Day Three, College Composition II

1. Day Three, College Composition II

2. Agenda • Complete A Modest Proposal and Peer Exercise #2 • Take the auto-quiz on last class meeting’s lecture material • Journal #3 • Workshop #1: Stating your claim; your Introduction to the Term Paper • Peer Partner Exercise (#3): Analyzing an Argument (your take on things)**Select which of the famous argumentative pieces that you and your peer will work with for the next two weeks. See the list attached to this syllabus for your options. • Homework: Complete any work on Journals #1-3 that you have not. Have your Introduction, thesis statement/claim, and your scope/focus for the Term Paper ready for next meeting. Have a printed copy of what you produce ready by the end of the first hour of next class meeting**

3. Analysis of A Modest Proposal • Part 1: Para1-7 (the present situation in Ireland: expect a proposal to solve the problem of poor children beggars) • Part 2: Para 8-19 (detailing his proposal) • Part 3: Para 20-28 (illustrating the advantages of his proposal) • Part 4: Para 29-33 (supposing an objection to his proposal )

4. Part 1 • What are the present situations in Ireland? (Ireland falls in poverty and overpopulation. Poor female beggars with their children, people in Ireland lack of national loyalty, the English government is devouring Ireland) • What is Swift's attitude toward the beggars he describes in the opening paragraph? • Notice the narrator’s defense for his own proposal, and the statistical data. (his computation and economic mind)

5. Part 2 • What is his proposal? (Para 10. 120,000 children, among which 20,000 reserved for breed, only ¼ to be males; the remaining 100,000 be offered in sale) the plump and fat children will be good for feeding and clothing • Appreciate Para 9,10,12,14,15

6. Part 3 • The advantages of the proposal a. it would greatly lessen the number of Papists b. the poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own c. the money gained from transaction will circulate in the country d. their breeders will benefit from it directly e. this food would bring great custom to taverns f. this would be a great inducement to marriage

7. Part 4 • Anticipating the objection of the proposal • Para 33 What is the narrator’s attitude in saying that “I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny, the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past childbearing”? With what social groups does he identify himself?

8. The speaker is a Protestant and a member of the Irish upper class. While he professes sympathy for the plight of the poor Catholic population, he also holds a fairly contemptuous opinion of them. He takes great pains to enumerate the advantages of his proposed project for the wealthy, who would presumably be called upon to implement it. Yet Swift's irony implicates this moneyed class for their monetary greed, their personal indulgence, their unflagging attention to their own self-interest, and their indifference to the state of the poor and the state of the nation as a whole.

9. Summary • With bitter irony, that the poverty of the Irish people should be relieved by the sale of their children, “at a year old”, as food for the rich, the narrator put forward his so-called perfect proposal . • With the utmost gravity, he set out statistics to show the revenue that would come if this idea were adopted. • The remedy, Swift took care to point out, was only for the kingdom of Ireland, not for the whole England. • The last proposal is a most heartbreaking piece of sarcasm that fiery indignation has given birth to and a most powerful blow at the English government’s policy of exploitation and oppression in Ireland.

10. Workshop #1: Thesis and Introduction • Complete (with your peer) today’s workshop • I will walk-around throughout this workshop and provide feedback/assistance • Note that we are ONLY focusing on your Introduction and thesis—avoid the habit of trying to take on the entire paper at once (it leads to writer’s block and frustration) • Begin the habit this term of keeping good notes and keeping all of your research materials in ONE place (whether in a binder or on a jump drive) • Use the Annotated Bibliography tool introduced last term to keep track of sources and their content

11. Journal #3 Access the Library Information Resources Network (LIRN) at the following URL to locate scholarly articles related to your selected topic: http://www.lirn.net/accounts/login/?next=/services/classic The LIRN center requires a password. When you encounter a LIRN assignment in the syllabus, email EUO_Academics@cci.edu to request a password. You may use this password throughout the course. There is a Training tab on the LIRN sign-in page. Click it to see a list of links that explain how to use the site. Click the Online Using LIRN Guide® link for information on how to use the site. Read Chapter 12, “Writing and Refining Your Thesis,” pages 141-147. Read Chapter 13, “Organizing Your Project,” pages 148-160. **Those of you who were in my Composition I course, remember that you may use your final essay for that course as the “starting point” for this Term Paper. With that in mind, identify your previously crafted Thesis Statement, record it here (in this exercise) and then improve/tighten it according to our readings and additional lecture content so far this term. What is your new thesis?

12. Peer Exercise #3: Selecting an Argument for Analysis • Go to the Selections for Analysis Document on the Course Materials site • Read through the choices with your peer and discuss the topics; if you are unfamiliar with a writer/essay/speech, either do a quick search (all of these are fairly well-read) or ask • Narrow your choices down to two or three that you can agree upon (based upon topic only) • Then, on a sheet of paper, declare your choice for me. I will either retrieve a copy of the text for you or make one available within a day • Extra credit is given to those who opt for works that I note as longer or more complex**