Arguing About Literature
A Guide and ReaderFourth Edition| ©2024 John Schilb; John Clifford
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Literature worth arguing about: Literary analysis and argument in one book
As critical thinking and coherent argument become even more important in our world, Arguing about Literature economically combines two first-year writing books in one: a concise guide to reading literature and writing arguments, and a compact thematic anthology of stories, poems, plays, essays, and arguments. Achieve with Arguing about Literature puts student reading and writing at the core of your course with reading comprehension quizzes for the book’s selections, LearningCurve adaptive quizzing for literature, and a dedicated composition space that guides students through draft, review, source check, reflection, and revision.
Features
Thorough treatment of rhetorical and literary analysis with instruction in argument and research. Part One, “A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature,” explains and models ways of reading literature that will help students form arguments of their own. Part One includes literary works and focuses on how to write arguments about them. It also guides students through the process of research, detailing how to find, critique, incorporate, and cite sources.
Thematic anthology with unique clusters that focus on literature, argument, and research. Part Two, “Literature and Arguments” is structured around five thematic chapters relevant to student lives: families, love, freedom and confinement, crime and justice, and journeys. These focused groupings of readings on compelling issues that engage and provoke students, with authors from a diverse variety of backgrounds.
Evaluating internet sources and visual arguments. It’s important for students to be able to identify when sources, websites, and images offer real information and credible claims--and when they don’t. Chapter 8, “Evaluating Internet Resources in the Post-Truth Age” addresses these skills and helps students develop their analytical eye.
Plentiful writing opportunities throughout. Writing exercises, questions, and assignments prompt students to respond to the readings and try out the techniques they are learning.
New to This Edition
A diverse array of authors. Arguing about Literature offers fresh voices, including work from such contemporary fiction writers as Yxta Maya Murray, Brandon Hobson, T. C. Boyle, and Ted Chiang, as well as canonical authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, James Joyce, and Leslie Marmon Silko. New poetry selections are an exciting blend of classic work by figures including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Donne, and Sylvia Plath, and contemporary poems from Terrance Hayes, Marilyn Nelson, Shelley Wong, and Ruth Ellen Kocher.
Emerging issues that will resonate with students. Chapter 1 includes a timely opinion article for students to examine. It’s an argument in which two scholars of disability studies raise questions about the ethics of gene editing. Similarly, the “Literature and Current Issues” clusters in Part Two include recent essays on issues such as climate denial, the COVID pandemic, book banning, the opioid crisis, and war crimes in Ukraine.
A brief guide to using inclusive language. A new section in Chapter 2 “Writing Effective Arguments” explains how to use inclusive language and that using inclusive language will only strengthen one’s writing. Many instructors have told us that they and their students would appreciate having a resource like this to consult.
“Arguing about Literature has always been a preferred textbook in our department. The fact that it is keeping up with current learning and teaching trends, utilizes the new technologies, and provides relevant readings is major.” – Jarrod Patterson, Alabama A&M University
“I come from a rhetoric background, so when I learned we were switching our ENGL 1302 approach from rhetoric to literature, I was hesitant. However, Arguing about Literature does reflect many of the rhetorical strategies that I already had been teaching, and its refreshing how much the chosen literature reflects common issues in todays society. Its a good blend.” – Beverly Powell, Dallas Baptist University
“Arguing about Literature combines the process for analysis with the theme of literature in various genres. It’s a resource guide for teaching argument through a literary lens.” – Maria Gray, Tulsa Community College
“Arguing about Literature is substantive and thorough. It includes diverse voices and perspectives, and it also helps students understand the timeless themes and issues revealed in literature. Its usefulness is in providing enough content that students can choose from a wide but curated selection of issues and writers to research and write their final projects on.” – Jacqueline Boals, Dalton State College
“Arguing about Literature has a diverse variety of quality literature and essays to help build your course and teach not only literary analysis but the writing of research essays.” – Timothy Ruoff, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
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Arguing About Literature
Fourth Edition| ©2024
John Schilb; John Clifford
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Arguing About Literature
Fourth Edition| 2024
John Schilb; John Clifford
Table of Contents
Preface for Instructors
Contents by Genre
PART ONE: A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature
1. What Is Argument?
An Argument about Cell Phones
Paul Goldberger, Disconnected Urbanism
Getting Another Perspective
Pamela Paul, The Phone Call
Understanding Rhetoric
The Elements of Argument
Sample Argument for Analysis
Sandy Sufian and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, The Dark Side of CRISPR
Writing a Response to an Argument
Further Strategies for Analyzing an Argument So You Can Write a Response to It
An Argument for Analysis
Regina Rini, Should We Rename Institutions That Honor Dead Racists?
2. Writing Effective Arguments
Strategies for Developing an Effective Style of Argument
Structuring Your Argument: Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay
A Student Response to an Argument
Paul Austin, The Need for True Consent to CRISPR
Arguing in the First Person: Can You Use I?
Use Inclusive Language
Arguments for Analysis
Lee Siegel, Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans
Alexandra Petri, Take all books off the shelves. They’re just too dangerous.
3. How to Argue about Literature
Why Study Literature in a College Writing Course?
A Story for Analysis
Jamaica Kincaid, Girl
Strategies for Arguing about Literature
A Sample Student Argument about Literature
Ann Schumwalt, The Mother’s Mixed Messages in “Girl”
Looking at Literature as Argument
Jimmy Santiago Baca, So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans
Robert Frost, Mending Wall
Ted Chiang, The Great Silence
Literature and Current Issues: Poems about Climate Change
Jane Hirshfield, Let Them Not Say
Rena Priest, The Index
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Dear Matafele Peinem
4. The Reading Process
Strategies for Close Reading
A Poem for Analysis
Sharon Olds, Summer Solstice, New York City
Applying the Strategies
Reading Closely by Annotating
Emily Skillings, Girls Online
Further Strategies: Topics of Literary Studies
Lynda Hull, Night Waitress
Identify Speech Acts
Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Elizabeth Bishop, One Art
5. The Writing Process
Rachel Kadish, Letters Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Exploring
Strategies for Planning
Strategies for Composing
First Draft of a Student Essay
Dylan Rieff, Letters Don’t Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Revising
A Checklist for Revising
Revised Draft of a Student Essay
Dylan Rieff, Letters Don’t Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Writing a Comparative Essay
Don Paterson, Two Trees
Luisa A. Igloria, Regarding History
A Student Comparative Essay
Jeremy Cooper, Don Paterson’s Criticism of Nature’s Owners
6. Writing about Literary Genres
Writing about Stories
Rivka Galchen, Usl at the Stadium
The Elements of Short Fiction
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Lydia Marsh, Why It’s Good for Usl to Wait
Writing about Poems
Mary Oliver, Singapore
Yusef Komunyakaa, Blackberries
Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Mill
The Elements of Poetry
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Michaela Fiorucci, Negotiating Boundaries
Comparing Poems and Pictures
Rolando Perez, Office at Night
Edward Hopper, Office at Night
A Sample Essay Comparing a Poem and a Picture
Karl Magnusson, Lack of Motion and Speech in Rolando Perez’s “Office at Night”
Writing about Plays
August Strindberg, The Stronger
A Student’s Personal Response to the Play
The Elements of Drama
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Carly Chen, Which Is the Stronger Actress in August Strindberg’s Play?
7. Writing Researched Arguments
Begin Your Research by Giving It Direction
Search for Sources in the Library and Online
Evaluate the Sources
Record Your Sources’ Key Details
Strategies for Integrating Sources
Avoid Plagiarism
Strategies for Documenting Sources (MLA Format)
Directory to MLA Works-Cited Entries
Books
Short Works from Collections and Anthologies
Multiple Works by the Same Author
Works in Periodicals
Online Sources
Citation Formats for Other Kinds of Sources
A Note on Endnotes
Three Annotated Student Researched Arguments
Sarah Hassan, “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Guide to Social Factors in Postpartum Depression
How Sarah Uses Her Sources
Nathan Johnson, The Meaning of the Husband’s Fainting in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
How Nathan Uses His Sources
Fatima Nagi, The Relative Absence of the Human Touch in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
How Fatima Uses Her Sources
Contexts for Research: Confinement, Mental Illness, and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
Cultural Contexts
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”
S. Weir Mitchell, From “The Evolution of the Rest Treatment”
John Harvey Kellogg, From The Ladies’ Guide in Health and Disease
8. Evaluating Internet Resources in a “Post-Truth” Age
Evaluating Written Arguments You Find on the Internet
Margaret Atwood, All Bread
Helena Minton, “Bread”
Varda He, Restaurants Should Be More Aware of Celiac, Gluten-Free Diet Limits
Critically Analyzing Web Sites’ Truth Claims
Summing Up the Recommendations
Understanding Strategies in Visual Arguments on the Internet
Topic: War
Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est (poem)
WWI recruitment poster
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Environmental Destruction
Linda Hogan, Songs for Turtles in the Gulf (poem)
Image: Anti-liter ad
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Refugees
Tracy K. Smith, Refuge
Photograph: Ukrainian refugees
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Borders
Alberto Ríos, The Border: A Double Sonnet (poem)
Map: U.S.-Mexico Border
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Guns
Katie Bickham, The Ferryman (poem)
Graph: Mass Shootings in 222
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Summing Up the Strategies
Identifying Biases You Might Bring to Your Internet Research
PART TWO: Literature and Arguments
9. Families
Mothers and Daughters: Stories
Alice Walker, Everyday Use
Amy Tan, Two Kinds
Alma Luz Villanueva, Her Choice
Siblings in Conflict: Stories
Tobias Wolff, The Rich Brother
James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues
Reconciling with Fathers: Poems
Lucille Clifton, forgiving my father
Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays
Theodore Roethke, My Papa’s Waltz
Li-Young Lee, My Father, in Heaven, Is Reading Out Loud
Legacies: Poems
Nikki Giovanni, Legacies
Linda Hogan, Heritage
Richard Blanco, Queer Theory: According to My Grandmother
Gary Soto, Behind Grandma’s House
Ruth Ellen Kocher, We May No Longer Consider the End
Philip Schultz, The Women’s March
Literature and Current Issues: Family History and Climate Denial: A Poem and an Essay
Shelley Wong, How to Live in Southern California
David Wallace-Wells, What’s Worse: Climate Denial or Climate Hypocrisy?
Arguments about a Poem: “Daddy”
Sylvia Plath, Daddy
Arguments about the Poem
Lynda K. Bundtzen, From Plath’s Incarnations
Tim Kendall, From Sylvia Plath: A Critical Study
Literature and Current Issues: Families in Conflict: A Story and an Essay
Yxta Maya Murray, Paradise
Hira Ahmad, Political Animosity and Estrangement
Context for Research: Would You Die for a Belief? A Play and an Essay
Sophocles, Antigone
Nayan Shah, Inmates’ hunger strikes take powerful stand against injustice
10. Love
Is This Love?: Stories
James Joyce, Araby
Leslie Marmon Silko, Yellow Woman
T.C. Boyle, The Love of My Life
William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily
True Love: Poems
William Shakespeare, Let me not to the marriage of true minds
John Keats, Bright Star
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How Do I Love Thee?
E. E. Cummings, somewhere i have never travelled
Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Be Near Me
Melancholy Loves: Poems
Edna St. Vincent Millay, What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why
Robin Becker, Morning Poem
W. H. Auden, Funeral Blues
Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach
Literature and Current Issues: What Constitutes Consent? A Story and an Essay
Kristen Roupenian, Cat Person
Katelyn Ewen, When “Yes” Really Means “Yes”
Literature and Current Issues: Is Tribalistic Hate Necessary? Poems and An Essay
Thomas Lux, The People of the Other Village
Danusha LamÉris, Small Kindnesses
Thomas B. Edsall, No Hate Left Behind
11. Freedom and Confinement
Where Tradition Is a Trap: Stories
Shirley Jackson, The Lottery
Alexander Weinstein, Rocket Night
Contexts for Research: Confinement at Work: A Story and an Essay
Daniel Orozco, Orientation
Edith Cooper, Don’t Return to the Office for Your Boss. Go Back for Yourself.
Resisting Stereotypes: Poems
Chrystos, Today Was a Bad Day like TB
Dwight Okita, In Response to Executive Order 966
Pat Mora, Legal Alien
Toi Derricotte, Black Boys Play the Classics
Naomi Shihab Nye, Blood
David Hernandez, Words without Thoughts Never to Heaven Go
Uma Wwivedi, I Conflate Shame and Desire and the Ocean Purses Her Lips
A Creative Confinement: Poems by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson, Wild Nights — Wild Nights!
Emily Dickinson, Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Emily Dickinson, Much Madness is divinest Sense —
Emily Dickinson, I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Domestic Prisons: Plays
Susan Glaspell, Trifles
Lynn Nottage, POOF!
Dreams of Escape: Stories
Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour
Kirstin Valdez Quade, The Manzanos
Literature and Current Issues: Deadly Addiction: A Poem and an Essay
Emily Yong, Opioid, Alcohol, Despair
Maia Szalavitz, Opioids Feel Like Love: That’s Why They’re Deadly in Tough Times
Literature and Current Issues: Indian Displacement Scandals: A Story and an Essay
Brand Hobson, Escape from the Dysphesiac People
Rukmini Callimachi, Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools
Literature and Current Issues: Dealing with a Pandemic: A Story and an Essay
Edgar Allen Poe, Masque of the Red Death
Rupert Neate, Super-Rich Jet Off to Disaster Bunkers Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
Contexts for Research: Domesticity, Women’s Rights, and A Doll’s House
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House
Susanna Rustin, Why A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen Is More Relevant than Ever
Literature and Current Issues: Robots and Consciousness: A Story and an Essay
Isaac Asimov, Liar
Cade Metz, A.I. Is Not Sentient: Why Do People Say It Is?
12. Crime and Justice
Discovering Injustice: Stories
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown
Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson
Ha Jin, Saboteur
Justice for Workers: Poems
William Blake, The Chimney Sweeper
Deborah Garrison, Worked Late on a Tuesday Night
Secret Crimes: Stories
Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart
Edward J. Delaney, Clean
A Dream of Justice: Poems by Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes, Open Letter to the South
Langston Hughes, Theme for English B
Langston Hughes, Harlem
Literature and Current Issues: Can War Crimes Be Punished?: A Story and Essays
Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl
Lorenzo Tondo, Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine, say UN investigators
Masha Gessen, From The Law of War
Arguments about a Story: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Arguments about the Story
Flannery O’Connor, From Mystery and Manners
Stephen Bandy, From “ ‘One of My Babies’: The Misfit and the Grandmother”
Contexts for Research: Innocence, Evil, and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Contexts for Research
Don Moser, The Pied Piper of Tucson: He Cruised in a Golden Car, Looking for the Action
Joyce Carol Oates, Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film
Literature and Current Issues: Racial Injustice: Poems
Marilyn Nelson, A Wreath for Emmett Till (Sonnet IV)
Aracelis Girmay, From The Black Maria
Hafizah Geter, Testimony
Terrance Hayes, George Floyd
13. Journeys
Fairy Tale Journeys: Stories
Charles Perrault, Little Red Riding Hood
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Little Red Cap
Angela Carter, The Company of Wolves
Wartime Journeys: Stories
Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Final Journeys: Poems
John Donne, Death Be Not Proud
Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death
Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory
Claude McKay, If We Must Die
Journey through Time: Stories
Ray Bradbury, Mars Is Heaven!
Octavia Butler, From Imago
Joanna Russ, When It Changed
Literature and Current Issues: Immigration and Justice
Juan Felipe Herrera, Roll Under the Waves
Arguments on the Issue
Douglas Rand, Want to Get Rich? Let in More Immigrants
Arguments about a Poem: “The Road Not Taken”
Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
David Orr, From The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong
Contexts for Research: Race and Social Equality: “Battle Royal” and Essays
Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal
Contexts for Research
Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address (The Atlanta Compromise)
W. E. B. DuBois, Of Mr. Booker T. Washington
Gunnar Myrdal, Social Equality
Appendix: Writing with Critical Approaches to Literature
Contemporary Schools of Criticism
Working with the Critical Approaches
James Joyce, Counterparts
Sample Student Essay
Molly Frye, A Refugee at Home (student essay)
James Joyce, Eveline (story)
Index of Authors, Titles, First Lines, and Key Terms
Authors
![Headshot of John Schilb](http://prod-cat-files.macmillan.cloud/MediaResources/Authors/207W/4381.jpg)
John Schilb
![Headshot of John Clifford](http://prod-cat-files.macmillan.cloud/MediaResources/Authors/207W/4367.jpg)
John Clifford
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Arguing About Literature
Fourth Edition| 2024
John Schilb; John Clifford
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