Reading And Response Due: Men Explain Things To Me

Please read and print Rebecca Solnit's essay "Men Explain Things to Me (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.." Note that in this particular version of the essay, Solnit has included a brief introduction, written in 2012. The original essay, which begins before the introduction, was published in 2008. We'll be focusing our attention on the original essay, but you're welcome to read the introduction as well, for context.

Writing due:

In this essay, Solnit uses her personal experience as evidence to introduce and support her argument. While Solnit is a well-known journalist with a well-situated ethos that will resonate with some readers, the personal experience she shares also establishes her ethos for readers who are new to her work. 

In class on Thursday, we talked about "doubters" -- skeptical audiences who will only believe you if you give them strong reasons and evidence. Now, imagine the opposite of "doubters": "believers," audiences who are already strongly inclined to believe you, and are reading your work for enrichment and/or inspiration. 

Find a sentence in Solnit's essay where she makes a claim that would appeal to "doubters," and find a sentence where Solnit makes a claim that would appeal to "believers."

Paste the two sentences, in quotation marks, into your response document. Label them "For Doubters" and "For Believers," so that I can tell what's what. Add a sentence of your own for each quotation, explaining (paraphrasing) what Solnit is saying and why you think it appeals to the group you've specified.

Finally, do you have any other questions about Solnit's essay that you'd like to discuss in class? If you do, add your questions to your response.

This is the link for the reading: https://www(dot)guernicamag(dot)com/rebecca-solnit-men-explain-things-to-me/