Write Now!

Featured Essays from the University Writing Seminars

Brandeis University
2017-2018
Copyright © 2018 by The Department of English, Brandeis University

Copyright © 2018 by Abigail Arnold on illustrations provided

 Acknowledgements

The Brandeis University Writing Program thanks Jacob Burg, Sarah E.G. Fein, Diana Filar,
Seolji Han, Bofang Li, and Courtney Pina Miller for serving as judges for this year’s edition of
Write Now! They generously put their time and thought into choosing from a large group of
strong essays in order to select those that would best serve University Writing Seminar students
and instructors. We also thank James Mandrell and Lisa Rourke for their guidance and support,
as well as Lisa Pannella and Leah Steele, who provided essential help in coordinating this book.
A special thank you to Matthew Schratz, the editor of last year’s edition, who was always willing
to give advice and to help make this edition the best that it could be.

Of course, we also thank the University Writing Seminar instructors and students, whose work
was and continues to be essential to the production of this book. Both through their submission
of essays and through their continued hard work and pursuit of learning during the school year,
they are the ones who make Write Now! possible.
 Introduction

In Write Now!, the Brandeis University Writing Program compiles outstanding essays from the
previous year’s University Writing Seminars. This annual tradition serves to reward students’
hard work and intellectual development and to help pave the way for future students to excel as
well. We hope that, as our contributors have benefited and grown from their writing work, the
students in this year’s courses will benefit from these strong examples and be inspired in their
own writing.

This year’s essays tackle a variety of topics, addressing both particular assignments and larger
intellectual questions. We begin with two close reading essays, one an examination of gender in
a speculative short story, the other dealing with issues of immigration and identity in a
contemporary novel. In the lens essays, our writers use theoretical texts to examine artistic
works, whether to explore how film portrays financial principles or to interrogate cultural
conceptions of art. And in the research essays, our writers broaden their scope to engage with a
larger number of sources and incorporate a variety of perspectives, one in the case of child
psychology and children’s literature, one in the case of advertising and civil rights. Regardless of
the topic, our writers all strive to utilize the skills developed in the University Writing Seminars,
making strong and often surprising arguments.

Readers, we hope that these essays will serve as useful models for you as you begin your
Brandeis writing career. By providing examples of writing produced under similar
circumstances—by other students in the same course you are currently taking—these essays can
both guide you through your own writing process and show you its rewarding results.

Abigail Arnold

Write Now! Editor

 Table of Contents

Close Reading Essays

The Anything But: “Ministering Angels”

--Michelle Cho 2

Culture Clash

--Jamie Noh 13

Lens Essays

The Social Responsibility of Business is Not Fraud: Friedman and The Big Short

--Chau Le Tran 24

Marilyn Diptych: A Challenge on the Conventional Conception Over Art

--Wanchen Zhao 36

Research Essays

The Importance of Imagination and Child Psychology in Where The Wild Things Are

--Mashiyat Ahmed 47

The Unsung Hero: Civil Rights’ Use of Advertising

--Adam Dean 60

Call for Papers 74

Close Reading Essays

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The Writer’s Process—Michelle Cho

Q & A with the writer of “The Anything But: ‘Ministering Angels’”

Q: Tell us a little bit about how you formulated your argument for your paper. Did your thesis
change at all? Did you ever find it hard to work with the prompt? Was your thesis clear from the
beginning?

From the beginning, I had a pretty clear idea as to what I wanted to write for this paper. I had
chosen my focus text fairly quickly and read the story multiple times in preparation, highlighting
and annotating as I went along. Essentially, the topic that connected the most of my random
annotations became my topic of choice. My thesis, however, was another story. I knew what
general topic I wanted to write about (the disparities between genders in the short story) but
trying to focus it into a single sentence as a thesis was very difficult. The thesis is actually the
part of the writing process I find the most difficult. So, I usually write a rough idea for the thesis
and just start writing my paper. More often than not, though, my paper becomes something else
entirely as it unfolds and my mind is able to make more connections than I had seen originally.
By the end of the paper, I know what my final argument came out to be and I am able to more
easily come up with a thesis that is both concise and accurate to my essay.

Q: Did you know much – if anything – about this topic before you started?

The topic that I chose is very widely explored. The argument for and against gender disparities in
all kinds of situations, texts, arguments is fairly common. I had known about it before writing
this paper. That is probably how I came up with the topic. However, the problem with using a
topic that you know about before writing is limiting the paper to the evidence and arguments that
can be pulled out from the text itself and not what you already know about it. I made that mistake
a lot in my first couple drafts. I used wide generalizations to connect my topic to the text instead
of making arguments from the text.

Q: What was the most difficult problem that you encountered during the writing process? Did
you find a solution, or are you still wrestling with any logistics?

I always have difficulty writing theses. But I found that actually just leaving it to the last thing
after having actually written the whole paper makes it a lot easier. I also have a format that I

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follow when writing the theses, just to help me get started on the skeleton structure: “In focus
text, author conveys/illustrates/describes … in order to show…by…” After building the basic
structure, it is just about finding the right wording.

Q: What part of the writing process, or even the final paper, are you most proud of? Do you
have a favorite line?

I always love writing conclusions. Honestly when I’m writing papers my mind tends to wander
from quote to quote or topic to character and so forth so that I can write a whole cohesive essay
hitting every possible angle. As a result, when I am writing my first drafts, my essay always
seems a little hectic and unconnected. The conclusion is, however, where I am able to try and tie
that big whole mess together, leaving the reader with a final statement that leaves them thinking
and also satisfied from having actually gained something from the essay as a whole. The
conclusion is then also helpful to me in revising the draft into a more organized format.

Q: How did your instructor help you with your paper? Did they offer any helpful suggestions or
guidance?

As I had previously mentioned, I had a little trouble in the beginning with using a topic I already
had knowledge of because it led me to use generalizations as connectors rather than making
arguments from the quotes and text directly. I had no idea that I was actually doing that until I
turned in my rough draft and my instructor pointed it out to me. Once she told me what I was
doing, it actually became much easier for me to connect the essay’s individual claims, since all
my arguments came from the text.

Q: Was anyone else instrumental in producing your final paper? If you engaged in any research,
how did you find your sources and/or how did you narrow down which sources you used in your
final draft?

I do not usually consult others until my final draft is done, or close to done.

This was a closed source paper.

Q: If you could write a longer version of this piece, in which direction would you take it and
upon which points would you elaborate? Do you feel yourself returning to any of the subjects
that you addressed in this paper in the future?

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If I could write a longer version of this piece, I would probably stick with my topic that I had
chosen but expand it to include the male and female perspectives. I wrote this essay from the
female perspective, also excluding a lot of evidence because of the size limitations. However, I
know that arguments can be made for the male perspective. I think that this would be a nice
contrast and an effective way to analyze the author’s views on the two genders in parallel.

I would definitely write about this topic again in the future. It is easy to see in focus texts, and
also fairly easy to draw implications from quotes. It is then just about wording as well as
avoiding those wide generalizations.

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 The Anything But: “Ministering Angels”
Michelle Cho

In C.S. Lewis’s short story, “Ministering Angels,” Lewis conveys the mentality that
women are the inferior sex. The story follows a group of men during their mission on Mars who
are sent two women from Earth to serve as their personal prostitutes. These women are portrayed
as the ultimate pitfalls of human society. They come to Mars in order to try to serve a higher
purpose and parallel the importance of the work of men, in a way which the men must
acknowledge, but are shown to fail in every way possible. Lewis is critical of nearly all the
characters of whom he writes, including the men, but he castigates these women characters
particularly. The small details accompanying the descriptions of the two women sent to Mars are
seemingly insignificant but, through individual consideration of the diction used, it can be seen
that Lewis conveys an aversion to them specifically. Lewis uses references from the Bible and
Christianity in order to show that their digressions from traditional roles are ultimately leading
them down a pointless path in which they actually regress and only serve as a nuisance to men.
In the short story, “Ministering Angels,” Lewis uses Biblical references and sub-context in order
to portray the inferiority of women and to ridicule their attempt to rise to the level of men.
The opening sign of Lewis’s aversion towards women comes from the very title of his
story: “Ministering Angels.” The “Ministering Angels” are assumed to be the two women sent to
Mars (Lewis 147). Ironically, these women are anything but ministers or angels. Ministers are
religious leaders who help the masses adopt and understand the teachings of God, according to
Christian tradition. The women’s purpose on Mars, described in the story to be “Aphrodisio-
Therapy” (Lewis 157), is a test to all the men on the desert planet and the followers of Biblical
tradition. Although in the story “fornication” is no longer found to be “immoral” (Lewis 153) out
of wedlock, the Christian tradition heavily frowns upon the act. It is considered a horrible sin,
and only serves to confuse followers of God, since what is clearly stated as sinful in the Bible is
now being stated as completely moral. This rule change was actually implemented by another
group of “daft auld women” on Earth (Lewis 162). Therefore, the women, both the ones on Earth
who instituted the Aphrodisio-Therapy and the two sent to Mars, are testing the word of God
with their establishment of the rule, their presence on Mars, and their sheer willingness to
partake in the “Aphrodisio-Therapy” (Lewis 157). Therefore, the two women pull the men
further from a righteous way of living simply by being there, making them anything but
ministers as they cause the men on Mars to question the word of God.
The women are also far from “angels.” Angels are the servants of God who carry out his
will from Heaven to Earth, or in this case, Mars. They are, additionally, often described as very
beautiful. The two women sent to Mars on the other hand, are so abhorrent in appearance that the

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men refuse to touch them. The women are, first off, labeled as the “Fat Woman” and “Thin
Woman,” (Lewis 153) implying that they, first, have no other features that compare to the
flagrancy of their size and, secondly, are not even given enough respect to be given true names.
The Thin Woman is introduced as a “creature” whose sex had been “doubted” from the very
beginning (Lewis 152). The only thing that gave her the title of “Woman” was her voice,
“scientifically speaking” (Lewis 152). The Fat Woman, on the other hand, is not un-female, but
simply repugnant to all the men present on the planet. She is described as “infinitely female,” in
fact, but her excessive age, “not very successfully dyed” hair, and “many-chin[s]” make her
anything but beautiful (Lewis 152). The men on Mars, whilst discussing amongst themselves,
talk about how they do not “fancy ‘em” and how it is “no laughing matter” for them, since their
presence was meant to tempt them into sin and yet they are not even beautiful enough to tempt
them, or even tempt them into thinking about it (Lewis 156). And as “angels,” as Lewis claims in
the title, the women’s apparent mission on Mars, set by God, is to provide “Aphrodisio-Therapy”
to the men. They are not able to achieve this in the slightest since the men go out of their way to
avoid the women. At the end of the story, three men actually commit mutiny and leave the rest of
the crew and two women on Mars. Their desire to leave was prompted by the arrival of the two
women. In fact, as soon as the women arrive, one of the men, Dickson, asks to “see [the]… ship”
(Lewis 155). Then three men, including Dickson, who had “been cooped up in that ship so long”
already were “out of the air-lock in record time” to go see the ship (Lewis 156). It is clear based
on the timing of the sudden interest in the ship and the fact that the men had been on the ship for
so long, that the arrival of the women has a strong connection to their desire to leave. This
supports the fact that the men on Mars want anything but those women on the desert planet. In
this aspect, the women also fail as angels, being unable to carry out the (apparent) will of God.
The women are labeled as beautiful agents of God, but are simply set as points of mockery in the
story due to their failure to live up to that title. Not only are they used as points of ridicule, but
their importance in society is pushed down as inferior and bothersome.
Lewis’s depiction of women in this story shows that they are far inferior to men, as his
character descriptions of each of the male characters are detailed and portray the men as
hardworking and high-achieving. For example, the introduction of the story begins with one of
these very descriptions, of a male character called the “Monk” (Lewis 147). This description sets
the stage for the rest of the story, as well as the rest of the characters. Lewis chooses to introduce
this character first, as he is described to be the most spiritually “in-touch” with God. His very
given name is “Monk,” a reference to those men who would give up their earthly tethers in
monasteries in order to better connect with the teachings of God. In line with this, the Monk’s
journey to Mars is given righteous reasoning. The Monk chose to go to Mars as a “modern
equivalent to a hermitage in the desert,” of which devout Christians would partake in order to
strengthen their bond with God by relying on nothing but their faith for survival (Lewis 147).

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The Monk is the purest on the desert planet, and is used as a comparison for the other characters,
especially the women, later on in the story.
The women on the other hand, are set as impure from the very first description. They are
called “The Fat Woman” and “The Thin Woman” (Lewis 153). They are not even given enough
regard to have real names, or even a nickname for that matter. The Fat Woman is described to be
covered in “powder (scented strongly enough to throw a train off the rails)” all over her face and
“wheez[es]” as she speaks “Cockney” (Lewis 152, 157). These two aspects designate her as a
dirty creature, as she is constantly covered in an abrasive-smelling powder, without even the
stature to keep clean, and unrefined, as shown by her constant wheezing and her slang cockney
accent. This is furthered by her excessive desire for alcohol. Drinking, especially excessive
drinking is seen as a sin in the Bible and yet the Fat Woman is seen insisting on “a little drop
more” (Lewis 152). One of the men, Ferguson, actually needs to step in and prevent her from
having “a drap mair to drink” (Lewis 152). In comparison to the Monk, the women are clearly
depicted as unrefined and requiring the control of the men to maintain sanity and sanctity. The
Fat Woman actually confesses part-way through the story that she came to Mars in order to try to
find a second chance at what she failed to do on Earth. She admits that she had once tried to give
up prostitution but instead “went on” and reached where she is now (Lewis 158). This shows that
the Fat Woman’s judgment is already adulterated. The Monk, the epitome of purity in the story,
tells this to the Fat Woman as an analogy that although her “desire to give is blessed,” it is
“wrong” (Lewis 158). The act of going to the Monk shows that she may be trying to get more in
touch with God by confessing her sins; however, because the sins were continuous and
prolonged, confessing alone can do little for her. As the Monk puts it, the Fat Woman cannot
“turn bad bank-notes into good ones just by giving them away” (Lewis 158); that is, although she
came to Mars, an entirely different planet where she and another are the only two women
available, her personality or appearance has not changed and neither have the thoughts of men.
This means although she did come to Mars, she is not guaranteed a second chance with men, life,
or, for that matter, with God. According to the Monk, she needs to take the first step forward and
try to right her wrongs, starting with her mission on Mars. The women are not in touch with
Biblical teachings and so are even more so seen as crude in the presence of the other men on
Mars. However, at the end of the story, it can be interpreted that the Monk decides he wants to
try to help the Fat Woman change her ways and reconcile with God. After being marooned on
the planet, the Monk “think[s] of the Fat Woman” and how he could give her “direction” so that
she “might one day…set…bright in the land of brightness, beside the Magdalene,” who was a
follower of Jesus in the Bible and was appointed as a saint in the Christian church, despite being
a woman like the Fat Woman (Lewis 164). This again shows the purity of men and also that
women (the Fat Woman in this case) are dependent on the help of men (the Monk in this case) to
right the wrongs they made in their life.

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 While the women may be unrefined and inferior as set in the story, they are also seen
attempting to mirror men. The story further pushes down the reputation of women by showing
their attempts to parallel men as wanton and futile. This, however slight, shows the attempt of
women trying to reach the status of men in society. The Thin Woman, for example, is described
as a masculine figure. She is “authoritative,” has hair “very short,” and could only be labelled a
woman from her voice (Lewis 152). Her “authoritative” voice shows the power she demands as
she speaks, a trait usually revered in men in positions of power. Her hair is “very short” in what
would usually be associated with the normal appearance of men. This describes her outward
appearance and demeanor as reflecting that of men. But Thin Woman imitates not only the
appearance and demeanor of men, but their intelligence as well. The Thin Woman is written as a
professor of psychology at a university back on Earth. This establishes her as a highly intelligent
individual, but this makes her despised by the men on Mars. She speaks in long, seemingly-
endless paragraphs of dialogue, which is oftentimes ignored or interrupted. For example, her
very first dialogue attempts to explain Aphrodisio-Therapy as arisen from “the World-Opinions-
Trends on the problems arising out of the psychological warfare aspect of interplanetary
communication” and how it “demands of us far-reaching ideological adjustments” as well as
how “pioneers of space-travel are exposed to this danger” and how “It would be unenlightened if
a supposed ethicality were allowed to stand in the way of their protection” before being cut off
with the Monk’s interjection that he “[does not] understand” (Lewis 153). This shows that even
he, the Monk, the set example of ideal character in the story, dislikes how the Thin Woman
attempts to show intelligence through long monologues and large vocabulary. Lewis’s phrase
choice of “[does not] understand” demonstrates that the Thin Woman goes out of her way to
make sure men cannot understand what she is trying to say, so that she can be, for once, superior
to men. One of the men on Mars, Paterson, is said to be interested in only one thing about her:
her “ears,” through which she can listen to his problems (Lewis 159). This is a role that women
usually take according to societal custom. Paterson even states this generalization when he
admits that he “like[d] telling women about his troubles,” since traditionally, women would tend
to listen (Lewis 159). Through the use of the word “women,” Paterson admits that he does not
even like the Thin Woman’s ears; he was merely interested in them in hopes that she might take
on the traditional position of women and listen to his “troubles” (Lewis 159). In this instance,
since the Thin Woman is put into a position where she is being treated as a woman in the
traditional sense and, therefore less than men, she avoids it thusly. One of the other male
characters in the story is described to have a similar disposition. The Botanist is presented to find
fault in every interruption of important work. He finds the “constant interruption” “maddening”
(Lewis 148). However, the description stresses the tone of intelligence and the utmost highest
importance. Parallel to the Botanist in the beginning of the story, the Thin Woman hates wasting
time when she could be doing something productive, like talking about psychology or partaking

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in Aphrodisio-Therapy. She, instead of being cast in a positive light like the Botanist, is hated for
this type of behavior. She is unable to be productive as no one will talk about psychology with
her and all refuse to partake in Aphrodisio-Therapy. Another group of women are mentioned in
the story as attempting to imitate men, the women who implemented Aphrodisio-Therapy. The
group of them are said to be “a pack o’ daft auld women (in trousers for the maist
part)…onything scientific, and onything that makes them feel important” (Lewis 162). The
description was given by one of the men on the planet, Ferguson. The tone of the description is
judgmental and discriminatory. Ferguson, as a man, obviously does not think that these women
are anything that they believe they are. He implies that the women think they are important
because they serve on some committee, but are not through the use of the phrase “makes them
feel important” (Lewis 162). The word “feel” implies that they are actually not important,
because they are women. The inclusion of their particularity for “onything scientific” illustrates
that, like the Thin Woman, participating in such academic subjects allows them to feel like they
can rival men on the scale of intelligence. However, the tone again sets this as untrue. Women
will not ever be able to match the men on intelligence. The women wearing “trousers” is another
obvious sign of attempting to mirror men as traditionally men wore pants, or trousers, and
women wore dresses. No matter what way they try to imitate men and become their equal,
women continue to be seen as lesser. All their attempts are hence, futile.
Through the use of small ecclesiastical references and sub-context, Lewis states that
women’s attempts at upward mobility are ultimately futile since they are inferior to men. He uses
small details to paint negative pictures of the women sent to Mars and contrast them with men to
show their severe incapability as well as their impurity by tempting men against the ways taught
by God. Their descriptions and even their title according to the name of the story, “Ministering
Angels,” show Lewis’s amusement and ridicule of the women’s attempt to change from what
they are. Lewis’s depiction of the women clearly shows that equality of the sexes is not a
struggle worth fighting. Women are shown as clearly déclassé beside men and so should give up
the attempts to gain more from their lives like that of the Fat Woman and Thin Woman,
attempting to gain a second chance at life and prestige, respectively. It is all in vain.

Works Cited
Lewis, C.S. “Ministering Angels.” The Dark Tower and other stories, edited by Walter Hooper,
HarperCollins Publishers, 1977, 147-164. Print.

9
Original Assignment—Close Reading Essay

Close Reading Unit Assignment Sequence

In this essay, you are being asked to generate a focused, original, complex argument about one of
the short stories we read by C.S. Lewis. Your essay can be about any topic or idea in the story
that interests you as long as you can support your argument using only close readings of
evidence from the text. For example, you could make a claim about a theme, symbol, setting,
character, or relationship in the novel. For additional ideas, look back on your notes on the
stories and our in-class discussions, think back to our in-class activities, and refer to the
discussion questions provided. If you are interested in pursuing other ideas not covered by these
suggestions you certainly may! The best essays are those that are written about something you
are genuinely interested in. You are encouraged to come chat with me, or to visit the Writing
Center, if you need help brainstorming ideas (or if you need help with any aspect of the writing
process).

Keep in mind that you don’t want your argument to be so broad that you can’t do it justice in a 5-
7 page essay, or so narrow that you don’t have enough material to generate a compelling
argument of this length.

The goals of this essay are as follows:

• To develop and motivate your own strong, original, and compelling argument about a
single text (to make a claim that meets the requirements of a strong thesis statement)
• To support this argument through the detailed analysis of specific textual evidence (to
develop your close reading skills)
• To gain a deeper understanding of the short story you choose to focus on
• To help your reader gain a deeper understanding of the short story you choose to focus on
• To teach your reader something new – you want your essay to change how your reader
views and understands the text you are analyzing

Writing is a Process

Writing is a process through which we think and learn. Thus we will complete both a draft and a
revision of this essay. After submitting your draft you will receive written feedback from me,
and we will also meet individually to discuss your essay in a required conference (see the
“Conferences” handout for more information). You will also receive some feedback from your
peers, and you are encouraged to visit the Writing Center. All of this feedback is meant to help

10
you improve and refine your argument and analysis as you work through the revision of your
essay. The draft is not graded, but it must meet the minimum page requirements, and it must be
turned in – you cannot receive a grade on your essay unless you complete both a draft and a
revision (this is the version of the essay that is graded). If the draft does not meet the minimum
page requirement you will either be asked to complete the draft (and it will be considered late
until you turn in the full draft), or 1/3 of a letter grade will be deducted from the essay’s final
grade for each page the draft is short. Every day that the full draft or the revision is late, 1/3 of a
letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for the essay. Any essay or assignment that is
not turned in by the time and in the form specified on this sheet will be considered late.

Evidence

As indicated above, this essay is a space in which you are being asked to think deeply and
critically about a single text. With these goals in mind, no outside sources may be consulted for
this essay, including in the gathering of evidence, in trying to develop an argument, and in the
actual writing of the essay. Your evidence will come entirely from one of C.S. Lewis’s short
stories, and you will present only your own thoughts and ideas about the story.

Formatting

Your essay should be 5-7 pages in length, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins, in 12 point Times
New Roman font, and should include a title, heading, and page numbers in MLA format. You
must provide both in-text citations and a works cited page, also in MLA format. See pages 5 and
6 of this handout for an example of the formatting for this essay. Below, I have provided the
format for an entry for a book in a works cited page (I have included the correct entry for this
novel in the formatting sample):

Last Name, First Name. “Title of short story.” Title of Collection, edited by Editor’s Name(s),
Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.

Q & A with Katie Nadeau, Instructor

Q: Had you taught this prompt before? If so, what made you teach it again? If not, how did you
arrive at this prompt/subject in particular?

I have taught this prompt before, with only minor variations depending on the subject of the class
and the specific text I am asking students to write about; I like the keep the topic of the close
reading prompt rather general, apart from the text, so that students have as much freedom as
possible in developing their arguments. In this case, while I did teach the same course two
semesters in a row, I did make a change to the text I was asking students to write about. I

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changed the assigned text from a novel to a selection of short stories as I felt this would make it
easier for students to focus on the specific details of the text throughout their essay.

Q: What did you anticipate as the main challenges of answering such a prompt? Were there any
points at which you regretted recommending any texts?

The main challenge I anticipated students would encounter in answering this prompt was
knowing when they had done enough to explain that and how a specific detail from the text
supported their claim; I have consistently found this to be the aspect of the close reading essay
with which students have the most difficulty. A common tendency I see in the close reading
essay is that students leave details to “speak for themselves,” rather than proving to the reader
that they mean what the student is claiming they do.

Q: How was teaching this assignment different from teaching any other assignments in the
class? How would you say that your student rose to the challenge of meeting this assignment?

In the first draft of her essay, Michelle did a wonderful job being very detail-oriented, but more
needed to be done to connect the details she provided as evidence to her claims; it was not
always clear why certain details were relevant to her argument, or that they proved her points. In
our conference, Michelle came prepared with specific questions and showed a genuine desire to
improve her close reading skills. Thus, in revision, Michelle did an admirable job more fully and
consistently unpacking the details she included in her essay so that it was clear to the reader why
they were significant. She also worked to think more critically about the details and to try to
account for more of the nuances of the short story she was analyzing.

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The Writer’s Process—Jamie Noh

Q & A with the writer of “Culture Clash”

Q: Tell us a little bit about how you formulated your argument for your paper. Did your thesis
change at all? Did you ever find it hard to work with the prompt? Was your thesis clear from the
beginning?

For this paper, I used a lot of the in-class discussion we had around the book about identity and
finding community. My thesis didn’t really change from the initial drafts because I knew I
wanted to focus on her struggle with multiple identities, but I did find a lot of difficulty trying to
develop the argument so that it remained dynamic and non-repetitive throughout the essay.

Q: Did you know much – if anything – about this topic before you started?

The struggles that Anya went through definitely resonated with me, as someone who also deals
with negotiating both their American identity and cultural heritage. I think that because I could
relate to Anya’s experiences, it made writing the essay feel easier. This connection also allowed
me to be a bit more critical of Anya and highlight the more problematic elements of her story.

Q: What was the most difficult problem that you encountered during the writing process? Did
you find a solution, or are you still wrestling with any logistics?

I think the most difficult problem was making sure that I wasn’t being repetitive in my body
paragraphs just so that I could get my thesis across. The solution I found was to be open to peer
criticism, reading my essay aloud to myself, and going through the essay after I had written it
and taking notes on what my main arguments for each paragraph were so as to monitor how
repetitive I was.

Q: What part of the writing process, or even the final paper, are you most proud of? Do you
have a favorite line?

I am most proud of the way I made sure to weave in quotes into each one of my arguments. I
think my favorite line is “To Anya, each moment with the bread, butter, and sugar sandwiches is
precious. Anya grasps onto American culture, much like her careful attempt not to lose any of

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the sugar by picking up the fallen granules and putting them back in her mouth.” I really like this
part because the imagery itself demonstrates Anya’s desperation and fragility.

Q: How did your instructor help you with your paper? Did they offer any helpful suggestions or
guidance?

Diana helped in ensuring that I knew I was on the right track and helped me understand why I
was writing and formulating my argument the way I was. I think she also helped me make sure I
zeroed in on specifics.

Q: Was anyone else instrumental in producing your final paper? If you engaged in any research,
how did you find your sources and/or how did you narrow down which sources you used in your
final draft?

The peer reviewers were useful in making sure that I stayed loyal to my thesis.

Q: If you could write a longer version of this piece, in which direction would you take it and
upon which points would you elaborate? Do you feel yourself returning to any of the subjects
that you addressed in this paper in the future?

If I were to elaborate on this piece, I think I would tie in more sociological aspects to help the
reader understand Anya in the larger narrative of immigrant diasporas.

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 Culture Clash
Jamie Noh

For many second-generation Americans, what you choose to embrace and reject from the
old country and from America intertwine together in an incongruous melting pot. In How to Get
Into the Twin Palms, Karolina Waclawiak demonstrates this struggle through Anya, a second-
generation Polish American, who faces the difficulty of digesting her Polish heritage while also
attempting to reject assimilating to American culture. On top of this, Anya strives for acceptance
in her predominately immigrant Russian neighborhood. Her goal of becoming a fully integrated
member of her community drives Anya to try and pass as a Russian and attempt to get into the
Russian night club, the Twin Palms. Like many second-generation Americans, Anya uses
material items to validate her connection to her heritage, grasping at bits of her Polish identity.
Ironically, these objects tend to be perishable items such as food which reflects Anya's fear of a
disappearing connection to her Polish roots. Throughout the text, Anya stands at the intersection
of Polish and American identity. Her childhood represents a lust for American culture, while her
adulthood is a misdirected attempt to understand her heritage. Anya uses material items and
stereotypes to validate the connection she has to her Polish heritage and denounce her
relationship to American culture which, rather than bolstering her self-image, reinforces her
insecurities and reveals Anya's dissociation with her own identity.
Anya's childhood idealization of American culture foreshadows a backlash and
resentment in her adulthood. As a child, Anya viewed American culture as something
unattainable. This is particularly emphasized through food, a staple of any culture's history and
values. Anya describes how her "mother didn't know about [her] bread, butter, and sugar
sandwiches" (21) that she would share with her American neighbor. She talks about her
disappointment when she would "check the refrigerator daily, hoping one day there would be a
tub of margarine" (21). This scenario highlights Anya's attempt to keep her love of American
culture a secret. She contrasts the simplicity and her love of "bread, butter, and sugar
sandwiches" (21) with how she "picked pieces of dill off of [her] potatoes" (21), an example of
Anya's repeated efforts to separate and dissect Polish culture. Anya describes how she cherished
her American sandwiches, "careful not to lose a granule...picking up the sugar and sticking it
back in [her] mouth" (21). To Anya, each moment with the bread, butter, and sugar sandwiches
is precious. Anya grasps onto American culture, much like her careful attempt not to lose any of
the sugar by picking up the fallen granules and putting them back in her mouth. She is careful
and eager to embrace and engage with American culture. In contrast, Anya "picks" (21) at her
Polish dill and potatoes, emphasizing a reluctance to eat the food as well as embrace Polish
culture.

15
 Anya's childhood disappointment with her fridge foreshadows her current ironic
disappointment when people treat her as an American rather than a Polish immigrant. As a child,
when Anya's family would send blue jeans to her relatives back in Poland, Anya was wracked
with jealousy. Anya exists in a middle ground; her dual identity proves, to her, that she can never
truly exist in an American or Polish identity. To her Polish relatives, Anya is representative of
"everything American" (74) as "they would send letters begging for blue jeans and [her] mother
would put together boxes for them" (74). The boxes of American items parallel the lack of
American food in Anya's fridge at home. Anya notes that her family would send "even things
[they] didn't have" (74) back to Poland. The alliteration of Anya's relatives "begging for blue
jeans" (74) highlights the desperateness in their voices, but also notes a slight condescension in
Anya's recalling of this scene, emphasizing Anya's quiet hostility to anyone who received
American goods over herself. As a child, Anya viewed American-ness as "passing" (22), an
ironic similarity to her current goal of passing as a Russian immigrant. When she describes her
time at summer camp, she states that she "still had a chance in [America], [because she] could
still pass" (22). Anya's childhood idealization of American culture was one of desperately
attempting to leave Polish identity and instead adapt to America. Anya states that surviving in
America revolves around "chance" (22), underscoring how success in America is particularly
difficult for immigrants. The word "chance" (22) connects to how Anya wishes for a second
chance to understand immigrant culture by trying to understand her Russian neighborhood while
still punishing herself for giving up any chance to accept herself.
Anya's subconscious goal of reconnecting with her Polish roots, ones of which she was
embarrassed as a child, is marred by her own insecurities. To Anya, a connection to Poland is
often through food. However, when Anya purchases or is around Polish food, often of her own
volition, she is disgusted and cannot bear to eat it. For example, when she goes to the store and
purchases "sauerkraut [she] will never eat, and chocolates filled with plums that will get pushed
to the back of the cupboard" (24), Anya forces a link to Poland. In this sense, though Anya
wishes to reconnect with her Polish roots, her attempts are too forceful, insisting that she
purchase things that she knows she will "never eat" (24) purely because they are "reminders of
who [she is], but who [she is] not quite" (24). Anya senses a large disconnect in her identity and
this gap is widened by how she views it through objects. She buys the sauerkraut and chocolate
even though she explicitly dislikes them but through her purchase she sees a connection to
Poland. Much like how Anya spent many years learning to adapt to American culture and in turn,
suppress her Polish identity, she pushes the chocolate to the back of the cupboard. Anya's self-
awareness, as in her knowledge that these items will be pushed to the cupboard before she even
purchases them, proves that this occurs often.
Anya's idealized image of what a Polish person should be and her dislike of Polish foods
proves to her that she is not truly Polish. In fact, it emphasizes her complicated relationship with

16
her Polish identity. These purchases seem like they are routine to Anya, something she does out
of obligation to what she assumes is the idealized Polish image. But at the same time, they are
reminders of things she is "not quite" (24). Anya forces herself to face tangible reminders of her
lack of Polish culture to the extent that they harm her mental health. She notes that she "hates
herring. In tubs with oil and onions, the silvery pieces curl onto each other, unmoving" (3). Her
description of the herring as "unmoving" (3) ties into her view of Poland as a stagnant country
which she highlights in her conversation with Lev, stating that "things don't change quickly
there, thanks to the Communists" (97). The description of the food as sitting in large "tubs" (3)
and "curl[ing] onto each other" (3) makes the food seem unappetizing and old which is similar to
her thoughts on the food in her fridge. Her adamant hatred of herring is countered by guilt that
she "should love herring. [Anya] should love borscht. [She] should slurp it up with pumpernickel
and rye" (3). The repetition of the word "should" (3) underscores Anya's ideals of a Polish
identity. She feels obligated to like all of these foods but her inability to fully enjoy them makes
her think that she is not truly Polish.
Anya's perception that she lacks roots in both American and Polish culture leads to an
oversensitivity to being associated with either one, reflecting an isolated existence. When Lev
and Anya drive together, Lev asks about Anya's family to which she responds that they live in a
"Polish ghetto" (94) but that "they want to be American so they only mix with Americans" (94).
Anya notes that the people around her family live in a "Polish ghetto" (94), a derogatory way of
emphasizing that they live in a community specifically built around a Polish immigrant
community. Her hostility and quick reaction to Lev's question highlights how Anya thinks that
her family's desire to be more American is something to be looked down upon. She delegitimizes
her own family's American citizenship and immigration by stating that they "want to be
American" (94), implying that despite living in America for many years, they are not American.
Her use of the word "mix" (94) to describe her family's interactions with these Americans also
underscores Anya's view that Polish and American identity are separate and incapable of
cohesive combination.
Lev notes that while Anya's family wishes to be American, Anya "wants to be something
else entirely" (94) to which she responds that she doesn't "want to be anything at all" (94).
Anya's immediate reaction to Lev labeling her leads Anya to automatically disagree with the
thought of being associated with both her Polish family and her American-ness. However, it is
clear that Anya doesn't actually want to be separated from both groups. Rather, she strives to
negotiate which one will validate her identity more. Anya's wish to be nothing at all often leads
her to wonder about her impact on others. Anya attempts to mask this by pretending to be
Russian and "practice speaking with an accent" (11), but in doing so, realizes that it sounds like
"all the times [she] would mock her mother's thick Polish accent" (11). Anya's description of her
mother's Polish accent as "thick" (11) evokes an image of something unmoving and slow. Anya's

17
mother's thick accent is an inhibitor to her ability to fully pass as an American. Anya's note that
she used to "mock" (11) her mother's accent also highlights Anya's own insecurities and how she
is even willing to make fun of her mother at the expense of Anya's validation of her own
connection to America. Even in her attempts to take on another identity, Anya notes that she,
unlike these accents which are definitive markers of where a person is from, is "from nowhere
and [that she] has lived in too many places to hold anything permanent in [her] voice" (11).
Anya's sense she has lived in too many places to "hold anything permanent in [her] voice" (11)
demonstrates that she is striving for a place of acceptance and belonging. She wants to find a
place that seems permanent and stable that will validate her identity.
As she packs up her house, Anya wonders, "what remnants of [herself] would tell them
who [she] was?" (180). The ambiguous "them" emphasizes Anya's constant need for others to
legitimize her own identity. To Anya, identity is performative and because she often lacks an
audience to validate her, she ends up disillusioned with the entire concept. For example, when
Anya brings the smoked mackerel her neighbor gives her inside the house, she notes that it
"made the apartment smell like an immigrant's house" (78). This claim is highly stereotypical
and based off of Anya's own ideas of what it means to be an immigrant. Associating a smelly
house with immigrants evokes the image of Anya's childhood refrigerator that was also filled
with immigrant and Polish smells. It is strange that Anya seems critical of the smell of the fish
because she also chooses to buy Polish foods but it highlights her indecisiveness. She cannot
decide if she wants to associate with the Polish immigrant upbringing she rejected as a childhood
or the American non-immigrant culture she used to embrace.
Through Anya's indecisiveness, it is clear that she lacks the understanding that identity in
itself is intersectional. To Anya, she is too American for her Polish family and too Polish for her
American and Russian neighbors. However, by simply existing, Anya is a contradiction to her
own mindset. She is able to be both American and Polish. Identity shouldn't be aspects of a
person that work against each other but rather uplift the individual to embrace a multiplicity and
diversity in perspective and experience.

Citations
Waclawiak, Karolina. How To Get Into The Twin Palms. Two Dollar Radio, 2012.

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Original Assignment—Close Reading Essay

Close Reading Assignment Prompt: How to Get into the Twin Palms

The Basics of Close Reading

One of the most important skills you will learn in this class is how to close read. To conduct a
close reading of literature, you choose a specific passage and analyze it in fine detail, as if with a
magnifying glass. You then comment on points of style and on your specific interpretation as the
reader. Close reading is important because it is the building block for larger analysis (which will
take place in your lens and research essays). We will also discuss how to produce an
interpretation—how to make an argument about a text and support that argument with detailed
analysis. Your thoughts evolve not from someone else’s truth about the reading, but from your
own observations. The more closely you can observe, the more original and exact your ideas will
be.

Prompt:

For this essay, you will conduct a close reading of Karolina Waclawiak’s How to Get into the
Twin Palms. In the novel, Waclawiak creates a very detailed portrait of her protagonist, Anya, at
a very specific moment in her life. In particular, our narrator, Anya hopes to gain access to a
Russian social club at the end of her street. While in pursuit of this goal, she reflects – at various
points in the text – on her status as:

unemployed | second generation | Polish-origin | Heterosexual | Female

Los Angeles resident | Living alone/lonely | Catholic

Of course, you may find or interpret the identity markers I have provided here to be inaccurate or
insufficient, and so you are free to edit them or pick another as it suits your argument (please
discuss with me first). For your first essay, choose one of the identity markers listed above
and discuss how it functions in the text alongside Anya’s immigrant status. Because arguing
about how the novel represents immigration in a general sense would be quite broad, you must
ground your analysis in some way. As you formulate your ideas and your argument, you are
required to consider one of the above themes and how it relates to the larger theme of the course
and the assignment—immigrants in America.

19
Ultimately, you will be making an argument about how Anya perceives her own immigrant
status as it intersects with one of these other identity markers and why it’s important/intriguing to
analyze. Rather than stating your opinion or commenting on the novel’s value, make an
analytical argument about Anya’s own perceptions as narrated in the novel written by
Waclawiak. And rather than merely summarizing the novel, focus on how Waclawiak crafts the
work for her readers so that we see Anya in a specific light and comment on what the novel
reveals to you as the reader about immigration and/or immigrants. While you may use evidence
from any part of the book, by the end of your paper, a sense of your argument about the novel as
a whole, while still focusing on one chosen aspect, should be clear. Do not use any secondary
sources.

A successful close reading will show your understanding of the workings of the mechanics of
language, narration, and structure in the literary work. You should make use of at least one, if
not more, of the literary terms we have been discussing in class (including, but not limited to,
figurative language, figures of speech, rhetorical strategies, narrative technique, and structure).

Length: 5-6 pages double-spaced

Formatting Guidelines: Essays must adhere to MLA citation guidelines. Use 1-inch margins on
all four sides and 12 point Times New Roman font. Essays must have a title, be double-spaced,
feature proper MLA headings, and have your last name and page number in the right header.

Goals of the Essay

Formulate an arguable thesis posing a question or problem rather than devising a statement that
pre-determines your essay. Remember, essay writing is the record of a developmental thought
process, one that starts and ends in a different place. Look back to your marginal reading notes
from when you first read the novel and from our in-class discussion and listen to your intuition
and interest—this is always a good place to begin locating an idea that can fuel an essay. While
your initial reaction to a word, phrase, or image may not be immediately worthy of an essay, it
can be a springboard to an excellent thesis.

All interpretations require evidence; all evidence requires analysis. Be absolutely clear on
the distinction between summary (presentation of concrete facts, examples, and details; plot,
setting, character, description; the raw data) and analysis (explanation of how that data is
meaningful and contributes to your overall interpretation). Do NOT provide extensive plot
summary; you can assume that your reader is familiar with the text. Your evidence must be
drawn from passages, not moments, in the text. Please note that only rarely can a piece of
evidence be fully analyzed in a single sentence.

20
Structure the essay according to your argument. Avoid simply organizing the essay in the
order of your observations. On the other hand, avoid the “five paragraph” form, which offers a
sequence of evidence as the demonstration of a thesis by force of reiteration. While analysis
should always tie back to the thesis, a paper should proceed according to logically developmental
steps, evolving its starting claims as it encounters and accounts for new evidence. While you’ll
want to ground your reader in a context, this paper should mainly consist of close reading—
analysis of specific words, phrases, images and themes.

Orient your reader. Assume your readers have read the story about a year ago, but they don’t
recall it in all its details or nuances. You’ll need to orient them with appropriate reminders (quick
summaries of narrative context, characters and their relationships), always making sure those
explanations serve a purpose instead of being mere filler. As you offer and analyze evidence
never assume 1) that readers know what to look for, 2) that they see the same details in the same
ways as you, and 3) that they draw the same conclusions as you. Rather, persuade your readers of
your claims through skillful and extended analysis.

Employ effective, active verbs by eliminating your use of “to be.” By discouraging you from
using all forms of the verb “to be,” including am, is, are, was, were, be, been, and being, this
simple exercise invigorates your style with stronger, more descriptive verbs as well as strikes the
passive voice out of your prose. It will also help you avoid introducing ideas with empty phrases
such as “there is” and “there are.” Ideally, you will develop an awareness of your verb use while
you draft and write, rather than translating sentences out of empty or passive forms once the draft
is done.

Document quotations using MLA in-text citation method. You are not expected to bring
background reading into your essay. You are, of course, required to quote from the story,
including the line number. Please use MLA in-text citation format for all quotations.

Q & A with Diana Filar, Instructor

Q: Had you taught this prompt before? If so, what made you teach it again? If not, how did you
arrive at this prompt/subject in particular?

I had taught this prompt before, and I taught it again for 3 reasons: First, this novel always
catches my students by surprise. They’ve usually never heard of it and the narrator is very
troubled and unlikeable, but the students can still see how she struggles with her immigrant
identity throughout, which is central to opening up discussions relevant to the course’s subject
matter. Second, in addition to being an odd story, there are interesting formal and language
elements in the book that I find make close reading easier to grab on to. And finally, because I

21
ask students to read her immigration alongside another identity marker, this primes them for the
lens sequence.

Q: What did you anticipate as the main challenges of answering such a prompt? Were there any
points at which you regretted recommending any texts?

The main challenge of the prompt is getting the students to close read with purpose toward
answering a more complicated question. They are usually very skilled at pointing out interesting
textual moments that have significance; the harder part is taking those observations and relating
them back to Anya’s (the protagonist) immigrant status as well as another part of her identity.
Basically, I want them to focus on the immigrant part of her, but recognize that that intersects
and interacts with other parts of her as well, which can be a bit challenging.

Q: How was teaching this assignment different from teaching any other assignments in the
class? How would you say that your student rose to the challenge of meeting this assignment?

This assignment is different from teaching the others because it is the one I find students are
most familiar with, but because it comes at the beginning, we have to introduce a lot of
information about the class and the whole semester at the same time. The students also usually
find the book pretty interesting and want to discuss it, so I try to do as much modeling of close
reading as a fill-in for literary discussion as possible.

Jamie rose to the challenge of this assignment because she zeroed in on a very concrete theme
across the text as a whole. By choosing “material objects” as the focal symbols for Anya’s
changing relationship to her own identity over time, Jamie created a built in unity and cohesion
to her close reading that went beyond just assessing “identity” in a way that can be very general,
and instead dove right into the specifics. This specificity then allowed her to extrapolate toward a
larger literary analysis of the novel as a whole.

22
Lens Essays

23
The Writer’s Process—Chau Le Tran

Q & A with the writer of “The Social Responsibility of Business is Not Fraud: Friedman and The
Big Short”

Q: Tell us a little bit about how you formulated your argument for your paper. Did your thesis
change at all? Did you ever find it hard to work with the prompt? Was your thesis clear from the
beginning?

Dr. Rourke gave us a great tip for formulating theses: see if there’s anything in the source
material that pushes back against conventional wisdom. The Big Short and the Friedman piece
each have crystal clear messages. Moreover, those messages appear to be diametrically opposed;
they’re certainly presented as diametrically opposed in much of the popular discourse about
corporate social responsibility. After a closer look, however, I found that I could argue that the
two pieces actually agree with and complement each other. From there, it was a matter of
selecting the strongest pieces of evidence and ordering them in an effective way.

Q: Did you know much – if anything – about this topic before you started?

I knew that The Big Short was a statement on the behavior of the finance industry leading up to
and during the Financial Crisis. I also knew that many commentators see Friedman’s ideas as
encouraging socially irresponsible actions on the part of corporations. This in mind, I was
actively looking for ways that I might be able to turn this surface narrative on its head without
suggesting anything that the text and film do not support.

Q: What was the most difficult problem that you encountered during the writing process? Did
you find a solution, or are you still wrestling with any logistics?

The most difficult problem that I encountered was ordering my evidence in a logical way. It’s
one thing to come up with individual pieces of evidence that support a thesis; it’s another to pick
the best arguments out of your research, order them from weakest to strongest, and make sure
that each argument flows naturally to the next. Conferencing and brainstorming with my
professor and classmates is what helped the most with this - there’s really no replacement for
talking it out with someone else.

24
Q: What part of the writing process, or even the final paper, are you most proud of? Do you
have a favorite line?

As a former literature major, I’ve never quite fallen out of love with the art of close reading. My
favorite part of crafting this paper was getting to close read “The Social Responsibility of
Business is to Increase Its Profits” and analyze scenes from The Big Short. I don’t really have a
favorite line, but I love that I was able to weave metaphor and contrast into a paper on business
ethics.

Q: How did your instructor help you with your paper? Did they offer any helpful suggestions or
guidance?

Dr. Rourke played an indispensable part in shaping the final paper. I knew that I was having
trouble refining the thesis and narrowing down which examples I would use in support of my
thesis, so it was a double-pronged issue. She helped with two major issues: first, I went into my
conferences with her planning to perfect either my thesis or my examples first, then, having set
that piece of the puzzle into place, move onto the other; after lots of feedback, however, I
realized that the process is necessarily messy, and that I’d have to alternate working on both
before I came up with a good framework.

Second, she taught me not to be afraid of the chopping block. When you are writing, you can
become attached to an idea, or a paragraph, or a line that might detract from your paper as a
whole.

Q: Was anyone else instrumental in producing your final paper? If you engaged in any research,
how did you find your sources and/or how did you narrow down which sources you used in your
final draft?

As I mentioned above, I got a lot of help from my classmates in pinpointing what was unclear in
my original draft.

Q: If you could write a longer version of this piece, in which direction would you take it and
upon which points would you elaborate? Do you feel yourself returning to any of the subjects
that you addressed in this paper in the future?

If I had to extend this piece, I would incorporate the other two storylines in The Big Short. The
Michael Burry storyline in particular would have provided counterexamples - something that I

25
did not include in this paper but that would strengthen the thesis. I would also give the Friedman
piece a broader, longer, and more in-depth analysis, since this paper hones in on a small part of
the essay.

I feel that, in my future writing, I will return to economics, finance, and business in general. This
lens assignment demonstrates the ways in which film - and the arts at large - can illuminate such
subjects, and vice versa. Dialogue facilitates new ideas and new understandings.

26
 The Social Responsibility of Business is Not Fraud: Friedman and The Big
Short
Chau Le Tran

On its surface, Adam McKay’s The Big Short appears to be a bitter critique of free markets
and unfettered capitalism. Interleaved between montages of foreclosed homes and cinéma verité-
style shots of lower-to-middle-class Americans, the film tells the stories of two Wall Street
executives immediately preceding the Financial Crisis of 2008 as they witness the tremendous
ethical failures that the banking industry commits in the name of profit. Michael Burry, an
idiosyncratic physician-turned-financier, realizes that the entire housing market rests on
subprime loans, predicts its collapse, and decides to take advantage of the industry’s greed by
shorting it; meanwhile, Mark Baum, a high-strung yet conscientious hedge fund manager,
catches wind of the impending collapse and decides to do the same. Baum’s story in particular
showcases the egregious actions of various financial power players. He uncovers the lengths that
they go to to line their own – and their employers’ – pockets at the expense of their clients’. The
housing market eventually collapses underneath the weight of failing bonds, and although Baum
and his fund end up profiting due to having bet against the market, he is viscerally disturbed that
the greed of the industry enabled the fraud to occur in the first place. As such, The Big Short
would appear to criticize economist and free market advocate Milton Friedman’s idea that a
corporation's only responsibility is to maximize its profits; after all, in pursuit of profit, the
finance industry committed fraud and consequently caused the crisis in 2008. However, a close
analysis of Baum’s storyline through the lens of Friedman’s classic New York Times Magazine
article, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits,” reveals that Friedman’s
piece can, in fact, be read as a warning against the type of massive fraud perpetrated in The Big
Short, as it is fraud, not the pursuit of profit itself, that directly causes the collapse of the banks.

In “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits,” Friedman argues that
a business’s – and, by extension, a businessman’s – sole responsibility is to generate the greatest
possible returns for that business’s shareholders while adhering to local laws, ethics, and
customs. He summarizes the responsibility of the business itself as such:

[T]here is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and
engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of
the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or
fraud. (6)

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Although the title of the article may imply that Friedman argues for profit by any means, this line
reveals a two-pronged, nuanced argument. The business's responsibility is not merely to generate
profits. Rather, its responsibility is to generate profits using honest and transparent means. Here,
Friedman compares business to a “game” whose players must obey certain “rules”, and in doing
so, he implies that if a player – in other words, a business or corporation – violates those rules by
participating in “deception” or “fraud,” then that player should be dismissed from the game,
regardless of the profits it has generated. Friedman has a similar prescription for the
businessman. He writes that the role of the corporate executive is one of “an agent serving the
interests of his principal” (3). In serving as an agent, the businessman acts on behalf of his
principal, or employer, facilitating lawful, ethical profit. In The Big Short, various players in the
finance industry at both the corporate and individual executive levels constantly break the rules
of the business game that Friedman describes, and, at the end of the film, pay for their actions by
causing their businesses to go bankrupt.

Mark Baum’s storyline is rich with fraud at both the perpetrators’ and the victims’ level,
each example violating Friedman’s stipulation that corporations and their executives must
generate profit by legal and ethical means. First, Baum’s revelatory visit to ratings agency
Standard & Poor’s demonstrates fraud committed at the institutional level; the ratings agency
gives top ratings to undeserving bonds in exchange for banks’ business. As a result, Standard &
Poor’s ends up deceiving investors who have been led to believe that the risky bonds they are
investing in are actually of the highest quality. Next, Front Point’s encounter with two
particularly dimwitted mortgage brokers looking to get rich quick shows that fraud also occurs at
lower levels; the brokers target and write loans to those with poor credit and who clearly do not
comprehend the terms to which they are signing, and their employers fail to verify their incomes,
thinking only of the bottom line. Baum’s story also shows the ways in which financial fraud
permeates American society and directly affects average people. His tête-à-tête with an exotic
dancer who has no idea her multiple loans are doomed to fail, as well as Front Point’s discovery
of a mortgage taken out under the name of one landlord’s pet dog, demonstrate the wide-
reaching consequences. When the industry finally collapses at the end of the film, the Lehman
Brothers scene bitterly illustrates the price of fraud. At first glance, the film’s narrative appears
to pin the financial collapse on an utter lack of corporate social responsibility, and therefore, on
the ideas of Friedman. However, an analysis of these specific scenes through the lens of
Friedman’s article reveals that the antagonists of The Big Short violate his definition of
responsible corporations and corporate executives on two counts: on their fraudulent behavior,
and on their ultimate failure to generate profits.

Baum reveals an instance of fraud at the institutional level when he pays a visit to Georgia,
a credit ratings agent at Standard & Poor's, in an attempt to find out exactly why, and how,

28
mortgage bonds continue to receive the highest possible ratings despite the enormous rise in
mortgage defaults. The scene begins with Georgia, who has just come from the optometrist,
complaining about the cumbersome eye protectors that she has been instructed to wear – perhaps
symbolizing the complicity between her, her employer, and their willful blindness to the reality
of the housing market. It quickly turns into a heated exchange in which Baum accosts Georgia
about her own complicity in ratings fraud, prompting her to explain that she – as well as
Standard & Poor's - will lose clients if she doesn't give them the triple-A ratings that they expect:

BAUM. Can you name one time in the past year where you checked the tape and didn’t

give the banks the triple-A percentage they wanted?

GEORGIA. If we don’t give them the ratings, they'll go to Moody's. Right down the

block. If we don’t work with them, they will go to our competitors. Not our fault.

Simply the way the world works. It is not my decision. I have a boss.

BAUM. Is that the angle you’re taking? So, now, anyone who has a boss can't be held

responsible for doing shitty and illegal things? (McKay 1:05:33)

In asking the last rhetorical question, Baum suggests that Georgia is using her duty to her
employer to excuse herself from standing up to the company, following the law, and making
ethical decisions. Baum's exact words, "shitty and illegal," echo Friedman's exact words – albeit
crudely – in his prescription of what a businessman's duty should be; a businessman's duty is to
generate profit for his company in such a way that conforms to "law" and "ethical custom" (1).
Clearly, in giving triple-A ratings where the bonds do not merit them, Georgia's actions on behalf
of her employer, Standard & Poor’s, are duplicitous toward the investors putting money into
those bonds. She and her employer know well that the loans that make up those bonds will never
be paid back. By putting Standard & Poor’s profits above any legal, ethical, or moral
considerations, Georgia contradicts Friedman's definition of a socially responsible
businessperson, Standard & Poor’s contradicts his definition of a socially responsible business,
and, as the film illustrates, both contribute to the looming housing market collapse.

Fraud occurs not only at the institutional level, but also at the individual level. Baum
experiences this shock first-hand at a meeting with two mortgage brokers. He and his Front Point
employees, Danny and Porter, arrive at a high-end bar, where the brokers boast quite openly
about the number of loans they write and how much they’re compensated for doing so. The
mood is asymmetric; the brokers smirk and sip on cocktails as they answer Front Point’s
questions about the loans they write, completely unaware that their answers disturb Front Point.
Baum and his employees, on the other hand, remain serious throughout the entire exchange.

29
 DANNY. Do applicants ever get rejected?

BLACK. Seriously? Look, if they get rejected, I suck at my job.

PORTER. Even if they have no money?

MAROON. Well, my firm offers NINJA loans. No income, no job. I just leave the income

section blank if I want. Corporate doesn’t care. (McKay 51:22)

The first broker, Black, seems to be saying that his job is to write loans to anyone who will take
one; the second, Maroon, explains that if the client has no income and no job – and therefore has
no realistic chance of paying off the loan – he is able to write the loan, anyway, since his firm
does not actually require income verification. Regardless, the banks buy the loans; it appears that
as long as the loans keep getting written, the likelihood of the debt being repaid is nobody’s
concern. Front Point is incredulous at what they hear. This is downright fraudulent behavior, and,
just like the example of Georgia and Standard & Poor’s, flies in the face of Friedman’s definition
of responsible corporate and corporate executive behavior, bringing the banks one step closer to
bankruptcy.

The mortgage brokers’ casual admission of their fraudulent behavior is shocking in and of
itself, but the film goes further and showcases the severe, direct effects of this fraud on one of
their victims: an exotic dancer. Following a lead from one of the brokers, Baum purchases a
private session with this dancer so that he can find out more about her loans. In a scene echoing
the exchange between Front Point and the brokers in the bar, Baum attempts to engage the
dancer in serious conversation about her loans while she dismisses his questions with nonchalant
answers and dances around the ornate room. Again, the mood is asymmetric; just as the brokers
do not realize the gravity of what they are revealing to Baum, Danny, and Porter, the dancer
assumes Baum is only looking to be entertained and does not realize how dire her financial
situation actually is. This scene diverges from the scene with the brokers, however, at 54:28,
when Baum finally breaks the news to her that, contrary to what her broker has told her, she very
likely will end up having to pay outrageous rates on her loans.

BAUM. If home prices don’t go up, you are not going to be able to refinance. … Your

monthlies could go up 200 to 300 percent.

DANCER. James says I can always refinance.

BAUM. Well, he’s a liar.

DANCER. 200 percent? On all my loans? I have five houses. And a condo.

30
At this point, the camera jump-cuts to a view of the dancer from behind. For the first time in her
interaction with Baum, she is standing up straight and looking him in the face; Baum represents
the truth that she had previously been blind to. In other words, she finally understands her
financial situation for what it is. The camera angle also makes it clear that she is completely
exposed in front of him; having looked the truth in the eye, she can no longer hide behind the
illusion of refinancing. Her exposure can also symbolize her vulnerability to the finance industry
at large; she has taken out not one, but multiple loans on multiple homes, expecting to be able to
refinance based only upon her broker’s mistaken word. The dancer, as an average – even
working-class – American, demonstrates the scope of the finance industry’s fraud, and as such,
illustrates just how severely the brokers have contradicted Friedman’s notion of a transparent,
responsible businessman.

The film shows another victim of egregious financial fraud, in the form of a working-class
tenant who Danny and Porter run into while investigating a Florida housing development. Baum,
wanting to confirm his suspicions of a housing bubble, commands Danny and Porter to take a
trip to Miami to survey delinquent mortgage owners. Noticing the impressive exterior of the
homes in the development, the two become alarmed at the houses' state of disrepair and knock on
the door of one of the homes. A disheveled-looking man answers the door. He is unshaven, has
multiple tattoos, and is dressed in a stained tank top. The light of day hits his face hard enough so
as to cause him to cover his eyes and rub his temples. This hints that he has been sleeping all day
and just woke up, and thus may very well be unemployed; his working-class appearance starkly
contrasts with the sleek, roomy foyer from which he emerges. He is clearly out of his element. In
being blinded by the sunlight, the man also embodies the revelation that is about to occur:

DANNY. Hello. I’m surveying mortgage owners who are over 90 days delinquent. I’m

looking for a Harvey Humpsey.

TENANT. You want my landlord’s dog?

DANNY. Your landlord filled out his mortgage application using his dog’s name?

TENANT. I guess so. Wait, has that asshole not been paying his mortgage? (McKay

43:58).

Just as the man realizes that his landlord is a criminal on two counts – filling out his mortgage
application under his pet dog’s name and then failing to make payments on it – he looks Danny
straight in the face. This echoes the dancer’s exposure before Baum and her concurrent
realization about her financial situation; by looking Danny, the messenger, in the face, the tenant
literally sees the truth. Here, the landlord, having deceived the tenant, is the fraudulent
businessman, and he certainly contradicts Friedman’s conception of a responsible executive.
31
 It is clear that these egregious examples of fraud and deception contradict Friedman’s
vision of a business with regard to its position on honesty and transparency, but, as the end of
The Big Short demonstrates, they end up contradicting his primary vision in the first place: for
businesses to increase their profits as much as possible. The banks’ unethical behavior ultimately
drives them to bankruptcy, inflicting massive financial losses onto their employees and
shareholders. At 1:54:16, the camera pans across a ticker reading “First Bear Stearns collapses,
then Countrywide. Now Lehman Brothers;” at this point, these three former big banks have
collapsed underneath the consequences of their fraudulent business practices. At 1:54:30, the
camera cuts to shots of hundreds of former Lehman Brothers employees evacuating the building,
clutching their belongings, faces distraught, files and office supplies strewn about on the ground,
as a soundbite of a newscaster describes Lehman Brothers’ predicament: “The collapse of the
venerable New York bank follows a tumultuous few months of market volatility and fear in the
world economy.” The soundbite contains an irony; the bank is described as “venerable,” and, yet,
its exterior is a mess, and its incredulous employees are now forced to exit the building in a
manner that strips them of any dignity. To state that fraud ultimately failed to generate profit for
the now fallen Lehman Brothers is a major understatement; in fact, it was fraud that directly
caused the bankruptcy and collapse of the entire business, thoroughly contradicting Friedman’s
notion of a responsible business.

Though a surface analysis of Friedman and The Big Short may lead to the conclusion that
the two works diametrically oppose one another, a closer look reveals that, when analyzed
through the lens of Friedman, The Big Short – particularly, Mark Baum’s storyline – illustrates
the massive consequences that arise when businesses fail to behave in legal and ethical ways. In
the end, it is not the profit-seeking itself that causes their downfall, but, rather, the fraud
committed in the name of profit. Toward the end of the film, Baum himself comes to this
conclusion, stating that “for fifteen thousand years, fraud and short-sighted thinking has never,
ever worked. Not once. Eventually, people get caught, things go south” (McKay 1:52:09).
Sooner or later, the banks’ dishonesty was going to catch up with them. From this, we might
even conclude that in order to generate the greatest possible returns in the long run, a business
must act lawfully and ethically; if so, then this calls for a change in popular economic dialogue
denouncing capitalism, free markets, and the profit motive as inherently unethical and harmful to
society. Could it be that profit and ethical behavior, in fact, go hand-in-hand? If a businessman’s
social responsibility is to ensure, within ethical and legal boundaries, that his company generates
the greatest possible profit for its shareholders, then the businessman must take measures to
prevent shortsighted greed from getting the best of him. Together, Friedman and The Big Short
pave the way for a radical change in our perception of capitalism, ethics, and economics.

32
 Works Cited

McKay, Adam. The Big Short, Paramount Pictures, 2015.

Friedman, Milton. “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits.” The New

York Times Magazine, 13 Sept. 1970.

33
Original Assignment—Lens Essay

For the primary text of the lens essay we will view The Big Short, a film about the housing crisis
that led to the economic collapse of 2008. For the lens text, we will read a seminal essay by
Milton Friedman (1912-2006), a Nobel prize-winning American economist best known for his
advocacy of free markets in capitalist societies. Friedman’s essay, “The Social Responsibility of
Business is to Increase its Profits,” argues that a company’s primary responsibility is “to make as
much money as possible while conforming to [the] basic rules of society (1).”

Essay prompt:

For this essay make an argument about how The Big Short adds to, challenges or complicates
Friedman’s ideas about the corporate pursuit of profits and how Friedman’s ideas add to,
challenge or complicate The Big Short. To focus your argument, draw on the storyline of either
Michael Burry or Mark Baum and his colleagues employed by the Front Point Fund. Your aim is
to synthesize your understanding of Friedman’s claims with your interpretation of The Big Short
in order to construct an argument that you could not have made through close reading
alone. You should seek to inform your readers, to open up this film in new ways for them by
exploring in what ways the film complicates Friedman’s ideas and in what ways Friedman’s
ideas complicate the film. Some things to consider:

• What role does personal conflict play in the film?

• What is the relationship between the central characters and the banks?
• What is the function of the flashbacks and rapid cuts?
• In what ways does The Big Short complicate Friedman’s notion of the corporate duty to
increase profits? In this instance, what is “the corporation”? The banks? The hedge funds
run by Burry, Geller and Shipley, Baum?
• Is there a difference between the banks and funds?
• What is the relationship between the banks and regulators?
• What is the role of social responsibility?
• What responsibility does the consumer bear?

Q & A with Dr. Lisa Rourke, Instructor

Q: Had you taught this prompt before? If so, what made you teach it again? If not, how did you
arrive at this prompt/subject in particular?
34
I taught this prompt once before in the fall 2017 semester. I decided to teach it again because my
students offered interpretations I had never anticipated, and I looked forward to continuing to
learn from them.

Q: What did you anticipate as the main challenges of answering such a prompt? Were there any
points at which you regretted recommending any texts?

I anticipated two main challenges, both of which stemmed from the density of the primary and
secondary texts. The primary text was a film titled The Big Short, which chronicled the 2008
housing collapse in the United States. Although the basic storyline was not difficult to follow,
the complex financial components that contributed to the crisis were challenging: I was
concerned that students would get mired down by the minutiae. The secondary text was a
published piece by the classical economist Milton Friedman. For this text, I was concerned that
students would have preconceived notions about Friedman that would color their interpretation
of the film. I should have had more faith in my students! They used Friedman’s essay to identify
unanticipated nuances of the film and the film to identify circumstances that Friedman may not
have foreseen.

Q: How was teaching this assignment different from teaching any other assignments in the
class? How would you say that your student rose to the challenge of meeting this assignment?

This assignment was different from other assignments in the class because it asked students to
put together two unrelated texts to create an original interpretation. Chau originally struggled
with the essay because she had difficulty narrowing the direction she wanted to pursue.
However, by reading and re-reading both texts, meeting with me and discussing her ideas with
her peers, she conceived and executed an argument that challenged conventional thinking about
both Friedman and the film. She did an outstanding job of taking the reader step by step through
her thought process and excellent work analyzing both texts and relating them to each other.

35
The Writer’s Process—Wanchen Zhao

Q & A with the writer of “Marilyn Diptych: A Challenge on the Conventional Conception over
Art”

Q: Tell us a little bit about how you formulated your argument for your paper. Did your thesis
change at all? Did you ever find it hard to work with the prompt? Was your thesis clear from the
beginning?

When I received the assignment, I had no idea how to work with the prompt. Before the first
draft, I thought really hard to obtain some ideas about what to write. We were asked to analyze
an image of our choice. The critical text was hard to comprehend, and the subject, the chosen
image, was too concise. This posed a great challenge for me, and it took me a long time to think
of good ideas for the paper. Initially, I had two completely different theses, and choosing
between the two was also kind of a tough process. Once I made my decision, however, my thesis
remained clear and barely changed throughout my work on the essay.

Q: Did you know much – if anything – about this topic before you started?

I know very few things about the topic. Though, the topic was about fans and society, the
assignment for this essay actually demands some understanding about art, which I am not good
at. I had to do a little bit of research before getting started.

Q: What was the most difficult problem that you encountered during the writing process? Did
you find a solution, or are you still wrestling with any logistics?

Quoting concepts and defining them in our own words is one of the most challenging. There
were a lot of concepts from the critical text that need clarification in my essay. Concepts like
“aura,” “cult value,” and “exhibition value” need to be clearly defined for readers to understand,
but I find it hard to explain them in my essay without disrupting the flow. In my first draft, these
concepts were poorly defined in my paper, and I used them in a way that assumes readers will
understand. This problem was first discovered during the peer review of my essay. Even my
classmates who had read the critical lens found the meaning of these quoted concepts confusing.
Clarifying these words immediately after quotation did not seem to be effective, because it
loosened the structure of my paper. The best solution I found was to clarify these concepts in the
introductory paragraph, start of each paragraph, or define them before I go further into detail.
This way, I am able to explicitly define them with cutting my arguments into pieces.

36
Q: What part of the writing process, or even the final paper, are you most proud of? Do you
have a favorite line?

I think I am most proud of the way I handled the critical lens. “The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction” is kind of elusive and presenting the viewpoints of the lens proved to
be challenging. When I look back on my paper, I find that my interpretation of the primary text
and the way I presented it is logical, succinct, and instrumental to my own arguments. My
favorite line is “‘various changes in ownership’ does not apply to this artwork, because the
painting demonstrates its value in the oxymoron that both everyone and one can own it.”

Q: How did your instructor help you with your paper? Did they offer any helpful suggestions or
guidance?

Instead of telling me what to do or what to write, my instructor mainly provided guidance in my

writing process. She asked me questions that helped me to further elaborate my ideas. Talking to
her about my ideas really helped me to clear my thoughts and sort out my confusions. Usually, I
have a lot of scattered ideas, and my instructor helped me a lot to organize these ideas in a
logical and consistent way.

Q: Was anyone else instrumental in producing your final paper? If you engaged in any research,
how did you find your sources and/or how did you narrow down which sources you used in your
final draft?

My writing tutor was also helpful in this process. Initially, I thought only people who know a lot
about the topic of this UWS can be helpful in revising my paper but showing my paper to
someone who had little previous knowledge in this area actually helped me to examine my
reasoning. They helped me to ensure that I was clarifying the concepts in a comprehensible way.
Additionally, my classmates really helped me in peer review. Their suggestions gave me a
comprehensive view of how I can improve my paper.

Q: If you could write a longer version of this piece, in which direction would you take it and
upon which points would you elaborate? Do you feel yourself returning to any of the subjects
that you addressed in this paper in the future?

I think I would focus more on Benjamin’s argument on “cult value” and the way Bourdieu ranks
cultural taste. Today, there is still a pervasive hierarchy of taste, and things appreciated by a few
educated or professionals are still perceived as artistically superior. Ironically, Warhol’s painting
37
which is indeed a challenge and used to possess “exhibition value” and “aura” at once now
seems to have “cult value” replacing its “exhibition value” gradually. This fact prompts me to
think whether it is truly possible for art to be art with high accessibility. I wish I could extract
more arguments from the painting Marilyn Diptych and use the characteristics of this painting to
examine the nature of art, or at least what is perceived to be art.

38
 Marilyn Diptych: A Challenge on the Conventional Conception over Art
Wanchen Zhao

The nature of art has usually been a controversy, especially in the field of contemporary
art. Defined by Walter Benjamin in “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,”
“aura” is an integral element of art, characterized by the “presence in time and space, its unique
existence at the place where it happens to be,” and thus “even the most perfect reproduction of
artwork” lacks this essential element (Benjamin 1935: 3). Extending Benjamin’s idea and filtered
through “The Cultural Economy of Fandom” written by John Fiske, the model proposed by
Pierre Bourdieu ranks cultural taste on a two-dimensional axis and thus implies high cultural art
is appreciated by “educated, tasteful capitalists” (Fiske 1992: 31). The ideas of both Benjamin
and Bourdieu reflect traditionally defined elements of art: irreproducibility and limited access to
common people. Evaluated with their judgements about art, Andy Warhol’s renowned silkscreen
painting Marilyn Diptych would be a devalued form of art, mass-produced and readily accessible
to everyone. However, this painting is displayed in a gallery, widely recognized as an artwork,
and paves the way for the prevalence of pop art. Mechanically reproduced, but retaining aura and
possessing high exhibition value, Marilyn Diptych drastically clashes with what is traditionally
perceived to be art. This contradiction can be interpreted as Warhol’s challenge to the
conventionally defined nature of art.
The challenge to the conventional notion of art is exhibited at first sight through the
contradiction between the reproducibility of Marilyn Diptych and Benjamin’s emphasis on
authenticity. Traditionally, paintings are irreproducible: the texture, age, and strokes on canvas
can never be imitated with exactness, as Benjamin asserts: “the presence of the original is the
prerequisite to the concept of authenticity…. the original preserved all its authority” (Benjamin
1935: 3). According to Benjamin, the irreproducibility of the original is one thing that defines
aura, which mechanically produced paintings do not possess. While manually reproduced art
works differ from the original one, the mechanically reproduced ones do not. Silkscreen painting,
a technique which Warhol used to paint Marilyn’s countenance, blurs the distinction between the
original and the replicated, eliminating the aura. Because of the exactness in reproduction
eradicates the difference in physical condition, the original no longer preserves authority.
Accordingly, the aura is supposed to have perished in Marilyn Diptych. However, the image of
Monroe still enables itself to be scrutinized like a masterpiece, regardless of being original or
copied, on screen or silkscreen.
Does this contradiction disprove Benjamin’s theory of aura? And how can a painting be
artistic if deprived of aura? In fact, aura, namely the essence of art, is too broad a concept, while
Benjamin only defines it as the unique physical condition of the original. Warhol expands the

39
definition of aura to include the unique feeling that an artwork can elicit. The meaning of this
painting is unique and authentic; hence, it is the idea, rather than physical existence, that makes
Marilyn Diptych an artwork. Benjamin emphasizes the physical existence and condition of an
artwork, but Warhol’s painting emanates aura in terms of its unique style, visual effect, and idea,
all of which exists immaterially, rather than physically. The signature of Warhol is imprinted in
the idea of his art work, rather than its physical condition. In Andy Warhol’s painting, aura is
transformed, rather than destroyed, by mechanical reproduction. Through displaying aura on a
different dimension and broadening its definition, Marilyn Diptych challenges the conventional
obsession with irreproducibility.
Nevertheless, the physical existence of the original piece is not the only defining feature
of the aura in “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” The aura defined by
Walter Benjamin is also demonstrated by “the various changes in its ownership” (Benjamin
1935: 3). The diffused ownership of Marilyn Diptych once again clashes with Benjamin’s
conception of aura. In asserting that “changes of ownership are subject to a tradition which must
be traced from the situation of the original,” Benjamin heavily stresses the importance of the
“historical testimony,” which grants an artwork the crucial authenticity. Silkscreen print is a
technique used for mass production and enables anyone to perfectly copy the image of Marilyn
Monroe. Based on the argument of Benjamin, Marilyn Diptych has no authenticity because of its
lack of vicissitude in ownership, with everyone able to be both its owner and painter.
However, no matter how perfectly or infinitely this painting is reproduced, the authorship
is always traced back to Andy Warhol, instead of the person who copied it. Anyone can own the
painting physically while no one really owns it intellectually. “Various changes in ownership”
does not apply to this artwork, because the painting demonstrates its value in the oxymoron that
both everyone and no one can own it. The technique, painter, and texture cease to matter: what
truly matters is the unique visual effect the painting conveys. Therefore, Warhol further
challenges the conventional definition of aura through denying the necessity of ownership. The
aura discussed in “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” remains on the
physical level, while the aura in Warhol’s art work transcends it into something intangible. All
aspects of Marilyn Diptych set the painting apart from the conventional definition of authenticity.
Rather than proving pop art is capable of possessing the conventionally defined aura, Warhol
illustrates the value of this form of art by challenging the conventional conception of aura
altogether.
If the expanded definition of authenticity is Warhol’s challenge to the conventional form
of art, then the wide dissemination of Marilyn Diptych is another in terms of the audience of art.
In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter Benjamin also proposes
the concept of “cult value” and “exhibition value”, asserting that “…the unique value of the
‘authentic’ work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value” (Benjamin

40
1935: 5). Prompted by Benjamin, cult value emphasizes the existence of an artwork, while
exhibition value emphasizes “being on view” (Benjamin 1935: 5). According to Benjamin,
authenticity, one component of aura, is linked with cult value, and thus artworks with aura
should be viewed by few. Created using a technique for mass production and viewed extensively,
Marilyn Diptych possesses tremendous exhibition value but moderate cult value. If the
conventional belief about art is unchallengeable, the painting would lose its authenticity and
become devalued in aura once exposed to the public. However, its authenticity remains intact
regardless of the extensive exposure to the public. “The cult value seems to demand that work of
art remains hidden” (Benjamin 1935: 5), but Warhol resists this demand by dissociating aura
from cult value and combining it with exhibition value instead, illustrating that being on view
does not dissipate the aura of an art work. This contradiction not only reinforces that the concept
of authenticity in art has changed, but also implies that art should be appreciated by the public
rather than remain hidden.
In addition to exposing art to the public, Warhol further challenges the privileged view
about art in his subject choice—a photograph of Marilyn Monroe selected from a film Niagara—
which is likely to be viewed as unsuitable under the standard of Benjamin and Bourdieu. Similar
to the claims of Benjamin that art is only accessible to few people, Pierre Bourdieu implies that
art is appreciated by the privileged. According to Bourdieu, cultural taste can be presented on a
two-dimensional axis, where the vertical axis measures the amount of cultural or economic
capital, and the horizontal measures the type (Fiske 1992: 31-32). Conventionally, art has been
conceived to be located at the left side of the axis, abundant in cultural capital, and requires
professional knowledge to be understood; while popular culture is at the right, possessing high
economic capital, but mediocre in cultural capital. Using this criterion, neither film nor Marilyn
Monroe possesses high cultural value. Performing in film rather than on stage, with mass appeal
from “proletariat” rather than professionals, Marilyn is considered a popular culture icon, rather
than the symbol of art. In the latter part of “The Work of Art in the Mechanical Reproduction,”
Walter Benjamin sticks to the devalued aura in contemporary art, specifically film, indicating
that aura is “tied to his presence; there is no replica of it” (Benjamin 1935: 8).
With this standard, the source of the image, a film, further devalues the aura of the
painting. Nevertheless, when painted with vibrant colors on each of the same images, the
photograph immediately obtained recognition and was displayed in a gallery. Painted using the
photograph of a Hollywood celebrity, but recognized by professionals; and being artistic while
appreciated by so-called “proletariat”, Marilyn Diptych challenges the conventional conception
of who can appreciate art. In incorporating the symbol of popular culture into the subject of art,
Warhol proves that art does not have to be elitist to gain recognition and thus appreciating art
should not be the prerogative of professionals.

41
 Marilyn Diptych demonstrates Andy Warhol’s challenge to the conventional notion about
art in various ways. In possessing authenticity while mass-produced and devoid of ownership,
this painting denies the validity in Benjamin’s claim that “the presence of the original is the
prerequisite to the concept of authenticity” (Benjamin 1935: 3). Both Benjamin and Bourdieu’s
definitions of art suggest that appreciating art is the privilege of a few, whereas with the
coexistence of exhibition value and aura, Marilyn Diptych forcefully proves that artworks should
not be circulated just among a few “high cultural” professionals. Not fitting into any of these
conventional ideas about art, this painting drastically subverts the granted view of what
constitutes art and who can appreciate it.

Works Cited

Benjamin, Walter. 1935. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”
https://moodle2.brandeis.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=590656
Fiske, John. 1992. “The Cultural Economy of Fandom.” In The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture
and Popular Media, edited by Lisa A. Lewis, 30-49. London and New York: Routledge.
Warhol, Andy. 1962. Marilyn Diptych.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Diptych#/media/File:Marilyndiptych.jpg

42
Original Assignment—Lens Essay

Paper 2: Lens Essay

Our Unit 2 readings focus on the balance of power between fans and the dominant cultural and
economic structures in and against which they operate. Our critics reveal how fans are at once
culturally subordinate and possessed of real affective power, simultaneously working against
established hierarchies whilst recreating hegemonic structures.

Assignment:
For this paper you will use Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction” and/or Pierre Bourdieu’s “Distinction: A Social Critique on the Judgement of
Taste” as filtered through John Fiske’s “The Cultural Economy of Fandom” as a critical lens
through which you will present a new understanding of one of the images from the Paper 2
images file. How does the work of these critics prompt you to consider or reconsider any initial
understanding of your chosen image? Where you have opted to use both critics, are there areas in
which their work prompts opposing interpretations, and how are these resolved?

You should feel free to bring in information about the history and context of the particular image
you are writing about, but refrain from using pre-existing criticism about it.

Your paper should be 6-8 pages long or 1500-2000 words (Times New Roman, 12pt, double-
spaced.)

Goals of the Essay:

1. Open with an engaging introduction that makes your motive clear. Gordon Harvey
describes motive as “the intellectual context that you establish for your topic and thesis at the
start of your essay, in order to suggest why someone besides your instructor might want to read
an essay on this topic or need to hear your particular thesis argued—why your thesis isn’t just
obvious to all, why other people might hold other theses that you think are wrong.” Ask of your
thesis, “So what? Why would someone care? What’s unexpected here? How is this interesting?”
until you can respond with a satisfying answer.

2. Create a dialogue between two (or more) texts. It is not enough in this assignment simply to
match the theories laid out by our readings onto your ideas about the image. Instead, you should
aim to bring texts and ideas together in a way that helps us articulate a particular relationship

43
between the image and the culture more generally. It may help to imagine yourself as engaging
in a critical conversation with the authors whose work we have read in class, or to ask how these
authors give you a perspective through which to view the image, or offer vocabulary or ideas that
you can use or refine. Though you will necessarily draw upon the work of these authors, you
must show how you are building upon, altering, and/or working in opposition to their writing in
order to find new knowledge in the intersection of texts and ideas. This is your opportunity to
revise, refine, or even critique the lens—you need not agree with the critics wholeheartedly, just
remember to explain why you disagree and to examine the merits and faults of their arguments
logically. Remember: these authors should serve as a fulcrum, lens or conversation partner, not
as a mouthpiece.

3. Grapple with the theory’s central ideas, rather than taking isolated passages out of
context to support your ideas. Whenever you are called on to bring a critical text into an
assignment, your essay will not only be judged on the merit of your original ideas but also on
how accurately you represent and make use of the critical text. Even when you disagree with the
author, you must explain why you disagree, and that requires you to fully understand the author’s
position. When you refer to Benjamin or Bourdieu, be sure you engage their main ideas and not a
side detail of those ideas.

Q & A with Bofang Li, Instructor

Q: Had you taught this prompt before? If so, what made you teach it again? If not, how did you
arrive at this prompt/subject in particular?

I have taught this prompt before on several occasions and believe in its value, despite its
challenges, because it helps achieve several distinct learning outcomes. The most obvious is the
function it serves as a prompt for the lens essay, but it is also an opportunity to introduce some
important texts and ideas that students are either going to encounter again further down the line
(in which case, this serves as a useful introduction) or that they might have missed altogether
given their future major. In addition, by asking students to apply a critical lens to their
understanding of an image, the prompt encourages the practice of close reading objects other
than texts or, rather, it encourages students to expand their definition of “text” beyond the purely
textual.

Q: What did you anticipate as the main challenges of answering such a prompt? Were there any
points at which you regretted recommending any texts?

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I always have a bit of a hard time teaching this prompt because the critical texts are complex—
not only in terms of their writing, but also in the way that their ideas challenge socio-cultural
“norms.” Because Bourdieu’s ideas on taste and Benjamin’s on art and authenticity work so well
together, students often want to put both critics into conversation with each other and with the
text/image they have chosen, often biting off more than they can chew. On the other end of the
scale, the difficulty of the texts also lends itself to a simplistic, paint-by-numbers approach where
the critical lens is effectively used to “explain” the chosen image. I don’t imagine that these
issues are particular to my prompt, but they are made more challenging by the difficulty of the
lenses themselves.

Q: How was teaching this assignment different from teaching any other assignments in the
class? How would you say that your student rose to the challenge of meeting this assignment?

The lens paper is always difficult as the term “lens” can prove confusing to students—often,
students will naturally use sources and external perspectives to help their own points-of-view and
argument but get the yips when their tactics are identified as strategies and brought into critical
consciousness. Frequently, students will begin to ventriloquize the lens perspective, without
engaging critically with the text to further their own interpretation. Aside from the difficulties of
the lens paper as an exercise, my assignment in particular is designed to be a challenge because
this is the paper for which students are asked to tackle some key texts in critical/cultural theory,
using ideas from Walter Benjamin and Pierre Bourdieu to come to an understanding of a
selection of images. It can be a challenge for students to understand the critical texts, a challenge
to then apply critical ideas to their chosen image, and a further challenge to come up with
something that moves beyond a surface application of the lens to the image selected. Wanchen’s
paper not only engaged with both critical texts, but also used the history and context of Warhol’s
Marilyn Diptych to expand her argument on art and authenticity—a really unique approach that
added such richness to her interpretation.

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Research Essays

46
The Writer’s Process—Mashiyat Ahmed

Q & A with the writer of “The Importance of Imagination and Child Psychology in Where The
Wild Things Are”

Q: Tell us a little bit about how you formulated your argument for your paper. Did your thesis
change at all? Did you ever find it hard to work with the prompt? Was your thesis clear from the
beginning?

I knew that I wanted to write my paper on Where The Wild Things Are, and to find inspiration for
my interpretation of it I researched the life of the author. This helped me to connect the contents
of the story to the author’s inspiration, and use that knowledge to inform my interpretation and
analysis of the story. From there, I knew I wanted to focus on how Where The Wild Things Are
demonstrates the importance of pretend play in a child’s life, and therefore I read research papers
and experiments done on pretend play. My thesis changed slightly after doing research on
pretend play and child psychology. Since this was an independent research paper, there were no
prompts that needed to be answered. My thesis was not clear from the beginning, as I had very
little knowledge and understanding about the psychology involved in children’s pretend play,
therefore, the more I learned and understood how children’s emotions worked, the more
tweaking my thesis needed.

Q: Did you know much – if anything – about this topic before you started?

I did not know much about the topic before I started writing my paper. A lot of background
reading was needed from multiple sources in order to gain the necessary background knowledge
to plan out and write my paper.

Q: What was the most difficult problem that you encountered during the writing process? Did
you find a solution, or are you still wrestling with any logistics?

The most difficult problem that I encountered during the writing process, and more specifically
for this research paper, was trying not to summarize Where The Wild Things Are when
demonstrating how Max in the story was working through his emotions through this pretend
play. Since Where The Wild Things Are is a short story where the illustrations are just as
important as the dialogue, space in my paper needed to be dedicated to explaining them. It was
essential in writing this paper to strive to keep all references to and descriptions of the dialogue
and illustrations analytical in content, and not simply recount the story, while making sure to

47
explain all that was necessary to understand my thesis and arguments. This is something that
needs to be constantly in mind when writing a paper that extensively references the text.

Q: What part of the writing process, or even the final paper, are you most proud of? Do you
have a favorite line?

I am most proud of how I was able to make connections between Where The Wild Things Are
and the research papers on imagination and pretend play in child psychology. Specifically, I was
most proud of my understanding of how the wild things were representative of Max’s emotions
as things that were bigger than him, frightening to him, and that needed to be controlled.
Elaborating this idea was my favorite aspect of the paper.

Q: How did your instructor help you with your paper? Did they offer any helpful suggestions or
guidance?

My instructor helped with my paper by reading my rough draft and pointing out instances where
I was summarizing the book too much and not analyzing the text to relate it to my thesis.

Q: Was anyone else instrumental in producing your final paper? If you engaged in any research,
how did you find your sources and/or how did you narrow down which sources you used in your
final draft?

I had a peer read through my essay once I finished my rough draft to ensure a reader with no
background knowledge on the topic was able to understand my thesis and the arguments and
evidence used to support it. To be able to find my research, I used online databases and first
searched Where The Wild Things Are to see what other research was done it. My first result was
a book written about analyzing different children’s literature in the context of Freudian
psychology, and I used the idea of applying psychology and emotions to the Where The Wild
Things Are. Then, I narrowed all of my sources down to what I needed to understand children
development and psychology in order to give a proper analysis of Where The Wild Things Are.

Q: If you could write a longer version of this piece, in which direction would you take it and
upon which points would you elaborate? Do you feel yourself returning to any of the subjects
that you addressed in this paper in the future?

In a longer version of this piece I would focus more on defining children’s development and
psychology. By having a greater understanding of child development, the reader would be more

48
likely to understand why Where The Wild Things Are is significant to understanding why
children utilize pretend play in their everyday life, and how important it is to foster pretend play.

49
 The Importance of Imagination and Child Psychology in Where The Wild
Things Are
Mashiyat Ahmed

When describing certain aspects of childhood, children's literature tries to identify key
features that resonate in a child’s life. These key features may include the child’s love for their
parents or their need to incorporate imagination into their everyday life. A particularly important
aspect of children’s literature is the incorporation of psychology into the storyline. For a child, a
basic understanding of emotions and how to express their emotions effectively is almost non-
existent. This is due to the fact that exposure to different emotions has been minimal for most
children; therefore finding effective methods on how to express their emotions is a foreign
concept. This may result in unproductive expressions of their emotions towards family members
and friends in outbursts that do little to alleviate the overwhelming sensation of what they are
feeling. Different psychologists have suggested that children may actually utilize pretend play or
their imagination to deal with these new and overwhelming emotional experiences. This can be
seen in the children’s book Where The Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice
Sendak. This book tells a story about a boy named Max and his adventure to where the wild
things are after being sent to his room by his mother for his disruptive behavior. Closer
examination of the illustrations and the story reveals that Max’s disruptive behavior stems from
anger and frustration he feels towards his mother, and his journey to where the wild things are is
clearly expressed to be a figment of his imagination. Therefore, Max in Where The Wild Things
Are demonstrates how children must dissociate themselves from reality in order to work through
their emotions.

Where The Wild Things Are is a children’s book that was written in 1963, consisting of
only about 350 words with some pages containing no words and instead having full page
illustrations. The book depicts Max as wearing a wolf costume and recounts his adventure with
the wild things after a dispute with his mother. However, after being bored with the wild things,
Max longs for his mother and supper and makes his “journey” back home. Max’s rage against
his mother demonstrates how emotional a child Max can be, an idea that is further cemented by
the similar features Max and young Maurice Sendak shared, as noted by other scholars
(McAlpine 143). This shows how Maurice Sendak somewhat inserted himself into the narrative,
which is particularly important because Maurice Sendak had described himself as “a withdrawn
child obsessed with his emotions” (McAlpine 142). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that
Max is also an emotional child and that Sendak wrote the story with the idea in mind of children
being overwhelmed by their emotions. Different children may use different coping methods to

50
work through their emotions such as crying, throwing a tantrum or biting people around them.
Where The Wild Things Are suggests an alternate method children utilize to channel their
emotions. In the book, Sendak suggests that children can channel their emotions and energy into
pretend play, an idea backed up by several psychological studies conducted on children.

Modern psychology explains pretend play and imagination to be important facets of a

child’s life. Pretend play is multidimensional and can be defined in various different contexts;
however, in the context seen in Where The Wild Things Are, it can be defined as utilizing fantasy
or make believe and possessing an element that allows one thing to represent something else.
This means that pretend play allows the child to transform objects around them and utilize make
believe actions in their play. This creative thinking activates affective and cognitive processes
within the child’s mind during play. As stated by Julie A. Fiorelli and Sandra W. Russ in their
psychological study, the activation of the cognitive play includes divergent thinking, which
involves being able to generate multiple solutions to a single problem, and thus begin to think
creatively. Pretend play utilizes this cognitive process to allow children to imagine certain
objects or actions in order to help them cope with stressful situations in their life. The affective
process allows access to affect-laden thoughts and openness to affect states according to Sandra
W. Russ. Due to this phenomenon, the access to affect laden thoughts and openness to affect
states allows children to learn about and experience their emotional thoughts and feelings.
Through their experiences, children are able to familiarize themselves with their emotions and
therefore are able to regulate and control the expression of their emotions. This psychological
study perfectly portrays the idea conveyed by Sendak in Where the Wild Things Are and provides
support to this idea as well. Max’s journey in the book is a fictionalized example of the exact
process described by Fiorelli and Russ.

In Where The Wild Things Are, Max, in the beginning of the book, is shown to be angry
and frustrated at his mother. His mother, who is frustrated at Max for making “mischief of one
kind” (Sendak 1), calls Max a wild thing, to which Max replies “I’ll eat you up!” (Sendak 4).
Max’s exclamation at his mother is an unproductive way of channeling his frustration at his
mother for calling him a wild thing. In response, his mother sends him up to his bedroom with no
supper as a punishment (Sendak 4). Max’s original way of dealing with his emotions in violent
outbursts causes conflict with his mother. The punishment is necessary because Max’s anger
outburst “causes a lot of conflict at home and disrupts family life” (Child Mind Institute). His
mother’s not giving in to his tantrum and calmly dealing with it is necessary to resolving Max’s
emotional crisis. The punishment by his mother is Sendak representing the negative
consequences of poorly dealing with emotions. The message to the children who compose the
primary audience of Where The Wild Things Are is that it is unproductive to violently react to
emotions, for example Max chasing his dog with a fork.

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 Max has been established as being angry and frustrated with his mother and therefore
Maurice Sendak can effectively demonstrate how Max’s imagination and pretend play can be
used to work through his emotions. To first demonstrate Max’s imagination taking hold of and
consuming him, Sendak illustrates Max’s room transforming into a forest over the course of
three pages in the book. The transformation begins with Max’s bedposts and doorway turning to
trunks of trees and slowly growing into forest. As the transformation continues, Max’s facial
expression changes dramatically. Prior to the transformation, Max’s face is contorted in anger
but after Max can be seen smiling and giggling which shows his delight at being separated from
reality. To further dissociate himself from reality, Max finds a boat with his name on it and “sails
through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year” (Sendak 11-12). This
passage of time on the boat demonstrates how Max is dissociating himself from anger and his
mother to a different place where he does not feel frustrated. This dissociation from reality is a
key aspect of pretend play. Pretend play here “means that one thing represents or stands in for
something else. It can be defined as the ability to engage in play, to transform objects, and to use
make-believe action” (Fiorelli and Russ 81). The definition of pretend play demonstrates that a
child needs to alienate themselves from reality in order for them to transform objects around
them with their imagination and allow them to be fully immersed in the new world they have
created for themselves. In this case of Max, he creates an entire new world to escape from his
mother by growing a forest and sailing away.

When Max finishes sailing on his boat when he bumps into an island, he is immediately
greeted by the wild things and within the context of the pretend play being used as a coping
method, the wild things in Max’s imagination represent the emotions he feels inside of him. This
can be shown through the wild things’ actions upon greeting Max. Max pretends to travel to
where the wild things are to isolate his emotions and deal with them. It is possible for Max to
continue to feel his emotions although he has dissociated himself from reality because “in play,
children access, learn about, and experience emotional thoughts and feelings” (Fiorelli and Russ
82). This psychological study conducted by Julie A. Fiorelli and Sandra W. Russ demonstrates
that although alienation of the outside world may occur in make believe play, children actually
utilize this alienation in order for them to process their own emotions and work through whatever
they are feeling. Therefore, it is understandable why Sendak has Max be introduced to the wild
things after he journeyed a great distance away from the forest, which was previously his room.
Upon Max meeting the wild things, the wild things immediately “roared their terrible roars and
gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws” (Sendak
17-18). The wild things do not greet Max in a friendly manner; instead their actions are actions
similar to aggression. The connotations of the words “terrible” and “roared” and “gnashed”
demonstrate how they can be associated with a negative emotion such as aggression, especially
actions like “roar” and “gnash” which create fear through intimidation. The aggression shown by

52
the wild things symbolizes the anger Max is feeling. Max is now able to confront his own
emotions in the comfort of the world he created for himself instead of the emotionally charged
home he was in. Therefore, it can be assumed that “Max’s rage springs from the unconscious and
lets the shape of the adventure itself speak to/about Max’s anger and anger management” (Kidd
134). Kenneth Kidd wrote in Freud in Oz an analysis of the different emotions Max is feeling
during his time with the wild things. He discusses the importance of the wolf suit that is worn by
Max throughout the picture book and how this can be connected to Freudian psychology. This
extreme fixation on one aspect of the picture book creates an overemphasis on a rather
insignificant part of the book. The wolf suit worn by Max is a part of his journey to where the
wild things are and demonstrates his need to pretend play in order to cope with his emotion. The
wolf suit does not have any other significance outside of the pretend play like it is suggested in
Kenneth Kidd’s work Freud in Oz. Max’s adventure and encountering the wild things, his
emotions, demonstrate how Max takes advantage of pretend play as a coping method.

The wild things not only represent the specific emotion Max is feeling but the way the
wild things are illustrated also demonstrates how Max feels in relation to his emotions. In the
book, the wild things are drawn to be significantly larger than Max in size. The wild things are
drawn to be at least three times the size of Max. This is significant because it was previously
established that wild things represent the emotions Max was feeling. However, the wild things
are drawn to be extremely big and tower over Max. This represents that Max feels overwhelmed
by all of his emotions and feels small compared to them. The buildup of all of these massive
emotions overwhelms him and causes him to lash out at his mother. Not only is Max
overwhelmed by all of his emotions, as a child, the big strong feelings within can be seen as
foreign or strange. Maurice Sendak demonstrates this through the way he individualizes the wild
things. In the book, the wild things are drawn with inhuman, animal-like features such as having
claws or a furry body. By drawing the wild things with unfamiliar features to Max, Sendak is
able to establish the idea that the wild things are otherworldly to Max. Therefore, since the wild
things represent the emotions within Max, it can be assumed that Max views his emotions to be
foreign to him. It is understandable why Max, as a child who is dealing with foreign feelings,
lashed out at his mother. Therefore, by creating this alternate world for himself, Max is able to
confront these uncomfortable feelings where he feels safe and comfortable. This also shows
Sendak subtly hinting at the psychological idea that “children who demonstrated more
imagination and fantasy in their play generated a greater number and variety of coping strategies
when thinking about what to do in a situation that required control of impulse and aggression”
(Fiorelli and Russ 84). Max in the novel demonstrates an extreme amount of fantastical play and
therefore is trying to develop a variety of ways to cope with his aggression.

53
 Upon meeting the wild things, Max is able to calm the wild things down and stop them
from displaying signs of aggression and therefore can be seen as regaining control of his
emotions and developing a strategy to cope with his aggression. Max is able to calm the wild
things by telling them to “be still and taming them with the magic trick of staring into all their
yellow eyes without blinking once” (Sendak 19-20). This demonstrates Max is effectively
utilizing pretend play to its full potential by demonstrating a use of his cognitive processes. Once
Max becomes comfortable in the new world he created for himself, he is able to show the wild
things that he is “firmly and happily in charge” (Kidd 122) and experiment with different
solutions in dealing with his anger. This is due to the fact that “the complex cognitive structures
developed in play facilitate a child’s active coping and expressing of emotion. Through play, a
child makes sense of the threatening experience and therefore experiment with solutions”
(Fiorelli and Russ 83). Also, “some researchers believe that…children experience a sense of
control over the amount and pace of affect expression” (Fiorelli and Russ 82). This illustrates
that through pretend play, not only can children have the ability to make sense of the emotions
inside of them during play, but they are also able to gain control over their emotions and control
their expression of the emotion. This is especially important in that it allows for children to
express themselves productively and create a safe outlet for their emotions.

Max’s rambunctious behavior is expressed when the wild things crown him their king
and Max declares the start of the wild rumpus, six pages of horsing around and making mischief
with the wild things. Six whole pages in the book are used to describe the wild rumpus and
within these pages, only illustrations are featured. The illustrations depict Max causing mischief
with the wild things. The depiction of the wild rumpus demonstrates the usefulness of pretend
play for a child to work through their emotions. In the world he constructs for himself, he is able
to engage in mischief and act rambunctious without causing conflict with his mother, as he does
when he acts in this way in the real world. His imagination provides an environment for him to
safely and productively deal with these emotions, in contrast to his previous destructive
behavior. Max is able to deal with his emotions productively only after he is named king of the
wild things. Being titled as the king of the wild things by the wild things themselves
demonstrates Max fully conquering and understanding his own emotions. This can be assumed
because it was established that the wild things represent Max’s emotions in his pretend play.
When Max is made the ruler of the wild things, his emotions, he is able to control them and work
through them in the wild rumpus before he commands them to stop and sends the wild things off
to bed without their supper. This parallels how Max’s mother effectively dealt with him when he
was misbehaving, and shows a new degree of control Max has gained over his own emotions.
This conquering of his previously fearsome emotions sets up the next development of him being
ready to return home.

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 Max is ready to return home when he orders the wild things back to bed and when he
starts to feel lonely and tired from the wild rumpus he held with the wild things. Max’s readiness
to go home only after his adventure with the wild things and after they had gone to bed
demonstrates that Max was able to subdue the emotions within him. After working through his
emotions, Max is able to “discharge his anger against his mother and returns to the real world
sleepy, hungry, and at peace with himself” (Kidd 128). This shows that once Max relieves
himself of all the emotions he was feeling, he is able to start coming back to reality and pretend
play is slowly becoming unnecessary. This can be seen in the book when Max starts to “smell
good things to eat from across the world” (Sendak 22). Being able to identify the smells of his
mother’s cooking demonstrates Max is beginning to dissociate from the pretend world that he
created. This is logically consistent with the idea of the importance of pretend play for a child. A
child’s need for the described dissociation from reality dissipates once their overwhelming
emotions have been dealt with. Max starts his dissociation by denouncing himself as the king of
the wild things and boarding his boat. However, the wild things become extremely upset by
Max’s decision to leave and they beg him, “Oh please don’t go!” (Sendak 23). The wild things
also begin to “roar their terrible roars and gnash their terrible teeth and roll their terrible eyes and
show their terrible claws” (Sendak 24) as they did when they first greeted Max. Nonetheless,
Max does not give into the wild things and instead waves them goodbye. Max’s disregard of the
wild things represents how his emotions no longer consume him and no longer dictate his
actions. This freedom from his emotions allows Max to easily bring himself back to reality,
especially now that “Max tamed the Wild Things; having tamed the monsters, Max tames
himself back home” (Sonheim 117). The fact that Max “returns” home once he has mastered the
wild things shows that his pretend play was utilized as a tool to help him cope with his emotions.
When he has dealt with them, being where the wild things are becomes unnecessary and he
leaves right away that “morning,” despite the pleas of the wild things for him to stay with them.
Max stays in his imaginary land only as long as it is relevant for him to work through his
emotions, showing that as its purpose, and how he uses pretend play.

Maurice Sendak further solidifies the idea that Max has never left his room during his
adventure with the wild things through various context clues at the end of the book. This is
important because it shows the author reiterates that Max needed pretend play in order for him to
calm down and that pretend play can happen in a familiar area such as a child’s own room. When
Max returns home from where the wild things are, Sendak describes the supper in Max’s room as
still hot. This demonstrates that an insignificant amount of time passed while Max was with the
wild things, and that his adventure of years to faraway lands was in reality a short trip within his
own imagination. There is further significance to how long and far Max perceived his journey to
be, in that much like his own emotions, his journey seemed massive and formidable to him.
Dealing with such overwhelming emotions can certainly be a great undertaking for a child, and

55
Max’s perception of it to be one that takes years is emblematic of just how overwhelmed he is
and the sense of crisis he feels. From the perspective of reality, the fact that very little time
passed shows the effectiveness of this method of children using imagination to deal with new
and scary emotions and that “through play, children learn to express and control affect, regulate
emotion, and find pleasure and enjoyment in play and its creativity” (Fiorelli and Russ 83). The
symbology behind the characters, events, and passing of time conveyed by Sendak is remarkably
consistent with modern psychological theory, and clearly expounds the idea of the importance of
imagination in coping with new emotions for children.

The progression and change in Max’s character demonstrates the progression and change
in a child’s behavior after utilizing their imagination to help them cope with their emotions. The
arc of Where The Wild Things Are depicts a mischievous boy who is unable to control his
emotions and expresses them unproductively to his mother. His journey to where the wild things
are shows him dissociating himself from the negative energy in his home, and his adventure with
the wild things demonstrates this boy working through his emotions. He only returns home when
he feels secure in his ability to control his emotions. Where The Wild Things Are therefore
demonstrates the importance of children pretend playing and the importance of children having a
broad and vivid imagination. Not only is it important for the development of the child’s cognitive
and affective process but it also allows the child to think creatively and helps them become better
problem solvers. Pretend play is necessary for the psychological development of children and
Maurice Sendak clearly expresses this through the development of Max’s character in Where The
Wild Things Are. The enduring popularity of Where The Wild Things Are, including among
adults, suggests that the idea Sendak presents about emotions is perhaps not limited to children,
and that the techniques Max utilized may be effective for older age groups as well.

Works Cited

DeLuca, Geraldine. Exploring The Levels Of Childhood: The Allegorical Sensibility Of Maurice
Sendak. 12th ed., Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984,.
Fiorelli, Julie A., and Sandra W. Russ. "Pretend Play, Coping, And Subjective Well-Being In
Children." Files.Eric.Ed.Gov, 2017, http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ985605.pdf.
Is My Child’s Anger Normal?
"Is My Child’S Anger Normal?." Child Mind Institute. N. p., 2017. Web. 9 Dec. 2017.
Maurice Sendak: A Tribute. Modern Language Association Of America, 2014,.
McAlpine, Julie Carlson. Sendak Confronts The "Now" Generation. 1st ed., Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1972, https://doi.org/10.1353/chl.0.0293.
Kidd, Kenneth B. Freud In Oz. Minneapolis, University Of Minnesota Press, 2011,.

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Sutton, Jon. "Eye On Fiction - Where The Wild Things Are | The Psychologist."
Thepsychologist.Bps.Org.Uk, 2017, https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-22/edition-
10/eye-fiction-where-wild-things-are.

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Original Assignment—Research Essay

Essay 3: Research Paper

In your final essay, you will choose one text that has not been discussed in class and make an
informed argument about how your text deals with the cultural concept of childhood. You
may either choose your text from the list below or select a different text of your choice after
discussing with me. The work you choose should present something puzzling or mystifying
about its representation of a child and/or its relationship with society, which you will then
analyze through your research. As to essay topic, I am open to other possibilities, but you must
check them out with me first.

For your research you must use a minimum of four sources and may use a maximum of five
sources. Your research should come from reputable, peer-reviewed publications. This will be the
longest and most time-consuming paper of the semester and will thus require significant
preparation and thought. You will be developing your own interpretive framework based on the
scholarly work of others. This resembles lens analysis—you’ll be using others’ ideas to produce
an informed reading of your argument—but with an important difference: here, you’ll be
creating a new lens of your own making, one that borrows elements from, reacts against, and
synthesizes multiple lenses into an original critical stance. Be sure to locate sources that both
agree and disagree with your claims so that you can anticipate counter-arguments in your paper.
You should follow MLA formatting guidelines.

Essay length: 10-12 pages

Text suggestions:

• Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

• Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
• L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit
• Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
• Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
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 • A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
• Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
• Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Q & A with Seolji Han, Instructor

Q: Had you taught this prompt before? If so, what made you teach it again? If not, how did you
arrive at this prompt/subject in particular?

This was my first time teaching the prompt. For the research assignment, I wanted to give
students the opportunity to explore their own interest relating to children’s literature. Thus, I
gave a broad topic and invited students to narrow their focus by building on the themes and
questions they have developed in class. I made sure that I also provide a list of text suggestions
in order to reduce the anxiety that might be accompanied with the openness. The freedom to
pursue one’s own inquiry, however, allows students to bring in the perspective of their choice
and see the applicability of the course theme to various disciplines other than literature.

Q: What did you anticipate as the main challenges of answering such a prompt? Were there any
points at which you regretted recommending any texts?

The main difficulty for this assignment is to come up with a research question that bears the
potential for a complex discussion but also is specific enough to be manageable in 10-12 pages. I
anticipated that students would be frustrated by not having a focused question at the beginning
and that the process of formulating a workable research question could be time-consuming. I
used conferences and pre-draft assignments to help facilitate the process.

Q: How was teaching this assignment different from teaching any other assignments in the
class? How would you say that your student rose to the challenge of meeting this assignment?

The research assignment requires students to put their arguments in a broader context and
participate in an academic conversation. I challenged students to strive to construct an original
claim and build on the body of knowledge they were intervening in. It must not have been easy,
given the limited time and other multiple things they had to learn about research and writing
techniques. But my students definitely rose to the challenge and I believe that the struggle to
meet the task helped them more deeply understand the stakes (the broader consequences) of their
arguments.

59
The Writer’s Process—Adam Dean

Q & A with the writer of “The Unsung Hero: Civil Rights’ Use of Advertising”

Q: Tell us a little bit about how you formulated your argument for your paper. Did your thesis
change at all? Did you ever find it hard to work with the prompt? Was your thesis clear from the
beginning?

At the start of our research essay unit, our instructor had us read an excerpt that had little bits and
pieces of advertising’s effect on American culture after World War II. Here was where I was
introduced to the relationship between the Civil Rights Movement and advertising. From there I
just went and read a lot about the Civil Rights Movement itself. I thought it was really important
to know about its history before writing my essay. Once I had a rudimentary understanding I
found and read every article that existed on the topic. Then I finally felt comfortable to do my
own research and find a lot of primary sources.

It was really nice that I had such a broad prompt. I had a lot of freedom on what I choose to do as
long as I made a supported argument. Thankfully I was able to get my thesis down in the early
stages of writing, and that acted as a compass for the rest of my paper.

Q: Did you know much – if anything – about this topic before you started?

I knew the very basics about the Civil Rights Movement and its key contributors. I knew nothing
about advertising’s role in the movement.

Q: What was the most difficult problem that you encountered during the writing process? Did
you find a solution, or are you still wrestling with any logistics?

Even earlier in the semester, organization in my essays had been a thorn in my side. And that
was an even bigger issue that came up with research essay because there’s so much information
that could be put in, and so many different places I could go with the essay. With the help of my
professor, I was able to pinpoint certain examples and ideas I had to put in the essay, and cut out
ones that weren’t very necessary.

60
Q: What part of the writing process, or even the final paper, are you most proud of? Do you
have a favorite line?

I really enjoyed just learning about all these different aspects of the Civil Rights Movement. It’s
one of the most meaningful events in our country’s history, and I don’t think that it get the
recognition it deserves, especially considering the some of the things that are going on in society
today. So to be able to write an essay, in my opinion, that highlights the efforts of people who
tried to change the world for the better means a lot.

Q: How did your instructor help you with your paper? Did they offer any helpful suggestions or
guidance?

As mentioned earlier, I struggled with not having a logical structure in my essays. My arguments
were effective, but sometimes they were out of place. Sitting down and discussing where I
wanted to go with my essay, and getting feedback then and there was crucial to the final product.

Q: Was anyone else instrumental in producing your final paper? If you engaged in any research,
how did you find your sources and/or how did you narrow down which sources you used in your
final draft?

The librarian who we had classes with gave me a lot of suggestions on where to look for sources.
So by going through these databases and archives I was able to find what I was looking for. I
also checked out a couple of books that helped shape the ideas in my paper. For the final draft, I
just used primary sources, which directly supported my arguments.

Q: If you could write a longer version of this piece, in which direction would you take it and
upon which points would you elaborate? Do you feel yourself returning to any of the subjects
that you addressed in this paper in the future?

My essay is as flushed out as it can be with its current thesis. If I were to expand I’d have to take
a completely different direction. I would research even more and see what trends I could find in a
larger sample of data.

Since writing the essay I’ve become really interested in income inequality and poverty levels in
the United States. A lot of that is highly correlated to race, and I’ll probably be revisiting the
Civil Rights Movement in coursework or reading that I pursue. Not sure if advertising will find
its way back, but you never know.

61
 The Unsung Hero: Civil Rights’ Use of Advertising
Adam Dean

The Civil Rights Movement was the largest social movement in America during the
twentieth century.1 The movement sought to bring equality to African Americans in areas such as
education, jobs, voting, and overall treatment. Many people today are able to recognize leaders of
the movement such as Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and most notably, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Boycotts, sit-ins, and even lynchings define the movement in today’s history books. But what most
history books fail to cover is the role that advertising played in this crucial and defining part of
American history. Advertising, the seemingly facetious industry, had a very large part in this social
movement. In fact, it was important enough to garner the attention and effort of Dr. King and
Malcolm X and even the main organizations of the time, such as The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The
leaders of the movement used advertising to gain publicity, reshape social stereotypes, and create
meaningful jobs as a mechanism to further their agenda of equality and desegregation.
The Civil Rights Movement sought to gain equal rights for blacks during the 1950s and
1960s. The initiative began with fighting for legal protection, which was granted with the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 2 The Civil Rights Act barred any
discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin, and it allowed the government to
reinforce desegregation. The Voting Rights Act prohibited banned literacy tests, poll taxes, and
similar restrictions that inhibited most blacks from voting. While the laws were significant
advancements, they still weren’t enough. They didn’t change social stigmas, which were a crucial
focus of the Civil Rights Movement. Advertising played an immense role in achieving change on
the governmental and societal levels.
The relationship between the Civil Rights Movement and advertising had three points of
contact which proved to be very significant. First, activists used advertising to attract attention and
raise funds. The publicity made more people aware and give more credence to their cause.
Soliciting funds allowed the activists to arrange events such as trial defense and bus rides. Next,
advertising was used as a platform to bring about social change. Blacks were rarely shown in
advertisements in the 1950s. When they were present, they were shown incorrectly as
unintelligent, not trustworthy, and even as servants. These advertisements furthered stigma already
held against blacks, which became a big issue for the Civil Rights Movement to correct. Lastly,
creating jobs in the advertising industry was another way advertising was used to further the

1
Jack E. Davis, "Civil Rights Movement: An Overview," Scholastic, July 1, 2014, accessed December 10, 2017,
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/civil-rights-movement-overview/.
2
Ibid.

62
advancement of African Americans. Jobs in advertising were valuable because they were white-
collar jobs that had meaningful pay and power. Getting more African Americans in these jobs
would also allow the race to be more accurately and frequently represented, which would lead to
less racial tension with whites.
One of the most notable uses of advertising employed by the movement was an ad that ran
on the front page of the New York Times called “Heed Their Voices Rising.” The purpose of the
1960 advertisement was to encourage the public to finance the defense of Dr. King, who was facing
perjury charges that threatened to put him in jail for ten years. But the ad was more than just a cry
for help for Dr. King; it was a cry from fourteen percent of the nation. None of the first five
paragraphs mention Dr. King, but provide context for the fight that the country is in. It opens:
As the whole world knows by now, thousands of Southern Negro students are engaged in
widespread non-violent demonstrations in positive affirmation of the right to live in human
dignity as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In their efforts to
uphold these guarantees, they are being met by an unprecedented wave of terror by those
who would deny and negate that document which the whole world looks upon as setting
the pattern for modern freedom.3
Following this are examples across the country of blacks peacefully protesting to be allowed rights
given to them in the Constitution. By stressing the peace in their protest, the Committee paints
their protesters in a heroic and noble light. By specifically naming the grievances incurred by the
members of their ethnicity, the Committee very clearly shows that they are the victims in the
situation and that they are only asking for basic human rights. Later on, the advertisement reiterates
that they’re continuing to respond to violence with peaceful response. The narrative created by the
ad shows the Civil Rights Movement as a campaign based on seeking rudimentary rights while
always remaining peaceful, no matter the circumstances. The highlighted nobility in the cause
elicits empathy from readers. While “Heed Their Voices Rising” is meant to solicit money for a
key leader of the Civil Rights Movement, it does a better job giving press to the movement by
clearly depicting for what they are fighting for. By having the ad run on the front page of such a
notable newspaper, the Committee ensures that their voices will be heard.
Believers in the Civil Rights Movement also used ads with the primary intention of
collecting funds. This flyer distributed by The Liberator encouraged citizens to join them on
August 28, 1963 for the “March on Washington.”4 The first thing that draws the eye on the flyer
is the event itself, written in large, bold, blue letters. In the middle of the paper, it says that America

3
Committee To Defend Martin Luther King, "Heed Their Rising Voices," advertisement, New York Times , March
29, 1960.
4
"March on Washington," digital image, Smithsonian, July 2013, accessed December 10, 2017, https://thumbs-
prod.si-cdn.com/k9noTCRm87Ael61VuIaE8fWSGjk=/fit-in/1072x0/https://public-
media.smithsonianmag.com/filer/March-On-Washington-Liberator-963.jpg.

63
 has a problem where millions of “negroes” are denied freedom and blacks and whites are
unemployed. The list of demands after these claims reads, “WE DEMAND: Meaningful Civil
Rights Laws; Massive Federal Works Programs; Full and Fair Employment; Decent Housing; The
Right to Vote; Adequate Integrated Education.” And similar to the Dr. King ad that ran on the
front page of the New York Times, there is a voucher at the bottom of the paper that citizens can
cut off and send money. In this case, instead of fundraising directly, people are pushed to send
money and buy their bus tickets. But there is an option to send money for someone else, if the
donor couldn’t make it. This ad was a great way for The Liberator to get passengers on their bus
and fundraise money. The bold title quickly allows the reader to know the topic, and the cutoff on
the bottom provides a simple way for potential customers to sign up. The inclusion of whites in
the advertisement’s message allows the ad to reach many more people than it would’ve had it been
recruiting just blacks. This is a great step for the movement because it shows that the movement
doesn’t want blacks to turn into whites, but it wants the two groups to coexist equally. Also by
including whites, more people will send in money, which results in more people at the march and
more money for the organizers of The Liberator to use in other Civil Rights events.
The second milestone in the relationship between advertising and the Civil Rights
Movement was the change that took place in the content of consumer advertisements. While some
activists were able to create ads for their own benefit, the majority of ads that circulated hurt
African Americans’ claim to be equal. If African Americans were in advertisements, they were
stereotyped and misrepresented. But most ads didn’t include African Americans at all. Leading
organizations and figures saw advertising as a medium with massive influence over the
population’s perception and worked to change the role of blacks there. And they were correct in
the assumption that advertising had a large influence over the country. Gloria Joseph, former
professor of social sciences at Hampshire College, and Jill Lewis, professor of literature and
gender studies at Hampshire College, included their outlook on how advertising affects people’s
perceptions in their book: Common Differences: Conflicts in Black and White Feminist
Perspectives. They wrote:
Advertisements are as essential to American society as life is to death. Billions are spent
in order to sell a lot more than products: advertisements sell attitudes, values, goal, and
fears. They “sell” a self- and world concept designed to maintain and ensure the
perpetuation of sexual, racial, and economic inequality, which are all necessary to the
existence of a patriarchal, capitalistic economic system.5
The advertising industry immediately after the Second World War failed to show enough blacks
and display them correctly. A study that sampled 292 issues of Life, The Saturday Evening Post,

5
Gloria I. Joseph and Jill Lewis, Common differences: conflicts in Black and white feminist perspectives(Boston: South
End Press, 1986).

64
Time, and The New Yorker during 1949 and 1950 found that blacks were in less than a percent of
advertisements. And when they were shown, the majority were cast as porters, servers, and
waiters.6 Because of the scarcity and falseness of this presentation, advertising was a major issue
that was on the minds of activists. If they didn’t try to correct these false ads that stereotyped the
whole race, advertisements would continue to promote a stigma that already lay in America’s
thoughts. Even worse, by fixing these ads, more social stigma would have been created against
blacks in people who otherwise had very little interaction with blacks, which wasn’t uncommon
in this segregated period.
Aunt Jemima provides a case study of what was wrong with the depiction of blacks when
they were in advertising. The spokesperson of her own breakfast food brand, owned by Quaker
Oats, was incorrectly stereotyped on multiple accounts. The characteristics given to Aunt Jemima
in the twentieth century very closely neared defamation. In this Ladies Home Journal ad, Aunt
Jemima’s grammatically incorrect speech bubble paints her as illiterate.7 Her large figure and jolly
expression is supposed to be representative of black women in the kitchen. According to the
advertisers and their viewers, black women were content in the kitchen. Aunt Jemima’s
endorsement of the breakfast products further cemented the employment roles blacks were
expected to hold. Blacks were considered the best at unskilled labor positions such as cooks or
gardeners, so when they endorsed a product it was seen as quality. And while characters like Aunt
Jemima weren’t innately bad at first, they grew into a culture that created the image of blacks as
servants, poor, and amusing. Malcolm X was one of the most notable figures who had issues with
advertising, specifically the character of Aunt Jemima. He pointed out that figures such as Aunt
Jemima were used by whites to create hundreds of millions of dollars, which were never seen by
blacks. Whites used blacks, but they never compensated them, other than giving them menial
processing jobs in creating Aunt Jemima’s product. Malcolm X also said that these demeaning
advertisements hurt the cause blacks were fighting for. “Americans had only to turn on their
television sets: It was obvious that Aunt Jemima and Uncle Mose(s)[Aunt Jemima’s husband] were
out marching, battling police dogs, and burning down Watts.”8 His point about the relationship
between the perception of blacks and the goal of equality is a crucial one. It wouldn’t be hard for
Americans to ignore the rights of blacks if they were never seen as people in the first place. When
advertising continued to portray blacks as uneducated servants, it perpetuated the idea that all
blacks really were uneducated servants, cooks, maids, etc. Changing their role in advertising, and

6
Shuey, Audrey M., Nancy King, and Barbara Griffith. "Stereotyping of Negroes and Whites: An Analysis of
Magazine Pictures." The Public Opinion Quarterly 17, no. 2 (1953): 281-87.
7
Aunt Jemima, "Often Through Lent You’ll Want These Easy Main Dishes," advertisement, Ladies Home Journal,
March 1, 1954.
8
Malcolm X, "The Negro," The New York Observer (New York City ), September 1993, 44th ed., sec. 5.

65
thus their societal perception, was crucial for them to be seen as humans who deserved basic rights
and respect.
CORE was one of the first groups to create an organized effort to get advertisers to change
their ads. In 1963, Clarence Funnye, leader of CORE’s New York chapter, created the TV Image
Campaign.9 At first the group wanted to focus their efforts, so they targeted the hot new medium,
TV. To get things done, CORE approached clients of the advertising agencies. In the end, the
clients were the ones who chose what their ads looked like and how much money to spend on ads.
Funnye set up meetings with the three largest packaged-goods advertisers: Procter & Gamble,
Lever Brothers, and Colgate-Palmolive. They spent a combined $300 million on advertising
annually. Funnye thought if he could get the biggest companies to comply with CORE requests,
he would have a much easier time getting smaller corporations to agree. The elephant in the room
was CORE’s ability to activate “selective-purchasing” from a large section of the African-
American community, who made up a large part of these companies’ sales. “Selective purchasing”
was used over its synonym “boycott” because it had a less aggressive connotation. Only eight
months after the birth of the campaign, CORE had gotten all three of its targets to agree with their
requests. And within a year of the companies agreeing to the requests, integrated ads were
appearing on TV. This was a massive victory for Funnye and allowed him and his peers to use the
win as leverage to create even more momentum for their cause. After conquering the “big three,”
CORE was able to come to agreements with thirty-six other companies, which included giants
Coca-Cola and Kellogg's. Finally, in their third phase of contacting companies, they came to an
additional sixty-four agreements. By 1965, the campaign finished with one hundred agreements
from the biggest advertisers in the country to incorporate African Americans in accurate and
normal roles. CORE’s effort had a monumental effect on the advertising industry. Funnye’s unique
tactics allowed them to have such great success. By avoiding the word boycott, he could stay away
from potentially scaring off his initial clients by being too threatening. And by starting with largest
companies, he made his work easier to accomplish because he knew others would follow the giants
in the industry. The TV Image Campaign was groundbreaking in its purpose and results. It allowed
America the chance to truly see who African Americans were, while moving away from lack of
representation and racist stereotypes.
The NAACP created their initiative to improve the status of blacks in advertising in 1963
too. But they had a second component to their operation, which was to supposed to have an even
more profound impact than the TV Image Campaign.10 The NAACP fought to get more blacks
into advertising jobs. This was a major part of the campaign for two reasons. Working at an
advertising agency was attractive because it was a white-collar job. It was a steady source of good

9
Jason Chambers, Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising
Industry(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011). 133-141.
10
Ibid.

66
income, and it placed blacks into a workplace that was dominated by white Americans. Secondly,
getting more blacks into these jobs would help change the lack of representation and
misrepresentation of blacks. In these positions they would be more aware of minorities like
themselves, which would directly change the images that were fed to the public. In August 1963,
the NAACP met with 125 representatives from radio and television stations, and advertising
agencies. They told the media that they were “flagrantly and openly discriminatory to blacks,’’
and they had ‘‘pitifully few indications of even token hiring.’’11 Token hiring was the employment
of minorities just so the company could say it hired minorities. The NAACP didn’t want this: they
wanted to make sure that blacks who got roles were deserving of it based on their merits, not the
color of their skin. After laying out its eight demands to improve equality for African Americans
at the August meeting, the NAACP moved on the next month to focus on jobs. They met with
officials from the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and representatives
from individual agencies to discuss the lack of blacks in advertising jobs. The issue that the
NAACP and its executive secretary, Roy Wilkins, faced was agencies arguing that there were very
few qualified blacks for jobs. Even the president of the AAAA warned that it would be very
difficult to achieve an immediate change in the hiring of blacks. Nonetheless, while there weren’t
many blacks with the needed experience to get jobs, Wilkins argued that they had the desire to. 12
This resulted in multiple programs created by the NAACP and AAAA to get blacks entry-level
experience, so they could eventually earn a job in the seemingly closed industry. It was very
difficult to quantify the success of the NAACP’s efforts. The organization began to move away
from the campaign once the Civil Rights Movement as a whole began to lose its momentum. The
NAACP’s efforts were less successful compared to that of CORE’s, but their ability to get
advertising agencies to listen and provide some changes, like internship opportunities for blacks
specifically and creating antidiscrimination policies in the workplace, proved that Wilkins and his
peers made an impact. Wilkins gained so much press that he even had a conference with President
Lyndon B. Johnson to discuss achieving equality for blacks.13 The blacks that were able to get jobs
based off of the NAACP’s efforts took on the duty of accomplishing two objectives. Their jobs
served as a precedent for other blacks to get similar jobs, and their impact in advertisements served
to promote desegregation and equality more than what would have occurred otherwise. Overall
the NAACP’s campaign to get blacks jobs in advertising can be seen as a success.
The Civil Rights Movement had profound impacts on America. Activists specifically used
advertising as a tool to accomplish their goals of desegregation and equality for African
Americans. But even after the Civil Rights Movement, inequality still existed in advertising and

11
Ibid, 142.
12
‘‘Publisher of Three Successful Negro Magazines Got Start with $500 Loan,’’ Printer’s Ink (October 27, 1950):
100.
13
"Wilkins and Johnson," digital image, Who Speaks for the Negro, accessed December 10, 2017,
https://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interview/roy-wilkins.

67
 the country, as expected. In 1946, blacks appeared in .63 percent of ads, which increased to 4.37%.
In 1967, they were in 4.5% of commercials; that number increased to 16.01% in 1986. 14 The
numbers even after the Civil Rights Movement are still abysmal compared to what they should be,
but they are still much better than representation during the 1950s and 60s. By using advertising
to create recognition and solicit funds, change the image of African Americans, and create
meaningful jobs, Civil Rights activists were able to create significant change across the country.

Bibliography

Aunt Jemima. "Often Through Lent You’ll Want These Easy Main Dishes." Advertisement. Ladies
Home Journal, March 1, 1954, 107. http://graphic-design.tjs-labs.com/show-
picture?id=1246761805

Chambers, Jason. Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.
http://www.jstor.org.resources.library.brandeis.edu/stable/j.ctt3fhfwg.

Committee To Defend Martin Luther King. "Heed Their Rising Voices." Advertisement. New York
Times , March 29, 1960.

Davis, Jack E. "Civil Rights Movement: An Overview." Scholastic. July 1, 2014. Accessed December
10, 2017. https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/civil-rights-movement-
overview/.

Joseph, Gloria I., and Jill Lewis. Common differences: conflicts in Black and white feminist
perspectives. Boston: South End Press, 1986.

Kern-Foxworth, Marilyn. Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday,
Today, and Tomorrow. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.

Malcolm X. "The Negro." The New York Observer (New York City ), September 1993, 44th ed., sec. 5.

14
Marilyn Kern-Foxworth, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus: blacks in advertising, yesterday, today, and
tomorrow (Westport (Conn.): Praeger, 1994), 140.

68
 "March on Washington." Digital image. Smithsonian. July 2013. Accessed December 10, 2017.
https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/k9noTCRm87Ael61VuIaE8fWSGjk=/fit-in/1072x0/https://public-
media.smithsonianmag.com/filer/March-On-Washington-Liberator-963.jpg.

‘‘Publisher of Three Successful Negro Magazines Got Start with $500 Loan,’’ Printer’s Ink (October 27,
1950): 100.

Shuey, Audrey M., Nancy King, and Barbara Griffith. "Stereotyping of Negroes and Whites: An
Analysis of Magazine Pictures." The Public Opinion Quarterly 17, no. 2 (1953): 281-87.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2746282.

"Wilkins and Johnson." Digital image. Who Speaks for the Negro. Accessed December 10, 2017.
https://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interview/roy-wilkins.

69
Original Assignment—Research Essay

Research Essay

A research paper is an argumentative essay in which you interpret evidence to draw broader
conclusions about the significance of your topic. Research papers should always be
argumentative — they are not merely book reports in which you tell us everything you know or
have learned about a particular subject. Rather, they offer an interpretation. Of course, not
everyone may agree with your interpretation, which is why it is your job to convince us that your
interpretation is the most accurate and better than other possible interpretations. Learning how to
write a great research paper will be essential for success at Brandeis no matter your major
because in every academic discipline you will be required to gather evidence, analyze it, and
draw conclusions.

Essay Prompt: In your final major essay, you will choose a set of advertisements to illuminate
the role of advertising in shaping post-WWII American identity. Appropriate selections of
primary sources can include any types of ads and might range from television commercials to
printed ads to social media ads.

There are at least three possible ways to start thinking about your research topic:

• You might want to approach it thematically and ask how some ads represent
Americanness through particular images of class, gender, race and ethnicity, religion,
politics, technology, communication, cuisine, fashion, beauty norms, leisure activity, etc.
For example, you may consider American identity as a performance of middle-class
consumerist lifestyle; as an adherence to Christian religious values; as a racial and ethnic
diversity and inclusiveness or – alternatively, depending on a historical period – as a
perpetuation of racial hierarchies; as a creation of the high-tech modernity; as a “melting
pot” of various cuisines, and so on.

• You might be interested in certain advertisers or advertising agencies to consider

the dynamics of their advertising campaigns chronologically. The prominent advertising
agencies after the WWII were (and some still are) Advertising Council; BBDO; Doyle
Dane Bernbach; Ted Bates; Leo Burnett Co.; N. W. Ayer; Ogilvy, Benson & Mather;
Young & Rubicam; W. J. Thompson. You also may focus on one product or brand. For
example, a fictional character of Betty Crocker, developed in 1921 and now owned by
General Mills, strives to embody a typical American mother and housewife, offering

70
 cooking and housekeeping pieces of advice. Thus, the history of this brand lends itself to
a good research essay about the place of motherhood in American identity.

• You may start narrowing your topic, examining a particular period in the history
of the post-WWII American advertising. For example, the 1950s are a good starting point
for discussing the problems of mass consumption, middle-class lifestyle, and patriarchal
white America; the 1960s and 1970s are prominent for civil rights activism and youth
counterculture; the 1980s and 1990s are interesting in terms of high-tech progress,
attempts to promote racial inclusiveness, gender equality, and the environmental
thinking, whereas from the 2000s on, the Americanness is profoundly shaped through the
encounter with the challenges of globalization.

Consult the Sivulka reading for additional topics. Choose a topic you find really exciting because
you are going to be working on it for the next 6 weeks!

Essay length: Your final research essay must be no fewer than 10 full pages and no more than
12 pages in length (12-point font, Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1-inch margins). In
addition to this, you must also include a bibliography on a separate page. You must use at least 5
primary sources and 2 secondary sources. In most cases, your 5 primary sources will be various
types of ads, but I can imagine that you may find a relevant source, which is not an ad (for
example, a legal document that regulates advertising). In this case, please consult me to
determine a good balance between ads and non-ads for your specific topic.

Possible Primary Sources

Consider the following types of advertising to guide your search:

• Newspaper ads (display ads are placed throughout the paper; classified ads are under
subject headings in a specific section).
• Magazine ads
• Radio and TV commercials
• Outdoor billboards
• Transit advertising (like posters on vehicles)
• Direct mail
• Catalogues, brochures, and leaflets
• In-store advertising
• Online advertising (contextual ads that appear on search engine results page; banner ads;
social network advertising; e-mail spam, etc.)

71
 • Covert advertising (when, for example, product or brand is mentioned in a film)

Consult the Research Guide for Primary Sources that the librarian Laura Hibbler prepared for
this course (http://guides.library.brandeis.edu/uws19).

Goals of the Essay

The grade you receive for this essay will reflect how well you accomplish the following goals for
this unit. In addition to formulating a thesis, using evidence from your primary sources to
support your argument, organizing your thoughts logically, and knowing your reader (all of the
goals you accomplished in the close reading and lens essays), you should also:

Know the difference between a primary source and a secondary source. A primary source is
a source that was created by people who participated or witnessed a particular historical event. A
secondary source is a book or scholarly article written by a specialist who did not witness or
participate in the event.

Choose a topic and formulate a good research question. Before you can start writing a
research paper or even begin looking for sources, you first need a topic. A good research topic
isn’t pulled out of the ether but is grounded in a specific question, puzzle, or problem. Good
research questions — in history or any other discipline — are usually why or sometimes how
questions, which go beyond the mere facts of who, what, when and where, and require you to
come up with an arguable interpretation.

Tell us why the answer to your research question is actually important. No one is going to
want to read your essay or be interested in your topic unless you tell us why it is important. This
goes back to your research question: Why is it important that we answer it? So what? Who
cares? You picked the topic, and you came up with the question — so tell us why the answer
matters.

Write a research proposal. Before you begin researching or writing, you have to come up with
a plan. This is not only for my benefit to make sure you are on the right track but also to help you
focus and clarify your thinking. A good research proposal should briefly introduce the topic,
present the problem or research question, and then tell us what kinds of source you are going to
look at as evidence to help answer the question.

Know how to find primary and secondary sources in the library and online. The sources
you need can be found in the library — it is just a matter of knowing where to find them! We
will work together as a class, one-on-one, and with a research librarian to help teach you these
skills. We will also discuss the strategies of finding good primary sources online.

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Perform a close reading of your sources. Once you gather your evidence, you will need to read
them closely, just as we read Ogilvy’s book at the beginning of the semester. What do the
sources say? What do they imply? What are the author’s assumptions? How do you know what
the author is really thinking and saying?

Find patterns and trends in the evidence. A pile of the best evidence is worthless unless you
can put it all together. Look for patterns of repetition. Is there a common theme you notice? Do
the various authors convey similar thoughts? Or is there something that they are all
conspicuously silent about?

Draw your conclusions about the evidence. Once you have found some specific patterns in the
evidence, tell us what those patterns mean. What do they suggest? What conclusions can we
draw? The answer to this question will form the main component of your thesis.

Compare your conclusions with those of another scholar. If your conclusions differ from
those of the scholar who wrote the secondary source you read, tell us what might explain those
differences. Do your findings suggest that the other scholar was completely wrong? Or
completely right? Or how could you modify his or her interpretation to best account for the
evidence you found?

Address the most obvious counterarguments. This goes hand-in-hand with the previous goal.
Evidence can usually be interpreted in lots of different ways, so what would be the most obvious
alternative to your interpretation? Once you identify this alternative — the counterargument —
tell us why it fails to explain adequately the evidence that you found.

Q & A with Nataliia Laas, Instructor

Q: Had you taught this prompt before? If so, what made you teach it again? If not, how did you
arrive at this prompt/subject in particular?

I taught this prompt for the first time. From the very beginning, I wanted my students to analyze
advertisements for their research projects. But it took me half of a year to turn the initial vague
idea into a specific assignment. First, I talked with the research librarian Laura Hibbler about
potential primary sources that my students can use for their research. We discovered that online
archives of ads and commercials are proliferating, and Laura comprised a detailed research guide
for my course to list and annotate all available primary and secondary sources. The second step
was to narrow down the topic of the assignment. I came up with two options: the role of
emotions in advertising and the representation of American identity in advertising. I liked both
and could not decide on either for a while. Then, I found a wonderful piece on the anthropology

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of material culture by Igor Kopytoff that could serve as a good lens for exploring emotions in
advertising. So, I reserved the topic of American identity for the research prompt. It paid off later
since this prompt allows a variety of critical interpretations about the meaning of Americanness
and lends itself to rich and versatile research papers.

Q: What did you anticipate as the main challenges of answering such a prompt? Were there any
points at which you regretted recommending any texts?

I asked my students to use at least five primary sources and two secondary sources and was
really worried about how well they would be able to distinguish between the two types and
utilize them effectively. Some students tended to accept the “authoritative voice” of secondary
sources uncritically and simply replicate the main points in their papers, using primary sources
merely as examples. Others offered insightful close readings of ads and commercials but
struggled to explain how their conclusions differ from those of the scholars who wrote secondary
sources. The students cited scholarly books and articles only to provide background information.
Adam was among those who not only combined various sources creatively but used them to
figure out the motive of his paper and produce a new knowledge.

Q: How was teaching this assignment different from teaching any other assignments in the
class? How would you say that your student rose to the challenge of meeting this assignment?

During the research unit, I put a lot of emphasis on the structure: how to arrange elements in a
logical order to make papers flow smoothly. By the time of teaching this assignment, the
students already mastered the skills of writing the introduction, analyzing ads and commercials,
and constructing body paragraphs with topic sentences. But the research paper requires them to
cover many aspects, including the background, analysis of ads, summary and critical assessment
of secondary sources, lenses and counterarguments. Some students were quite confused by how
to organize all components in the best order, so we did exercises to discuss a logical progression
and sequence of paragraphs. Adam was already a very skillful writer by the beginning of the
course, but his improvement in developing a logical structure for his papers shines through this
essay.

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 Call for Papers

Each year’s edition of Write Now! contains six outstanding essays from the previous year’s
University Writing Seminars. The Brandeis Writing Program seeks submissions for next year’s
edition from UWS students and instructors.

If you are a student and are interested in submitting your essay to next year’s Write Now!, please
email a copy of the essay to your instructor, along with your name, email address, and the name
of your instructor and UWS course. Instructors should submit essays to the editor of next year’s
edition; questions may be directed to Lisa Rourke, Director of First Year Writing
([email protected]).

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