Arguing About Literature

Preface for Instructors 
Contents by Genre 

PART ONE: A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature

1. What Is Argument? 
An Argument about Cell Phones
Paul Goldberger, Disconnected Urbanism 
Getting Another Perspective
Pamela Paul, The Phone Call
Understanding Rhetoric 
The Elements of Argument 
Sample Argument for Analysis
Sandy Sufian and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, The Dark Side of CRISPR  
Writing a Response to an Argument
Further Strategies for Analyzing an Argument So You Can Write a Response to It 
An Argument for Analysis
Regina Rini, Should We Rename Institutions That Honor Dead Racists? 

2. Writing Effective Arguments 
Strategies for Developing an Effective Style of Argument 
Structuring Your Argument: Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay 
A Student Response to an Argument
Paul Austin, The Need for True Consent to CRISPR 
Arguing in the First Person: Can You Use I? 
Use Inclusive Language 
Arguments for Analysis
Lee Siegel, Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans
Alexandra Petri, Take all books off the shelves. They’re just too dangerous.  

3. How to Argue about Literature 
Why Study Literature in a College Writing Course? 
A Story for Analysis
Jamaica Kincaid, Girl 
Strategies for Arguing about Literature 
A Sample Student Argument about Literature
Ann Schumwalt, The Mother’s Mixed Messages in “Girl” 
Looking at Literature as Argument
Jimmy Santiago Baca, So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans
Robert Frost, Mending Wall
Ted Chiang, The Great Silence
Literature and Current Issues: Poems about Climate Change 
Jane Hirshfield, Let Them Not Say
Rena Priest, The Index
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Dear Matafele Peinem 

4. The Reading Process 
Strategies for Close Reading 
A Poem for Analysis
Sharon Olds, Summer Solstice, New York City 
Applying the Strategies 
Reading Closely by Annotating
Emily Skillings, Girls Online 
Further Strategies: Topics of Literary Studies 
Lynda Hull, Night Waitress 
Identify Speech Acts
Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Elizabeth Bishop, One Art

5.  The Writing Process
Rachel Kadish, Letters Arrive from the Dead 
Strategies for Exploring 
Strategies for Planning 
Strategies for Composing 
First Draft of a Student Essay 
Dylan Rieff, Letters Don’t Arrive from the Dead 
Strategies for Revising 
A Checklist for Revising 
Revised Draft of a Student Essay 
Dylan Rieff, Letters Don’t Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Writing a Comparative Essay 
Don Paterson, Two Trees 
Luisa A. Igloria, Regarding History 
A Student Comparative Essay 
Jeremy Cooper, Don Paterson’s Criticism of Nature’s Owners

6. Writing about Literary Genres 
Writing about Stories 
Rivka Galchen, Usl at the Stadium 
The Elements of Short Fiction 
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Lydia Marsh, Why It’s Good for Usl to Wait 
Writing about Poems 
Mary Oliver, Singapore 
Yusef Komunyakaa, Blackberries 
Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Mill 
The Elements of Poetry 
Final Draft of a Student Essay 
Michaela Fiorucci, Negotiating Boundaries 
Comparing Poems and Pictures 
Rolando Perez, Office at Night 
Edward Hopper, Office at Night 
A Sample Essay Comparing a Poem and a Picture 
Karl Magnusson, Lack of Motion and Speech in Rolando Perez’s “Office at Night” 
Writing about Plays
August Strindberg, The Stronger 
A Student’s Personal Response to the Play 
The Elements of Drama 
Final Draft of a Student Essay 
Carly Chen, Which Is the Stronger Actress in August Strindberg’s Play? 

7. Writing Researched Arguments 
Begin Your Research by Giving It Direction 
Search for Sources in the Library and Online 
Evaluate the Sources 
Record Your Sources’ Key Details 
Strategies for Integrating Sources 
Avoid Plagiarism 
Strategies for Documenting Sources (MLA Format) 
Directory to MLA Works-Cited Entries 
Books 
Short Works from Collections and Anthologies 
Multiple Works by the Same Author 
Works in Periodicals 
Online Sources 
Citation Formats for Other Kinds of Sources 
A Note on Endnotes 
Three Annotated Student Researched Arguments 
Sarah Hassan, “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Guide to Social Factors in Postpartum Depression 
How Sarah Uses Her Sources
Nathan Johnson, The Meaning of the Husband’s Fainting in “The Yellow Wallpaper” 
How Nathan Uses His Sources
Fatima Nagi, The Relative Absence of the Human Touch in “The Yellow Wallpaper” 
How Fatima Uses Her Sources 
Contexts for Research: Confinement, Mental Illness, and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper 
Cultural Contexts
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”
S. Weir Mitchell, From “The Evolution of the Rest Treatment” 
John Harvey Kellogg, From The Ladies’ Guide in Health and Disease 

8.  Evaluating Internet Resources in a “Post-Truth” Age 
Evaluating Written Arguments You Find on the Internet 
Margaret Atwood, All Bread
Helena Minton, “Bread”
Varda He, Restaurants Should Be More Aware of Celiac, Gluten-Free Diet Limits 
Critically Analyzing Web Sites’ Truth Claims 
Summing Up the Recommendations 
Understanding Strategies in Visual Arguments on the Internet 
Topic: War
     Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est (poem) 
     WWI recruitment poster 
     Identifying the Visual Strategies 
Topic: Environmental Destruction
     Linda Hogan, Songs for Turtles in the Gulf (poem) 
     Image: Anti-liter ad 
     Identifying the Visual Strategies 
Topic: Refugees
     Tracy K. Smith, Refuge  
     Photograph: Ukrainian refugees 
     Identifying the Visual Strategies 
Topic: Borders
     Alberto Ríos, The Border: A Double Sonnet (poem) 
     Map: U.S.-Mexico Border
     Identifying the Visual Strategies 
Topic: Guns
     Katie Bickham, The Ferryman (poem) 
     Graph: Mass Shootings in 222 
     Identifying the Visual Strategies 
Summing Up the Strategies 
Identifying Biases You Might Bring to Your Internet Research

PART TWO: Literature and Arguments

9. Families 

Mothers and Daughters: Stories 
Alice Walker, Everyday Use 
Amy Tan, Two Kinds
Alma Luz Villanueva, Her Choice 

Siblings in Conflict: Stories 
Tobias Wolff, The Rich Brother 
James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues 

Reconciling with Fathers: Poems 
Lucille Clifton, forgiving my father 
Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays 
Theodore Roethke, My Papa’s Waltz 
Li-Young Lee, My Father, in Heaven, Is Reading Out Loud

Legacies: Poems 
Nikki Giovanni, Legacies 
Linda Hogan, Heritage 
Richard Blanco, Queer Theory: According to My Grandmother 
Gary Soto, Behind Grandma’s House 
Ruth Ellen Kocher, We May No Longer Consider the End
Philip Schultz, The Women’s March  

Literature and Current Issues: Family History and Climate Denial: A Poem and an Essay 
Shelley Wong, How to Live in Southern California
David Wallace-Wells, What’s Worse: Climate Denial or Climate Hypocrisy? 

Arguments about a Poem: “Daddy” 
Sylvia Plath, Daddy 
Arguments about the Poem
     Lynda K. Bundtzen, From Plath’s Incarnations 
     Tim Kendall, From Sylvia Plath: A Critical Study  

Literature and Current Issues: Families in Conflict: A Story and an Essay 
Yxta Maya Murray, Paradise 
Hira Ahmad, Political Animosity and Estrangement

Context for Research: Would You Die for a Belief? A Play and an Essay 
Sophocles, Antigone  
Nayan Shah, Inmates’ hunger strikes take powerful stand against injustice 

10.  Love 

Is This Love?: Stories 
James Joyce, Araby 
Leslie Marmon Silko, Yellow Woman 
T.C. Boyle, The Love of My Life
William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily 

True Love: Poems 
William Shakespeare, Let me not to the marriage of true minds 
John Keats, Bright Star 
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How Do I Love Thee? 
E. E. Cummings, somewhere i have never travelled 
Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Be Near Me

Melancholy Loves: Poems 
Edna St. Vincent Millay, What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why 
Robin Becker, Morning Poem 
W. H. Auden, Funeral Blues  
Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach 

Literature and Current Issues: What Constitutes Consent? A Story and an Essay 
Kristen Roupenian, Cat Person 
Katelyn Ewen, When “Yes” Really Means “Yes” 

Literature and Current Issues: Is Tribalistic Hate Necessary? Poems and An Essay
Thomas Lux, The People of the Other Village 
Danusha LamÉris, Small Kindnesses 
Thomas B. Edsall, No Hate Left Behind 

11.  Freedom and Confinement 

Where Tradition Is a Trap: Stories 
Shirley Jackson, The Lottery 
Alexander Weinstein, Rocket Night

Contexts for Research: Confinement at Work: A Story and an Essay 
Daniel Orozco, Orientation 
Edith Cooper, Don’t Return to the Office for Your Boss. Go Back for Yourself.

Resisting Stereotypes: Poems 
Chrystos, Today Was a Bad Day like TB 
Dwight Okita, In Response to Executive Order 966
Pat Mora, Legal Alien 
Toi Derricotte, Black Boys Play the Classics
Naomi Shihab Nye, Blood 
David Hernandez, Words without Thoughts Never to Heaven Go 
Uma Wwivedi, I Conflate Shame and Desire and the Ocean Purses Her Lips 

A Creative Confinement: Poems by Emily Dickinson 
Emily Dickinson, Wild Nights — Wild Nights! 
Emily Dickinson, Tell all the truth but tell it slant  —  
Emily Dickinson, Much Madness is divinest Sense  —  
Emily Dickinson, I’m Nobody! Who are you? 

Domestic Prisons: Plays 
Susan Glaspell, Trifles 
Lynn Nottage, POOF! 

Dreams of Escape: Stories 
Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour 
Kirstin Valdez Quade, The Manzanos 

Literature and Current Issues: Deadly Addiction: A Poem and an Essay 
Emily Yong, Opioid, Alcohol, Despair  
Maia Szalavitz, Opioids Feel Like Love: That’s Why They’re Deadly in Tough Times 

Literature and Current Issues: Indian Displacement Scandals: A Story and an Essay 
Brand Hobson, Escape from the Dysphesiac People 
Rukmini Callimachi, Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools 

Literature and Current Issues: Dealing with a Pandemic: A Story and an Essay 
Edgar Allen Poe, Masque of the Red Death 
Rupert Neate, Super-Rich Jet Off to Disaster Bunkers Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Contexts for Research: Domesticity, Women’s Rights, and A Doll’s House 
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House 
Susanna Rustin, Why A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen Is More Relevant than Ever 

Literature and Current Issues: Robots and Consciousness: A Story and an Essay  
Isaac Asimov, Liar
Cade Metz, A.I. Is Not Sentient: Why Do People Say It Is? 

12. Crime and Justice 

Discovering Injustice: Stories 
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown 
Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson 
Ha Jin, Saboteur 

Justice for Workers: Poems 
William Blake, The Chimney Sweeper 
Deborah Garrison, Worked Late on a Tuesday Night 

Secret Crimes: Stories 
Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart 
Edward J. Delaney, Clean 

A Dream of Justice: Poems by Langston Hughes 
Langston Hughes, Open Letter to the South 
Langston Hughes, Theme for English B 
Langston Hughes, Harlem

Literature and Current Issues: Can War Crimes Be Punished?: A Story and Essays
Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl 
Lorenzo Tondo, Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine, say UN investigators  
Masha Gessen, From The Law of War 

Arguments about a Story: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” 
Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find 
Arguments about the Story
     Flannery O’Connor, From Mystery and Manners 
     Stephen Bandy, From “ ‘One of My Babies’: The Misfit and the Grandmother” 

Contexts for Research: Innocence, Evil, and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” 
Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 
Contexts for Research
     Don Moser, The Pied Piper of Tucson: He Cruised in a Golden Car, Looking for the Action 
     Joyce Carol Oates, Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film 

Literature and Current Issues: Racial Injustice: Poems 
Marilyn Nelson, A Wreath for Emmett Till (Sonnet IV) 
Aracelis Girmay, From The Black Maria 
Hafizah Geter, Testimony 
Terrance Hayes, George Floyd

13. Journeys

Fairy Tale Journeys: Stories 
Charles Perrault, Little Red Riding Hood 
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Little Red Cap 
Angela Carter, The Company of Wolves 

Wartime Journeys: Stories 
Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Final Journeys: Poems 
John Donne, Death Be Not Proud 
Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night 
Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death 
Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory 
Claude McKay, If We Must Die

Journey through Time: Stories 
Ray Bradbury, Mars Is Heaven! 
Octavia Butler, From Imago 
Joanna Russ, When It Changed 

Literature and Current Issues: Immigration and Justice 
Juan Felipe Herrera, Roll Under the Waves 
Arguments on the Issue
Douglas Rand, Want to Get Rich? Let in More Immigrants 

Arguments about a Poem: “The Road Not Taken”
Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
David Orr, From The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong

Contexts for Research: Race and Social Equality: “Battle Royal” and Essays 
Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal 
Contexts for Research 
Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address (The Atlanta Compromise) 
W. E. B. DuBois, Of Mr. Booker T. Washington 
Gunnar Myrdal, Social Equality 

Appendix: Writing with Critical Approaches to Literature 
Contemporary Schools of Criticism 
Working with the Critical Approaches 
James Joyce, Counterparts 
Sample Student Essay 
Molly Frye, A Refugee at Home (student essay) 
James Joyce, Eveline (story) 
Index of Authors, Titles, First Lines, and Key Terms