Allegory of the cave paper

Essay #1

For this first paper I am asking that you write an analysis of any one or two [or three] of the essays we’ve read to this point. A good understanding of the four expository modes of writing will help you in the formation of your paper. The paper should be designed as a comparison/contrast, process, division and analysis [also known as division and classification] or cause and effect paper. Consider either analyzing one essay [division/analysis, cause and effect, process] or two essays [comparison/contrast]. Consider also class discussions of the material. Below are illustrations of each mode. Get to know them, think about how you might write about any of these authors’ essays using one of these four patterns.

“Process” writing usually involves the separation of your subject [the essay] into its component parts. It divides a continuous action into steps or stages. Two purposes of process analysis should be most familiar to the writer: a “directive process analysis” explains how to do something or make something. This might include a description of the “process” the author believes is necessary for something to take place. For example, was Frederick Douglass in his “Narrative” going through a process? If so, what was it? Or you might walk the reader through Plato’s “Allegory” step by step. An “informative process analysis,” on the other hand, explains how something is done or how it takes place. Such an essay might describe how the author designed his/her essay—the parts of the essay leading to its conclusion. An effective process essay can hold a reader’s interest by helping him or her to understand how something works. “Douglass’s method of dividing his essay into two parts…Plato’s method of showing development…”

A “Division and Analysis” essay expresses a division of a subject into several parts to be analyzed or further classified. To divide is to separate the subject [an essay] into parts and analyze each part. You might argue that Plato’s essay is in six essential parts or that Bacon’s is in four parts [it is] and that each part has its own “characteristics” [it does]. Nietzsche’s Morality as Anti Nature” might be thought of in parts, according to what you see as the main divisions in terms of ideas [sensuality, hostility, the church, politics]. Francis Bacon uses several examples to illustrate each one of his idols [cave, marketplace, tribe, etc.] You might discuss the examples he uses. Choosing a subject and breaking it down into its component parts, analyzing each part, one at a time, is known as “division and analysis.” Many of the essays we’ve read can be carefully broken down into parts and studied that way. Of course, the parts all form a whole and this is probably something you’d want to demonstrate.

A “Cause and Effect” paper [closest form to argument] explores “causes” and asks the question Why? and must answer that question to the satisfaction of the reader. An essay might provide several reasons [causes] for why a certain thing is what it is. For example, a writer might provide several reasons [3 is usually sufficient] for why Douglass’s essay is more effective than Plato’s or Bacon’s. The essay might likewise demonstrate [point out] the “effects” [results] of something [e.g., the effects of “education” on Mrs. Auld in Douglass’s essay. As another example, the writer might point out the “effects” [results] of Plato’s “Allegory” on modern educational practices or beliefs. A cause and effect paper is driven by “thesis” and attempts to either answer the question why or provide evidence of the “effect” that something has on something else. “To figure out reasons and results is to use the method of cause and effect.” [Bedford Reader 412] Look for relationships by explaining why something is the way it is [explore causes] or by showing what the results are of its existence [explore effects], or both.

A “Comparison/Contrast” essay demonstrates a separation of two things based on how they are either alike or different or both. A comparison/contrast paper, like the other two, also requires a very clear thesis. It is this thesis statement by which your entire argument will turn. In order to compare or contrast two things, you first need to say something about these similarities or differences. Comparison/contrast can be made in two fundamental ways: by using a “point by point” comparison, by which the subjects are discussed in relation to each other one point at a time; or by using a “side by side” comparison, by which the subjects are discussed separately, one at a time, in relation to the thesis. Plato and Bacon have similar views of man’s nature and the problems of perception. A comparison of these authors would be very effective. The style of Douglass’s essay versus the style of Nietzsche or Plato or Bacon would also work. Last, consider some of what we talked about in class. You might compare the “Sermon on the Mount” with Nietzsche’s ideas about morality—you might also compare Freud with Jung—this comparison will come up in next week’s lecture. I will send another prompt with further ideas regarding these authors and their ideas.

Paper is 3-4 pages in length, must be typed, double-spaced. Good luck! I will send along more ideas as I find them or as they come up in class.