Ken Macrorie The Poison Fish Analysis

Engfish *English

Professor Ken Macrorie is frustrated, and through his article “The Poison Fish” is willing to help college students become good writers instead of using phony and pretentious language to impress their teachers. He names this language, Engfish through his frustration of the use of the phony language he explains why it is bad, and then with an optimistic tone gives hsi college students a way to become great writers .

The first three pages of Macrories article are to give examples of this newly defined “language” Engfish, and explain why it is bad. Macrorie is a college professor that struggles with the way his students write, he gives their type of writing a name. “ Pure Engfish undefined, a tongue never spoken outside the walls.”(Macrorie298). Meaning that college students usually only want to please their teachers and think that using pretentious,confusing and phony language will help them get a good grade on an

essay, when in reality they would never speak like that. He goes on to show the difference between Engfish and the way people talk in real life. He ponders on how no one on campus would stop and say “ I desire assistance in the location of Sangren Hall.” (Macrorie298) instead they would stop and ask, how do I get to Sangren Hall? That would be the more natural way of asking for directions, but he believes students tend to use the first example , with a more scholarly tone, in their writing because they think that is what teachers want. However Macrorie assures his audience that no teacher wants this Engfish, instead they want natural and clear writing. “Teachers become fed up with writing like that.”(Macrorie298). They don’t support it and definitely do not want to see it in essays.
Yet there is always the question of what teachers want in writing? Macrorie gives an example of a third grader who was describing a Hawaiian guitar, the boy wrote a small paragraph where he used words and phrases such as “tight as a jar”, “high”, and “lower”(Macrorie299). He didn't use any big “purple” words to describe the guitar instead he used what made sense to him. Macrorie frowns on college student would look at the writing and see a bad paragraph, instead of the content and great expression. This is why Macrorie compares the college students to third graders, “ The difference between the college students’ writing and the third-grade child’s is simple: One is Dead, the other is alive.”(Macrorie299). The child is alive because he cares about what he is writing about and expresses what he feels and observes. The college students are dead because they are pretentious and keep their own expressions and observations to themselves while they try to please the teacher with a scholarly way of writing. The teacher doesn't want to have to try and understand what you are writing you should be showing her what you are writing through your work. Teachers want writing that doesn't waste words, and who show that they know what they are talking about, teachers want the third grader that once was in every college student.
Macrorie implements more examples and explanations of the steps he believes help create good writers, the requirements to helps college students find the third grader in themselves. The tone shifts from the frustration of the use of Engfish, and the comparison between college and child writing, to an optimistic call to action. He starts by giving examples or “requirements” to good writers. “ This is the first step to good writing: truth…”(Macrorie300). He stresses how young students are taught how to lie and fill their writing with false details to give more detail. Macrories believes that a good writer should be able to shake that habit and try to hold themselves to the highest standard of truth telling. Another requirement is have a clear writing, understandable writing. He gives this example of a sentence from a college student's essay, “ If you are a student who desires assistance in order to write effectively and fluently, then this textbook is written for you.”(Macrorie298). This sentence is not alive and as Macrories says will probably be forgotten a year later, because it has no meaning. Writing that is easily understood is the type of writing Macrorie has hope for.
“ But there is a way out” (Macrorie299).

Macrorie has hope that with the steps he provided college students will be more inclined to try and improve their writing. The steps go from “ Writing Freely without a focus” to “ Writing Freely with a focus”. These steps give the audience some assurance that it’s not too difficult to change their writing skills. Writing freely without a focus is the first step, it calls the audience to take sometime out of their busy college lives and free write of ten minutes nonstop. This will help provide voice, by forcing yourself to write nonstop you give yourself no time for Engfish and lies. Macrories reviews a student who attempted ten minutes of free writing this is an excerpt from her writing , “Just one impression was the result, no heat or light or sound- all of them rolled into one impact when the torch set off the fumes.”(Macrorie302). The student accomplished everything Macrorie wanted to, the writer perfectly communicated the effect of an explosion in a short space and it made complete

sense.
Writing freely and with a focus is the second and final step that closes the process, it ties together all of Macrories ideas from the first step, of truth and clearness, in a writing with more of a purpose in contrast to the first step. The last step asks for college students to free write for 15 minutes and to try and focus it around a specific topic. Macrorie uses an example from a college student that is a personal narrative about the students experience with snow sledding (Macrorie305). He says that the writing is “so honest it reveals the writer twice making a fool of himself.”(Macrorie205). This is to show that the writer was so truthful that she even makes fun of herself, and she connects the audience to sympathize her so every word has meaning to the audience. Writing with a focus does not have to be perfect, Macrorie talks about how it is not easy to be truthful or connect with the audience, but that it takes practice. With practice college students can be good even great writers.
Macrories was very strategic in his format, supplying his audience with explanations, examples and a solution to stopping Engfish. He stresses the importance of having your own voice and then helps college students find it. Not only does he explain how one can achieve being a good writer, he gives steps on how and shows that everyone has struggled trying to find the great writer within themselves, and that there is hope. Macrorie makes it easy for college students to follow his steps and to focus on the main requirements , honesty, end to Engfish, and clarity in writing.