John Clifford and John Schilb Book Review

The response of college students to fascinating allegories, plays, and poems has always been very overwhelming. Orientation: Making Literature Matter is one such book whose content facilitates handy comprehension and convincing arguments among the students. The book is written through two authors namely John Clifford and John Schilb. The sixth edition that types the basis of my analysis was once published in 2014. Students find it effortless to follow through the strategy that the authors have used in completing the literary work. The up to date drama, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry contained in the book communicate to the current needs of the students.
This e book starts by shortly presenting how meanings of writing have developed. It depicts qualities of scholarly writings that recognize it from different types. It likewise gives a few explanations behind contemplating writing in school composing courses. It fortifies the significance of successful contentions about writing, keeping in mind the end goal to create request that can possibly change one's thinking. One of the most interesting stories is “Peter Rabbit Must Die” by Joyce Waddler. We meet a home owner who is not willing to put to death the woodchucks despite their incessant destructions. He fills that he is morally obliged to guard the lives of other organisms. His farm lies on a 12 acre piece of land that formerly hosted horses. He makes various attempts in bid to stop the activities of the woodchucks without success. “The Havahart live animal trap does not catch a thing.” (Schilb and Clifford 11). The home owner also recognizes the peril of releasing the animals down the road since he will be looking for trouble with the neighbors. The interesting part sets in when the homeowner decides to shoot all the animals. However, before he implements the decision, he visits every hole in the entire farm and makes the sensational announcement. All he wants is to make sure that even if some die, it will not be his fault but rather as a result of their ignorance. He constantly states, “I said: ‘I intend to kill you. You have 24 hours to get out.” (Schilb and Clifford 13). He expresses the sadness that overcame him when he made his first killing but after a while, he got used to it. He goes ahead and kills eighteen more. At one time, he jokingly says, “I stopped at 19,” he says. “One was a suicide. It realized its days were numbered and ran in front of a car.” (Schilb and Clifford 14). The allegory depicts some of the challenges that farm owners go through and the eventual decisions they are forced to make in order to over them.The book also critically outlines various ways through which we can analyze works of literature. The authors opine that “Art lives upon discussion, upon experiment, upon curiosity, upon variety of attempt, upon the exchange of views and the comparison of standpoints” (Schilb and Clifford 19). He authors further describe censorship as the prospective fear of literature to change the way we perceive concepts. It imposes on us a different perspective of life, moral values, and so on. The book further states that speech acts are “things that characters do with words; types of behavior they engage in as they talk and effects they aim to have on listeners; aspects of personalities, physical acts, and verbal expressions” (Schilb and Clifford 32). The writing process in literature is also brought into perspective. The authors quickly present how meanings of writing have developed. The part clarifies the definite procedure of composing a contention about an abstract work (Schilb and Clifford 75). It gives methodologies to arranging, creating, and reconsidering a draft. It likewise outlines the distinctive sorts of paradoxes that understudy authors fall prey in their contentions. The last bit of the section depicts how to compose a relative exposition around at least two artistic writings.Finally, the literary work emphasizes the need to get rid of logical fallacies synonymous with most compositions. Some of the fallacies that the authors have laid emphasis on include the Ad hominem. The term is defined as the “attack the character of the person making the argument rather than the claim and evidence 2. Begging the question – circular reasoning” (Schilb and Clifford 85). The other popular fallacy is the Post hoc. It is a Latin term whose literal meaning is “because of this and that” The book states that “this is error in cause and effect; unclear logical link between two events” (Schilb and Clifford 92). For a composition to be effective enough, it has to be compared to another draft. The book provides a great guide to the best ways of coming up with literary works. Its expanse of knowledge makes it a worthy book to have a look at.