Dr. Adam Johns
Seminar in Composition
9/16/08
Personal Anecdotes in “Challenging nature
Lee Silver’s novel “Challenging Nature” can be categorized as non-fiction. He compiles numerous sources in order to discuss controversial topics in science and religion. A majority of the novel is written in textbook fashion in which it clearly displays truths and facts. To break up the monotony of this type of writing, Silver mixes in many personal anecdotes. Silver cleverly uses these anecdotes in attempt to enforce his original points. These anecdotes provide a break from the textbook style of writing and allow the reader to relate to the author.
Silver opens this book by introducing the reader to a variety of religions, displaying the facts and beliefs about each religion. Silver also cites many prominent scientists and thinkers, while displaying their insight on the topic of both religion and science. Theses types chapters are astute, and provide a great understanding for the reader, but become bland and difficult to read after a substantial period of time. Rather than continue with the flow of a typical non-fiction, Silver adds in his own personal anecdotes. An example of this is occurs in the chapter “Not Quite Human, but Not Quite Not.” Here Silver discusses a situation in which one of his students volunteered to combine chimpanzee sperm with one of her eggs to follow the development of the embryo inside her uterus for her senior thesis. The concept of producing an organism composed of both a human and a chimpanzee is riveting, and forces the reader to form an opinion about the matter. Rather than simply discussing facts and examples of bio-ethics, and genetic engineering, Silver provides a first hand account of it. This example shows the two sides of bioethics very clearly, in the girl, who is eager to conduct the experiment, and Silver, who for reasons unknown to him, showed much ambiguity to the experiment. The student was very eager to perform the experiment, for she was curious of the results, and knew that it would earn her an impressive grade on her senior thesis. The student in this case, represents scientists eager to conduct genetic engineering, as they are curious of the advancements they can make, and are aware of the potential awards and benefits from these advancements. Silver, represents those opposed to genetic engineering, though he is unable to understand why. “What did I think, indeed? I was appalled at the time, but I couldn’t figure why” (Silver 87). He then goes on to state the reason for his outrage was the “cavalier manner in which the young woman was willing to treat her own body as well as other forms of life ” (Silver 87). By using this anecdote, Silver allows the reader to view the debates about bioethics and genetic engineering, and forces them to make an opinion. Silver, the consummate supporter of genetic engineering, is even unsure about the decision. This greatly illustrates how highly controversial the topic of bioethics is, and the magnitude of the situation.
Silver’s use of anecdotes in this book are effective, but inappropriate for this form of writing. He often uses the anecdotes simply to boast about his accomplishments, and provide bias analysis on topics. In “The Embryonic Soul,” Silver discusses a bioethics debate with two other esteemed speakers, Dr Thomas Breidenthal, dean of religious belief at Princeton, and Dr. Nigel Cameron, a professor of bioethics and theology at Trinity International University. Silver, a neuroscientist, does not have any religious beliefs, and does not deem any religious logic in science to be credible. Silver goes on to dismiss any arguments that either Dr. Breidenthal, or Dr. Cameron makes, and does so in a condescending manner. He even goes as far as to say that “Cameron’s tactics are taken from the playbook of clever fundamentalists who feel impelled to instill their beliefs as soon as possible, not just in their own children, but in everyone else’s children as well” (Silver 102). This anecdote starts with a logical argument, but turns into a personal attack on Breidenthal, Cameron and the Christian Church. It is blatantly offensive to those with religious beliefs, since unlike most of the novel’s chapters, this is a personal account. His pompous attitude towards his opponents is unprofessional, and should not be included in a non-fiction book of this caliber. By adding in a personal experience as a medium to accuse religious professors of conniving inflicting Christian beliefs in stealthy ways is offensive to many readers of the book.
4 comments:
This paper provides a very good example of a personal experience that puts us in Silver's shoes. The second paragraph contains support from the text and explanations, and does a good job of supporting your first paragraph. After the second paragraph, it gets confusing.
I was a little bit confused by your paper because it seems that the first and last paragraph conflict with each other. In the first paragraph you say that "Silver cleverly uses these anecdotes... These anecdotes provide a break from the textbook style of writing and allow the reader to relate to the author" From this statement, assumed to be the thesis, I assumed that your post would be mostly positive concerning the ability of Silver to relate to his readers. Contrast this with your final sentence "By adding in a personal experience as a medium to accuse religious professors of conniving inflicting Christian beliefs in stealthy ways is offensive to many readers of the book." It seems that you have turned your argument around, make an argument and stick with it.
I'm a little confused because i revised Jim's essay from last time.
Anyways, i feel that the opening paragraph is overall pretty good. It provides a good introduction to the essay.
In the first paragraph i felt the first 2 sentences are alike and it needs more variety in that you have 2 subjects in both so try to change one or the other. Also, try to cut out religion in the end of sentence 1, it isnt really needed. Later on in this paragraph you say "Rather than simply discussing facts and examples of bio-ethics" i didnt understand the point of this because you say this right before you give examples and facts. Continuing on you say "..though he is unable to understand why." but one sentence later you give a reason for this.
I liked the final paragraph. I would maybe mention that the use of biased personal anecdotes undermines silvers purpose by drawing attention away from he main thesis.
Besides some small things this essay was well written and well thought out. Good work jim
Jim Abbott
Dr. Adam Johns
Seminar in Composition
9/16/08
Personal Anecdotes in “Challenging nature
Lee Silver’s novel “Challenging Nature” can be categorized as non-fiction. He compiles numerous sources in order to discuss controversial topics in science and religion. A majority of the novel is written in textbook fashion in which it clearly displays truths and facts. To break up the monotony of this type of writing, Silver mixes in many personal anecdotes. Silver cleverly uses these anecdotes in attempt to enforce his original points. These anecdotes provide a break from the textbook style of writing and allow the reader to relate to the author.
Silver opens this book by introducing the reader to a variety of religions, while describing the facts and beliefs about each one. Silver also cites many prominent scientists and thinkers, who display their insight on the topic of both religion and science. Theses types chapters are astute, and provide a great understanding for the reader, but become bland and difficult to read after a substantial period of time. Rather than continue with the flow of a typical non-fiction, Silver adds in his own personal anecdotes. An example of this is occurs in the chapter “Not Quite Human, but Not Quite Not.” Here Silver discusses a situation in which one of his students volunteered to combine chimpanzee sperm with one of her eggs to follow the development of the embryo inside her uterus for her senior thesis. The concept of producing an organism composed of both a human and a chimpanzee is riveting, and forces the reader to form an opinion about the matter. Rather than simply discussing facts and examples of bio-ethics, and genetic engineering, Silver provides a first hand account of it.
This example greatly illustrates the two points of view on bioethics; the girl, who is eager to conduct the experiment, and Silver, who uncharacteristically showed much ambiguity to the experiment. The student was very eager to perform the experiment, for she was curious of the results, and knew that it would earn her an impressive grade on her senior thesis. The student in this case, represents scientists eager to conduct genetic engineering, as they are curious of the advancements they can make, and are aware of the potential awards and benefits from these advancements. Silver, represents those opposed to genetic engineering, though he is initially unable to understand why. “What did I think, indeed? I was appalled at the time, but I couldn’t figure why” (Silver 87). He then goes on to state the reason for his outrage was the “cavalier manner in which the young woman was willing to treat her own body as well as other forms of life ” (Silver 87). Though Silver has absolutely no religious beliefs, the reason most people would be offended by this experiment is that the student is attempting to play God. She wants to create an entirely new species in an unnatural way. By using this anecdote, Silver allows the reader to view the debates about bioethics and genetic engineering, and forces them to make an opinion. Silver, the consummate supporter of genetic engineering, is even unsure about the decision. This greatly illustrates how highly controversial the topic of bioethics is, and the magnitude of the situation.
The use of anecdotes, as illustrated by Silver, though unorthodox, is not only appropriate, but also necessary in this style of writing. As is the case in most non-fiction books, the facts are laid down in front reader, causing a reading experience that is anything but enjoyable. Silver effectively adds in anecdotes, or personal accounts in his novel, allowing a well needed break from mundane non-fiction facts. By doing this, it allows the reader to get a look into the life of the author. By learning about the author’s personal experiences, the reader is able to comprehend where author’s opinions and beliefs are derived from. The anecdotes allow the reader to view the author as a character in the book, not just the narrator. When viewed as a character, the relationship between the reader and the author becomes more personal, since the reader is allowed into the character’s life. Due to this, the author’s points resonate louder with the reader, as the reader takes a greater interest in what the author has to say. As the interest level in a book grows, so does the comprehension level of that book. Since the readers are more focused, they understand the concepts and topics better in the book, which greatly increases the importance of that book. Due to this, personal anecdotes provide the reader with an interest in the book that is not found in typical non-fiction writing.
I need to figure out how to get the comments organized better, obviously...
Brian - good, tough feedback.
Sean - this would have been stronger feedback if it had been more focused. What you say about bias, for instance, is interesting, but not developed.
Jim - There's a lot of filler here. You have a long introduction, a long conclusion, and a lot of repetition between the second and fourth paragraph. Your paragraphs are long, and not particularly well-structured. Those are your problems, and they are pretty big ones. When you revised, I notice, you took out some problematic material, but raised the proportion of the whole which reads like filler.
Here's the good part: you pick a weird, disturbing anecdote, and you start to say interesting things about it. You should have started and finished with this anecdote; there was plenty to do here without generalizations or filler. What impact does it have, and how does it help us relate to the book differently? You *start* to explore the meaning of Silver's emotional response (and how it might impact our emotional response in turn), but this should have been the subject for your whole paper.
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