Intensive+Writing+-+Day+2

Intensive Writing – Day Two Name __________________ “The Mysterious Stranger” 30 points Period ______


 * Choose one of the following topics.
 * Narrow the topic; **let your thesis address a small part of the idea**.


 * You will not have time to write a rough draft, but you do have time to plan your examples and what order to put them in to be most effective. Doodle on the back of this sheet. It is a good idea to use **20 minutes to plan**! Don't start the essay until you know what you're going to say!
 * Write an informal essay which includes the following:
 * an introductory paragraph
 * **It is perfectly okay if your introduction includes only your thesis.**
 * Arguments and explanations to support your thesis
 * from your life
 * from literature
 * from what you know of the world around you
 * a concluding paragraph
 * return to your thesis
 * ideally, expand on your thesis beyond the scope of the essay
 * You should write at least four paragraphs (intro, two body, conclusion).
 * Turn in what you've written at the end of class. It's okay if the essay isn't quite finished; just turn in what you've done.
 * 1) **Humor:**  Do you agree with Twain's proposition at the end of “The Mysterious Stranger” that “your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon - laughter”? Is this true? Are there problems that can be battled with laughter? Which ones? How?


 * 1) **The Moral Sense**: While Satan, the mysterious stranger, clearly sees our moral sense as a flaw, it is part of what we are. When do people use their “moral sense” well, and when do we use it badly? What's the difference? Does it help with tough decisions? (What about the end of //Of Mice and Men//? What about the characters in //The Scarlet Letter//?)
 * 2) **War:** Do you believe that our efforts as humans are as focused on killing and cruelty as Satan says they are? Is Satan missing some of our best work? Are we only cruel? Or is he right?


 * 1) **Free Will**: Satan considers whether or not a man could choose not to go to the well one day. He says “it might be that if he had gone to the well he would have ended his career on a throne, and that omitting to do it would set him upon a career that would lead to beggary and a pauper's grave.” Is Satan taking this point of view to show us what Twain believes, or is this Twain's way of telling us that we should be paying more attention to the choices we make? What do you think?
 * 2) **Lessons from Stories**: Twain makes it clear in “The Story of the Bad Little Boy” that he finds most stories with morals silly and ineffective, and he clearly takes a different approach. What are the biggest lessons he's teaching? Do some of us respond more to one type of lesson than others?