I wrote an essay the other day I was really sure was going to fail me. We read a book entitled "A Journal of The Plague Year" by Daniel Defoe. As it is will all essays in this class we were given a list of topics we can argue. After many false starts I settled on discussing what the moral of the story of "the three men" which was told about halfway through the novel.
At this point, the essay was due the next day.
I first wrote something about how the story was supposed to teach us about teamwork, sticktoitness, and a variety of other annoying must most likely expected arguments.
I scrapped it at approximately three AM the night before it was due.
I hated the story, so instead I wrote about how the story meant nothing. I argued that any possible moral was undermined by the actions of the three men. Why would Daniel Defoe himself say that there was a moral? You don’t want people doing these things.
I stayed up until about five AM working on it. My alarm went off at seven but I decided to sleep until noon.
It took me three days to write that, so I was late in handing it in. If anyone asks, I was snowed in the day it was due 🙂
I was sure it would get a poor mark. It was not something I really thought the teacher wanted, or expected. But at that point I didn’t care.
I got my marks back. so far this is the best essay I have written, apparently.
There were comments all over the essay. But I stopped reading when I saw the following: "An insightful, well-argued defense of a provocative thesis. Nicely done!"
Best to stop when you are ahead.
