The Sacred Rac A critique of the North

The Sacred Rac A critique of the North American culture of consumerism

Style of the Article • When we look at style, we look at the way in which the piece of writing was written. • This article was written in the style of a formal report. • Let’s take a look at sentence length and structure and word choice. • The discipline from which this study was performed was anthropology: the science of human beings; especially the study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture.

The Author was Sneaky. . . • Using the metaphor, comparing a car to a sacred animal, the author revealed that North American life seems to be centred around the purchase and maintenance of vehicles; or you might say consumerism in general. • This article is a satire; the goal of satire is to use humour to expose behaviour that is foolish or faulty. • Do you think this article says anything else about our culture?

Your Turn • Choose a behaviour/custom/trend in our culture that you think is foolish or faulty and write a formal report in the same style. • Your job is to help your reader see the fault or silliness of your subject matter, before he/she even figures out what your trying to do! • DOUBLE SPACE!!

Writing Partners/Circles • After you have completed a draft of your report you will share this report with a your writing circle by reading it out-loud. • Job of the writer: remember the purpose of your writing task and think about what elements of your writing you could ask your writing circle mates to focus on. For example, “To me, the beginning of seems really casual and doesn’t sound very scientific. How could I make more formal? ” • 1. Mention the areas/elements you would like your circlemates to focus on. Use questions. • 2. Read your report out loud • 3. Listen to feedback given by your circle-mates, maybe asking for clarification, and ‘filter’ the feedback.

• Job of the circle-mates: pay attention to what type of feedback the writer is asking for. Listen carefully to the piece of writing (may need to ask them to re-read a certain section) and provide feedback. • In addition to what the writer has asked for, provide feedback on 1. Topic 2. Word Choice • 1. Topic: summarize what you think the writer is getting at by saying, “What I think you’re trying to say is. . . “ it will either match or the reader might respond, “What I really mean is. . . “ By the end of the session, these two should match. • 2. Word Choice: word choice in this report has two jobs. The first is to create a formal tone, the second is to be interesting and engaging. Point out both strong and weak examples.