[English 101 Sample Assignment #2c]

Essay 2: Identity and Appearances

Three copies for your writing group due at the start of class Tuesday, Sept. 22

Typed revised draft due to me (your instructor) on Thursday, Sept. 24

Length: 4-5 pages of revised, polished writing

In your reader, Nancy Mairs (“On Being a Cripple”), Rebecca Thomas Kirkendall (“Who’s a Hillbilly?”) and Brent Staples (“Black Men and Public Space”) write about appearances.  These writers discuss the mistaken assumptions that people make about them, based on the group that they seem to belong to.  Pat Mora’s poem even suggests “the discomfort/ of being pre-judged/ Bi-laterally.”

Write an essay that challenges one assumption, or two or three related assumptions, that are commonly voiced about a group that you belong to.  (This should be something like an age group, ethnic group, regional group, activity group, etc.  Avoid writing about a small local club or secret society that your audience would know nothing about.)  Your objective will be to inform a misinformed audience of outsiders and to persuade them to view you and your group differently, or at least more knowledgeably.

 For this paper, you will draw primarily on your experiences as a member of the group, but it would also be a good idea to interview other group members or do some research in magazines or other texts.

You might begin your prewriting by listing all the groups to which you “belong.”  Then, after choosing one of these groups, list some generalizations that outsiders often make about it.  (What do outsiders say about your group or about you as a member of the group? How do you know they say this?)  Follow with another list of things that you know to be true about your group.  Make notes about an experience or a set of experiences that, for you, illustrate the truth about this group.  (How do you know what’s true about the group and about yourself as a member?)

In an essay like this, it’s easy to go on and on about how other people should not be prejudiced and bigoted.  That’s not what I want you to do in this piece of writing.  Instead, I’d like you to educate your readers about your group and about how you fit (or don’t completely fit) into it.  Perhaps, as their understanding increases, your readers will be less likely to make hasty generalizations about you and your group.  One of your challenges will be to figure out how to inform them without alienating them.  (Do you think they will change their minds if they are simply better informed?  Or will you have to try to persuade them too?)

Some things I value in a paper done for this assignment:

Development with adequate detail and worthwhile reflection.  I need enough

information, and I need enough guidance from you so that I can interpret

this information well.

            Focus: the essay has a main point or center of gravity

            Clarity: I don’t get mixed up because of mistakes or vagueness

            Organization: the essay seems to have a shape or plan that makes sense for this topic.

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