Writing Samples.

[BreakABone]

Well, I was just curious to see how some of you folks wrote for like school assignments and stuff, and I got like 3 essays I did over the week (Wed,Thur and Fri) for prep for my AP Eng exam on Monday. The essays aren't my best work becausew I'm not really use to writing these type of essays and it was only like 40 mins for each.

Some scenes in stories seem to have no major impact and feature such minor trivial events such as parties or interaction between family members, but if you were to step back and review the scene in it’s relation to the theme of the work you will see that sometimes it plays an important role in the story. Eating scenes are common examples of trivial scene which could reflect the theme of works of literature and it has been seen in such works as the Odyssey, the Glass Menagerie and Native Son. Richard Wright used an eating scene involving Bigger Thomas, Mary Dalton and Jan that reflects the theme of the novel.

The scene starts with Bigger in the front seat of the Daltons’ car with Mary and her friend, Jan. Jan and Mary had forced themselves into the front seat with Bigger even though he felt uncomfortable with it. Mary and Jan decide that they are hungry, but instead of going to buy food on their side of ton, Mary and Jan want to see how Bigger’s “people” eat. So they ask Bigger for a good restaurant to eat on his side of town. Bigger felt real uncomfortable with them asking him all these questions. Bigger finally tell them about this little chicken shop on his side of town, and Mary and Jan decide to go. When they arrive at the restaurant, Bigger wants to remain in the car and not go in with them, but Mary and Jan don’t want Bigger to feel excluded so they invite him to come in with them. Even though Bigger rejects, they keep on asking him until Mary breaks down in tears. Bigger feels sorry for Mary and finally decides to go in with them. Bigger goes in with Mary and Jan and is in no real mood to eat, but is forced to by Mary and Jan. Bigger orders some chicken and eats, when he is greeted by Bessie, who is his girlfriend. Bigger tries to ignore Bessie so that he would not have to introduce his friend to these “white folk.”

These scene in the story shows a major theme of the novel which is that people of power like to oppress the lower classes. Bigger is forced to the restaurant by Mary and Jan even though he never had any interest in going there. These scene shows how Mary and Jan were able to enforce their power over Bigger and have him do as they want.

The author, Richard Wright, is able to make the scene even more effective with the inclusion of Bigger’s girlfriend, Bessie. Bigger was so ashamed of being in a restaurant with Mary and Jan that he really didn’t introduce Bessie to either one of them. If Bigger was comfortable with his position in the restaurant, he would have no problem introducing Bessie to Mary and Jan or Jan and Mary to Bessie, but he didn’t. So it showed that he had some issues with his position.

Eating scenes may seem like trivial scenes in works of literature, but they may sometimes help to show the theme of the work or add a dimension to the theme which makes it a lot more effective. Wright was able to do this with the restaurant scene in Native Son and other authors have also been able to achieve similar goals.

This essay was about the importance of an eating scene in a novel, play or epic poem. As you can see, they have some truly bizarre topics.


It is believed that everyone has a role in society, while some roles may not look as glamourous as others, they must be filled. The passage talks about a similar concept which deals with the division of mankind and how each is able to help for everyone but isnt a complete man themselves.

One of the classes that the author of the passage brings up is the scholar, but in order to understand the scholar you must view the other classes and how they help in society. According to the author, “the state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk, and the stru about so many working monsters,- a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never a man.” The author believes that no one man can do it all, that each person in society plays a vital role, but they all can’t play every roll.

Now the author’s view of the scholar is that of a social thinker. The scholar isn’t the one who works with his hands like a farmer or a mechanic, a scholar isn’t one who is great with technology like an engineer and others like the priest and the salesman. The author views the scholar as the “delegated intellect” which means the scholr is responsible for doing all the heavy thinking to get it off the minds of the others who are more skilled in other fields. The author doesn’t believe that the scholar is the only intellect but the “delegated” which gives him the responsibility when no one else wants it or is in the condition to use their own.

The author understands the role of the scholar, but also understands that just because the man is elected scholar doesn’t mean he would be special. The author gives two fields of scholars. The first is a scholar who is capable of reaching his potential, one that the author deems is “man thinking.” This type of scholar would be able to see pass the normal boundaries of human life, and may even be able to change the way humans view the world. Then, there is the second class of scholars, those the author deems “mere thinkers.” These are the scholars who have been too influenced by the ways of the world. One, who as the old saying goes “can’t think outside of the box,” and may even become a ‘parrot of other men’s thinking” which would make these scholar nothing more than repeaters. These scholars will become mere recordings of what they pick up in conversation with the ability to replay others’ thoughts.

The author is able to express his thoughts on both the role of the indiviual and what happens if the indiviual is removed or distracted form his role in society. the author is best able to do this with the inclusion of the scholr and how in it’s pure, unaltered form it may be able to lead mankind to new places and change the “status quo”, while if they are hampered by society, they become nothing more than recorders. So the role of society is important, but maintainung your role in society, unhampered, is even more important.


This essay was based on a passage we had to read. The passage was decent lenght but rather boring and confusing. I can't really provide the passage as it's too long for me to bother typing but I think you get an idea of what it's about

[GameKinG]

Those are pretty good...but an Eating scene? Hmmm....

[Revival]

Wow.. those are really good :eek:

I wish I could write like that.. :unsure:

Good luck on your exam :D

[Shadow_Link]

BaB, if you want to see my assignments, I will just copy and paste them to you on AIM okay? Just remember I wrote them when I was 14-15 years old. :D

[Xantar]

Well, BreakABone asked me for some writing samples for this topic (and apparently some people actually want to know what my school writing is like).

These were both written for my history class "Modern Latin America." The writing assignments in that class are 2 page journal entries every other week. They aren't really essays in the conventional sense. They aren't graded on the basis of writing style or how well an argument is developed. They are graded more on the ideas they present.

These are not my best work (I write them the day before they are due). Unfortunately, the paper that I consider to be my finest work thus far is 15 pages long, so I won't be printing it here. If anybody is interested in seeing what real college papers are like, I'll get it to them somehow (just don't try to turn it in for school. For a multitude of reasons, it'll be painfully apparent that it's not your own).

All that said, I got an A for both of these journal entries.

The Indian Identity Within
Journal Entry #4

The Indians of Latin America are in the midst of a sort of cultural awakening. The signs are as innocuous as a Quichua street theater in Ecuador or as full-blown and political as the research by Mayan linguists and social scientists of Guatemala. What these movements all have in common is a sense that Indians are now reaffirming their ethnic and cultural identity, saving it from being destroyed by ladinizacion. Kay Warren criticized this purpose in Guatemala specifically, saying that it necessarily means the creation of a single pan-Mayan identity tied to a particular time rather than acknowledging that ethnic identity is the product of economics, generations and religion (Warren quoted by Stephan 1992). Warren’s criticism can be generalized to the rest of the Indian population in Latin America—there is no single set of core beliefs and customs that characterizes a person as "Indian." Yet, one must be careful of the implications of this statement. Does Warren’s criticism mean that "Indianness" is a sliding scale with Indians at one end and ladinos at the other with no cut-off point to mark the difference? Does it mean, in effect, that there is no such thing as an Indian? The Mayan audience that Warren delivered her lectures to would probably not think so, and because of her continued use of the word "Mayan" to categorize people, it seems that Warren herself also believes that there is such a thing as a Mayan distinct from the rest. But then how can some people be called "Indian" while others are not?

An answer came to me during the class’s discussion with Juan, the Quechua Indian leader. Juan believed that the key to success for Indians was education. When I asked him how he would react to the change that would inevitably occur when he received a higher education, he responded that he would continue to wear his traditional clothing no matter how much Western learning he absorbed. There are some who would call Juan naïve for believing that he could retain his essential Indianness in the face of all the new knowledge he would gain, but what struck me was not his words but his tone and expression as he spoke. It became immediately clear to me that Juan would remain an Indian because he wanted to remain and Indian and believed that he would always be an Indian. He could learn to speak English and use modern technology, but in the end, he would still consider himself an Indian. The class by and large identified him as an Indian, but it was not because of his manner of dress and language—there are non-Indians who wear home-made clothes and speak Spanish. Rather, it was Juan’s declaration of himself as an Indian that immediately caused the class to identify and treat him as such.

Ethnic identity is a largely individual creation. Homogeneous societies are rare in the world, and they are especially rare in Latin America after centuries of several races existing together on the same continent. What is undeniable is that even after all this time, individuals still identify themselves with a particular culture. And for most, that is enough.

Cry Cultural Imperialism Or Cry Wolf?
Journal Entry #6

The art of Latin America is highly politicized stuff and is often dedicated to the creation of an image that its people can relate to. Whether they are depicting the life of the ordinary or down-trodden or criticizing governments, the artists of Latin America and the Caribbean are attempting to depict a certain reality that is their own. This consciousness of politics and national identity also seems to be uniquely Latin American. Nobody thinks of Pablo Picasso as creating a new Spanish vision of reality. Peter Winn points out that intellectuals all over the Latin American continent share the concerns of Puerto Rican writer Luis Rafael Sanchez: that "cultural imperialism" is invading from the United States and changing the culture already existing in Latin America. I question the validity of these concerns, however, for two reasons: it does not seem likely that the United States can profoundly influence Latin American culture as much as people like Sanchez seem to believe, and in any case, an injection from the outside is not necessarily a bad thing.

Having never been to Latin America, I cannot offer direct evidence to support my theory. I do think, however, that the case of the United States can offer some insight. Obviously, the various forms of music, art and dance brought over by immigrants has not completely taken over the dominant culture. But more important is the way immigrants themselves adapt to the culture that the U.S. pushes on them. They do this by taking the ways of the mainstream culture and giving them a unique flavor that is distinct. It is not an easy process, to be sure, especially when popular groups want the immigrants to be assimilated. Nonetheless, immigrants in the United States are usually able to declare their heritage and have it acknowledged by everyone else. It is simply not possible to assimilate them completely, and if that is so, why should there be any fear that the Latin American continent will lose its identity?

The example of the United States is also salient because of its diversity. The diversity that exists in Latin America is of a different sort than that which exists in the United States, but Latin American culture is still built on the extreme diversity of its people just as it is in the United States. Latin American culture today can hardly be called the Latin American culture of a five hundred years ago when Native Americans were the only humans on the continent. Modern Latin American culture isn’t even the same as that which existed thirty years ago. What exactly, then, is the essential Latin American culture that Sanchez fears may be lost to U.S. cultural imperialism? If it is the one founded on diversity that has been in constant change since the arrival of the Europeans, then should it not continue to change?

This is not to say that Latin Americans should embrace the culture seeping in from the United States or even embrace change. It is only to say that Latin America is a continent in flux, and changes will happen. Rather than be concerned about the influence of the United States on Latin American culture, one should recognize that Latin America will always remain distinct from the United States whatever images its people identify with.