Chapter Nine: Analogy
If you have already introduced the chapters on comparison and classification, your students should not have a great deal of trouble understanding the purpose and importance of analogy. Some instructors introduce analogy by explaining that it is a form of comparison between things that are not normally considered similar. You can account for its inclusion in the syllabus by explaining its extensive use in scientific and philosophical prose such as the kind students
will encounter in academic courses and in professions where there is a need to elucidate obscure or even hypothetical concepts or to make abstract realities more concrete and understandable to lay readers. As you can see, this description covers the technical writing that students will do in any specialized field. Working with analogy usually requires rigorous intellectual activity and, as such, can
help students become stronger thinkers in general.
Plato's "The Myth of the Cave" and Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus" are classic pieces of philosophical writing, which many of your students might read again in other courses. Eiseley's "The Cosmic Prison" touches on related ideas.
Rather specialized in content and approach, they pose difficulties for average students and often require extensive explanation before students begin reading them. In fact, you might do well to put these selections aside until students have become more comfortable with analogy through the reading of more accessible pieces like those mentioned above.
Whatever you decide, leave room for at least a quick glance at the three remaining pieces in this chapter: Walker's "Am I Blue?", Fox's "Gawk Shows," and Miner's "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema." They will help students see that
analogy has a variety of uses and that it is a powerful tool for social, cultural, and personal commentary. Very different in style and content, all three selections demonstrate techniques important to analogy essays, and they are so engaging that they often become sources of inspiration for student writing.
Plato: The Myth of the Cave
Questions for Discussion
Questions b, h, and j lead to the most fruitful, extended discussion about the relationship between form and purpose. Before getting into the thornier points of these questions (for example, whether Plato is merely recording what Socrates says or is manipulating the content in some way) it might be a good idea to bring in question g. Once students have summarized what Glaucon has learned, you can ask them to explain how they reached their conclusions and whether they would have reached the same conclusions if this selection had been written
as an expository essay. During class students could rewrite Plato's main points in expository form; they will find that it is not just a matter of deleting Glaucon's contributions. They may find that their essay versions are longer and much more pedantic than even Socrates' authoritative voice.
Engaging the Text
Item a is designed to ease students into discussing Plato by having them start with something manageable. A variation students may find more accessible than a dialogue with Plato would be to "interview" one of the cave dwellers in the style of a television news journalist or a talk-show host. Item b could easily become sustained writing by having students research Plato's ideas in more detail, Plato's influence on a particular age or field (medieval art, science, etc.), or Plato as compared to Aristotle.
Suggestions for Sustained Writing
To get students started on Suggestion a, ask students brainstorm several analogies and briefly explain just one or two of them before choosing one to write about in depth. If you regularly have students work in groups or pairs, b and c can each be assigned to half the class so that the students who chose b, for example, can work
together to help each other develop their essays, or both groups of student can work in mixed groups in order to challenge each other's arguments. Depending on the level of your students, you can have them do the more abstract and challenging Suggestion b, or the more personal Suggestion c.
Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus
Questions for Discussion
This essay makes many allusions, so it is helpful to ask students to look up any unfamiliar allusions in a dictionary of mythology or dictionary of literary terms before coming to class. To make it easier for them, you can assign students to look up one or two allusions each when you assign this essay; for example, the terms absurd hero (questions a and b), Sisyphus (a), Pluto (c), tragic hero
(f), Oedipus and Kirilov (g).
Questions j and k about Camus' persona are difficult for students to answer, but you can help them see how a writer positions him- or herself in relation to his or her subject. Ask students first to mark all the personal pronouns they find (paragraphs 6 and 10 are especially fruitful), asking themselves the first part of Question j. You can then ask why Camus seems to separate and keep distant from
these people--the readers, Sisyphus, the "workman of today" (paragraph 6), and why he never says "we" or "us."
Engaging the Text
To make the first item more challenging, ask students to imagine themselves as Sisyphus. The second activity helps students recall specific details of the selection.
Suggestions for Sustained Writing
For the first suggestion, you may want to have students write out the myth or parable they remember first, perhaps even doing some more writing after that in which they attempt to articulate why it has significance for them. These preliminary writings may help them see possibilities for developing the essay itself.
Alice Walker: Am I Blue?
Questions for Discussion
This very affecting essay encourages discussion of style, so the Questions for Strategy and Style make a good place to begin. Along with question i, you can ask students to identify the specific passages in the essay where Walker intensifies the emotional tone. What words and phrases does she use to make her readers feel a
particular way? How does her background as a writer of fiction influence the structure and style of the essay?
This essay can lead to a discussion of the place of emotion in argument. Does it have a place in an argument? Some students may feel that Walker is unfairly manipulating their reactions, at which point you can ask them to distinguish among different forms and purposes of argument, from propaganda at one end of the scale to formal argument at the other. Some students may think that the essay falls closer to propaganda than formal argument primarily because of
the anthropomorphic nature of the analogy, but this will loop back to the question of the place of analogy in argument. Nearly all of the questions will aid you in this sort of discussion.
Engaging the Text
Item a can be tied to the discussion on argument by including the prompt, "Also decide what argument Walker makes." Another viewpoint that works well for Item b is that of a more objective person such as a horse breeder or farmer.
Suggestions for Sustained Writing
Students should be well prepared to do either Suggestion a or c if they have actively participated in the discussion about the place of analogy and emotion in argument, as described above. However, in doing Suggestion c, students should be cautioned to provide thoughtful responses to the essay and to avoid the common trap of merely ranting or gushing.
Nicols Fox: Gawk Shows
Questions for Discussion
This essay works well in stimulating discussion about social values as they are being changed and defined by television. Questions a, b, h, i, j, and k lead to discussions about these social values and culture; questions g and h lead to discussions about the political ramifications of talk shows. Related to the social and political aspects is the ethical aspect (questions e and f). Because the content is so intriguing and provocative you may not have the time or inclination to deal much with strategy and style; however, you can bring questions l through p into the discussion when they can enhance a point about content. For instance, finding comparisons between sideshows and talk shows (question l) will show students that Fox means to emphasize that comparison; questions o and p will help students understand who Fox considers to be her readers and how she wants them to respond; in addition these three questions can help students respond to Engaging the Text prompt a.
Engaging the Text
The first prompt can be a way to start class discussion-ask students to write for five minutes, listing the off-limits topics, then working with a partner or small group to find a consensus of which topics they would not use for a talk show and why. Item b requires students to decide whether or not they are part of the viewing public being criticized by Fox. If they decide they are "gawkers,"
they will have to explain what attracts them to these shows.
Suggestions for Sustained Writing
Fox's essay can serve as a model for Suggestions a and b, for which students must use analyze and critique as Fox does. If students choose item a, remind them that they will need to find examples beyond what Fox provides to support their opinion. With item b, make sure that students limit themselves to one type of addiction-an essay that attempts to cover more than one will almost certainly be
over-generalized. Students should select one type, finding many examples of that type. Item c is a good assignment to follow Engaging the Text a or b, if these have caused heated class discussions. "Addiction" to the Internet would be a particularly timely topic, and students should be able to find many articles in print and on the Internet itself.
Horace Miner: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Questions for Discussion
Surprisingly, students tend not to see the joke on the first reading of this essay, especially if they have read this after reading other selections with strong authoritative voices. Of course, the discussion questions can give it away, but you can assign just the essay for the first reading, and hope that students do not bother to read the questions. We suggest this because an ignorance of who the
Nacirema are can result in some quite interesting responses to item a of Engaging the Text. These descriptions are almost always extremely negative, which students often try to rationalize when they realize they have been describing their home or adopted culture.
Engaging the Text
As mentioned above, a is most effective if done immediately after students read the selection. Item b can be fun, though some students have difficulty transferring the religious paradigm onto their daily activities. If this is the case with your students, suggest ways that they can just as effectively describe one of their activities without the religious terminology.
Suggestions for Sustained Writing
Students may scoff at the first item, until they begin to study the household from the point of view of the family pet. Students who take this assignment seriously often discover surprising things about their family's behavior. If any students have read anthropology, they may relish either a or c since they provide the opportunity to mimic or parody anthropological description. Miner serves as a good model
for either of these Suggestions.
Suggestion b is an effective way to begin discussion of disciplinary discourse, what it means to write "like a scientist." For Suggestion c, you can point out that Miner chooses something small and self-contained (a tribe) to represent something large and amorphous (American culture). Other "scaled-down" analogies might include: America as a small town, Americans as a group of noisy people in a campground, America as a party. "Scaled-up" analogies could be America as the world or as the solar system.
Loren Eiseley: The Cosmic Prison
Questions for Discussion
This essay can often be a difficult one for class discussion, especially if your students are not familiar with all the allusions (and they usually are not). To shift the authority and responsibility for explaining these allusions onto your students, divide the paragraphs among them, each student to be responsible for explaining
one paragraph. More than one student to a paragraph is not a problem since students can add information others may have missed.
Engaging the Text
The purpose of the first item is to help students make specific and personal connections to this essay since it is rather general. Item b encourages students to shift their perspective by distancing themselves from their subject matter.
Suggestions for Sustained Writing
None of these assignments will be easy to do, as Eiseley's essay is itself quite complex. Suggestion a will be easier for students to do if they first study Eiseley's style, both his sentence style and the way he perceives the world. Closely studying his style may give them suggestions for how they can frame their own essays.
For prompt b, all three essays are challenging, but if they are discussed thoroughly in class, writing this essay should not be overly difficult. And the three essay are great way to get students involved in philosophy. For prompt c, students should be aware that they need to use enough examples from Eiseley's essay to make their points clear.
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