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T h e Te l l - Ta l e H e a r t
iT’s TRue! yes, i have been ill, very ill. But why do you say that I have lost control of my mind, why do you say that I am mad? Can you not see that I have full control of my mind? Is it not clear that I am not mad? Indeed, the illness only made my mind, my feelings, my senses stronger, more powerful. My sense of hearing especially became more powerful. I could hear sounds I had never heard before. I heard sounds from heaven; and I heard sounds from hell!
Listen! Listen, and I will tell you how it happened. You will see, you will hear how healthy my mind is.
It is impossible to say how the idea first entered my head. There was no reason for what I did. I did not hate the old man; I even loved him. He had never hurt me. I did not want his money. I think it was his eye. His eye was like the eye of a vulture, the eye of one of those terrible birds that watch and wait while an animal dies, and then fall upon the dead body and pull it to pieces to eat it. When the old man looked at me with his vulture eye a cold feeling went up and down my
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back; even my blood became cold. And so, I finally decided I had to kill the old man and close that eye forever!
So you think that I am mad? A madman cannot plan. But you should have seen me. During all of that week I was as friendly to the old man as I could be, and warm, and loving.
Every night about twelve o’clock I slowly opened his door. And when the door was opened wide enough I put my hand in, and then my head. In my hand I held a light covered over with a cloth so that no light showed. And I stood there quietly. Then, carefully, I lifted the cloth, just a little, so that a single, thin, small light fell across that eye. For seven nights I did this, seven long nights, every night at midnight. Always the eye was closed, so it was impossible for me to do the work. For it was not the old man I felt I had to kill; it was the eye, his Evil Eye.
And every morning I went to his room, and with a warm, friendly voice I asked him how he had slept. He could not guess that every night, just at twelve, I looked in at him as he slept.
The eighth night I was more than usually careful as I opened the door. The hands of a clock move more quickly than did my hand. Never before had I felt so strongly my own power; I was now sure of success.
The old man was lying there not dreaming that I was at his door. Suddenly he moved in his bed. You may think I became afraid. But no. The darkness in his room was thick and black. I knew he could not see the opening of the door. I continued to push the door, slowly, softly. I put in my head. I put in my hand, with the covered light. Suddenly the old man sat straight up in bed and cried, “Who’s there??!”
I stood quite still. For a whole hour I did not move. Nor did I hear him again lie down in his bed. He just sat there, listening. Then I heard a sound, a low cry of fear which escaped from the old man. Now I knew that he was sitting up in his bed, filled with fear; I knew that he knew that I was there. He did not see me there. He could not hear me there. He felt me there. Now he knew that Death was standing there.
Slowly, little by little, I lifted the cloth, until a small, small light escaped from under it to fall upon — to fall upon that vulture eye! It was open — wide, wide open, and my anger increased as it looked straight at me. I could not see the old man’s face. Only that eye, that
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hard blue eye, and the blood in my body became like ice. Have I not told you that my hearing had become un usually
strong? Now I could hear a quick, low, soft sound, like the sound of a clock heard through a wall. It was the beating of the old man’s heart. I tried to stand quietly. But the sound grew louder. The old man’s fear must have been great indeed. And as the sound grew louder my anger became greater and more painful. But it was more than anger. In the quiet night, in the dark silence of the bedroom my anger became fear — for the heart was beating so loudly that I was sure some one must hear. The time had come! I rushed into the room, crying, “Die! Die!” The old man gave a loud cry of fear as I fell upon him and held the bedcovers tightly over his head. Still his heart was beating; but I smiled as I felt that success was near. For many minutes that heart continued to beat; but at last the beating stopped. The old man was dead. I took away the bed covers and held my ear over his heart. There was no sound. Yes. He was dead! Dead as a stone. His eye would trouble me no more!
So I am mad, you say? You should have seen how care ful I was to put the body where no one could find it. First I cut off the head, then the arms and the legs. I was careful not to let a single drop of blood fall on the floor. I pulled up three of the boards that formed the floor, and put the pieces of the body there. Then I put the boards down again, care fully, so carefully that no human eye could see that they had been moved.
As I finished this work I heard that someone was at the door. It was now four o’clock in the morning, but still dark. I had no fear, however, as I went down to open the door. Three men were at the door, three officers of the
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police. One of the neighbors had heard the old man’s cry and had called the police; these three had come to ask questions and to search the house.
I asked the policemen to come in. The cry, I said, was my own, in a dream. The old man, I said, was away; he had gone to visit a friend in the country. I took them through the whole house, telling them to search it all, to search well. I led them finally into the old man’s bed- room. As if playing a game with them I asked them to sit down and talk for a while.
My easy, quiet manner made the policemen believe my story. So they sat talking with me in a friendly way. But although I answered them in the same way, I soon wished that they would go. My head hurt and there was a strange sound in my ears. I talked more, and faster. The sound became clearer. And still they sat and talked.
Suddenly I knew that the sound was not in my ears, it was not just inside my head. At that moment I must have become quite white. I talked still faster and louder. And the sound, too, became louder. It was a quick, low, soft sound, like the sound of a clock heard through a wall, a sound I knew well. Louder it became, and louder. Why did the men not go? Louder, louder. I stood up and walked quickly around the room. I pushed my chair across the floor to make more noise, to cover that terrible sound. I talked even louder. And still the men sat and talked, and smiled. Was it possible that they could not hear??
No! They heard! I was certain of it. They knew! Now it was they who were playing a game with me. I was suffering more than I could bear, from their smiles, and from that sound. Louder, louder, louder! Suddenly I could bear it no longer. I pointed at the boards and cried, “Yes! Yes, I killed him. Pull up the boards and you shall see! I killed him. But why does his heart not stop beating?! Why does it not stop!?”
Essay 1 Argument with Counterargument & Refutation in MLA Rubric
Skill Assessed:
Level Achieved Beginning Developing Proficiency Mastery Score
Thesis/ Claim Reader cannot determine thesis and purpose OR thesis has no arguable claim.
Thesis may be obvious or unimaginative. Thesis and purpose are somewhat vague.
Contains an arguable claim that is somewhat original. Thesis and purpose are fairly clear.
Contains an arguable claim that develops fresh insight and challenges the reader’s thinking.
±20%
__/30
Support/ Reasoning (2
points/ paragraphs
required in this section)
The writer focuses on own thoughts and beliefs about the topic; neglects the rhetorical elements. Offers simplistic, undeveloped, or cryptic support for the ideas.
The writer includes 1 rhetorical element in the development of ideas. Offers somewhat obvious support that may be too broad. Details are too general, not interpreted, irrelevant to thesis, or inappropriately repetitive.
The writer includes 2 rhetorical elements in the development of ideas. Offers solid but less original reasoning. Assumptions are not always recognized or made explicit.
The writer includes all 3 rhetorical elements (logos, pathos, ethos) in the development of ideas. Assumptions are made explicit. Details are relevant, original, and convincingly interpreted.
±26%
__/40 Counterargument
Paragraph/ Opposing
Viewpoints
Counterargument is missing or vague. Obvious lack of sound, logical argument throughout.
Counterargument paragraph missing and/or vague. There are one or two examples that are not sound, logical argument.
Author acknowledges the opposing view, but does not present sound counterpoints.
Author acknowledges the opposing view and argues it logically.
±13%
__/20 Refutation Paragraph
Refutation is missing or vague. Obvious lack of sound, logical argument throughout.
Refutation paragraphs attempts to “turn back” but does not present any new evidence.
Refutation paragraph partially turns back to original argument but may not present new evidence.
Refutation “turns back” to the writer’s original argument with additional support.
±13%
__/20
Structure & Organization
Work lacks structure; lacks a clear thesis or conclusion, body seems haphazard; transitions are not present. The ability to apply basic essay structure is not evident.
Body lacks a clear direction; supporting evidence loosely tied to thesis; transitions missing; conclusion has no sense of closure. Includes some of the basic parts of an essay.
Body mostly flows from the thesis; transitions are awkward at times; appropriate conclusion. Includes most of the basic parts of an essay.
Body flows from thesis; transitions guide the reader smoothly through the text; conclusion effectively wraps up the essay. Includes all basic parts of an essay.
±16%
__/25
Sources/ Documentation
Neglects important sources. Overuse of quotations or paraphrase to substitute writer’s own ideas. *(Probably uses source material without acknowledgement.)
Uses relevant sources but lacks in variety of sources and/or the skillful combination of sources. *Quotations and paraphrases may be too long and/or inconsistently referenced.
Uses sources to support, extend, and inform, but not substitute writer’s own development of ideas. *Doesn’t overuse quotes, but may not always conform to MLA format.
Uses sources to support, extend, and inform, but not substitute writer’s own development of ideas. *Source material is announced by a signal phrase and ended with intext citations.
__/NA
Grammar/ Mechanics
Errors so numerous they distract the reader and skew the writer’s meaning
Repeated weaknesses in mechanics and usage. Pattern of flaws. Meaning is still clear.
Occasional minor errors do not distract the reader or interfere with meaning
Essentially free from mechanical, grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors.
±10%
__/15
NOTES:
135-150 = A 90-104 = D 120-134 = B 0- 89 = F 105-119 = C
_____ /150 TOTAL:
Student Notes for Next Writing Assignment:
What worked best for my writing according to the rough draft rubric:
What doesn’t work for my writing according to the rough draft rubric:
In my FINAL DRAFT, I will focus more on:
Higher Order Concerns (HOCs) Lower Order Concerns (LOCs)
Essay 1: Argumentation with Counterargument & Refutation in MLA Dr. Philip Zimbardo argues that all people have the capacity to do great evil or exceptional good. Many authors and philosophers, also, seem to accept this human theory, and present their own ideas and arguments as a challenge to readers’ notions of the definitions of both. Zimbardo’s main theory is that doing evil is as much the fault of the situation as it is the individual and extensively lists the ways in which a person may find him or herself more tempted and even more capable of purposefully causing harm to others.
The short stories we have read over the last few weeks, although works of fiction, focus on two major categories of evil: obvious evils committed by a single character or group of characters and banal evils or everyday/ common evils perpetrated by a group or individual willingly. The phrase ‘banality of evil’ was first coined in a 1963 book by political theorist Hannah Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Arendt reported on Adolf Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. She, as well as many others rightfully, viewed the Nazis as monstrous evils in the world who chose to inflict the worst human abuses on others. What she did not expect while sitting in on Eichmann’s trial was “an ordinary, rather bland, bureaucrat, who in her words, was ‘neither perverted nor sadistic’, but ‘terrifyingly normal’. He acted without any motive other than to diligently advance his career in the Nazi bureaucracy. Eichmann was not an amoral monster […] Instead, he performed evil deeds without evil intentions, a fact connected to his ‘thoughtlessness’, a disengagement from the reality of his evil acts. Eichmann ‘never realised what he was doing’ due to an ‘inability… to think from the standpoint of somebody else’. Lacking this particular cognitive ability, he ‘commit[ted] crimes under circumstances that made it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he [was] doing wrong’ “ (White, 2018). Arendt’s biggest question after the trial and execution of Eichmann was “Can one do evil without being evil?” This question has been studied by many people all over the world throughout time, such as by Zimbardo and Stanley Milgram, among others. And this question has been a major theme in literature
and art. This month, you will each provide insight and even deepen the discourse on this theme in your first essay for this class.
Topic: Based on your understanding of Zimbardo’s lecture and using the short stories as your evidence write an argument answering the following: Which is the greater evil, an obvious evil or a banal evil?
Requirements:
• 3 pages from Introduction to Conclusion
• Must contain a counterargument
• Must contain a refutation
• Sources must be cited in MLA
• Essay shows conscientious editing and proofreading
• Student’s original analysis and wor
Step 1: The Rhetorical Situation
Fill out the questions below to help you consider the most important aspects of your essay. What is the topic of this essay? What kind of essay is this? What does this essay need to include?
Who is the intended audience or discourse community of your essay?
Gender:
Age range:
Level of education:
What do they think makes a convincing argument?:
What do they need to know from your argument?
What kind of argument do they expect from you? (ethos, pathos, or logos centered)
What kind of details do they expect of this caliber of writing?
What will not impress them or what will turn them off of your argument?
What is the essay’s purpose?
What is the function of presenting an argument?
What makes effective argument based on your studies so far?
Write out your strategy for writing your argument or what is your usual writing process. Refer to this strategy if you
lose your focus, have doubts, or get stuck during the writing process.
Review the rules for Standard Academic Convention that is printed in the syllabus. Remember that it is easier and a
lot less ‘glitchy’ to set up the Word document perimeters before adding text. Review the student example MLA essay.
Format accordingly.
Initial the box to the right when you have completed Step 1.
Step 2: Discovering/ Prewriting There are many different kinds of prewriting techniques and exercises to choose from to begin getting your ideas down. Whatever you choose it should fit with the way you think and the kind of essay you are writing. Here is a chart to help you pull your ideas out if you are having trouble starting.
What I know What I believe or think What Zimbardo thinks What the short stories led me to think
What is true or factual Kind of proof I need to prove any of this true
Step 3: Organizing with an Essay Map Carefully study the essay map below. Use this set up for Essay 1.
How to Create and Use and Essay Map Essay maps are a great way to plan for essays that are 4 or more pages long since they allow you to see the full span of the essay and give you an opportunity to make good decisions about what information needs to go in what areas.
Pro Tips:
• Even better, you control the image, so you can put as much detailed notes on to your map as you want.
• It can also help you to avoid ‘overwriting’ or writing more than you need to, which shows lack of control and an inability to be concise.
• For a person who often underwrites, a map can help guide your writing so that you have not left anything out that really needs to be there.
You create your map by drawing it into your class notes or by making text boxes in MSWord. Here is an example of the latter. The large rectangles represent pages in an essay, and the smaller rectangles represent paragraphs on a page. This map uses the standard college formula that paragraphs are at least 6-8 sentences long, using Times New Roman font set at 12 points with the text double spaced and left-aligned with the first line of each paragraph indented ½ an inch, and bordered by 1 inch margins on all sides.
*This essay map is for an Argumentation Essay that is 3 pages long and included a counterargument and a refutation or concession paragraph.
Ibis 3
1
Student Name Course Section Instructor
Assignment Attempting
Due Date
Student’s Title
2 3
Introduction: A. B. C. D. Thesis Statement
Body Paragraph 1: First Point A. Topic Sentence B. Support C. Sentences of Analysis D. Transitional Sentence
Body Paragraph 2: Second Point A. Topic Sentence B. Support C. Sentences of Analysis D. Transitional Sentence
Body Paragraph 3: Counterargument A. Topic Sentence B. Support 1. Support 1 a. Explanation sentence b. Expert evidence 2. Support 2 a. Example/ statistic sentence b. Explanation sentence C. Sentences of analysis/ Overall analysis D. Transitional Sentence/ or Concluding sentence
Body Paragraph 4: Refutation/Concession A. Opening Sentence B. Support 1. Support 1 a. Explanation sentence b. Expert evidence 2. Support 2 a. Example/ statistic sentence b. Explanation sentence C. Sentences of analysis/ Overall analysis D. Transitional Sentence/ or Concluding sentence
Conclusion: A. Restatement of thesis or summary B. Advice, warning, caution, or value C. Present day status or prediction
Step 3: Organizing with an Informal Outline
How would an informal outline for this essay look using the prewriting you have generated. Use this page to
create an informal outline (you can find information on informal outlining and example outlines in the Bedford
book and in The Holy Grail Study Guide).
First Point
Second Point
Counterargument
Refutation
Phase 3: Organizing with a Formal Outline
How would a formal outline for this essay look using the informal outline you have generated and what your
essay map requires. Use this page to create a formal outline (you can find information on formal outlining and
example outlines in the Bedford book and in The Holy Grail Study Guide).
I. Introduction
Thesis statement:
II. Body
A. Your argument:
1. Your first point
2. Your second point
B. Your counterargument
C. Your refutation
III. Conclusion
Concluding statement:
Step 4: Drafting without Training Wheels & Creating the Works Cited Page and In-text Citations Use the graph below to write out the references page resources provided to you in class and any two resources you have found. Use
the MLA chapter in the textbook to determine the kind of resource by category you are attempting to cite, pay attention to how the
example is laid out, and then, mirror what you see using the information for the sources you have. After identifying the major parts of
the citation, be sure to look closely and fix any errors with punctuation, capitalization, italics if needed. Use the smaller column on the
right to write out the resulting in-text citation for each entry. I’ve included an example below with the page number I referred to in
Bedfords.
My Resources
Category/ Kind of Source
Works Cited page entry
In-text Citation
Short story
from an
edited book
Example
#35 on
page 638
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, edited by X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia, and Dan Stone, Pearson, 2020, p.265-272
Example #16 on page 606
(Jackson 265)
Step 5: Revising Checklist (for You Use All by Yourself Because You Are a Brilliant and Exceptional Grownup) YOU’VE GOT THIS!!!
Instructions: Use your pencil to make corrections. Remember, this paper is a work in progress. You are not done writing! Look for ways to improve what you’ve already written. Check off each step AFTER it has been completed.
_____ 1. Read the paper out loud.
Does it make sense? _____ Have words been left out? _____
_____ 2.Highlight the sentence or parts that state your main idea at the beginning of your paper.
_____ 3. Reread your introduction (lead) or selected section. Does it draw the reader in, making him/her want to keep reading? YES MAYBE NO
_____ 4. Draw a line through information that doesn’t support your main idea (anything off topic) (topic sentence or thesis). _____ 5. Add information if you feel additional points need to be made or if your details are too general or not thorough. _____ 6. Details should be in a logical order that makes sense. Use your formal outline to keep yourself on track. _____ 7. Paper should end well --- not stop suddenly or drag on too long. Does your conclusion leave the reader satisfied? _____ 8. Replace overused words with words that are more descriptive and accurate (like, so, then, etc.). _____ 9. Find any word repeated more than once.
Draw an X through each occurrence. Replace the repeated words with a synonym or dump it if possible. Too many I’s, then’s, and’s, etc. can kill your writing.
____ 10. Draw an X through is, are, was, were. Try to replace most of these with more descriptive verbs.
____ 11. Underline the words/phrases that are descriptive and create a vivid, clear image. If you can’t find many, add descriptive words (adjectives).
____ 12. Highlight all transitions. Make sure they tie ideas together and are used correctly. ____ 13. NTSSBWTSWIEP: Draw a box around the first word of every sentence. No two
sentences should begin with the same word in each paragraph when possible since this creates redundancy. NTPBWTSW: No two paragraphs should begin with the same word.
____ 14. Make sure you have a variety of sentence patterns. Sentence patterns include: basic, compound, complex, and compound-complex. You can review the “Basic Sentence Structure” handout and the “Bike How Sentences Work” Indie Lecture for more about this.
Combine some sentences with a comma and conjunction (and, but, or).
____ 15. Read the paper out loud one more time. Are you satisfied with what you’ve written? YES MAYBE NO Does the paper show originality and individuality or could this have been written by anybody?
YES MAYBE NO
Step 6 & 7: Editing and Proofreading Checklist:
____ completed packet ____ professor’s or tutor’s comments (if student was tutored) ____ printed report from Smarthinking Tutor (if student was tutored) ____ Essay packet checklists ____ final draft of Essay 1
Did I remember to:
____ add the page number and title of my essay to the header
____ add my heading to the left hand side of my first page
____ center my title under my heading. The title needs to be centered with the first
letter of the first and last word capitalized. Capitalize the first letter of all the major
words in the title. Do not capitalize articles and prepositions inside the title. Do not
punctuation the title.
____ use Times New Roman throughout the whole essay
____ use 12 point font throughout the whole essay
____ not use italics or bold
____ use 1 inch margins throughout the whole essay
____ indent the first line of each new paragraph using the TAB key once
____ check to make sure that each of the paragraphs are at least 6 sentences long
____ use the following list to make sure I have thoroughly edited my work (use Grammarly.com for more help) To help you with all of these things, you may want to read your writing out loud to yourself or to a classmate, touching each word with the tip of pencil. The two of you can help each other fix common errors that are often missed.
__ Spelling (use Word’s Spellcheck!), including common homophones (their, they’re, there; your, you’re; its, it’s; etc.) __ Capitalization (beginning of sentences, proper nouns) __ Compound sentences need a comma __ Tries new structures: hyphens, semicolons, colons, parentheses, or dashes __ Correct usage of adjectives and adverbs __ Correct usage of conjunctions (and, or, but, because, so) __ Transitions are effective, clear, and flowing __ Subject and verb agree in every sentence __ No run-ons (sentences that are too long) __ Paragraph indentation __ Correct verb tense __ Uses a variety of sentence types (interrogative, imperative, declarative, exclamatory) __ Sentences are punctuated correctly __ No sentence fragments! Every sentence needs a SUBJECT and a VERB
How this Essay will be graded

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