Homework - Composition
1. The Boston Photographs - Nora Ephron
https://swc2.hccs.edu/kindle/Ephron_Nora_The_Boston_Photographs.pdf
(A) In paragraph 5 Ephron refers to "the famous assassination picture of the Vietcong prisoner in Saigon". The photo shows the face of the prisoner who is about to be shot in the head at close range. Jot down the reasons why you would or would not approve of printing this photo in a newspaper.
(B) In paragraph 9 Ephron quotes a newspaperman as saying that before printing Forman's pictures of the woman and the child falling from the fire escape, editors should have asked themselves "what purpose they served and what their effect was likely to be on the reader". If you were and editor, what would your answer be?
2. For Environmental Balance, Pick Up a Rifle - Nicholas D. Kristof
https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E5D91231F937A35751C1A9639C8B63
(A) What is Kristof's chief thesis? (State it in one sentence)
(B) Does Kristof make any assumptions-tacit or explicit-with which you disagree? With which you agree? Write them down.
(C) Is the slightly humorous tone of Kristof's essay inappropriate for discussion of deliberately killing wild animals? Why, or why not?
(D) If you are familiar with Bambi, does the story make any argument against killing deer, or does the story appeal only to our emotions?
(E) Do you agree that "hunting is as natural as bird-watching" (para.21)? In any case, do you think that an appeal to what is "natural" is a good argument for expanding the use of hunting?
(F) To whom is Kristof talking? How do you know?
3. Bring back Flogging - Jeff Jacoby
https://www.jeffjacoby.com/6758/bring-back-flogging
(A) When Jacoby says (para. 3) that today we are more "enlightened" than our Puritan forefathers because where they used flogging, "We lock them up in cages", is he being ironic? Explain.
(B) Suppose you agree with Jacoby. Explain precisely (a) what do you mean by flogging? And (b) how much flogging is appreciate for the crimes of housebreaking, rape, robbery, and murder.