For this essay, you want to answer the following questions:
If you were Yakov Lieberman at the end of The Boys from Brazil, would you eliminate (or order the elimination of) the Hitler clones? Why or why not?
You should use your knowledge about psychology from Opening Skinner’s Box, your research, what you learned in reading The Boys from Brazil, and your own experiences and ideas to construct a persuasive and compelling argument.
Requirements:
- Use two other sources for this essay (besides The Boys from Brazil). One of the other sources can be a chapter from Opening Skinner’s Box if the chapter contributes to your answer. The source(s) can also be from your rabbit-hole research. If you are finding new sources for this essay, make sure the source is credible and appropriate (meaning it should contribute to your discussion of human psychology, not pertain to Hitler, Nazis, or World War II). You should not use encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), dictionaries, or other reference material.
- Insert a naysayer into this essay. You want to address the person who would make the opposing argument and do so in a logical way that shows you understand the opposition and have a thoughtful rebuttal.
Your final draft should be approximately five to six pages long (or at least 1,500 words).
You should
- Use your discussion from Module 7, though of course your answer may have changed or become more nuanced since that assignment.
- Write your essay for an audience who has read The Boys from Brazil (but imagine that the audience did the reading a month ago). Readers are familiar with the plot, but you will need to exemplify the point before analyzing it.
- Include details and examples from The Boys from Brazil and your other sources to help you develop your argument.
- Summarize concisely from your outside source(s). We need a brief, focused summary and then you need to connect it to your argument (they say, I say).
- Paraphrase and quote by sandwiching your source. You will want to include at least five well-integrated paraphrases/quotations (with at least one from each source: The Boys from Brazil and your other two sources) with proper in-text citations.
- Talk about complexities rather than simplifying.
- Make sure you are following MLA format.
- Include a works cited page (please see the Writing Workshop on this topic for help).
You should NOT
- Summarize from The Boys from Brazil or Opening Skinner’s Box. We read both. We do not need for you to tell us what the author says; rather, we need you to pull out one of the author’s points and tell us what you think about it.
- Use the second-person pronoun (you). You are not writing an essay about me!
- Worry about grammar, mechanics, and punctuation until you are editing for your final draft. Concentrate on the content of the paper. Surface errors are easy to fix; lack of content is not.