Self-Reliance Critical Lens
Homework: The following will be due Monday, April 5. You will have class time today and tomorrow to get started. We do not have class on Wednesday due to the half day and we have Career Day on Thursday. Please plan ahead and start this ASAP so that you can ask any questions you have prior to Thursday.
Write a critical essay in which you discuss Sebastian Junger’s The Storm, Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, and John McPhee’s The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya from the particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to ideas and details from the two works.
Critical Lens:
”Every man is, no doubt, by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care; and as he is fitter to take care of himself than of any other person, it is fit and right that it should be so.”
-Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
Guidelines:
Be sure to
- Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis
- Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
- Use Sebastian Junger’s The Storm, Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, and John McPhee’s The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya to support your opinion
- Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works we have read
- Avoid retelling the works we read. Instead, use specific references to appropriate ideas and details to develop your analysis
- Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
- Specify the titles and authors of the works when you reference them
- Follow the conventions of standard written English
