Download Exploring Rhetorical Modes in The Crucible

Exploring Rhetorical Modes in The Crucible
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are eight rhetorical modes of writing:
Narration – tell a story about your subject
Description – describe your subject using colorful language
Process Analysis – explain how something happens
Illustration / Exemplification – give examples to explain your subject
Definition – define your subject in one of several ways
Comparison / Contrast – compare your subject to something else
Division and Classification – break your down into its parts
Causal Analysis – list your subject’s known causes and/or effects
a. Read pgs. 192 – 194 and take notes on the differences the editors use to approach the topic of guilt.
b. With a partner decide on a theme to explore in The Crucible :_____________________
c. You and your partner will each write a paper on this theme. You and your partner will choose two
different rhetorical modes in which to write. One of you will employ one of the techniques in your
paper, while the other uses the second. Should you choose to work individually, you may do so.
d. Read the “Editors’ Council” for each of your chosen modes, taking notes.
Your prompt is:
In a well-written essay, identify and explore how Arthur Miller uses your chosen theme to make a
statement about human behavior and modern society. Your paper should include the following:
a. A statement of the theme
b. A thorough explanation of how the author crafts his work to illustrate and convey the
significance of the theme (through character or plot development, situational setting / occasion /
irony)
c. What is the significance of the theme in modern society?
Be sure to include:
 Title of the work, author’s name and genre
Do NOT begin your essay with “In the book The Crucible, by Arthur Miller it says….”
 Thesis statement (review chapter 4)
 Textual evidence from The Crucible (using MLA text citation)
Author's name in text: “Miller has expressed this concern.” (118-21).
Author's name in reference: “This concern has been expressed.” (Dover 118-21).
For more information: http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/mla#citing
 Your commentary and analysis on the effects of this theme
 Connection to larger picture – how does this idea connect society, culture then and now?
 Type your paper, double spaced (Arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman or similar font, 12 pt.)
Last Name, First Name
Date
AP English, Period ____
Title (ex): Exploring _____________(theme) in The Crucible
Your essay is due on _______________________
Examples for approaching The Crucible in the various modes:
Narration
We can often be inspired by the goings-on around us. Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible, experienced a
wave of fear and loathing in his time that reminded him of a terrible time in American history when
rationality flew out the window, just as people thought bewitched children could do. (Continue your essay
as if you are telling a story.)
Description
Fear and loathing can turn the average individual into animalistic monsters who turn on their friends and
forget their social needs. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible dramatizes how such fear and loathing engulfed a
whole society in colonial America, tearing at the simplest human qualities and devouring nearly all sense of
reason. Miller’s intent was to awaken America to the fact that a similar tidal wave of inhumanity toward our
fellow man was swelling through our nation at the hands of Joe McCarthy and his congressional committee.
Process Analysis
Fear and loathing can lead to the destruction of not only the individual, but also his or her community.
Several characters in Arthur Miller’s mid-century drama, The Crucible, are affected by fear and loathing, or
attitudes which lead to this, and the result is pandemonium.
Illustration/Exemplification
Fear and loathing can overpower all sense of reason. Arthur Miller, in his drama The Crucible, illustrates this
through the actions and reactions of several of his characters. Abigail Williams, for instance, fears
discovery of her deceit in the town of Salem and commits all sorts of heinous acts to protect herself,
regardless of the harm done to others. (Give examples of her acts that demonstrate fear and/or loathing.)
Definition
Fear and loathing are emotions that can be experienced by one who has committed a wrong, or is
untrusting or jealous of those around her. She may even perceive, correctly or incorrectly, that she herself
has been wronged. Abigail Williams, in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, not only experiences fear and loathing
herself, but she also inspires fear and loathing in others. These emotions can be aroused via internal
conflict or by external stimuli.
And so on….