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Assignment Details
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read"
2015-2016
Date Due
Jan. 14, 2016
Additional Info
I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read
Questions For Discussion:
1. Francine Prose states, "Traditionally, the love of reading has been born and nurtured in high school English class" (para 1). Do you think this is generally the case? Describe your experience on this subject.
2.What does Prose mean when she writes, "[B]y concentrating on the student's own history they [teachers] narrow the world of experience down to the personal and deny students other sorts of experience-- the experience of what's in the book, for starters' (para. 40)? Do you agree with prose's statement? Why or why not?
5. This essay was written in 1999. Do you think Prose would or could make the same argument today? Why or why not?
Questions on Rhetoric and Style:
1. Discuss the three appeals to ethos in this essay. What different roles, or personae, does Prose use to establish her ethos?
2. Prose opening paragraph includes words such as appalled, dismal, and dreariness -- all with negative connotations. Why does she start out with such strong language? Does she risk putting off readers who do not share her views? Why or why not? What other examples of strong emotional language do you find in the essay?
8. Would Prose have strengthened her argument by including interviews with a few high school students or teachers? Why or why not?
9. According to Prose, why are American high school students learning to loathe literature? Try to find at least four or five reasons.
10. Does she propose a solution or recommendations to change this situation? If she does not offer a solution, is her argument weakened? Explain your answer.