What is your initial reaction to the essay?
Williams uses a variety of evidence in the essay, including personal memoir, family history, government documents, and other sources. List the evidence and the order in which she uses it. Why does Williams present her material in this order?
What is the role of the dream?
Who is the audience?
How is this a persuasive essay?
How is this different from other persuasive essays you have read?
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I was puzzled thinking about what this essay could be about. The reasons she goes from personal memoir to family history to government documents and so on is because it starts off as a personal problem and it gets bigger and bigger and shows that this is a big problem. This essay talks about bomb testing in Nevada and the many cases that many people had been effected by radiation. I believe the problem appears to get bigger and bigger as the essay progresses. The audience is the people who haven't dealt with the things her, her family and many other people have gone through. She uses many stories and her personal thoughts to convey her message and it is very powerful. This essay is a bit different for me because I have not really had much knowledge about this and I don't believe that this is a true argument essay or persuasive. It gives a lot of information about the radiation testing but I do not believe that there can be a whole argument about radiation testing besides that it has negative effects on people and their surroundings. I don't believe that many people would be on the opposing side or pro radiation testing with all the complications people have endured.
ReplyDeleteI at first thought that the piece was going to be about breast cancer. Then I thought that it was about atomic testing but the dream threw me off but now I think that its the dangers of atomic testing again. I was pretty much confused througout the piece. The evidence goes personal report, family, and government reports/law suits. I think that she uses this order to show that it is broader than one might think. When reading the personal report, the reader would think that it is a problem with one person. Then she gets to the family history and the reader would think "Wow its one family that has this problem." Then it gets to the government part and reader is kink of shocked to believe that the problem is bigger than they imagined. Its kind of sandbagging I think in that she leads you to think that it is small and the shows you its a much larger problem. I really didn't get the dream at all. I thought that maybe she drank a bottle of nyquil before going to sleep and was tripping. I think that it was showing that the land was decaying due to the nuclear testing and that women were dying with the land. That whole part kind of went right over my head. I think that the audience is meant to be mothers because they would be the ones who would feel the most affected by the emotions in the essay and more compelled to do something about it. I think that this is persuasive in that it shows a problem and gives all of the facts against this problem. However, it isn't point-support but is the closest essay we have read to that style.
ReplyDeleteMy initial reaction to the title of this piece was "Is this piece about Cancer, or the lose of a loved one do to cancer?" And after reading i found that i was not completely out of the ball park when reading this essay. I learned about the Nuclear testing in the Nevada desert that i had heard might have happened but was never really sure if it was true. And now i know that there actually was nuclear testing going on. First she starts with her personal memour to establish a sort of relationship or understanding with the reader and then with the family stories to establish a solid foundation to begin building her case on. Next she talks about the government aspect and follows that with the other sources that al pertain to her side and the government being wrong in the testing of nuclear material and endangering the lives of its citizens. talking about these things in this order allows the author to relate with some of her readers in away and then to also start with a solid foundation to then use all the other sources to build a foundation and logically prove that she is not just being biast. The Dream plays the role that connects her and her family to the corruption and wrong doing of the government. It also tells a very good story that can be used to like it was to effectively connect the data she is using to argue her point. I believe the first focus is women in gerneral and especially the women with Cancer when she talks about her personal experience and her family problems then as she starts to talk about the government the focus of the audience changes more to the American society as a whole. And how something should be done to stop the government from endangering the lives of its citizens and to keep it in "check" so that it cannot happen again. This is persuasive by slowly and descretely feeding the reader facts that in turn slowly push the reader into either believing what the author is saying or having them sympathise with the author and then focusing more on what she is saying after that. Then while doing that she organizes her material and says it in a way that makes the government sound completely wrong and concided. By which i mean they dont care about the people at all. This is different because of its effectiveness of actually persuading the reader so descreatly to thinking more towards the authors side. I actually liked this piece alot it was great!
ReplyDeleteI had assumed that this piece was going to be about the Amazonians, due to the fact that the Amazons were said to have cut off one of their breats so they could better hold a bow. I did however, enjoy where the piece DID go. It was a very stark look at the Cold War era weapons testing, and what effect that had on United States civilians. The author's tone is almost haunting in this piece, and it adds to the impact greatly. I also enjoyed the narrative in this piece. The part at the end with her getting arrested was a cunning way to end it. The dream was a nice forshadowing of her actual "assault" upon Mercury.
ReplyDeleteI liked this essay a lot even though it was depressing. I knew that this essay had to be about something to do with breast cancer or something to that affect but I had no idea it was going to be about how atomic bombs have caused cancer. I think that this essay was more personal for the females than it was for the males it was also very eye opening to say the least. I know for me there is always the thought that I live so close to the nuke plant and that there is a higher risk for developing cancer around here. It is always at the back of my mind. I try not to think about it but it is always there. I worry about my family members and also about me getting some type of cancer but life has to go on. She uses a lot of sources especially family memoirs, research that she has done and personal experiences and these sources make this essay even more powerful. She puts all these sources in this order because they are the way the events in her life played out its the first thing she remembers growing up as a child then it goes into greater detail and research when she becomes older. The role of the dream is very important it tells an important story that started at the first moments of her life in her mothers womb before she was even born. It was weird how she dreamed of this and had not even been broughten into the world yet. But i think this dream was meant to be given to her so she knows how everyone was getting cancer all around her. The audience in this piece was meant for everyone women,political figures, nuclear people, and especially people who have lived in this region who have lost love ones or who are still trying to survive this terrible disease that was brought about by doing "tests" or "ginea pig runs" with nuclear solutions and knowing that in fact they were putting people at risk. This is a persuasive essay because it shows what nuclear bombs can do to society and how it can affect so many people. I really liked this essay it will be cool to see what everyone says in class. I think that the girls will have more to say than the guys we will have to see. So guys take this as a challenge lol :)
ReplyDeleteAt first appearance, I read the title of this piece and immediately thought of the literal translation. Of course I was skeptical to believe that was what the essay was going to be about, so I went into the essay not expecting anything specific.
ReplyDeleteTo my surprise, the title "The Clan of One-Breasted Women" turned out to be a reference to a group of women who have, or had, cancer of some sort. I wasn't completely shocked by this, but the cause of this widespread cancer was what held my interest in this essay. People becoming seriously ill or dying from atomic tests would seem to be a huge issue, but this is the first time I've ever heard of it occurring. I was aware that tests were performed near areas like Utah, but I always assumed the test sites were barren and the lives of citizens were not put at risk.
The essay starts out with the author's family history and she talks a bit about the widespread issue of cancer that runs through her family. The next part is her personal memoir where she describes her dream about the bomb testing and the death of her mother, due to cancer. In the following paragraph she uses government documents and cultural statistics as evidence to build her case. I think that she chose to present her material in this order because it begins with her personal relationship to cancer and atomic testing in Utah. This shows the reader that she actually knows a few things about these topics and is not just using the words of other people. The addition of government documents and cultural statistics near the end help to support her case by creating a solid foundation, based on more "factual" evidence.
I think that the dream's role in this piece is to show the reader how the author came to her "moment of realization." After realizing that the dream about the bomb wasn't actually a dream, she said that it was at that moment that she realized the "deceit she had been living under."
This is a persuasive essay that is trying to convince people that the atomic testing that has been occurring in the mid-west areas, like Utah, aren't as harmless as the government would have us believe. It is negatively impacting many people and the author is trying to say that something needs to be done. I really don't think that there is a specific audience that this essay is meant for because this piece is more about the issue of atomic testing and it's affects, and the cancer issue is only used to support this fact.
This is a different kind of persuasive essay than ones we have read so far because it has the mix of fact and personal experience, whereas most of the other essays only contained one of these elements.
The aspect I liked most about this piece though was the humor that was thrown in to such a grave subject, especially the part where the author told the police officer that her pen and pad of paper were "weapons."
I absolutely LOVE this essay, like every inch of it. It had the perfect blend of historical references, societal commentary and personal memoir on the subject of nuclear testing and its destruction, but also the strength of those affected by it who finally took a stand. My favorite parts were the section that ran from page 639 to page 640 and the account of the dream, but I enjoyed reading all of it.
ReplyDeleteThe author's evidence is presented in a complex way but in this basic order: family history, historical references, comments on Mormon society and how that has impacted her life, personal memoir (the dream) and finally another personal memoir (civil disobedience). I believe she used this particular order to initially hook the reader, and then give them some factual background from other sources besides herself so the reader could have a better understanding of the topic as it relates to the time it occurred. She went on to write personal memoirs after that to put a personal side to the story and make the readers not just understand but appreciate the actions of those in Utah who had a passion and took it to a higher level.
The role of the dream was to be a sort of tribute to the "virtual uninhabitants" and give them an image to be conjured up in our minds (one I won't be able to forget easily). It also in a roundabout way gives the account of the Shoshone protesters in Nevada. I would call it poetry myself...I thought it was so powerful.
The essay was directed in large part to Williams' fellow Americans so they could be educated on this subject and not just dismiss it since it was not just destroying people's lives but also the environment. I read the author's short biography in the book and it confirmed that she is a very passionate environmentalist. She wanted to show her readers that nuclear testing is wrong on so many levels, from the "smoldering roots of mesquite and sage" to the cancer it caused. In many ways the author was encouraging us not to be "passive citizens" if you know what I mean. This essay is also directed to smaller audiences; the members of the church of Latter-Day Saints, Utahans, and authority figures in the government. She shows she has respect for her religion and her roots, but she knows she would give that up to not remain silent and obedient to the destruction of the women and land that she loved. For Utahans this essay would remind them of this controversy (if it is still not fresh in their minds because it very well could be) and the beautiful landscape they should strive to save. Her disdain for the government is apparent in this essay and I think she hopes to encourage those in authority positions to not repeat history and care about citizens more than politics.
I felt this essay is persuasive through its deliberate story telling. The author picks the best stories to tell; ones that inspire, ones that anger, ones that educate you...the way the author does that is not only effective but vastly different from other argument essays. I feel like 99% of readers would understand if not agree with her point of view by the end of this essay; I'd say that's a successful argument.
O this piece was excelent! It was so honest and poetic and so matter of fact! It was a modern piece, writtled both poetry and facts while being a piece about both personal and social conflicts. Awesomeness! And although i am not Mormon, having internal conflicts about aspects about my faith is something that is very easy to understand. This was my initial reaction to the piece.
ReplyDeleteThe role of the dream showed how the women would no longer stand by and let pain happen to their children, to the land and to the people. This was the lambs turning into the lions. Because it eventually came down to turning into lions or dying like all the other sheep. The audience could be the government, or just the unknowing public. This is a persuasive essay about the fact that she builds her case of the governments faults and mistreatment of the people. The argument could be that not rocking the boat only leaves you swept away. there is a point where if not for yourselves, for you loved ones, you should take a stand. Make a wave. This essay was a combination of history and facts and emotions and personal history
Clarification for Liz-the author WAS born when she saw the "flash of light in the night in the desert". Her father tells her she was sitting on her mother's lap and her mother was pregnant at the time with another child. Another thing about Liz's comment...she mentioned that the idea that her or a family member could get cancer someday because of our proximity to the Nuclear Plant was interesting to me. She said "I worry about my family members and about me getting some type of cancer but life has to go on." Liz basically echoed the feelings of the Mormon women in the essay who knew that they would most likely get cancer but did not let it control their lives. I thought this unintentional connection was pretty cool...
ReplyDeleteOh and Emma love your comments about internal struggles with religion, the "lambs becoming the lions" and the whole "make a wave" thing. I'm glad you enjoyed this essay as much as I did...great comments.
ReplyDeleteFrom reading most of the blogs, I can see that a lot of the essay went over my head. I like what Emma had said about the lambs becoming the lions, and I see the connection in the piece when it talks of all the dead sheep. She is referring to the people who just went along with the government. I initially took it to mean literal sheep and throughout reading the piece I was wondering how sheep were living in the desert. I think that Christyn was right in saying that 99% of people reading this would get the point in the end. I was confused with the dream part and yet I still understood that she was against above ground nuclear testing and the destruction of the enviroment. I think that there are really two different parts in the essay. The logical and the illogical. The logical part being the first half with the actual facts and accounts. The illogical part was the dream. I think that this was done on purpose so that more people would be able to understand the piece. So those who are bored with the facts would read the dream and still get the same sort of information that she was against the nuclear testing and those who didn't understand the dream would be able to understand her points from the facts she gives. She pretty much caters to two different type of people in order to get more understanding from her readers.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that Jon's idea of what the piece would be about was the most creative and unusual. After reading his comment about one-breasted women who shoot bows I was a bit disappointed that the essay was not about that because it sounded oddly interesting.
ReplyDeleteI also like Josh's view of the authors dream because it was a completely different idea than I would expect someone to come up with, but again very creative.
I learned a lot by reading this essay. I didnt really know much about the nuclear testing in Nevada but now I know a lot more about it. I liked this essay, and thought that it was a well written essay. The essay starts out with her family history. Next, it goes into her personal memoir of the dream about the bomb going off. After that was the government documents and other sources to build up a strong case for her opinion. I think that she show this order to show that it was a big problem, and that not only was it a problem for her, but many others as well. I think the audience would be to people who have had to go through this in their lifetimes. Specifically woman and mothers. This is a persuasive essay because it gives many facts on a problem that the author has had to live with along with her opinion. She backs it up with a lot of facts. This essay is different from others that we have read because it was probably the most successful one so far. Most people would side with her point of view because of the obvious problems that the radiation caused.
ReplyDeleteI loved this essay. When I first started reading it I expected it to be a story of her finding out she had cancer...but it had nothing to do with that. I like how she goes into her personal experience with living in Utah and dealing with the death of her mother...then goes into the history of cancer in that area. Especially the story of Irene Allen.
ReplyDeleteBringing historical context into the piece makes it more powerful, factual as well as personal. She ties them together very well.
When she confronts her father about the reoccuring dream that she has had I found it very creepy that she found out it was real. Then it all comes back...she realizes she was there- that it wasn't just a dream. That would be a very eerie realization.
I love the end with all the women in the desert in her other dream...it is symbolic of them tying together. It was none of their faults that they suffered this fate. They must find the strength inside one another.