The Road Wiki Project

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The Road Wiki Project revealed two primary areas of concern: (1.) Group Projects, Responsibilities, and Expectations; and (2.) Writing Effective Paragraphs in Response to Analytical Questions.

First, a group project is a group project: There is ONE grade. Groups should divide responsibilities; however, all are responsible for the final outcome. Therefore, after each person has contributed his or her assigned part, all group members should review the material, adding, deleting, and editing as appropriate. What I consistently saw was each person doing his or her own part and nothing more. Often, page histories showed hurried, last minute additions. Many were never proofread and were written so hurriedly as to being completely unacceptable. The last day before the assignment was due should have been an editing day--not a writing day.

I saw group projects that failed to capitalize the author's name, failed to capitlize the word "I," and failed to recognize words like "just" were misspelled. Consider the five sets of eyes were expected to review the entire page and approve of all content and writing.

Since this is the first such assignment, I did not give any group grades below 70; however, with the next similar assignment, expectations will be raised. Group project writing should be polished and thoroughly edited. It is not the work of individuals: It is the work of a collective.

An even larger issue to address is the academic paragraph. Answers to questions nearly always presented appropriate ideas, but these ideas were not well defended. Few groups consistently used direct textual evidence. Without supporting evidence, opinions have no value. Here is an outline of the academic paragraph, which is the foundation of all analytical writing:

The Academic Paragraph

Claim/Opinion: Clearly present the idea or point that you wish to argue. In a rhetorical analysis, identify something that the writer does in order to change the mind or attitude of his audience. For general arguments, advance a specific premise.

Specific Supporting Evidence: Offer direct evidence from the text or other source material. Whenever possible, use direct quotes, although paraphrasing is acceptable. Remember: There is no reason to believe any claims or opinions unless the writer can back it up with evidence. 

Commentary/Explanation: Answer whichever of the following questions are appropriate: HOW or WHY does the evidence lead to your opinion? WHY did the author say this or make this choice? HOW does the choice affect the intended audience? WHAT does the evidence show or reveal? The more time spent explaining HOW or WHY, the better the paragraph.

Now, consider the following random examples taken from various Wiki pages. (Note: There is not a single project that I could not draw an example from. No one is spared. This is something that ALL must work on to be successful writers.)

 “The fire symbolizes that there are still good people and that there is hope. If they carry the fire they will always be the good people, even if the fire is still just in their hearts. The man tells the boy thats the way to determine the difference between the few people left. It gave the boy something to hope for, to hope he can find more people with fire in their hearts.”

Note that no specific evidence is used. Always support your ideas with direct references to the text. Quote relevant material and explain HOW or WHY the evidence leads to your conclusions.

Here is a response from the symbolism section:

Cannibalism

When talking of Cannibalism, the first thoughts that pop in to my head is, eternal evil, corruption of the soul to the bitter end.  In some cultures I am sure that cannibalism is based upon a necessity in life, needed to sustain it. When talking about the pot-apololyptic word of The Road, you begin wonder of the motives of these cannibals and how far they are willing to go just to live, this life. some People must think " I would never do that, I would rather die than eat another human being." Even though they think that now, they never know what it is going to be like when they are trying to survive.

Note that there really is no answer. Explain HOW Cormac McCarthy uses cannibalism. What does it show or represent? In class, we touched on the dissolution of human values and morals. The cannibals are literally eating the future of humanity. Explain HOW they are not merely cannibals but also represent something further. Perhaps man’s regression into primitive animals. Regardless. talk more about the author’s intent or reasoning in using cannibalism.

Note this response to the first question:

Throughout The Road, the author demonstrates the theme of death and perseverance.  Each day the boy and the man walk along the road never knowing what is going to happen to them, however, they never give up. In their situation, it would be very easy to just give up and die since after all, the life their living now is not exactly pleasureable, but they do not give up, they always continue. Another occurring theme throughout the book, is the theme of death. The characters run into many dead people along the road, come across people who attempt to kill them, and even at one point, the man kills a different man. They are constantly running into death and dispair, but like before, they do not let this put them down until the man dies a natural death from his cough. These themes are seen continuously in the book.

The response gives no specific examples from the book to support the given claims. Specific illustrative examples are always needed to support or prove opinions. Also, note that SpellCheck was not used. There should be no obvious errors when five different sets of eyes (not to mention technology) are editing a document.

Note this response under symbolism” “T here is also the fire which comes up in this story a lot. Fire can sometimes be used to symbolize death and destruction. However, I believe fire represents a sort of hope in this novel. The father repeatedly tells his son that they are "carrying the fire," I believe that this means they are always doing the right thing. That "carrying the fire" means that they have hope, that everything will work out in the end.”

Be sure to fully elaborate. HOW or WHY are you led to believe that the “carrying the fire” means they are always doing the right thing? What did the writer do to put that belief in your mind? Refer to specific events in the book that suggest this meaning. In other words, prove your point.

Most responses are unelaborated, such as the following: “The use of page breaks instead of the traditional chapters is helpful to sort ideas, yet the story doesn't lose its fluidity from one instance to another. The way the story line flows enhanced the novel by keeping the reader interested, and believe me, I had trouble putting this book down despite the fact it was summer.” HOW does the author’s choices make it more interesting? WHY omit traditional chapters? Note that there is essentially no commentary, only statement of fact. Explain why the writer may have made the choices that he did.

Consider this response:

“The Road compiles itself with many themes like the extinction and reemergence of life, the struggle for survival and many more but the most primary theme was man to man relationship.In this novel father and son had to make may decision together like when they had to stop and where they should stop.Every small and little things they had to decide with each other.In this novel the father tires to prepare for a journey which the son has to cross without him.At the end of the novel we see a light of hope for the child because he got a family to live with and a heart breaking incident because his father died and with this cormac McCarthy tries to show us man to man relationship.”

Note that no specific examples are used to support the writer’s claim. All opinions and claims must be supported with direct evidence from the text.

From Question 4: “Cormac McCarthy's writing style lacked punctuation, quotation marks and apostrophes. He started a new paragraph in order to make it clear that a character was speaking.” Note that the writer identifies a stylistic trait but never explains WHY the writer made such choices. In analyzing the style, explain the writer’s intent and assess the impact/worth.

Consider this response: “The shopping cart seems to be used throughout the entire novel as the man and boy travel along the desolate road. This object represents their only way to remain a part of civilization, and the life they once knew. Though a shopping cart seems like a common object in life, because of these catastrophic circumstances, this item becomes the characters' main connection to the past aspects of society.”

Why choose a shopping cart? Consider all the other common objects that the writer could have chosen. Why this one in particular? Dig deeper in your speculation.

Be sure to always defend your opinions with specific evidence from the text. For example: “On the other hand, somc could argue that the less apparent theme  throughout the book was love.  The man sacrificed all that he could and did whatever he could to make sure his son was safe.  Even when the boy's mother left, the man stayed because he was all the boy had.  He risked his health and safety many times in order to supply for them, walking through unsafe houses where there may have been people and he even killed a man who jeporadized the boy's safety.  This amount of commitment is seemingly unreal, because even when the man started to get sick and weak, he still moved on and made it seem like he was okay to the boy.”

Note that vague references are made to the story, but no specific moments are presented. Present the scene in detail to more clearly illustrate your ideas.

Note this response:

 “The author's  main theme in the novel is the idea that morality should not be affected by circumstances.  That is, even after the world ends, it is still just as important to act ethically as it always was.  This is illustrated by the father's actions and what he teaches his son.  He refuses to lower himself to the level of the other people in the world who murder and cannibalize others to help themselves survive.  He passes these morals on to his son, so that they will survive in the new world.  This is the most important issue to the father and it is the most important theme in the novel.”

Consider that your group makes a claim but offers no specific examples to illustrate or prove the given points. Cite direct evidence from the story. Remember the Academic Paragraph: Claim/Opinion, Evidence, Explanation/Commentary (or, how does the evidence lead to your point).

Consider this: “The theme, as stated by Ahad, is very noticeable through the struggle between man and nature. Isolation makes survival necessary, especially for the father, whose only priority is his son and his well-being rather than his own. This leads into a new theme of trust and the journey they have together. The Road is a book that teaches the lesson of struggle and fight for what you need.”

This response only identifies theme. No supporting evidence is presented. Furthermore, the writers don’t offer WHY this theme has significance. (In other words, why did Cormac McCarthy emphasize this theme?)

Consider this response: “The writer's style in this book both enhances and detracts from it in different places. Sometimes the writer puts too much detail into things that were not as relevent to the story as other situations were. However there were moments when he used too little detail and left the reader confused and wondering what had juast taken place. The style of the writer helps enhances the book in several ways because of some of the detail given and never said it creates a more omious world that the characters who are never named are placed in. Although you do not ever get the full back story of the characters and they are living in a post-apocalyptic world  you are still able to connect with the boy and man, able to feel what they are feeling and imagine what they are seeing. The writer's style wavered in the ways that is enhanced and detracted from the story but he was able to portray a post-apocalyptic world that most readers were able to connect with and imagine.”

First, note three obvious misspellings that I would expect five editors to recognize—or at least catch via Spell Check software. Next, consider that no specific examples are used to illustrate any claims. In analytical questions, writers offer an opinion, present supporting evidence, and then follow with explanation. Don’t forget the basics!

Consider this response: “The road represents civilization. Not everybody is corrupted and although buildings have been destroyed and cities have been abandoned, the road shows that there still is a little bit of civilization left in the world. The road also symbolizes their journey.”

In the academic paragraph, writers present an opinion, offer direct evidence, and follow with explanation. Note how no evidence is offered and little explanation is presented.

Consider this response: “The simplicity of the dialogue made it difficult for the reader to stay interested in the book. While the dialogue was simplistic, the narration in the book was sometimes difficult to grasp and forced the reader to re-read several of the passages. To the average reader this writing style made the book difficult to keep an interest in. Another way that the writing detracted from the story was the author's choice to not fully develop the characters by not naming them or showing much personality. This made it hard for the reader to connect with the characters and empathize with the situation that they were put in.”

In assessing the author’s style, first explain what the author does and then WHY he does it. Then follow with your own assessment of its value. Also, to improve your response, work in specific illustrative examples. SHOW the simplicity, etc. The Academic Paragraph consists of claims/opinions, direct supporting evidence, and explanation. Most of the responses in this project are not well developed.   

Consider: “The primary theme of The Road is the strong bonds of the father/son relationship. The love between a father and his child is an altruistic, adoring love that little else can compare to. A good father will be willing to sacrifice himself for his child, to push himself to his physical, emotional, and mental limits in order to make sure his son is cared for. That's exactly what the man in The Road did for his son. He loved his son completely and selflessly. This is the theme that propel the story further; without this paternal love the man and the boy wouldn't have gone on together. Although the man wanted to give up several times throughout the story, he never did. He kept striving because he loved his son, and that's what the story boils down to.”

The theme is appropriate but not well defended. Use specific, illustrative examples from the text to support your claims. Discuss particular scenes. Work in direct quotes. Claims without supportive evidence are not convincing.

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