English 112

Fall 2011
Assignment 3: In-Class Essay
Choose ONE of the three numbered passages below and write a well-reasoned, wellorganized essay that answers the following question: How does this passage remain
resonant, or meaningful, in the 21st century? (Or, if you like, you may argue that the
passage youve chosen is no longer relevant.)
To support your claim, use the text itself (you may draw on its rhetorical and contextual
elements), but also feel free to use examples from current events, media, or material from
other classes.
Skip lines in your examination booklet. You may wish to make an outline before you
write. Essays will be graded on how clearly and creatively they respond to the prompt.
You have 50 minutes.
1. I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own
freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the
conventionalized figure of a sahib. For it is the condition of his rule that he shall
spend his life in trying to impress the "natives," and so in every crisis he has got
to do what the "natives" expect of him. He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit
it. I had got to shoot the elephant.
- George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant
2. If in that snowy backyard the driver of the black Buick had cut off our heads,
Mikeys and mine, I would have died happy, for nothing has required so much of
me since as being chased all over Pittsburgh in the middle of winterrunning
terrified, exhaustedby this sainted, skinny, furious red-headed man who wished
to have a word with us.
- Annie Dillard, The Chase
3. Once the first novelty is worn off, the members of this circle will be no more
interesting than your old friends. Why should they be? You were not looking for
virtue or kindness or loyalty or humour or learning or wit or any of the things that
can really be enjoyed. You merely wanted to be in. And that is a pleasure that
cannot last. As soon as your new associates have been staled to you by custom,
you will be looking for another Ring. The rainbows end will still be ahead of
you. The old ring will now be only the drab background for your endeavor to
enter the new one.
- C.S. Lewis, The Inner Ring