Digging deeper

1. Digging deeper How to Analyze Examples

2. Choosing good examples and quotes is the crucial first step • Don’t quote just to show that a plot event occurred. • Put that in your own words (paraphrase • it reads smoother and we don’t need the exact words of the text to understand the event • A weak quote choice that’s just plot: • Behind the prisoners are “Men passing along he wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals” (450). • A better quote that gives you rich material to analyze and respond to: • However, when Plato’s prisoner sees reality for the first time, “Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?” (451). • Now you can talk about Plato’s toneand assumptions • You can and should include plot details in your examples, but describe events in your own words.

3. Respond to your examples some traps to avoid • Saying you agree/disagree & why is just a start • Good if it really gets you below the surface • Explaining whyis everything • There’s so much more you could say, and should. • Comparison to your own experience is good, but it’s not enough just to say “me too,” or “not me.” • One of the biggest pitfalls is giving an example from the book, then saying “I agree or disagree” and jumping to an example from your own life. Neither example gets any analysis, really. They just sit next to each other. • Critical thinking level on this is low.

4. What to do instead • Point out the connotationsof the writer’s words • emotional impact, associations, etc • Make reasonable inferences about how this affects people across time & across society. • Time is a way of thinking about causes & effects • How did this develop? What conditions help keep it going? (etc) • Looking across society asks you to consider how this would affect different groups: • children, parents, employers, workers, ethnic groups, rich & poor, etc • Imagine how this issue affects people from the inside to the outside • personality/emotions, friendships & family, work & education, role in society, impacts for economics, politics & history • Not all of these categories will work for every example, but try to push yourself to open up the discussion to society, history and the mind.

5. Try it • Choose one example or quote from “The Allegory of the Cave” and discuss in your group how this applies to modern society • Start with agree/disagree & why. • Move to connotationsof words. • Discuss how Plato’s idea affects people across time & across society. • How does Plato’s idea affect people from the inside to the outside? • How is this relevant for our understanding of society, history or the mind?