For my critique I chose “The values of Difficulty” by Judith Butler. In this article Butler responds to an opposing article by Denis Dutton. Dutton critiques her writing style because she uses complex language that isn’t needed. Butler believes that articulate language is needed to question common sense as well as to provoke thought. In my critique I will discuss the complex language Butler uses and discus her opinion on common sense.
She argues that in the humanities articulate writing is needed to provoke thoughts. She states that in humanities they seriously discus many horrific issues such as slavery and women not being able to vote. (147) Butler states that. By being articulate you are able to challenge these issues that are thought of
…show more content…
as common sense. Butler goes on to say “Language that takes up this challenge can help point the way to a more socially just world”. Consequently I do agree that these issues should be challenged but you don’t need to use scholarly language to do so. It is important that we educate students on these issues, however if you are using to advanced language students will not understand. Using complex language doesn’t help children learn sentence structure or grammar.
Instead complex language can over complicate things. Overall I found this article to be very confusing due to the language she used. Butler used many complex words such as tacit, nefarious and paradoxical. By using these words this article came off as too confusing for me and lead me to get frustrated with myself. Teaching using complex language causes students to not understand what the writer is saying. When the student doesn’t understand this can cause anger, self-doubt, and sorrow. Not knowing or understanding complex words leads to students not understanding multiple sentences which results in the student not getting the point. This problem then leads students to not value the course because they don’t understand what they’re learning. Therefore this causes problems in the present and in the future for students. Presently students skip class or don’t do the work which results in poor grades. In the future this will also affect their studies because they didn’t learn simple lessons due to teachers over complicating things. Furthermore this also affects the student not learning the lessons that Judith Butler wanted them to comprehend (interrogate?
Provoke?) Although I have critiqued butlers work I can also relate to her perspective. Throughout Jr. High and some of high school I did not have any articulate teachers. In Jr. High and high school I wrote very few essays, this resulted in me not knowing how. If imp taught basic English that’s how ill understand and write. I wouldn’t understand Judith Butler’s language, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. It means that’s the way I’ve been taught. This then has affected me in University, I do believe that there are problems with are education system but I don’t believe this is the way to solve them.
Palmer, William. "Rhetorical Analysis." Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, Writing, and Style. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2012. 268-69. Print.
He too quickly dismisses the idea of reading on your own to find meaning and think critically about a book. For him, Graff states that “It was through exposure to such critical reading and discussion over a period of time that I came to catch the literary bug.” (26) While this may have worked for Graff, not all students will “experience a personal reaction” (27) through the use of critical discussion.
In her article “The Needless Complexity of Academic Writing” published on October 26, 2015, Victoria Clayton argues that academics should not write to such a high level that they are not able to be understood by those who are not
As every well-read person knows, the background in which you grow up plays a huge role in how you write and your opinions. Fuller grew up with a very strict education, learning multiple classic languages before she was eight years old. Fern grew up with writers all throughout her family and had a traditional education and saw first hand the iniquities of what hard-working had to contend with. Through close analysis of their work, a reader can quickly find the connections between their tone, style, content, and purpose and their history of their lives and their educational upbringing.
"Any critical reading of a text will be strengthened by a knowledge of how a text is valued by readers in differing contexts."
David Foster Wallace, author of the essay “Authority and American Usage*,” praises and advocates for “good” writers who have a strong rhetorical ability, which he defines as “the persuasive use of language to influence the thoughts and actions of an audience” (Wallace 628). To have a strong rhetorical ability, an author needs to be aware of whom their audience is, in order to present their information in a way that will be influential on their audience. Wallace recognizes that an author who applies a strong rhetorical ability will be able to connect with the audience so that they respond “not just to [their] utterance but also to [them]” (Wallace 641). An author needs to take into consideration not just content, syntax and grammatical structure (their “utterance”) but also how their character will be perceived by their audience. A positive tone will make the author seem more pleasant and relatable, whereas a negative tone connotes arrogance and pretentiousness. That is why it is crucial for an author to recognize that an audience will respond to “them” and not just their “utterance,” as an author’s appearance to their readers can also shape how impactful their writing is.
Kristeva, Julia. "A Question of Subjectivity--an Interview." Modern Literary Theory: A Reader. Ed. Philip Rice and Patricia Waugh. New York: Routledge, Chapman, and Hall, 1989.
Francine Prose is a mother, a writer, a book reviewer, and most importantly, a massive critic of the type of literature that is demanded of children to read in American high schools. In a very defensive essay, Prose discusses a variety of books that she believes are a wast of actual literature. She uses a variety of rhetoric to attract the reader’s attention, and uses it to also persuade her readers to see things the way she does. Throughout the essay it becomes more apparent that the author makes multiple inferences of what she believes will happen to the generations that will entire a corrupt educational system. In the essay that Prose writes, she explains that the lack of eloquent literature is causing a demise to the education of teenagers
“Common Sense.” The American Tradition in Literature, 12th ed. New York: McGraw Hill , 2009. Print
It is fascinating to me to read the articles “Why I Write,” by George Orwell and Joan Didion. These authors touch on so many different topics for their reasons to writing. Their ideals are very much different, but their end results are the same, words on paper for people to read. Both authors made very descriptive points to how their minds wander on and off their writings while trying to write. They both often were writing about what they didn’t want to write about before they actually wrote what they wanted too. In George Orwell’s case, he wrote many things when he was young the he himself would laugh at today, or felt was unprofessional the but if he hadn’t done so he would not of been the writer he became. In Joan Didion’s case she would often be daydreaming about subjects that had nothing to do with what she intended on writing. Her style of writing in this article is actually more interesting because of this. Her mind wandering all over on many different subjects to how her writing came to her is very interesting for a person like me to read. My mind is also very restless on many different unneeded topics before I actually figure some sort of combined way to put words on to paper for people to read. Each author put down in their articles many ways of how there minds work while figuring out what they are going to write about. Both of the authors ended ...
McNeil, Hayden. The Anteater's Guide to Writing & Rhetoric. Irvine: Composition Program, Department of English, UC Irvine, 2014. Print.
Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, and John R. Willingham. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 125-156.
Gitlin, Todd. “TheLiberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut.” The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric. Ed. Shea, Renee H., Lawrence Scanlonn, and Robin Dissin Aufses. Boston: Bedford, 2008. 155-157. Print.
All throughout history, individualism has been key to the advancement of humanity including - most importantly the spreading of freedom. The world we live in has been changed greatly through the individual's critical understanding of literacy. The vigilant and knowledgeable use of the written word is what carries one's claims to the world. "Emancipatory literacy is a necessary foundation for cultural action and freedom, a central aspect of what it means to be a self & socially composed agent. X" This type of literature is used to empower the people who use it. It involves engaging in acts of writing and reading that are used to liberate humanity. How can anything be changed without the use of this emancipatory literacy? "We must write as if our lives depended on it. X" Literacy gives a voice to our ideas, and creates a space for us in the world to work toward change and to reflect on that change so that it is not forgotten.
Kiniry, Malcolm, and M. Rose, eds. Critical Strategies for Academic Thinking and Writing, 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: St. Martin’s, 1998. Print.