Letter To America Response

Margaret Atwood
pic by Vanwaffle,
Wikimedia Comons

Students in EN 101 are working on Responsive Writing, and are examining a letter by Dean Swift written to Margaret Atwood in response to her "Letter to America."  Students will consider which points Swift chooses to include in his response, and which points he ignores. They will discuss the effectiveness of his arguments and the appropriateness of the response as regards genre, tone, logical arrangement, etc. They will consider the rhetorical situation of the communication, and postulate how the response might be differently constructed or received in different situations. They will critique the Swift response as a way to sharpen their own skills of critical response.