The Mansion: A Subprime Parable by Michael Lewis

"The Mansion: A Subprime Parable" tells about the events that occur when the author rents a  mansion on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans with his family. The author, from the upper-middle class, experiences the problems of living in a house he can't quite afford. He reflects that Americans lust for expensive homes that they don't have the money for, and that he is no different. In the end, the author and his family move back to where they came from. Michael Lewis, the author of this essay, attended Princeton University before getting his MA in the London School of Economics. Mr Lewis became a financial journalist and is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. He also writes for The New York Times. "The Mansion: A Subprime Parable" is rooted in the idea of the American class system. Ideally, there is a lower class, an upper class, and a large middle class. The author readily admits that he is from the upper middle class, and this essay is about what happens when a upper middle class family tries to transition into the upper class lifestyle.

A parable is a story meant to instruct. The author's purpose is to share with the lesson he learned from renting the mansion. He realized that pretending to be something he is not, attempting to live the life of the upper class, is ultimately doomed for failure. In the end, Lewis writes, “And so we fled, back to where we’d come from: the upper middle class.” (Lewis 86). The essay was published in Conde Nast Portfolio, which was known to target middle to upper class adults. Lewis delivers his purpose well, mostly through the use of the anecdote, which tells his story with clarity and dry humor. There is also symbolism: the mansion itself symbolizes the elusive upper class. He uses a great deal of imagery, describing the feeling of not belonging by saying, “-we all sit in the formal dining room, under the gilded ceiling and the crystal chandelier, eating packaged tortellini off paper plates.” (Lewis 81). Through these devices, Lewis emphasizes that his experience serves as a consequence for us to not thirst for what we cannot afford.

American Class Structure

"It is not the man who has too little, but the man that craves more, who is poor." -Seneca

Source:Dennis Gilbert, The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality (6th ed., 2003), p.270

The Writer in Winter by John Updike

"The Writer in Winter" is a reflection about the book-writing process by an older writer, the author of the essay. The author confesses that he is afraid that his best works are behind him, although he notes that although writing is a profession that treats the aging more gently. Still, the author feels satisfied that his books will outlast him and hopes that he still has one more masterpiece left in him. John Updike, the author and narrator, graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English. Updike became a staff writer for The New Yorker before resigning to write Rabbit, Run and The Centaur, the latter which won the National Book Award. Two of the three sequels to Rabbit, Run (Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest) won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Updike passed away in 2009, at the age of 79. In this essay, Updike describes his own experience with age. Old age is generally a time we associate with retirement, and yet the profession of writing is more gentle on older writers. But being an older writer himself, Updike cannot help but wonder if he has lost his touch. Updike wrote this essay as a reflection of his own writing career. He admits that he fears his writing now has, " lost...it's carefree bounce, its snap, its exuberant air of slight excess. The author, in his boyish innocence, is calling, like the sorcerer's apprentice, upon unseen powers-the prodigious potential of this flexible language's vast vocabulary" (Updike174). Updike is admits his own insecurity. But behind this candid confession is the pride he has of what he has accomplished. Since the target audience of AARP Magazine (American Association of Retired Persons) is people in their fifties and older, this essay was probably intended for such an age range. The essay is personal and thoughtful, serving as a well-written reflective piece. Updike first remembers the past, muses about the present, and then thinks about the future. He uses anecdotes to reminisce about the past to further serve in his reflection. The idea of winter and his descriptions of different typewriters both serve as symbols that note the passage of time, effectively helping transition the essay along.

   

The Winter Years

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." -William Blake

Source: http://www.electricityforum.com/poetry/portrait-of-laurence-steven.html

The Mechanics of Being by Jerald Walker

"The Mechanics of Being" discusses the writer’s father and his relationship with the writer. The essay begins with the author's decision to write about his father, who became blind. The author details his father's life. In the end, he realizes that he has been writing about his father all wrong, because he focused on his father's blindness rather than his father himself. The essay ends with his father's funeral where the author tells a funny anecdote about his dad, deciding that if he is to ever write about his father, it will start with that story. "The Mechanics of Being" addresses poverty and broken families. It also describes the process of writing a biography, the gathering of facts, while along the way discovering the beauty and complexity of life. The author's purpose in writing this essay is not to describe his father's blindness. Writes the author, "Chapter after chapter I focused on the mechanics of blindness when I should have focused on the mechanics of being" (Walker 187). The author shares his true purpose, which is his belief that people should not be defined by one thing. This message is universal and is intended of all adults and teens. The author achieves his purpose through in mes res. The story begins with the narrator struggling to write a book about his father, then goes into a series of flashbacks about his father's life, and returns to the present. Because of this, the reader is gradually given information from each flashback and realizes the diversity of the father’s experiences.  It also uses a particularly important anecdote at the end, describing a time when the author was angry at his father, but his father laughed because it was a joke, and the author could not help but laugh along. This anecdote embodies the idea that blindness should not define the story of the writer’s father. The narrator and author, Jerald Walker, received a MFA in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies. He has written for the Literary Review, Oxford American, and many other sources. He is the founder of the literary journal, The Bridge, which has won over sixty national awards. Mr. Walker teaches English at Bridgewater State University.

 

 

 

Life is...

 "Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."-Khalil Griban

Source: http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/melanie/4-ways-to-find-happiness-inspiration-from-within.htm

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Our Vanishing Night by Verlyn Klinkenborg

"Our Vanishing Night" is about the deleterious effects of light pollution on the Earth. The essay provides examples of how animals are impacted by artificial light and the history of this issue. It ends by pointing out that darkness is essential to the biological welfare of animals and people alike. Today, the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) has been trying to inform the world about this issue. The twenty-first century, with the mass growth of metropolitan areas, it is likely that light pollution will become an even greater dilemma, so this essay speaks of an important issue. Since many people in the world are perhaps still not fully aware about this problem, this essay is most likely intended to inform the reader about light pollution and its effects. Such effects include how nightingales may start breeding at an earlier point, which disrupts their migration schedule. Klinkenborg writes, "Of all the pollutions we face, light pollution is perhaps the most easily remedied." (Klinkenborg 65). The greater intention is that readers, with this new knowledge, will do something. The author, Verlyn Klinkenborg, has a Ph.D. at Princeton University.  Mr.Klinkenborg won Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award and has written for many magazines, including The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine. He currently teaches literature at Yale University. Mr.Klinkenborg’s essay was probably intended for environmentally conscious or curious teens and adults, as the language is easy to understand. The main rhetorical device that the writer of this essay uses is imagery. Writes Klinkenborg, "And yet above the city's pale ceiling lies the rest of the universe, utterly undiminished by the light we waste-a bright shoal of starts and planets and galaxies, shining in seemingly infinite darkness" (Klinkenborg 64). The author also appeals greatly to pathos, describing helpless birds and newborn sea turtles dying because of light pollution. Ultimately, Klinkenborg does inform the reader about the harms of light pollution, which was his purpose. But he should have taken this a step further and listed specific ways the reader can help. Klinkenborg does not list specific solutions besides really general ones like “changing light design”.

Man V.S Nature

“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.”-Leo Tolstoy

Source: http://btlau.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/alone-in-the-dark/

First by Ryan Van Meter

"First" describes an experience the author had with his childhood crush, Ben, when they were young.  Both of them are boys. While on a car ride with Ben one night, the author asks Ben to marry him. His mom overhears their conversation, and tells the author that boys don't marry boys. This comes as a blow to the author, and he forces himself to hide his feelings. This essay was intended to share a childhood experience with the reader; in particular, a childhood experience that really changed the author. The car ride was the first time he was told that he shouldn’t feel a certain way. The essay speaks of an important moment in the author's life. This piece was probably written for all teens and adults, as the language was easy to comprehend. The most important rhetorical device used in this essay is ambiguity. For nearly half the essay, the reader thinks is story is just about a normal childhood crush. The essay also employs imagery. When describing the moment the author and Ben are holding hands in the car, Meter says, "I want to see our hands on the rough floor, but they are visible only every block or so when the car passes beneath a streetlight, and then for only a flash" ( Meter 178-179). This strong imagery makes the situation vivid, as if the reader was in the car as well.The author does accomplish his purpose of sharing a defining experience. His story of his first crush is told with breath-taking detail and unspoken emotion. His choice to reveal his gender later in the essay makes the reader question their initial perceptions. Homosexuality has long been a source of controversy. Recently, it was in the Supreme Court. Even as we move towards an age of greater acceptance, there are still many people who oppose it. Today, Ryan Van Meter is openly gay. He received an M.A in creative writing and has written works for many sources. He was awarded residencies by the MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and is currently an assistant professor in English at the UCSF.

 

What We Left Behind

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, then loved for who I am not."-Kurt Cobain

Source: http://www.foreverparenting.com/1434/built-in-friends/