Term 3 grade-fixing/make-up prompt (minor) - AP

Term 3 grade-fixing/make-up prompt (minor) - AP



The excerpt below is from Terri Cheney’s "The Virtues of Being Rude" (2015). Read the excerpt carefully. Then write an essay that argues your position on the value—if any—of rudeness.

I felt safe enough.  I was sitting in my favorite cafe, at my favorite table, writing or at least making plans to write.  This is my nirvana spot:  it's cozy, familiar, not really quiet but tolerable with ear plugs in.  I had just ordered my usual lunch—a cup of gazpacho with five-grain bread—when the man at the table next to me asked me what I was writing.

"A book," I said, hoping that was a vague enough answer to dissuade him from further small talk.  It wasn't.

"What kind of book?" he asked.

Fair enough.  I gave him the short-hand answer.  "A memoir."  I've found that a lot of people don't know what memoir is, so rather than look ignorant they stop the conversation right there.  It's worked often enough before.

"What's a memoir?" he said.

Great.  A talker.  Right next to me, so close our bodies would have touched if either had extended a hand.

"It's a book about yourself," I said.  Damn it, I knew what was coming next.  I haven't found the right shut-up answer to that question yet, in spite of years of trying.

And sure enough:  "So what have you done that makes you interesting enough to write about?" he asked.

This is where I usually get them to stop.  I take out my big guns of discomfort and stigma and let them have it, full barrel:  "I have bipolar disorder," I say.  "I write about that."

This often makes people nod and look away, but this guy wasn't deterred.  "What's bipolar disorder?"

Ah, come on.  "It's a mental illness that causes extreme mood swings," I said.

My waitress came with my meal then, and I hoped that my feigned intense interest in my food would signal my reluctance to talk further.  Nope.

"I have mood swings," he said.  "Everybody has mood swings.  What makes you so special?"

Twelve little words were all I needed to reclaim my equanimity:  "I'm sorry, but I need to get back to my writing now."  But somehow, I couldn't say them.  I was so irritable I was afraid I'd snap and hurt his feelings.  Then I feared he would retaliate against me somehow.  I wasn't thinking this through at the time, but it's how I operate:  I don't put up borders until it's way too late to make the attempt.

He badgered me throughout the rest of my meal, although perhaps I shouldn't say "badgered."  Maybe he was just curious, and not very good at taking social cues.  But I felt intensely observed the entire time:  every sip of soup was an ordeal, every bite of bread a challenge.  I hate being watched while I eat, it makes me so self-conscious.  And then I had to answer his persistent questions, while trying to chew my food.

Finally, he left and I was alone with my opened computer and empty page.  That was the moment I should have seen depression coming... Then there would be the writhings of remorse the next morning, and for a good week after that, until the depression had run its course.  All because I didn't know how to fight for my little corner of solitude to keep me sane.

I've vowed that the next time this happens—because it will, it happens to me all the time—I'll risk hurting the intruder's feelings and put up whatever fences I can as fast as I can to protect myself.  Maybe this isn't an issue with other people, but I think with highly sensitive bipolar folk it's a true dilemma.  We need our walls, even if they offend those trying to look in.  A safe place is more than a luxury:  it keeps the demons at bay.  It's not really rude.  It's survival.

In your 1000 word response you should do the following:
Respond to the prompt with a thesis that may establish a line of reasoning.
Select and use evidence to develop and support your line of reasoning.
Explain the relationship between the evidence and your thesis.
Demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical situation.
Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.