Page 145 - The Language of Composition 4e Teacher Edition Sample.indd

Braids 1995 Arnold Rice (20th C./American) Oil on Canvas Private Collection by Rice, country was watching. People got dressed up to 4 chapter 4
withstand being put down. They dressed with full
awareness that an outfit risked ruin: skirts twisted
round, glasses cracked, ribbons undone, hair
soaked, fabric stained with mustard, cream and
blood. What hat didn’t stand a good chance of
permanent separation from its wearer? What fine
pair of shoes didn’t risk meeting its doom? A
mustache, though? Hard to mar one of those. It
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used for this sample chapter.
was a magisterial vestige of elegance in defiance.
It couldn’t be snatched at or yanked. It held its
Other Voices / Wesley Morris
ground, no matter how many times a nightstick
or fist might attempt to remove it.
I look at those pictures and wonder about
Arnold/Superstock
getting dressed — for contempt — about groom-
ing oneself for it. . . .
This is also to say that, for the righteous and
wayward alike, the process entails a disturbance 35
Braids, by artist Arnold Rice (1957–2021), was of the line between vanity and knowledge of
painted in 1995. self. In 2018, Martin Luther King Jr.’s former bar-
What perspective does Rice convey about the
TION
DIFFERENTIA
meaning of hair and braiding in this painting? ber, Nelson Malden, spoke to Alabama Public DIFFERENTIATION
How does the generational experience Radio about grooming King: “He was more con-
Collaborative Learning
depicted here relate to Wesley Morris’s cerned about his mustache than his haircut. He Collaborative Learning
observations about his own family and his always liked his mustache to be up off the lip,
Morris chooses to use several sentences
Morris chooses to use several sentences
decision to keep his mustache? nation closer to embodying the hair beneath his with its products. Not for redistribution.
like a butterfly. He would tell me, ‘Make it like a with complex ideas at the end of his essay.
.
with complex ideas at the end of his essay
butterfly this time.’” You might divide the following sentences
Y
ou might divide the following sentences
It’s grueling work, the business of becoming a among gr oups in your class:
among groups in your class:
now as a generational phenomenon. These peo- butterfly. Long, ugly periods of churn and slog. But
ple were all born between 1920 and 1950. Of then you have this light, fluttering thing. It might “It was a magisterial vestige of elegance
their children, only my cousins Butchie and Kyle have seemed inadequate — or incongruous, at in defiance” (par. 33).
are describable as mustache men. least — for King to grip the sides of a lectern to tell “This is also to say that, for the righ-
This is why I’ve kept mine. It’s me squeezing congregants that they were all striving to bring the teous and wayward alike, the process
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use
my way into a parallel heritage. In this small entails a disturbance of the line between
sense, the work I do caring for it feels connected nose. But when you know that he thought of his vanity and knowledge of self” (par. 35).
to a legacy of people who did and do the work look as bespeaking a kind of weightlessness, you
chipping at and thinking with this nation. The could also surmise that he knew the price of such “But when you know that he thought of
good work. flight might be life itself. He was trying to align the his look as bespeaking a kind of weight-
Something obvious in just about any photo- country with that mustache. We’re not there yet. lessness, you could also surmise that
graph taken of Black Americans during the civil But we’re working on it. he knew the price of such flight might
rights era is how put-together everyone is. They Make it like a butterfly next time. be life itself” (par. 36).
Ask them to use context clues (and, per-
wore to war what they wore to church. The 2020 Ask them to use context clues (and, per -
haps, dictionaries) to paraphrase the sen-
haps, dictionaries) to paraphrase the sen-
tences’ meanings. They can then shar e and
tences’ meanings. They can then share and
Wesley Morris, “My Mustache, My Self,” The New York Times, October 25, 2020. Copyright © 2020 by The New York Times. All rights reserved. Used under
compare their results and also discuss why
license. https://nytimes.com/ compar e their r esults and also discuss why
Morris chose to include several complex
Morris chose to include several complex
251
statements at the end of his essay .
statements at the end of his essay.
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DIFFERENTIATION
Connections to Text
In paragraph 32, Morris states his mustache
makes him feel “connected to a legacy of
people who did and do the work chipping at
and thinking with this nation. The good work.”
Students could research and read another
article by Morris whose purpose they feel fits
this description. You could also ask them how
this article, about his mustache, fulfills that
purpose. If they created a definition of “good-
ness” earlier, you could ask them if it applies
to his use of “good” here, too.

Other Voices / Wesley Morris 251

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