Bella Chiaravallotti Final Reflective Essay

It Is Not Enough These Days To Simply Question Authority. You Have to Speak With it, Too The introduction on Ways of Reading begins, Reading involves a fair measure of push and shove (Bartholomae 1).1 Reading requires a person to not only comprehend what the writer provides, but also to think beyond whats on the page and to put things together, to notice this idea or theme rather than that one, to follow a writers announced or secret ends while also following your own (Bartholomae 3). This semester, through our work with Wallace, Biss and Foucault, I was able to see reading as something to really grapple with. Further, I think that in class we were all able to speak with authority while still acknowledging that complex issues are complex (Bartholomae 9). The authors build complex arguments,2 question authority3 and use unique styles that cater to their arguments.4 I feel like I have been able to take lessons from what I have read in order to improve my own writing.

As a high school student, I became very good at using a lot of words to say very little. My first attempt at this particular essay, for example, exemplifies this rather ineffective dialect of English that I had become extremely fluent in. It started like this:

I feel like this single sentence sums up my sentiments about reading very well. My struggles with this semesters texts have been defined by an attempt to not just understand the authors, but to also use my own experiences and knowledge to add to my understanding of the text. 2 Like Wallace, when he looks at SWE from all angles 3 Like Foucault, and the Panopticon 4 Like Biss with her quick, striking paragraphs

Throughout my experience as a student, and as an individual who reads and writes for fun, my time in school, and especially my time in College Writing, has taught me that reading and writing are not so much activities that we do, but crafts that we partake in.5

To break this type of habit is difficult, but very worthwhile. Looking back over my work from the semester, the way that I think about writing has changed slightly but this change has benefitted my writing. Writing requires deliberate and meaningful structure.6 This is especially evident in The Pain Scale by Eula Biss. Her essay is structured around the zero-to-ten pain scale itself and she builds her argument with quick, simple images instead of long explanations.7 This allowed her to present her argument subtly with numerous layers and lots of support. Wallace, too, utilized structure with his endless footnotes and various subtitles, which allowed for his personality come through in his very complex and academic essay. In my own writing, I tried to take what I learned from Wallace and Biss in terms of structure and consider format as a way to strengthen my arguments. In my Wallace piece (Dance Like Nobodys Watching (But if People Are Watching, Make Sure Your Dance Yikes. Engfish alert. What am I saying? So many generalizations and ambiguous words. This sentence was followed by long block paragraphs and more vague language. Definitely had to make some changes. 6 Something that the typical five-paragraph essay doesnt really take into account. Which is why this concept was rather new and actually pretty exciting to me when I started working with it this semester. I remember being excessively puzzled when my essay looked a lot like an essay and this was a bad thing. Eventually, though, I understood this critique and was able to really use it to my advantage. 7 Which, according to traditional writing authorities that I am familiar with, is unconventional and against the rules despite its effectiveness.
5

Can Speak to Them)), for example, I struggled with something new and used footnotes to add extra comments, in addition to splitting my essay into sections in order to discuss various topics. Editing required me to re-order my paragraphs so the argument was presented to the reader effectively. For my Biss piece (Experience, Pain, and Interconnectedness), I used my scale as a way to structure my essay and it allowed for me to make connections and draw parallels that I would not have been able to draw otherwise.8 Even in my Foucault essay, which is more traditional, I remember looking at my work on paper and reshuffling the paragraphs so my argument would flow. Wallace questions not only the authority of dictionaries and snoots, but also authority in general when he reminds the reader how easy it is to fall in with some established dogmatic camp and to follow that camps line on the issue (Wallace 625). Biss questions numerical scales when she explains, there is a mathematical proof that zero equals one. Which of course, it doesnt (Biss 173). Foucault, too, discusses the authority of the Panopticon with everyone answering to his name and showing himself when asked (Foucault 282). Looking at my writing, I questioned authorities that I had formerly been catering to by trying to break out of the typical five-paragraph structure and dry, academic tone. 9 I also tried to avoid generalizations and work with the complexity of the texts we read. For For instance, I discussed the Schmidt Scale which functions on a scale of zero to four, so I was able to discuss other scales that are also based off of these numbers (like the zero to four scale used to measure a persons pulse) 9 I tried to use different tones/dialects which Wallace talked quite a bit about in Authority and American Usage. For example This guy had spent some serious time in the forest is not something I would have usually said in an academic essay (but I did say this in my Biss essay). This language feels very loose and casual. It also feels uncomfortable and Im not even one hundred percent certain that it benefitted my essay but it was an interesting exercise to work against the language that I thought I was required to use for school.
8

example a sentence like With all of the technology that we have at our disposal for personal use today (iPhones, laptops, etc), it seems that we have reached the pinnacle of freedom from the first draft of my Foucault essay eventually got deleted and replaced with something like Foucault presents the idea that through division and surveillance power can be effectively asserted. In todays society, the presence of Foucaults Panopticism is discernable, but it is not as methodical as Foucault describes. Even when I had to write with a more academic tone, I tried to make my writing more deliberate and meaningful. Now, writing is a way to question the authorities that affect our behavior, and it also provides a means for us to speak with authority as we try to understand the world around us and present our own ideas.

Works Cited Bartholomae, David, and Anthony Petrosky. Introduction. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Print. Biss, Eula. "The Pain Scale." Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Print. Foucault, Michel. Panopticism. Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2011. Mali, Taylor. "Totally like Whatever, You Know?" Taylor Mali. Taylor Mali, 2002. Web. 13 Apr. 2013. Wallace, David Foster. Authority and American Usage. Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Ways of Reading. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011.

Acknowledgements I would like to recognize Professor Cecelia Musselman for her help in showing our class how to make our writing more effective and how to break apart and comprehend the complex texts we read. I would also like to Acknowledge David Foster Wallace, Eula Biss, and Michel Foucault as their works provided inspiration for our work this semester. Many thanks to our College Writing class for discussions, peer edits, and a great semester.