Now that you have read and discussed In Defense of Prejudice, write a precis on the article. Monday please bring
1. Precis typed, sentences separated
2. Article annotated
3. Questions
Read the following article In Defense of Prejudice
Due Tomorrow
In Defense of Prejudice Annotation & Questions
1. Chunk article for content - how can you group ideas in the article? (arguments, assumptions, evidence) & purpose (discuss, propose, evoke) of each section (how ideas are organized)
2. Annotate article for
a. Speaker’s tone & tone shifts (serious / humorous)
b. Stylistic devices & effect (logos, pathos)
Anecdotes
Historical evidence
Examples
Personal experience vs. Facts
Allusions (identify)
Diction that evokes a certain tone Uncontroversial – diction – presents contrasting idea to rally audience (pathos)
Syntax – short / long sentences for effect
What is his most effective evidence?
3. What do you know about the Speaker from reading this essay?
4. Originally published in 1982, how would Rauch’s ideas be received today?
5. Who is his audience and what assumptions does Rauch make about the audience?
6. What is his purpose? Find evidence in the passage to support this?
7. Rauch advances a controversial argument: that we should allow prejudice to be expressed rather than to repress or eradicate it. How in the opening paragraphs, does he establish himself as reasonable, even likeable person whose views should be heard? Where else in the essay does he create this persona? Why is persona (or ethos) important in ethical argument?
8. What does Rauch mean by “intellectual pluralism” and where else does he use examples to refer to this idea?
9. Rauch defines the position antithetical to his own as “purism”. Why does he choose this term rather than another? What does it mean?
10. What counterarguments does Rauch raise and refute? How effective is he at refuting these? Explain why.
11. Rauch ends with quotations from Toni Morrison and Salman Rushdie. Why? What do their experiences as writers add to his argument? Are there other effective allusions?
