Reading Response #2

Chapter 5: "And Yet"

Exercise #1

The following italic phrases were written by the author to portray the views of others:

1. Marx and Engels wrote: "Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other-the bourgeoisie and the proletariat" (10).
2. Oh, it's not the middle class that's disappearing, he said, but the working class.
3. His definition: If you earn thirty thousand dollars a year working in an assembly plant, come home from work, open a beer and watch the game, you are working class;
4. The average American will tell you...

The following italic phrases were written by the author to portray her views:

1. I found myself not knowing what class I'm from.
2. In my days as a newspaper reporter, i once asked a sociology professor what he thought about the reported shrinking of the middle class.
3. I'm sure that's what my father would tell you.
4. But i always felt that we were in some no man's land, suspended between classes, sharing similarities with some and recognizing sharp, exclusionary differences from others.
5. What class do i...?
6. What class am i...?
7. As a historian, i...

Exercise #2

A) In an essay I wrote on legalized marijuana and how it should not be legal, I engaged in one perspective only, which was mine

B) I could have put the perspectives of others who think marijuana should be legal to make my essay better.

C) I really did not distinguish my views from other views. I think that's one of the reasons why i bombed the essay...

D) Yes I did use voice-signaling phrases in the essay because my readers were able to distinguish who's views were being shared.

E) The options that are available for clarifying who is saying what are quotation marks and voice-signaling phrases. For instance, If I want to say my view I would use "I say" and If I would like to clarify other views I would use "They say".

F) I think the option suited best for this particular text is quotation marks.