborative Learning
Incubation
Considering Audience
Analyzing Audience Awareness
Example: Convincing an Audience: Why Stop Smoking? Let's Get Clinical by William F. Harrison
About 415,000 people die prematurely each year in the U.S. as a result of smoking-the equivalent of eighteen 747s crashing every week with no survivors.
A Final Word About Audience
8. Organizing and Drafting an Essay
From Prewriting to Purpose
Developing a Thesis
Supporting a Thesis
Writing an Outline
Organizing to Highlight Key Points
Writing a Paragraph
Using Sources for Support
Paraphrasing
9. Revising an Essay
Rewriting and Rewriting
Thinking Critically for an Audience
Revising a Rough Draft: Student Example (draft)
A Checklist for Revising and Editing Papers
Final Essay: Student Example: Dieting Daze: No In-Between by Rachel Krell
Rewriting for Coherence
Writing Introductions
Writing Conclusions
Final Tips for Writing Conclusions
10. Methods for Developing Essays
Combining Multiple Methods
Summary
Organizing and Developing a Summary
Student Example: A Summary of Three Ways of Meeting Oppression by Chris Thomas
Summary as Part of a Larger Assignment
Final Tips for a Summary
Narration
When to Use Narration
Organizing and Developing a Narrative
Student Example: Through the Cracks by Rebekah Hall-Naganuma
Final Tips for a Narrative
Evaluative Response
When to Write an Evaluative Response Essay
Organizing and Developing an Evaluative Response Essay
Student Example: Thanksgiving Beyond the Cleaver Family by Marin Kheng
Final Tips for an Evaluative Response
Definition
When to Use Definition
Organizing and Developing a Definition Essay
The Purpose of Defining
Example: The Difference Between `Sick' and `Evil' by Andrew Vachss
Final Tips for a Definition Essay
Cause and Effect
When to Use Cause and Effect Development
Organizing and Developing a Cause-and-Effect Essay
Example: I Confess Some Envy by Robert McKelvey
Final Tips for Cause and Effect Development
Comparison and Contrast
When to Use Comparison-Contrast Development
Organizing and Developing a Comparison-Contrast Essay
Which Method to Use: Block or Point by Point?
Example: Reality Check by Alex Garcia
Final Tips for Comparison and Contrast
Argument
Arguments and Proposals
When to Use Argument
Audience and Argument
Organizing and Developing an Argument
Avoiding Logical Fallacies
Conceding and Refuting
Evaluating an Argument
Example: My Favorite School Class: Involuntary Servitude by Joe Goodwin
Final Tips for Argument
Writing an Essay Exam
A Six-Step Strategy
Key Words Used on Exams
An Outline for an In-Class Essay
11. Analysis
Analysis of a Process, Problem, or Subject
When to Use Analysis
Analysis of a Process
Brainstorming for a Topic
Organizing and Developing a Process Analysis
Example: * Florida's Fire Ants Headed For Trouble by Dave Barry
Final Tips for a Process Analysis Essay
Analysis of a Problem
When to Use Problem Analysis
Organizing and Developing a Problem Analysis Essay
Example: Don't Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments by Robert L. Heilbroner
Final Tips for a Problem Analysis Essay
Analysis of a Subject
Brainstorming for a Topic
When to Use Subject Analysis
Organizing and Developing a Subject Analysis
Essay Assignments for Subject Analysis
Poetry and Character Analysis
What Is Poetry Analysis?
Active Reading of a Poem
Student Example: Breaking the Ties that Bind Robert Sakatani
Final Tips for Poetry Analysis
What Is Character Analysis?
Character Analysis: Short Story
Student Example: Who Were You, Connie, and Why Did You Go? by Marianela Enriquez
Character Analysis: Biography
Student Example: The Earhart Appeal by Laselle Norville
Final Tips for Writing a Focused Biography
12. Writing the Research Paper
Planning the Research Paper
Gathering Library Material
Using Electronic Sources
Using the Internet
Gathering Additional Information: The Interview
Student Example: From Access to Acceptance: Enabling America's
Largest Minority by Shannon Paaske
Documenting the Research Paper: MLA Style
Documenting the Research Paper: APA Style
III. THE HANDBOOK
13. Understanding How Sentences Work
Subjects: Noun as Subject, Pronoun as Subject, Compound Subject
Objects: Direct Object, Indirect Object, Object of the Preposition
Verbs: Action Verbs, State-of-Being Verbs, Helping Verbs
Adjectives and Adverbs
Phrases: Prepositional Phrases, Verbal Phrases
Clauses: Independent Clauses, Dependent Clauses
Sentence Variation: Simple Sentences, Compound Sentences, Complex Sentences, Compound-Complex Sentences
Practicing Sentence Variation
14. Understanding Common Errors
Fragments
Run-on or Fused Sentences: Comma Splice, Correcting Run-on Sentences
Conjunctive Adverbs
Style and Meaning
Pronoun Reference Agreement
Pronoun Case
Subject-Verb Agreement
Shifts: Shifts in Person and Number, Shifts in Verb Tense, Shifts in Voice
Mixed Sentences: Confused Sentence Parts, Faulty Verb Choice
Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
Faulty Parallelism: Single Words, Phrases, Dependent Clauses, Independent Clauses
15. Understanding Punctuation
The Comma
The Apostrophe: Contractions, Possessives
The Period, Question Mark, and Exclamation Point
The Semicolon
The Colon
The Dash
Quotation Marks
The Ellipsis
Parentheses
Brackets
The Slash
The Hyphen
16. Understanding Faulty Word Choice
Cliches
Slang, Jargon, and Colloquial Words
Archaic Words, Euphemisms, and Pretentious Words
Redundancies
Sexist Language
17. Understanding Commonly Confused Words
Commonly Confused Words
Acknowledgments
Author Index
Subject and Title Index
Editing Symbols chart appears opposite page
