Response Essay: Paper 1
Believe it or not, looking at monsters first starts with looking at empathy.
Write a 3-5 page paper in MLA formatting discussing Elaine Scarry’s work on empathy. Make sure to look at the tips for how to write a response paper before you start.
Writing a Response or Reaction Paper.pdf
There exists a circular relation between the infliction of pain and the problem of
otherness. The difficulty of imagining others is both the cause of, and the problem
displayed by, the act of injuring. The action of injuring occurs precisely because we
have trouble believing in the reality of other persons. At the same time, the injury
itself makes visible the fact that we cannot see the reality of other persons. It
displays our perceptual disability. For if other persons stood clearly visible to us,
the infliction of that injury would be impossible.
— Elaine Scarry
Elaine Scarry suggests, in her essay “The Difficulty of Imagining Other People,” that the reason “otherness” and cruelty exist is because we can’t experience other people’s pain. But what if we could somehow?
In exploring the limits of our imagination and the social contract, Scarry examines two
potential solutions: “generous imaginings” and “constitutional design”. Generous imaginings are those behaviors we extend to others based on our experience and our own personal will. Constitutional design means passing laws or reforms in law to find equality/relief from oppression and cruelty.
Since people have varying relationships with empathy, it plays various roles in the generosity we extend others.
Purpose of paper:
The first half of the paper:
We engage in social contracts all the time–some formal and explicit, others less tangible, even unintentional. Consider one of these systemic social problems that needs a solution: ageism, racism, misogyny, poverty, LGBT bigotry. Explore the limits of your imagination and revise this social problem by changing the social contract. You discuss this social problem that you’ve observed and determine what social
contract is being breached, neglected or broken to create it. You’ll then consider how best
to modify that social contract, taking everyone’s needs into account using Scarry’s examines two potential solutions: “generous imaginings” and “constitutional design.”
The second half of the paper:
A rhetorical analysis of Scarry’s work! What is her thesis, her research? Does she use ethos, pathos, and logos? What about counterarguments and rebuttals? What is her conclusion?
How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis
You will answer this question in a thesis-driven essay of 4-5 pages. Consider this question:
What role can empathy play in meaningfully imagining others?
The Difficulty in Imagining Other People
United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Other Important Questions:
Where/how is cruelty defined in the texts?
Do these texts successfully engage your empathy? How do they navigate the
barriers to imagining others that Scarry identifies?
What rhetorical tools does the authors]ñ use? What impact do they have on your
response to the authors’ arguments?
How might you use or have used generous imaginings or constitutional design to
alter the way you relate to others in the past? How might you use these tools in the
future?
*Thank you to Professor Maddux Pennington for this assignment
