You’re embarking on an essay project that explores the concept of empathy, inspired by Azar Nafisi’s insights in “I Believe in Empathy.” Nafisi suggests that empathy—the ability to understand and share the feelings of others—is what transforms strangers into a compassionate community. Your assignment involves deepening this exploration by including two additional articles that either support or challenge Nafisi’s view, especially in the context of how communities support individuals during hard times.
Nafisi believes that “people’s ability to empathize with the plight of others is the catalyst that converts complete strangers into a community of caring citizens”(99).
Use Nafisi’s text to explain what is meant by empathy.
Then choose (at least) two OUTSIDE articles to prove her belief and directly connect them to the assumption that communities serve our needs
If you feel passionate or want to understand more about the war in Israel, this is an opportunity to dive deeply into how these communities are being impacted and where the empathy article is supported and/or challenged
This essay uses Nafisi’s article as the anchor text and then you are finding two outside articles to support her premise.
A basic outline of the essay:
INTRODUCTION
Hook (an opening that grabs the reader’s attention)
Brief introduction of the topic: Introduce Nafisi’s main idea
Thesis: what your essay will prove. Your essay is going to prove that assumption 2 (communities serve our needs) is supported (or refuted) because we have empathy (or we don’t).
BODY PARAGRAPHS
Topic sentence: what is this paragraph going to prove? This sentence should include ONE of the articles+ assumption
Introduce the context: what is the main idea of the article. What information do I need to understand what is going on in the quote.
Evidence: include a quote from the article. Choose your quote wisely! Your quote needs to be proof that the author supports the assumptions and shows empathy.
Discuss: don’t end your paragraph with a quote! You need to unpack it and connect back to the claim. This will be the most robust part of the essay. This is where you bring it all together. How does the article prove Nafisi’s beliefs about empathy and in what ways does it support the assumption about community?
You must include at least two outside sources or examples of empathy
optional: find an article that includes an example of a time that the community did not show empathy and did not serve our needs. You can use this as a way to counter Nafisi’s claim to show the complexities associated with the assumption. (example : Alex Jones convinced a entire community that Sandy Hook shootings were staged. In this case, rather than showing empathy to the victims, they were harassed).
CONCLUSION
restate the thesis (do NOT rewrite your essay here… I just read it! simply restate the thesis)
Include a “so what”? What can I take away from your essay? Why is it relevant to me? In other words, what are the overall implications?
