For "I Just Wanna Be Average,":
1. What purpose does the opening paragraph serve? (consider this entire essay as a metaphorical journey.)
The opening paragraph serves as an indicator to what Mike Rose became despite his struggles in the vocational school program. The juxtaposition between young Mike Rose and present day Mike Rose highlights the fact that one can be more than what the school system deems one should be.
2. When Rose describes the actions of Brother Dill, how does he convey the immediacy (and insensitivity) of this experience without making acerbic or critical comments about Brother Dill? Would a negative tone have lessened the impact of the incident on you are a reader? Explain.
He conveys the immediacy by understating the whole ordeal. Through a casual tone Rose establishes that for him and many other students in that system, physical abuse was common and thus more shocking to the audience. A negative would have lessened the impact because of the audience feeling shocked and uncomfortable we would more likely be feeling sympathy which is less powerful because it takes away from the situation.
3. What kind of detail does Rose use in his characterization of the other vocational education students? Consider his descriptions of Bill Cobb, Ted Richard, and Ken Harvey.
Rose characterizes Bill, Ted, and Ken all as normal high school students using causal diction in phrases, "good-looking in a puffy way", "chunky and had a baby face", "grease pencil artist extraordinaire". This sets up the idea that these kids don't possess any handicaps that would suggest that they be in a vocational program.
4. How does Rose characterize his own response to vocational education? Does he try to evoke sympathy from his readers? What is he trying to evoke?
Rose characterizes his own response to vocational education as a failure because he didn't have the best grades and even then, he relied on a cheating system to get by. This evokes no sympathy from his readers because he clearly didn't try in school however it does evoke a feeling of disappointment on the vocational school program in that it did not do nearly enough to aid the "struggling" students.
5. In paragraphs 21, 22, and 23, why does Rose go into such detail about problem-solving? What is his purpose?
Rose's purpose in paragraphs 21-23 is to highlight the issue with how they teach problem solving in the system (word problems) is not how to solve problems in real life.
6. Is Rose’s description of his father’s deterioration appropriate for this essay? Why? What impact would deleting it have had on the story Rose is telling or the argument he is making?
I believe that the description of his father was a completely necessary addition in the essay because it reveals the abandonment and "daddy issues" Rose had growing up. Without these paragraphs it could create the essay less relatable for the audience, and less emotional for Rose himself.
7. In the description of Jack MacFarland’s influence on Rose, which passages represent the young man’s view of this teacher and which ones the adult looking back? How does Rose intertwine them so the overall descriptions have coherence?
Jack MacFarland had a very positive influence on Rose becuase he convinced Rose to start reading again even after his father died. He also taught him how to think critically which allowed him to become a better student and person in life.
8. Rarely does Rose step out from the narration and state his point explicitly. Why not? Would you classify this essay as more of a memoir or an argument? Why?
Rose does not step out from the narration and state his point explicitly because he wants his stories to illustrate the point for him. For that reason, this essay can be classified as more of a memoir because of the persistence of continuing the anecdotes.
9. How would you characterize the style of this essay? Rather than using a single word, describe it with a phrase that captures the different levels of diction.
I would characterize the style of this essay as narrative in that he uses anecdotes and commentary to display his argument that the vocational school program is failing students.
Rose, Mike. ""I Just Wanna Be Average"" 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. N. pag. Print.
