This response was developed by a student as a persuasive piece. It is a few years old but provides a high level example of a Statement of Explanation and a student making efforts to write insightfully with sophistication of expression. Note that their piece has been researched and sources are presented in a bibliography.
The Context, focus text and prompt for this piece are different to our present ones, so remember you are viewing this as an example of a Creating and Presenting piece.
As I previously stated I wished to address the issue of social networking to support my contention but realised it wasn’t as strong an argument to present, as the other issues I’ve highlighted. Because of this, I decided to not address it in my piece.
The Context, focus text and prompt for this piece are different to our present ones, so remember you are viewing this as an example of a Creating and Presenting piece.
Written
Explanation
I am
writing in response to the prompt ‘Fear of what is different or unfamiliar
always lies at the root of conflict’. Drawing from my knowledge of the play The
Crucible written by Arthur Miller, I will write a persuasive blogpost/essay,
as I want to address the opposing side of the prompt; fear does not always lie
at the root of conflict. There are many reasons why conflict arises, and whilst
fear of the 'unknown' is common in many conflicts, it does not qualify for all
of them. Sometimes fear is not an element in a conflict. Aspects such as anger, greed, power, control,
jealously, ignorance, death, and race/culture can cause the formation of a
conflict. The target audience for my discussion is young people, 16-18 years
old, who are studying the play and keen to engage with the universal ideas of
conflict that the text addresses. My piece will be published on a blog forum as
it is a more accessible tool for young people of this generation. It will be
designed in such a way that readers are able to comment on my piece with their
own personal opinions to discuss the points I’ve addressed.
I
believe the themes and ideas I wish to discuss directly relate to the plot of The
Crucible and a vital element of my discussion will be considering how the
conflicts in The Crucible were not always driven by fear and I see this
to be true in other conflicts that are occurring in the present day. I am aware
of incidents similar to what happened in Salem taking place in different times
in history. Miller used his historical knowledge of the Salem witch trials to
construct The Crucible as an allegory to comment on the fear and
hysteria arising from a perceived communist threat during the McCarthy era and
I am also going to use my historical knowledge to enlighten my essay
discussion. I will consider the McCarthy period, child witches in Niger Delta,
Nazi Germany and social networking incidents to show how it is not always fear
that starts the chain reaction of conflict. I believe exposing my readers to the
issues of these topics will help them to understand how conflict arises from many
different reasons and that each conflict is unique to some degree, as is its
cause. This will hopefully enlighten my readers to where conflicts stem from in
the faith that it may be a stepping stone to prevent conflicts transpiring in
the first place.
I have chosen to write in the form of a
persuasive essay as I believe it is the best way to persuade those reading to
support my opinion. I consider my audience to be passionate about history and
literature studies and will use a cultured level of language in my essay to
appeal to their academic nature and possibly sway their opinion to agree with
mine. I will use biblical allusions to enhance my discussion in the way that Miller
used biblical allusions to inform readers of the Salem witch trials integral
connection to religion through theocracy in The Crucible. 'For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound
mind' - II Timothy 1:7. This challenges the prompt as the Puritans believe that
god made them all what they are, but he did not instil upon them the emotion of
fear. I will also be using alliteration to inform my discussion. When I discuss
the examples I have collected I have accumulated to illustrate that 'fear does
not always lie at the root of conflict', I will express my point of view in
such a way that it will challenge the circumstances where I believe fear was
not an underlying cause of the encountered conflict.
As I previously stated I wished to address the issue of social networking to support my contention but realised it wasn’t as strong an argument to present, as the other issues I’ve highlighted. Because of this, I decided to not address it in my piece.
