Homeless Unit 14 Homeless Unit14 The theme of “home” is sentimental, and most writers and poets...

Homeless

Unit 14Unit 14

Homeless

The theme of “home” is sentimental, and most writers and poets have some works related to “home”, and Emily Dickinson, the famous American poet, is one of them.

Cultural Information

Cultural Information She has been “locked” at her house for almost a whole life, yet a sense of “homelessness” can be felt from most of her poems. It does not mean material house shortage, but the feeling of isolation.


Years I had been from home,And now, before the doorI dared not open, lest a faceI never saw before

Stare vacant into mineAnd ask my business there.My business, — just a life I left,Was such still dwelling there?

Home by Emily Dickinson


I fumbled at my nerve,I scanned the windows near;The silence like an ocean rolled,And broke against my ear.

I laughed a wooden laughThat I could fear a door,Who danger and the dead had faced,But never quaked before.


I fitted to the latch,My hand, with trembling care,Lest back the awful door should spring,And leave me standing there.

I moved my fingers offAs cautiously as glass,And held my ears, and like a thiefFled gasping from the house.

Structural AnalysisText Analysis Rhetorical Devices

Modern life is progressing on an accelerating pace and the majority of modern people are losing more and more control of their own lives. This makes them the victims of endless anxiety. Yet they do not know the cause of all this, nor can they find any solution to it. The author of this essay wants to find the cause of this problem and she focuses her attention on home. By the word “homeless”, we generally mean the state of not having a material house. Yet, through her investigation and observation, the writer adds new meaning to this word which reveals a worse problem suffered by many people living in modern society, even if they do have a


house. The problem is the loss of the traditional conception of home and traditional family values in people’s mind. With the development of modern life, the concept of home has gradually lost its connotation of permanence and stability. People living in a house have no sense of belonging and pride of ownership at all. The writer points out the faults of society in dealing with this problem, which is turning the problem into an issue while ignoring people’s delicate feelings. If society does not take the problem seriously, all modern people would become homeless in this way or that.


In terms of organization, the article clearly falls into three main parts: (Paragraphs 1-3) starts with a specific example and then naturally moves on to the discussion of the topic.

The first part

(Paragraphs 4-7) gives a definition of home and points out the symptoms of the problem concerning home in modern society.

The second part

(Paragraphs 8-9) is also the ending of the writing, the writer talks about the fault of society in dealing with the problem of homelessness and calls on people to look at the problem from a microcosmic perspective.

The third part


The rhetorical device used in the text is a kind of loose structure. A general statement is followed by some specific details, which serve as a minor adjustment of the statement so as to make it more exact, or as supporting evidence, or as a further explanation.“She had a house, or at least once upon a time

had had one.” (Paragraph 2) “That was the crux of it; not size or location, but pride of ownership.” (Paragraph 7)“We turn an adjective into a noun: the poor, not poor people; the homeless, not Ann or the man who lives in the box or the woman who sleeps on the subway grate.” (Paragraph 8)

e.g.

Her name was Ann, and we met in the Port Authority Bus Terminal several Januarys ago. I was doing a story on homeless people. She said I was wasting my time talking to her; she was just passing through, although she’d been passing through for more than two weeks. To prove to me that this was true, she rummaged through a tote bag and a manila envelope and finally unfolded a sheet of typing paper and brought out her photographs.

Detailed Reading

HomelessAnna Quindlen

1

Detailed Reading

They were not pictures of family, or friends, or even a dog or cat, its eyes brown-red in the flashbulb’s light. They were pictures of a house. It was like a thousand houses in a hundred towns, not suburb, not city, but somewhere in between, with aluminum siding and a chain-link fence, a narrow driveway running up to a one-car garage and a patch of backyard. The house was yellow. I looked on the back for a date or a name, but neither was there. There was no need for discussion.

2

Detailed Reading

I knew what she was trying to tell me, for it was

something I had often felt. She was not adrift,

alone, anonymous, although her bags and her

raincoat with the grime shadowing its creases had

made me believe she was. She had a house, or at

least once upon a time had had one. Inside were

curtains, a couch, a stove, potholders. You are

where you live. She was somebody.

Detailed Reading

I’ve never been very good at looking at the big picture, taking the global view, and I’ve always been a person with an overactive sense of place, the legacy of an Irish grandfather. So it is natural that the thing that seems most wrong with the world to me right now is that there are so many people with no homes. I’m not simply talking about shelter from the elements, or three square meals a day or a mailing address to which the welfare people can send the check — although I know that all these are important for survival. I’m talking about a home, about precisely those kinds of feelings that have wound up in cross-stitch and French knots on samplers over the years.

3

Detailed Reading

Home is where the heart is. There’s no place like it. I love my home with a ferocity totally out of proportion to its appearance or location. I love dumb things about: the hot-water heater, the plastic rack you drain dishes in, the roof over my head, which occasionally leaks. And yet it is precisely those dumb things that make it what it is — a place of certainty, stability, predictability, privacy, for me and for my family. It is where I live. What more can you say about a place than that? That is everything.

4

Detailed Reading

Yet it is something that we have been edging away from gradually during my lifetime and the lifetimes of my parents and grandparents. There was a time when where you lived often was where you worked and where you grew the food you ate and even where you were buried. When that era passed, where you lived at least was where your parents had lived and where you would live with your children when you became enfeebled. Then, suddenly where you lived was where you lived for three years, until you could move on to something else and something else again.

5

Detailed Reading

And so we have come to something else again, to children who do not understand what it means to go to their rooms because they have never had a room, to men and women whose fantasy is a wall they can paint a color of their own choosing, to old people reduced to sitting on molded plastic chairs, their skin blue-white in the lights of a bus station, who pull pictures of houses out of their bags. Homes have stopped being homes. Now they are real estate.

6

Detailed Reading

People find it curious that those without homes would rather sleep sitting up on benches or huddled in doorways than go to shelters. Certainly some prefer to do so because they are emotionally ill, because they have been locked in before and they are damned if they will be locked in again. Others are afraid of the violence and trouble they may find there. But some seem to want something that is not available in shelters, and they will not compromise, not for a cot, or oatmeal, or a shower with special soap that kills the bugs. “One room,” a woman with a baby who was sleeping on her sister’s floor, once told me, “painted blue.” That was the crux of it; not size or location, but pride of ownership. Painted blue.

7

Detailed Reading

This is a difficult problem, and some wise and compassionate people are working hard at it. But in the main I think we work around it, just as we walk around it when it is lying on the sidewalk or sitting in the bus terminal — the problem, that is. It has been customary to take people’s pain and lessen our own participation in it by turning it into an issue, not a collection of human beings. We turn an adjective into a noun: the poor, not poor people; the homeless, not Ann or the man who lives in the box or the woman who sleeps on the subway grate.

8

Detailed Reading

Sometimes I think we would be better off if we forgot about the broad strokes and concentrated on the details. Here is a woman without a bureau. There is a man with no mirror, no wall to hang it on. They are not the homeless. They are people who have no homes. No drawer that holds the spoons. No window to look out upon the world. My God. That is everything.

9

What is the writer’s emphasis in her definition of “home”?

She is not merely talking about shelter from the elements, but what would provide people living in it with certainty, stability, predictability and privacy.

Detailed Reading

What is the writer’s method in investigating this problem?

The writer’s method is a microcosmic one which focuses on specific people and their detailed feelings.

What is the author’s definition of home?

In defining home, the writer considers both the material and the emotional elements. In her definition, home is not only a shelter, but a place of certainty, stability, predictability and privacy for all the members of the family.

Detailed Reading

What is the problem concerning home in modern society?

In modern society, people do not live in one place all their life, so the word “home” has lost its connotation of permanence and stability. People do not own the place they live, so they have no sense of belonging and pride of ownership about such a home.

Detailed Reading

What does the author think is the fault of society in dealing with the problem of homelessness?

Society turns the problem into an issue, taking people’s pain and lessening its own participation in it. By doing so, society will not be able to solve the problem from its origin.

Detailed Reading

What is the perspective suggested by the writer in solving the problem?

The writer suggests people forget about the broad strokes and concentrate on the details. This would bring people back to the essence of the problem and enable them to have real sympathy towards those people who have no home.

Detailed Reading

Detailed Reading

Class Activity Brainstorming: “Home” is a broad concept, so write down by yourselves anything relevant to this concept and then compare your notes with your classmates’. Perhaps from this activity you can find out different values of “home” in different people’s lives.Finding “Home” Poems: Search more poems about home, including “Home, sweet home”, and feel about them. If interested, you can compose one by yourself.

pass through v.experience

e.g.China is passing through the stage of urbanization and modernization.

Detailed Reading

Detailed Reading

rummage v. search unsystematically and untidily through a mass or receptacle.

e.g. He rummaged the drawer for his false teeth.

e.g. rummaging through (the contents of) a drawer for a pair of socks

Collocations:

rummage around / in / through sth. for sth.

wind up v.come to be in an unexpected and usually unpleasant situation, esp. as a result of what one does

e.g.Because of ill management, the company wound up having a huge debt to pay off.

Detailed Reading

edge v.move slowly with gradual movements or in gradual stages

e.g.She edged her way through the crowd to the front just to be closer to her idol.

e.g.a white handkerchief with blue edging

Detailed Reading

Derivation:edging (n.)

edge your way into / round / through, etc. sth.

edge up / down

be edged with sth.

e.g.Maggie edged her way round the back of the house.

Detailed Reading

Collocations:

e.g.Profits have edged up.

e.g.The tablecloth is edged with lace.

huddle v.crowd together; nestle closely

e.g. They huddled together for warmth.

Detailed Reading

Synonyms:

assemble, cluster, congregate, crowd, gather

crux n.the basic, central, or critical point or feature

e.g. Now we come to the crux of the problem.

Detailed Reading

Derivation:crucial (a.)

e.g. This aid money is crucial to the government’s economic policies.

It was like a thousand houses in a hundred towns, not suburb, not city, but somewhere in between, with aluminum siding and a chain-link fence, a narrow driveway running up to a one-car garage and a patch of backyard. (Paragraph 2)

Explanation:With this description of a house, a very ordinary one found nearly in any town in the U.S. the author wants to indicate Ann’s real situation: what she had really got was a house, but not a home in the real sense of the word.

Detailed Reading

You are where you live. She was somebody. (Paragraph 2)

Explanation:

One belongs to the place where he or she lives. The place where one lives gives him his identity. So Ann claims her own identity, given the house she once had and everything inside it.

Detailed Reading

I love my home with a ferocity totally out of proportion to its appearance or location. (Paragraph 4)

Paraphrase:

Even if my home is small and shabby, and of a disadvantageous location, I still bear strong and deep love for it.

Detailed Reading

Now they are real estate. (Paragraph 6)

Paraphrase:Now homes have been degraded into pieces of material possession that can be rent or sold, which means they are no longer the embodiment of the love among family members.

Detailed Reading

But in the main I think we work around it, just as we walk around it when it is lying on the sidewalk or sitting in the bus terminal — the problem, that is. (Paragraph 8)

Paraphrase:

But on the whole I think we have not addressed the issue honestly and directly; it is like that the problem is lying on the floor and we just walk around it.

Detailed Reading

That is everything. (Paragraph 9)

Explanation:They (the above-mentioned problems) are not unimportant things, but so significant as to affect a person’s feeling of existing as an integrated person. Or, if people cannot have a real home with all its emotional features and relative family values, they can not have certainty, stability and privacy in modern society.

Detailed Reading

Phrase Practice

Word Derivation

Synonym / Antonym

Vocabulary Translation Integrated SkillsOral ActivitiesWritingGrammar

作者希望姓名不公开。

这本书的匿名引起许多猜测。


1) anonymous a. → anonymity n.

e.g.

The author wishes to remain anonymous.

The anonymity of the book causes many gusses.


2) ferocity n. → ferocious a.

e.g. 狮子凶猛地扑向猎物。

猛烈的狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。The lion attacked its victim with great ferocity.

The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.


3) predictability n. → predict v. → prediction n. → predicable a.e.g. 学术研究中的普遍性、确定性与预测性问题

我能很准确地预测某事。

这个预言确实实现了。

可预测的结论

universality, certainty and predictability in academic research

I can predict something with great accuracy.

The prediction was literally accomplished.

a predicable conclusion


4) leak v.→ leakage n. →leaky a.

e.g. 煤气泄漏时，必须把阀门关上。

泄露机密信息

房顶是漏的，雨进来了。

You must shut the gas supply off if it leaks.

leakages of confidential information

The roof is leaky and the rain comes in.


5) spoon n. → spoonful a.

e.g.她把糖放进咖啡里，用勺子把它们混合起来。

请给我两勺糖。

She put the sugar into the coffee and mixed them up with a spoon.

Two spoonfuls of sugar, please.

suffer eternal damnation


6) damn v. → damnable a.→ damnation n.

e.g.评论家们谴责该剧。

这鬼天气 !

受到永远的惩罚

The critics damned the play.

This damnable weather!


7) qualify v. → qualified a. → qualification n.

e.g.我队已有资格进入半决赛。

她能胜任这一工作。

做这项工作需要什么资格 ?

Our team has qualified for the semi-final.

She is qualified to do the job.

What sort of qualifications do you need for the job?


8) terminal a. → terminate v.

e.g.我们在终站下车。

他们已中止了合同。

We got off at the terminal station.

They have terminated the contract.

4) It is difficult to understand how lava could have been dust.

1) It’s not that you’re so asocial, but a man who likes people doesn’t in the Antarctic.


wind up_______

2) Our debts will six million pounds by the end of the year! Isn’t it horrible?

run up to________

3) Please go ahead. I am not in the line — I am just . passing

through______________

reduced to__________

Fill in the blank in each sentence with an appropriate phrasal verb or collocation from the text.


5) The novel was so intriguing that I all night reading it.

sat up______

6) Shawn was the real estate agent for five years before deciding to fresh challenges.

move on to__________


e.g.我们最终在一个很棒的海滨旅馆落脚（住下来）。

We eventually wound up (staying) in a super little hotel by the sea.

wind up: arrive finally in a place; end up


e.g. 修复损失耗资逼近一百万美元。

The cost of repairing the damage could run up to $1 million.

run up to: reach a particular amount


e.g. 我们路经此镇，顺便来看你。

We came to say hello as we were passing through.

pass through: go through a town, etc. stopping there for a short time but not staying


e.g. 这场火灾把那所房子化为灰烬。

The fire reduced the house to ashes.

reduce to: bring sb. / sth. into a specified (usu. worse) state or condition


e.g. 我们很晚都没睡觉还在看电视影片。

We sat up late watching a film on TV.

sit up: not go to bed until later than the usual time, esp. because one is waiting for sb.


e.g. 这项练习完成后请继续做下一个练习。

When you finish, move on to the next exercise please.

move on to: leave your present job, class, or activity and start doing another one

local, partial, restricted

1. She was not adrift, alone, anonymous, although her bags and her raincoat with the grime shadowing its creases had made me believe she was.Synonyms:dirt, soot, filth

2. I’ve never been very good at looking at the big picture, taking the global view, and I’ve always been a person with an overactive sense of place, the legacy of an Irish grandfather.

Antonyms:


3. I love my home with a ferocity totally out of proportion to its appearance or location.

Synonyms:fierceness, intensity

4. And yet it is precisely those dumb things that make it what it is — a place of certainty, stability, predictability, privacy, for me and for my family.

Synonyms:security, safety


5. People find it curious that those without homes would rather sleep sitting up on benches or huddled in doorways than go to shelters.

Synonyms:crouch

6. But some seem to want something that is not available in shelters, and they will not compromise, not for a cot, or oatmeal, or a shower with special soap that kills the bugs.

Antonyms: inaccessible, unobtainable


8. Sometimes I think we would be better off if we forgot about the broad strokes and concentrated on the details.

Synonyms:specific, particular


7. This is a difficult problem, and some wise and compassionate people are working hard at it.

Antonyms:indifferent, heartless, apathetic

Vocabulary Grammar Translation Integrated SkillsOral ActivitiesWriting

If-clauses

Subjunctive Mood

Punctuation

1) If-clauses


Type 1

If-clause + main clause

If / Unless / If ... not + future

+ present tense + shall / will / can / may / might + verb

If I learn my vocabulary,

I’ll get a good mark


Type 2


If / Unless / If ... not + past tense,

+ conditional I+ should / would / could / ’d / might + verb

If I learnt my vocabulary, I’d get a good mark.


Type 3


If / Unless / If ... not + past perfect,

+ conditional II

+ should / would/ could / might + have + past perfect

If I had learnt my vocabulary,

I would have got a good mark.

If-clauses in front position are more emphatic. If-clauses in front position get a comma.

PracticeRecast the sentences below by using if.


1. Take a deep breath and you will feel relaxed.

If you take a deep breath, you will feel relaxed.2. Had I worked harder, I would have passed the

exam.If I had worked harder, I would have passed the exam.

3. Drive more carefully, or you’ll cause an accident.

If you don’t drive more carefully, you’ll cause an accident.


4. Should the flight be delayed, passengers will be informed immediately.

If the flight should be delayed, passengers will be informed immediately.

5. Had I known the address, I would have called into the office.

If I had known the address, I would have called into the office.

2) Subjunctive Mood


A verb is in the subjunctive mood when it expresses a condition which is doubtful or not factual. It is most often found in a clause beginning with the word if. It is also found in clauses following a verb that expresses a doubt, a wish, regret, request, demand, or proposal. These are verbs typically followed by clauses that take the subjunctive mood: ask, demand, determine, insist, move, order, pray, prefer, recommend, regret, request, require, suggest, and wish.


Practice

Put the verbs in brackets into the correct forms.

1.

2.

3.

I wish he kinder to me.

But I blame the real culprit even more. If he

(admit) his guilt, Peter

(not be) expelled.

We came in last just because we got lost. If we

(not get) lost, we

(come) in somewhere in the middle. We

certainly

(not be) last.

were____

had admitted____________ wouldn’t have

been

____________

____

hadn’t got_________ would have

come_______________

wouldn’t have been_________________


4.

5.

Be careful about the time. If you

(spend) too long on the first question, you

(not have) enough time to do the

others properly.

His requirement is that everyone computer

literate.

spend_____

will not have___________

be__


3) Punctuation

The purpose of punctuation is to make clear the meaning of what we write. The full stop marks the end of a statement. The comma is mainly used to group words that belong together and to separate those that do not. It can also be used to set off nonessential clauses and nonessential participial phrases.


PracticePunctuate the following sentences, using commas or full stops.1. The butterfly is a marvel it begins as an ugly caterpillar and turns into a work of art.

The butterfly is a marvel. It begins as an ugly caterpillar and turns into a work of art.

2. It’s warm enough here in London a little too warm if anything.

It’s warm enough here in London. A little too warm, if anything.


3. I was feeling hungry so I made myself a sandwich.I was feeling hungry, so I made myself a sandwich.4. Both John and I had many errands to do

yesterday John had to go to the post office and bookstore I had to go to the drugstore the travel agency and the bank.Both John and I had many errands to do

yesterday. John had to go to the post office and bookstore. I had to go to the drugstore, the travel agency, and the bank.

5. The child hid behind his mother’s skirt for he was afraid of the dog.

The child hid behind his mother’s skirt, for he was afraid of the dog.

1. 她翻了五个抽屉之后才找到结婚戒指。 (rummage)

If sb. is rummaging, he / she turns things over or disarrange them while searching for sth.


Translate the following sentences into English.

She rummaged five drawers before she found her wedding ring.

Practice:老太太开始在口袋里摸索，找她的眼镜。

他在抽屉里翻找。


The old lady began to rummage in her pocket for her spectacles.

He rummaged around in his drawer.

2. 十多年来，每当遇到新的情况，我习惯于三思而后行。(customary)


Sth. that is customary is according to custom; usual.

Over a decade, it has been customary for me to think before I leap whenever I come across something new.

Practice:给人送生日礼物是惯常的事。

这次，她一反平素的沉默寡言，表现得很活跃。


It’s customary to give people gifts on their birthdays.

For once, she dropped her customary reserve and became quite lively.

3. 盎格鲁 - 撒克逊（ the Anglo-Saxon ）民族的伟大史诗《贝奥武甫》，讲述的是远古时期人们战天斗地的英雄业绩。 (the Anglo-Saxon, Beowulf, the elements)


“The elements” mean the weather, especially bad weather.

Beowulf, the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons, describes how the primitive people waged heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the elements.

Practice:船员勇于和恶劣天气搏斗。

士兵经受风吹雨打。


The sailors are battling against the elements.

The soldiers are exposed to the elements.

4. 他自以为会成为第二个比尔盖茨，在我看来这只是个幻想而已。 (fantasy)


A fantasy is an idea or belief that is based only on imagination, not on real facts.

He thinks he will be a second Bill Gates, which, to me, is nothing but a mere fantasy.

Stop looking for the perfect job; it’s just a fantasy.


Practice:乔治整天生活在幻想的世界中。

别想找十全十美的工作了—那简直是幻想。

George lives in a world of fantasy.


Dictation

Cloze


Dictation

You will hear a passage read three times. At the first reading, you should listen carefully for its general idea. At the second reading, you are required to write down the exact words you have just heard (with proper punctuation). At the third reading, you should check what you have written down.


Dictation

Families with children comprise 34% / of the homeless population of the United States, / and this number is growing. / Within a single year, / nearly all homeless children have moved, / at least 25% have witnessed violence, / and 22% have been separated from their families. / About half of all school-age children experiencing homelessness / have problems with anxiety and depression, / and 20% of homeless preschoolers have emotional problems / that require professional care. / Their education is often disrupted / and challenges in school are common.

The number of homeless people (1) has grown steadily in recent years. In some Third World nations such as India, Nigeria, and South Africa, (2) is rampant, with millions of children (3) and working on the streets. Homelessness has become a problem in the (4) of China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines (5) their growing prosperity, mainly due to migrant workers who have trouble (6) permanent homes. For

Fill in each blank in the passage below with ONE word you think appropriate.


worldwide _________

homelessness____________living_____

countries________despite_______

finding_______


people in Russia, (7) the youth, alcoholism and substance abuse is a major cause for becoming and (8) to be homeless. The United Nations Center for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat) wrote in (9) Global Report on Human Settlements in 1995: “Homelessness is a problem in (10) as well as in developing countries. In London, for example, (11) expectancy among the homeless is more than 25 years (12) than the national average.”

especially_________

continuing_________

its__

developed_________life___

lower_____

And while you may be in school to learn, you will, at some point, have to draw your own line in the sand. Pick a career and course of study that suits you, (9) your parents. Pay attention to the fire in your belly and learn what you’re truly passionate about. Make sure you’re happy at your school. And once you’ve made a choice, feel confident in your decision and do all you can to (10) from the resources around you.


not____

learn______

From the whole paragraph we can see that it is talking about the situation of homeless people in many countries around the world and the first sentence summarizes the main idea in general. The word in the blank is a postpositive attributive, meaning “around the world”.



The sentence is talking about homelessness in the third world, so this rampant thing is just about such situation.


As people there are homeless, they can only live and work on the streets. And from the grammatical aspect, the form of present participle should be used here.


Several country names are mentioned after of, so the blank should be filled with a noun generalizing these names.


The problem of homelessness and the growing prosperity of these countries forms a contrast, and here we should find a preposition expressing such contrast.


A common problem for migrant workers is that it is not easy for them to find a permanent home. Grammatically speaking, have trouble is followed by a gerund.


An adverb is needed here to specify a group of people in Russia.


Alcoholism and substance abuse not only triggers the problem of homelessness, but also makes the problem last longer because it has harmed people from very young. So an -ing participle of a verb meaning “last longer” is expected here.


Global Report on Human Settlements is the official report of UN-Habitat, so a corresponding determiner is needed here.


As well as indicates a coordinate relation, so what is needed in the blank is an adjective which corresponds to developing.


Judging from the number 25 talked about in the latter part of the sentence, it is talking about the age of people expected to be living. A noun is expected here to form a phrase with such meaning.


The life expectancy of the homelessness must be below the average.


Giving a Talk

Having a Discussion

Topic: Comment on Anna Quindlen’s Essay and Thought on Homelessness


1) The definition of home: instead of a material

shelter,

it is the safe place for the heart to settle down

2) Homelessness may not just refer to tramps;

those

people who have the house but never have the

feeling

of security and belonging are also homeless.

Structure for reference:

Having a DiscussionTopic: Homelessness in China


Reasons for reference:

1) The social welfare system has not covered all walks of people.2) The increasing numbers of migrant workers in big cities.Suggestive solutions:

Providing the underprivileged with more care and consideration on the part of the government, etc.

refers to any writing that utilizes the intellectual tools of a particular academic major for the purpose of critiquing an idea or point of view.


1. Essay Writing Essay Writing: How to Write a Critical EssayThe critical essay

The key to writing a good critical essay is understanding and defining the standard against which the object under study is being evaluated. Whether your critical essay is focusing on the negative or positive elements of a certain topic or thing, a good deal of the planning process should be devoted to comprehending and explaining the critical standard, or the basis of critique.


Sample: A Critical Essay

1 So why won’t Hamlet just do it? What flaw in his character leads to his tragic demise? Throughout the play, Hamlet has several opportunities to take revenge on Claudius, yet he does not take advantage of them. Some people say that it is because he is a procrastinator, or that he is a coward, or that madness destroys his life before he seeks revenge. But I see more than these reasons. To me, Hamlet’s “hamartia” is the overconfidence he has in himself to go through with the revenge.


2 One of the earliest indications that Hamlet may be just a little too sure of himself is when he first sees and talks to the ghost. In a state of great excitement, Hamlet declares himself ready to revenge: “Haste me to know’t, that I with wings as swift / As meditation, or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge” (I, v, 29-31). Hamlet is so overwhelmed that he agrees to seek revenge before the identification of the murderer is made and the details of the crime are provided. The arrogance in Hamlet’s character is further shown soon after the ghost leaves. Even though Hamlet has told the


ghost he would revenge whoever was the murderer immediately and he has sworn that the ghost’s “commandment all alone shall live / Within the book and volume of my brain” (I, v, 102-03), Hamlet develops the idea to act crazy: “to put on an antic disposition” (I, v, 172). Why act crazy? Why not directly kill the King (as Laertes threatens to do to Hamlet in revenge later in the play)? Hamlet’s first act in carrying out his revenge really delays the enactment of that revenge. His choice to delay wasn’t due to fear or procrastination; he acted crazy because of his comfortable sureness — his pride in his craftiness — to revenge.


3 In addition, we can see more evidence of Hamlet’s overconfidence in the scenes revolving around the play within the play. Despite the fact that two months’ delay and pretended madness have led him to doubt the ghost, he latches onto his little plot to test Claudius and the ghost with sureness and a kind of giddiness. When he asks the player to play The Murder of Gonzago, we hear command and quick determination in his voice, “Well ha’t [the play] tomorrow night” (II, ii, 511). His confidence in his plot is clearly seen in his soliloquy right after the players have left: “I’ll observe his looks / I’ll tent him to the quick, if a’ do blench / I know my


course” (II, ii, 571-573). Hamlet bravely is sure that this elaborate and indirect plot will lead him to kill Claudius if he sees he is guilty. Interestingly, Hamlet fails to kill the King when he does show his guilt during the play. Why doesn’t Hamlet do the bloody deed? Because he is sure of his ability to do the killing when he wishes. This overconfidence in his craftiness shows itself in the rapidity with which he re-adopts his pretended madness when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern return after the play to speak with him. Guildenstern asks Hamlet to put his “discourse into some frame, and start not so wildly from my affair” and says his “courtesy is not of the right


breed” (III, ii, 290-1, 296). Hamlet confidently sinks back into his crafty method of carrying out the revenge. In the same scene, Hamlet’s true lion nature comes out when he admonishes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: “‘S’blood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me” (III, ii, 347-350). This is not wimp speaking. This is no madman. This is the powerful voice of confidence.


4 Further evidence that Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his overconfidence can be seen when he fails to kill Claudius when he was praying. Hamlet sees his opportunity and confidently says, “Now might I do it pat” (III, iii, 72). But Hamlet doesn’t kill the king at that moment. Instead, he chooses to wait for a better moment: “Up sword, and know thou a more horrid hent / When he is drunk asleep or in his rage, / Or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed” (III, iii, 87-90). Hamlet arrogantly and surely presumes that he will do the revenge in a better way than the one presented to him.


5 In conclusion, it is Hamlet’s overconfidence that he can do the revenge that causes his tragic death and downfall. Even in his speech near the end where he tells Horatio that “the readiness is all” can be seen as evidence that to the very end he knew that he could do the revenge whenever he wished. His overconfidence made him sloppy and drew others who didn’t deserve to die into the net of his revenge as well. If only he had channeled his conceitedness from the start into a quick and direct revenge (like Laertes’), then perhaps no one but the King would have died.

Sample Analysis


This essay is very well focused. In the introduction, the writer raises the essay question clearly, and answers the question at the end of the introductory paragraph. That is the thesis and focus — Hamlet’s “hamartia” is his overconfidence in himself to go through with the revenge.

The point is supported by three body paragraphs, which are the primary supports. And in each primary support, there are secondary supports, which include quotes. It is noteworthy that the sentences following the quotes clarify their significance to prove the essay’s point. So the supporting paragraphs follow a clear logical order with the help of links and transitions.


The conclusion is very clear and straightforward, and restates the thesis presented in the introductory paragraph — it is Hamlet’s overconfidence that he can do the revenge that causes his tragic death and downfall.


2. Practice Write a critical essay on the given topic: A Critical Reading Report of Jane Eyre.

JANE EYRE AND ROCHESTER: SOUL — MATES IN SEARCH OF THEIR ESSENTIAL SELVES

by Orah Rosenblatt

Sample:

“Come Baby find me,Come Baby remind meOf where I once begun;Come Baby show me,


Show me you know me,Tell me you’re the one ...It’s like my whole life never happenedWhen I’m with you, as if I’ve never had a thought;I know this dream It might be crazy,But it’s the only one I’ve got ...”

(Bob Dylan, “Emotionally Yours”) Each of us carries within us the seed of a unique plant. When circumstances conspire to caringly nourish that seed in the manner most appropriate to its true nature — circumstances which, sadly, are as rare as they are fortunate--the germ of our original selves is likely to


flourish. When, however, this tender seed receives attention which is insufficient or antithetical to its essential inclination, growth is inevitably blighted in some way. Weaker or more sensitive seedlings may wither outright; others will be irreparably stunted. Stronger plants may yet grow to imposing heights, but they will be bent and twisted at the places where their needs were unmet, and may well feel eternally compelled to somehow loosen the knot of those deforming deprivations, so as to come closer to their originally intended shapes: Jane Eyre and Rochester are two such plants; driven by an indomitable will to find and follow their essential selves, they discover in each other a vital key to the realization of that end.


As every conscientious parent knows, a child needs both roots — love and security — and wings — belief in, and encouragement of, his autonomy — in order to mature. While gifted with the latter — the drive for self-realization previously mentioned — Jane and Rochester have been severely deprived of the foundation of the former. They are both outsiders. The identities they have succeeded in forging for themselves thus have a quality of rare integrity, for they primarily have come from within, not from the outer prompting to please and emulate others. At the same time, these characters lack the sense of security and connectedness which is the vital prop of such gifts. When the two meet, that


“mysterious chemistry [which] usually links partners who are virtually psychological twins” (Napier and Whitaker, The Family Crucible, p. 116) enables them to quickly recognize their kinship, the great strength and intense neediness both share. The bond forged between them serves as a dual link for both — back to the sense of belonging which both lacked In their most impressionable years, and forward to the recognition and realization of their individual true selves. That one must frequently go back in order to move ahead is a principle well known in both religion and psychology. In Judaism, the word teshavah means both repentance and return. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, an


early nineteenth century sage, stresses the theme of “descents” and “ascents”: Each time one wishes to rise to a new stage of spiritual development, one is generally forced to descend first, in order to reclaim the “lost sparks” of potential holiness buried in the “excrement” of prior confusion and misdeeds (Nachman of Breslov, M’Shivath Hefesh). The radical psychotherapist R. D. Laing calls this process “regression” and “progression”: If the schizophrenic wishes to spend hours staring at a blank wall, well, then he should be encouraged to do so; he will eventually break through; after all, when Zen monks do it it’s called the search for enlightenment (R. D, Laing, The Voice of Experience).


In many ways, Jane appears to be further advanced than Rochester in this inner work of regression / progression. In part, this may be due to the early spiritual guidance of the saintly Helen Burns. We see evidence of Jane’s increased maturity and compassion in the objective, forgiving way she re-encounters, and masters, those demons of her childhood, the Reeds. Jane has apparently come far in healing the wounds of her old bitterness and anger; this letting go of old grievances is essential if she is to move on and grow. Other events and characters in this novel similarly test Jane’s ability to confront situations reminiscent of childhood conflicts, where she must weather a


threatened loss of self in order to emerge with that self chastened, strengthened and renewed. During the three days she spends homeless and hungry after fleeing from Rochester, she re-experiences the utter aloneness and rootlessness of her early years yet retains her faith in G-d’s will; rescued by the Rivers family, she is rewarded by Providence with the elevating discovery of a true kinship — in blood as well as spirit such as she has always longed for but never before known. Her relationships with both Rochester and St. John Rivers involve Jane in the regression of sexual self-surrender, threatening the immersion of her hard-won


identity in theirs. Her refusal to be Rochester’s pseudo-wife constitutes Jane’s triumph in her most crucial spiritual test, as she makes the wrenching choice between her idolatrous love for him and her belief in G-d. Though her bond with Rochester provides her hardest trial, it also gives her the clarity and strength to successfully avoid what would have been another, probably fatal, snare to her self development — the marriage proposal of St. John Rivers. St. John, too, is stamped with an inviolate integrity of self, but he sees Jane solely as an instrument for his own ends and acknowledges only those parts of her nature which dovetail with his own designs. It is because she has


experienced Rochester’s sincere, if flawed, love and appreciation, that Jane is able to recognize the inadequacy and destructiveness of this proffered bond. Rochester, while yearning for what is good, honest and pure, and attracted to those redemptive qualities in Jane, must overcome the hubris and narcissistic self-indulgence which has goaded him into self-idolatry, placing the gratification of his own desires above the will of G-d. In his regressive flirtation with Blanche Ingram, reminiscent of his initial attraction to Bertha and his various mistresses, he re-confirms his preference for inner, rather than outer, beauty in a mate. His desertion by Jane and the subsequent loss of his arm


and eyesight return Rochester to a state of alienation and despair from which only humility and belief in G-d can redeem him. In the end, by placing G-d first in their lives and accepting His chastisement, both Jane and Rochester are rewarded by reunion with one another, their separate salvations of self crowned by the redemption of re- unification on a higher level. The sense of acceptance and belonging which they experience with one another, and the recognition each feels for long-denied facets of the other’s true nature — Rochester for Jane’s passion, Jane for Rochester’s yearning for honesty and goodness — has helped both to re-connect with their original essential selves.


Because the love between Jane and Rochester — despite its darker, inevitable element of power struggle — is rooted in this recognition of, and respect for, each other’s true selves. I found the final felicitous resolution of their relationship to be satisfying and acceptable, and was even able to wink and overlook the improbable and melodramatic route that resolution took (though I do wish it could have been reached without the taint of Rochester’s disempowerment). There is something moving and beautiful about these two people, indefatigably reaching for love: like two trees in a dense, dark forest, bending, twisting and inter-twining to reach an aperture of warm, bright sunlight, more beautiful to my mind than their unblemished brothers.

Text II Memorable Quotes

Lead-in Questions

Text

Questions for Discussion

Lead-in Questions


What do you think the role of family in people’s life and also, what is you feeling in playing multiple roles in the family?

1 The ideal of the family system is necessarily dead set against the ideal of personal individualism. No man, after all, lives as an individual completely alone, and the idea of such an individual has no reality to it. If we think of an individual and regard him as neither a son, nor a brother, nor a father, nor a friend, then what is he? Such an individual becomes a metaphysical abstraction. And being biologically minded as the Chinese are, they naturally think of a man’s biological relationships first. The family then becomes the natural biological unit of our existence, and marriage itself becomes a family affair, and not an individual affair.


The Ideal of the Family vs the Ideal of Personal Individualism

Lin Yutang


2 In place of this individualism and nationalism

of the West, there is then the family ideal in which

man is not regarded as an individual but as a

member of a family and an essential part of the

great stream of family life. That is what I mean by

the “stream-of-life” theory. Human life as a whole

may be regarded as consisting of different racial

streams of life, but it is the stream of life in the

family that a man feels and sees directly. In

accordance with both a Chinese and Western

analogy,


we speak of the “family tree”, and every man’s

life is but a section or a branch of that tree,

growing upon the trunk and contributing by its

very existence to its further growth and

continuation. Human life, therefore, is inevitably

seen as a growth or a continuance, in which every

man plays a part or a chapter in the family history,

with its obligations toward the family as a whole,

bringing upon itself and upon the family life shame

or glory.


3 This sense of family consciousness and family honor is probably the only form of team spirit or group consciousness in Chinese life. In order to play this game of life as well as, or better than, another team, every member of the family must be careful not to spoil the game, or to let his team down by making a false move. He should, if possible, try to bring the ball further down the field. A derelict son is a shame to himself and to his family in exactly the same sense as a quarterback who makes a fumble and loses the ball. And he who comes out on top in the civil examinations is like a player


who makes a touchdown. The glory is his own and at the same time that of his family. The benefits of one’s becoming a chuangyuan (“No. 1” in the Imperial examinations), or even a third-class chinshih, are both sentimentally and materially shared by members of his immediate family, his relatives, his clan, and even his town. For a hundred or two hundred years afterwards,


the townspeople will still boast that they produced a chuangyuan in such and such a reign. In comparison with the family and town rejoicing when a man got a chuangyuan or chinshih and came home to place a golden-painted tablet of honor high upon his ancestral hall, with his mother probably shedding tears and the entire clan feeling themselves honored by the great occasion, the getting of a college diploma today is a pretty dull and tame affair.


4 In this picture of the family life, there is room for the greatest variety and color. Man himself passes through the stages of childhood, youth, maturity and old age: first being taken care of by others, then taking care of others, and in old age again being taken care of by others; first obeying and respecting others, and later being obeyed and respected in turn in proportion as he grows older. Above all, color is lent to this picture by the presence of women. Into this picture of the continuous family life comes woman, not as a decoration or a plaything, nor even essentially as a wife,


but as a vital and essential part of the family tree — the very thing which makes continuity possible. For the strength of any particular branch of a family depends so much upon the woman married into the home and the blood she contributes to the family heritage. A wise patriarch is pretty careful to select women of sound heritage, as a gardener is careful to select the proper strain for grafting a branch. It is pretty well suspected that a man’s life, particularly his home life, is made or unmade by the wife he marries, and the entire character of the future family is determined by her.


The health of one’s grandchildren and the type of family breeding that they are going to receive (upon which great emphasis is laid) depend entirely upon the breeding of the daughter-in-law herself. Thus there is a kind of amorphous and ill-defined eugenic system, based on belief in heredity and often placing great emphasis on menti (literally “door and home” or lineage or family standing), but in any case based on standards of desirability in the health, beauty and breeding of the bride as seen by the eyes of the parents or grandparents of the family. In general, the emphasis is upon family breeding (in the same sense that a Westerner would


choose a girl from a “good home”), representing the fine old traditions of thrift, hard work, good manners and civility. And when sometimes a parent discovers to his sorrow that his son has married a worthless daughter-in-law with no manners, he always secretly curses the other family for not training their daughter better. Hence upon the mother and father devolves the duty of training their daughters so that they shall not be ashamed of them when they marry into another household as, for instance, when they do not know how to cook or how to make a good New Year pudding.


5 According to the stream-of-life theory as seen in the family system, immortality is almost visible and touchable. Every grandfather seeing his grandchild going to school with a satchel feels that truly he is living over again in the life of the child, and when he touches the child’s hand or pinches his cheeks, he knows it is flesh of his own flesh and blood of his own blood. His own life is nothing but a section of the family tree, or of the great family stream of life flowing on forever, and therefore he is happy to die. That is why a Chinese parent’s greatest concern is to see that his sons and daughters


are properly married before he dies, for that is

an even more important concern than the site of

his own grave or the selection of a good coffin. For

he cannot know what kind of life his children are

going to have until he sees with his own eyes what

type of girls and men his sons and daughters

marry, and if the daughters-in-law and sons-in-law

look pretty satisfactory, he is quite willing to “close

his eyes without regret” on his deathbed.

6 The net result of such a conception of life is that one gets a lengthened outlook on everything, for life is no more regarded as beginning and ending with that of the individual. The game is continued by the team after the center or the quarterback is put out of action. Success and failure begin to take on a different complexion. The Chinese ideal of life is to live so as not to be a shame to one’s ancestors and to have sons of whom one need not be ashamed. A Chinese official when resigning office often quotes the line:

Having sons, I am content with life;Without office, my body is light.


7 The worst thing that can happen to a man, probably, is to have unworthy sons who cannot “maintain the family glory” or even the family fortune. The millionaire father of a gambling son sees his fortune dispersed already, the fortune that he has taken a life time to build up. When the son fails, the failure is absolute. On the other hand, a farsighted widow is able to endure years of misery and ignominy and even persecution, if she has a good boy of five. Chinese history and literature are full of such widows who endured all kinds of hardships and persecutions, but who lived for the day


when their sons should do well and prosper, and

perhaps even become prominent citizens. … The

success of widows in giving their children a perfect

education of character and morals, through

woman’s generally more realistic sense, has often

led me to think that fathers are totally

unnecessary, so far as the upbringing of children is

concerned. The widow always laughs the loudest

because she laughs last.


8 Such an arrangement of life in the family

then, is satisfying because a man’s life in all its

biological aspects is well taken care of. That, after

all, was Confucius’ chief concern. The final ideal of

government, as Confucius conceived it, was

curiously biological: “The old shall be made to

live in peace and security, the young shall learn to

love and be loyal, that inside the chamber there

may be no unmarried maids, and outside the

chamber there may be no unmarried males.”



This is all the more remarkable because it is not merely a statement of a side issue, but of the final goal of government. This is the humanist philosophy known as tach’ing, or “fulfillment of instincts”. Confucius wanted to be pretty sure that all our human instincts are satisfied, because only thus can we have moral peace through a satisfying life, and because only moral peace is truly peace. It is a kind of political ideal which aims at making politics unnecessary, because it will be a peace that is stable and based upon the human heart.


About the author and the text: Lin Yutang (October 10, 1895 - March 26, 1976) was a Chinese writer and inventor. His informal but polished style in both Chinese and English made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, and his compilations and translations of classic Chinese texts into English were bestsellers in the West.The text is the second half of Part Four “The Chinese Family Ideal” of Chapter Eight “The Enjoyment of the Home” from The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang. “The Ideal of the Family vs the Ideal of Personal Individualism” is not the original title of the text selected here, but given chiefly based on its contents, which is to a large degree a technical necessity.

dead set against (Para. 1): totally opposed to someone or something, e.g. I’m dead set against the new tax proposal.


The benefits of one’s becoming a chuangyuan (“No. 1” in the Imperial examinations), or even a third-class chinshih (Para. 3): chuangyuan 状元； chinshih 进士



patriarch (Para. 4): Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a composition of πατήρ (pater) meaning “father” and aρχων (archon) meaning “leader”, “chief”, “ruler”, “king”, etc.

Having sons, I am content with life;Without office, my body is light. (Para. 6) These lines are from a poem by Su Dongpo, a highly reputed poet in the Song Dynasty. The Chinese version goes: 有子万事足，无官一身轻。



tach’ing (Para. 8) ：达情


The old shall be made to live in peace and security, the young shall learn to love and be loyal, that inside the chamber there may be no unmarried maids, and outside the chamber there may be no unmarried males. (Para. 8) This is a blending of Confucian ideas: “the old shall be made to live in peace and security, the young shall learn to love and be loyal”, or 老者安之，少者怀之 in the Chinese version, which comes from his Analects, a book of dialogues between Confucius and his students. The other part, “that inside the chamber there may be no unmarried maids, and outside the chamber there may be no unmarried males”, or 内无怨女，外无旷夫 in the Chinese version, is from Mengzi, or Mencius.


This is the humanist philosophy known as tach’ing, or “fulfillment of instincts”. (Para. 8) tach’ing, or 达情 in the original Chinese, is a Confucian idea, although it is not an expression by Confucius per se. It is an ideal of a philosopher in the Qing Dynasty about the government: 善治必达情，达情必近人 , meaning that one who governs best must understand the feeling or instincts of the people, and to understand the feeling or instincts of the people, he must get closer to them.

1. What is the family if we see a man in terms of his biological relationships?

In terms of his biological relationship, a man is a son, or a father or a brother. Thus the family may well be deemed as the natural biological unit of human existence.



2. What might be the only form of team spirit or group consciousness in our Chinese life?

The sense of family consciousness and family honor is probably the only form of team spirit or group consciousness in our Chinese life. So everyone is supposed to be loyal to the family and endeavor to add credit to the family, and any misdeeds which might incur shame upon the family are severely condemned.

3. How could one see the greatest variety in the family life?

One’s life cycle includes childhood, youth, maturity and old age. Accordingly, one is taken care of by others in the early stage; one takes care of others in the middle stage and one is taken care of by others again in the last stage so far as the family life is concerned.


4. How does Confucius conceive family life?

Confucius conceives the family life as curiously biological as he says, “The old shall be made to live in peace and security; the young shall learn to love and be loyal, that inside the chamber there may be no unmarried maids, and outside the chamber there may be no unmarried males.”



Home is where the heart is.— Pliny

’Mid pleasures and palaces through we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like Home.— J. Howard Payne



Questions for Discussion1. If you are pursuing your study in a place outside

your hometown, what is your feeling about home now. Is it different from that when you are staying at your hometown everyday?

2. Make comments on “There’s no place like Home.”


A Pliny the Elder (23 AD-August 25, 79 AD), was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian.


John Howard Payne (1791-1852) was an American actor, poet, playwright, and author who had most of his theatrical career and success in London. He is today most remembered as the creator of “Home! Sweet Home!”, a song he wrote in 1822 that became widely popular in the United States, Great Britain, and the English-speaking world.

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