Caitlyn Hoang

Speer - 4th Period

Essay Assessment
On your own paper, complete the following prompts as completely as possible as you read your
assigned essays.
A. Assigned Essay : The Mystery of Zen
1. Identify the hook
I have seen this happen to myself a hundred times; and every time it happens
again, I am equally fascinated and astonished.
2. Who, specifically, is the speaker?
Because this essay is spoken in first person the speaker has to be the author
Gilbert Highet.
3. Comment on the writers voice and style:
The way the author wrote this selection is that he talked about the books that he
read and the different ways that he learned how other people learned Zen Buddhism. He
wrote the things based off of the things that he read.
4. Who is the intended audience?
The intended audience of this essay would be those who are interested in the
different types of Buddhism and how difficult it is to learn it.
5. What is the authors purpose?
The authors purpose of this essay is to share what he has read in books about
Zen Buddhism and how it is very difficult to lear.
6. Note at least two sentences that are particularly effective (paragraph #, line #). Why?
I a still grappling with the theme; I have not got anywhere near understanding it
fully; but I have learned a good deal, and I am grateful to the little book which refused to
be forgotten (paragraph 3, line 12-15). This sentence is effective because this showed
how the author got into the book, and it introduced us to what the essay is going to be
about.
... The young philosopher forgot himself, forgot that he was learning archery for
some other purpose, forgot even that he was practicing archery, and became part of that
unconsciously active complex, the bow, the string, the arrow, and the man (paragraph 9,
line 23-27). This sentence is effective because this shows to the audience that the
philosopher finally realizing how to learn Zen. Also, that the philosopher is learning what
Zen is.
7. Note at least two rhetorical devices that are particularly effective (paragraph #, line #). Why?
Herrigel knew that there were scarcely any books which did more than skirt the
edge of the subject, and that the best of all books on Zen (those by the philosopher D. T.
Suzuki) constantly emphasize that Zen can never be learned from books, can never be
studied as we can study other disciplines such as logic or mathematics (paragraph 4, line
8-14). This is an example of repetition because the author repeatedly said can never
many times to emphasis the fact the learning this cant be learned like the way we learn
things at school. It is learned through living the Zen way.
Caitlyn Hoang
Speer - 4th Period
AP English III

No one could really penetrate into Christian mysticism without being a devout
Christians; no one could appreciate Hindu mystical doctrine without accepting the Hindu
view of the universe (paragraph 5, line10-12). This is like a metaphor because the
author is comparing, learning Zen to learning to be Christian and to be Hindu.
8. Note two examples of the authors expository technique(s) (paragraph #):
Zen Buddhism is not the only mystical doctrine to be found in the East, but it is
one of the most highly developed and certainly one of the most difficult to approach
(paragraph 4).
The doctrine of Zen cannot be analyzed from without; it must be lived
(paragraph 12).
These stories show that Zen meditation does not mean sitting and thinking. On
the contrary, it means acting with as little thought as possible (paragraph 17).
9. Choose two tone words for the passage:
Complex and straightforward
10. Choose two tone words for the authors attitude:
Emotionless and factual
11. Your personal reaction to the piece.
I personally really liked this essay because I found it really interesting how the
philosophy teacher learned Zen Buddhism. Also I thought it was fascinating how the Zen
masters had their own way of teaching their students how to learn this.
Essay Assessment
On your own paper, complete the following prompts as completely as possible as you read your
assigned essays.
A. Assigned Essay : Being a Man
1. Identify the hook
I cannot read that sentence without thinking that it is just one more awful thing
about being a man - and perhaps it is an important thing to know about us.
2. Who, specifically, is the speaker?
Because this essay is told in first person, the speaker of this selection must be the
author, Paul Theroux.
3. Comment on the writers voice and style:
Throughout this piece the author wrote about how he thought how hard it was to
be manly and he talked about the different ways that men would prove themselves to be
manly.

4. Who is the intended audience?

6. Note at least two sentences that are particularly effective (paragraph #, line #). Why?
It means: Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly and stop thinking
(paragraph 2, line 5-6). This sentence is effective because portrays to the reader about
how he feels about how people see men, and it also shows us his views on men and
where he is going to go with this essay.
It was my guilty secret, because being a writer was incompatible with being a
man (paragraph 8, line 8-9). This sentence is effective because this shows how sexist
and he is very self-concious of how other people see him.
7. Note at least two rhetorical devices that are particularly effective (paragraph #, line #). Why?
This version of masculinity is a little like having to wear a ill-fitting coat for
ones entire life (by contrast, I imagine femininity to be an oppressive sense of
nakedness) (paragraph 2, line 2-4). This is an example of a simile because the speaker is
comparing being and man to wearing a coat that does not fit well.
He kills lions, like Hemingway; or he hunts ducks, like Nathanael West; or he
makes pronouncements like, A man should carry enough to defend himself with, as
James Jones once said to a Life interviewer (paragraph 10, line 11-14). This is an
example of both repetition and simile. It is repetition because in this sentence the word
like is repeatedly used and it is a simile because the author is comparing a man to those
other men that was listed in the sentence.
8. Note two examples of the authors expository technique(s) (paragraph #):
That is why it is so grotesque; and that is also why there is no manliness without
inadequacy - because it denies men the natural friendship of women (paragraph 4).
Everything is stereotyped manliness goes against the life of the mind
(paragraph 9).
9. Choose two tone words for the passage:
Straightforward and compassionate
10. Choose two tone words for the authors attitude:
Bais and malicious
11. Your personal reaction to the piece.
My personal reaction to this piece was that I thought it was okay. I felt like the author
was in a way bias towards men and really did not look in the point of view of the females. He
really only payed attention to the males and how bad the men have it.