Decker's Patterns of Exposition

by Decker, Randall E.; Schwegler, Robert A.

• ISBN13: 9780321012180
• ISBN10: 0321012186
• Edition: 15th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-08-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div

Summary

Decker's Patterns of Exposition is a modern classic an accessible collection of quality essays which aptly illustrate the rhetorical modes and reflect the diversity of our culture, and the changes and challenges of our times. Practical, concise writing apparatus includes chapter openers that introduce each rhetorical mode. An emphasis on critical reading and writing is demonstrated through the "Ways of Writing" section and an all new section, "Becoming a Critical Reader." Within chapters, some essays have been grouped into thematic clusters on provocative topics to show how writers use multiple patterns to address the same theme.

Table of Contents

Thematic Contents	xv	(4)
Essay Pairs	xix	(4)
To the Instructor	xxiii	(4)
Acknowledgments	xxvii
1 Ways of Writing	1	(42)
2 Becoming a Critical Reader	43	(24)
Brent Staples
Just Walk on By	59	(8)
3 Illustrating Ideas by Use of Example Sample Paragraph: Lowell Ponte, "What's Wrong with our Weather"	67	(36)
Andy Rooney
In and of Ourselves We Trust This columnist decides that stopping for red lights is part of a contract Americans have with each other--and we trust each other to honor the contract.	71	(4)
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Why Don't We Complain The dean of conservative writers believes that we've become so numb to mistakes and injustices that we no longer have the spunk to complain about anything and that this apathy could have grave consequences.	75	(8)
Barbara Ehrenreich
What I've Learned from Men Acting like a man means speaking up for your rights, says this feminist, and it is a way of behaving that women can learn from men. As an example, she tells of a time when she acted in a manner that was too ladylike.	83	(7)
Issues and Ideas: Discovering and Constructing Identities	90	(13)
Antonya Nelson
Fear of Flying When the tornado hit, it crushed the family station wagon and terrified the occupants. For some of the family members, the event is still important.	90	(4)
Mary Karr
Dysfunctional Nation Don't think everyone else's family life is calmer than the chaos in your home, warns this writer. On a book tour she met people who overcame family backgrounds even more dysfunctional than her own.	94	(4)
Alan Buczynski
Iron Bonding Do men share feelings? Of course, says this ironworker, but they do it through stories and other indirect tactics	98	(5)
4 Analyzing a Subject by Classification Sample Paragraph: "Talking'Bout Their Generation"	103	(42)
Judith Viorst
What, Me? Showing Off? Though we may be reluctant to admit it, we all show off and we do it in many different ways	108	(8)
Judith Stone
Personal Beast Looking for a Pet? Why settle for a dog or cat when you can have a pot-bellies pig, a llama, or a ferret?	116	(10)
Issues and Ideas: Images of Ourselves and Others	126	(19)
Renee Tajima
Lotus Blossoms Don't Bleed: Images of Asian American Women The Asian American women in Hollywood movies do not bear much resemblance to real people. And the roles they play are sometimes absurd and insulting	126	(10)
Brenda Peterson
Life Is a Musical Feeling down? You might want to follow this writer's lead by creating tapes of music that help shut out "the noisy yak and call of the outside world".	136	(9)
5 Explaining by means of Comparison and Contrast Sample Paragraph: Robert Jastrow, The Enchanted Loom	145	(52)
Mark Twain
Two Ways of Seeing a River What happens when you start looking at a thing of beauty in terms of its use?	150	(4)
Bruce Catton
Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts A famous historian identifies these two great Civil War generals as the embodiments of the passing and rising orders	154	(6)
Phillip Lopate
A Nonsmoker with a Smoker Many things pass through the mind of the nonsmoking member of a couple: anger, regret, concern, and even some surprising fantasies	160	(7)
Issues and Ideas: Gender and Other Differences	167	(30)
Scott Russell Sanders
The Men We Carry in Our Minds Memories of men whose lives were hard and short makes it hard for this author to understand why women might envy men	167	(6)
Marianna De Marco Torgovnick
On Being White, Female, and Born in Bensonhurst The differences within the neighborhood serve to unite; differences with other neighborhoods and neighbors often serve to divide	173	(15)
Alice Walker
Am I Blue? This well-known author entertains the possibility that we are not as different from animals as we think, and she looks at the way a horse named Blue displayed feelings we are accustomed to thinking of as particularly "human"	188	(9)
6 Using Analogy as an Expository Device Sample Paragraph: James Trefil, The Dark Side of the Universe	197	(44)
Loren C. Eiseley
The Brown Wasps In a reflective mood, this distinguished anthropologist-philosopher-author makes an analogical comparison between homeless old men in a railroad station and brown wasps waiting to die, still clinging to the old aban-doned nest.	201	(9)
Patricia Raybon
Letting in Light Washing windows may seem an insignificant task for an educated person but this journalist argues that the work helps us understand ourselves and lets light into our spirits	210	(15)
Issues and Ideas: Discovering Patterns in Behavior and Relationships	225	(16)
Tom Wolfe
O Rotten Gotham--Sliding Down into the Behavioral Sink Our leading New Journalist says that New York City drives people crazy--and you can observe the same effects of overcrowding in a jammed cage of rats	216	(9)
Barbara Kingsolver
High Tide in Tucson When a hermit crab brought home to Tucson starts obeying the tidal patterns of a far-away ocean, the author decides that it is time to reflect how far away she has moved from her original home	225	(16)
7 Explaining Through Process Analysis Sample Paragraph: Ira Flatow, "Storm Surge"	241	(52)
Joe Buhler
Ron Graham
Give Juggling a Hand! It's not as hard to become a juggler as you might think, and juggling is certainly a lot of fun	245	(5)
Ann Faraday
Unmasking Your Dream Images Many or us would like to know what our dreams mean. This author describes one way to interpret them and says that we are the people best equipped to understand our own dreams	250	(7)
Mike Rose
Writing Around Rules Speaking directly to students, this writer and teacher of writing talks about rules that can make writing difficult and then offers ways to work around them	257	(11)
Issues and Ideas: Advertising and Appearances--Shaping Realities	268	(25)
James B. Twitchell
We Build Excitement You already live in the world advertising created. Here's how it works	268	(10)
Jessica Mitford
To Dispel Fears of Live Burial A contemporary muckraker parts "the formaldehyde curtain" for a hair-raising look into an undertaker's parlor	278	(8)
Jean E. Kibourne
Beauty...And the Beast of Advertising Advertising images bombard us every day. How do we respond to them?	286	(7)
8 Analyzing Cause-and-Effect Relationships Sample Paragraph: Nelson George, The Death of Rhythm and Blues	293	(52)
Susan Perry
Jim Dawson
What's Your Best Time of Day? When is the best time to study for and exam? To relax withfriends? This intriguing essay talks about the when and the why of the cycles that govern our lives and behavior	298	(5)
Linda Hasselstrom
A Peaceful Women Explains Why She Carries a Pistol This writer and rancher explains that for a woman in a hostile world, carrying a gun may be a good way to even the odds and prevent violence	303	(7)
Cullen Murphy
Hello, Darkness Tired? No wonder. Everyone else is too. This writer explains why we are all getting less sleep	310	(7)
Issues and Ideas: Work, Success, and Failure	317	(28)
William Serverini Kowinski
Kids in the Mall: Growing Up Controlled What do the malls teach teenagers? All sorts of lessons, few of them very useful and some of them perhapa even harmful	317	(7)
Peter Hillary
Everest Is Mighty, We are Fragile If We try to prevent people from undertaking dangerous challenges like climbing mountains, we will be banishing something very important to all of us, says this mountaineer	324	(6)
Randall Rothenberg
What makes Sammy Walk? In a time when most everyone is worried about getting and keeping a job, why are some people trying to work less and itching to stop working altogether?	330	(15)
9 Using Definition to Help Explain Sample Paragraph: Linton Robinson, "Marathoning with Maps"	345	(48)
Roger Welsch
Gypsies What is there to admire in a group of people who have made thievery into a fine art? Plenty, or at least that is what this writer and anthropologist belives, and he offers some reasons	349	(8)
John Berendt
The Hoax A hoax is a lot more than a simple prank, says this well-known author. It has wit and style	357	(4)
Stephen L. Carter
The Insufficiency of Honesty What we need a lot more than honesty is integrity, says this writer and law professor	361	(9)
Issues and Ideas: Redefining Relationships and Identities	370	(23)
Michael Dorris
Father's Day Can someone other than a father be a father?	370	(5)
Kesaya Noda
Growing Up Asian in America Finding an identity as an Asian, an Asian-American, and an Aian-American woman was a difficult but essential task of self-definition for this author	375	(10)
Veronica Chambers
Mother's Day When your identity changes, does your mother's change too? What about your relationship with her?	385	(8)
10 Explaining with the Help of Description Sample Paragraph: Donald Hall, Seasons at Eagle Pond	393	(42)
Sharon Curtin
Aging in the Land of the Young All of us, says a former nurse, are so afraid of aging that we treat old people as personal insults and threats to our society	398	(5)
George Simpson
The War Room at Bellevue The author takes us through one unforgetable evening in the emergency room of a huge city hospital. But, says the head nurse, the succession of crises was "about normal...no big deals."	403	(9)
Issues and Ideas: Place and Person	412	(23)
Joyce Maynard
The Yellow Door House Visits to the house where she grew up give this writer a chance to reflect on her parents' lives, her own life, and the lives of her children	412	(6)
Luis J. Rodriguez
The Ice Cream Truck What does life in an impoverished barnio look like from the inside? This writer, a former gang member, provides a glimpse	418	(6)
E.B. White
Once More to the Lake A visit with his son to the lake where he spent summer vacations as a boy gives this famous essayist a kind of double vision that mingles memories of the past with scenes from the present	424	(11)
11 Using Narration as an Expository Technique Sample Paragraph: Edwin Mickleburgh, Beyond the Frozen Sea: Visions of Antarctica	435	(46)
Martin Gansberg
38 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police Years after the fact, the murder of Kitty Genovese is still a harrowing tale of urban apathy	439	(6)
Chang-rae Lee
Uncle Chul Gets Rich No matter how hard he tried or how successful he became, Uncle chul could never seem to earn his sister-in-law's approval	445	(8)
Issues and Ideas: Telling Stories about Ourselves and our Values	453	(28)
George Orwell
A Hanging The well-known essayist and author of 1984 writes of an experience in Burma and makes a subtle but biting commentary on both colonialism and capital punishment	453	(7)
Rita Williams
The Quality of Mercy Crime is not a black and white issue for the African-American writer who share her first-hand experience as a victim facing young and potentially violent criminals	460	(6)
Garrett Hongo
Kubota Kubota told him to remember, and the writer remembers not only Kubota but also his story, along with that of other Japanese Americans during World War II.	466	(15)
12 Reasoning by Use of Induction and Deduction Sample Paragraphs: Daniel Cohen, "Cooking Off for Fame and Fortune" Lois G. Forer, A Chilling Effect	481	(30)
Barbara Ehrenreich
Star Dreck What is really important for this country is the serious study of stars--the kind that appear on the covers of magazines, on television, and on movie screens	487	(5)
Patricia Kean
Blowing Up the Tracks Our school systems have long taken for granted that students learn best when they are segregated by ability. yet as this writer points out, those teachers and schools that have been willing to break the mosk find that mixed classr rooms are often the most successful	492	(10)
Issues and Ideas: Digital Realities	502	(9)
Maia Szalavitz
A Virtual Life When you stay at home working on the computer all day long, life on the screen can become real life.	502	(4)
Nicholas Negroponte
Place Without Space In the World of computers we can be in one place while our bodies are somewhere else	506	(5)
13 Using Patterns for Argument Sample Paragraph: "Grime and Punishment"	511	(64)
Issues and Ideas: Current and Classic Controversies	520	(55)
Christopher B. Daly
How the Lawyers Stole Winter Argument Through Comparison and Contrast When we try to make everything safe and prevent accidents, we also take away responsibility for our own safety and the opportunity to develop good judgement	520	(5)
Richard Lunn
Why Johnny Can't Read but Yoshio Can Argument through comparison and contrast How good are our schools compared to those of Japan? Not very good, says this writer, and he proposes ways to improve them, including Solutions that may raise the hackles of some readers.	525	(8)
Alanm Hirsch
Don't Blame the Jury Argument Through Example We complain about the verdicts, but often it is the judges and the lawyers, not the Juries, that are to blame.	533	(9)
Barbara Lawrence
Four-Letter Words Can Hurt You Argument Through Definition Dirty words have a history of violent meanings. This history, not narrow-minded sexual hang-ups, is what make the words harmful and Offensive	542	(5)
John Davidson
Menace to Society Argument Through Cause and Effect Can children's cartoons be a major cause of agressive and violent behavior? That's what this writer believes, and he offers evidence to support his case	547	(8)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Letter from Birmingham Jail Complex Argument The martyred civil rights leader explains in this now-classic letter just why he is in Birmingham, and justifies the activities that led to his jailing	555	(20)
14 Further Readings	575	(24)
Margaret Atwood
Pornography We are naive if we think that all Pornography appeals to sexual fantasies, points out this well-known novelist. Some pornography contains scenes of cruelty that even people concerned about freedom of expression are likely to find repulsive and dangerous	576	(7)
Bill McKibben
Late Afternoon Time on television and time on a mountainside in the late afternoon are dissimilar in so many ways that the two might as well be in different dimensions	583	(7)
Leslie Marmon Silko
Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit Beauty is a matter of the individual's spirit, not physical apperrance, says the author, who points our that spiritual beauty is central to the Laguna Pueblo way to life	590	(9)
A Guide to Terms	599