15 Aug Analyze the given quotation from a short story
Write a paragraph or two (400-500 words total) that focuses on analyzing the specific quotation. You can focus on analyzing how James Baldwin uses narrative elements, symbolism, etc. to explore character psychology and/or themes/issues in the passage or you can discuss how he uses rhetorical techniquesethos, pathos, logosto present his ideas and persuade his audience.
Dont feel like you have to discuss every possible theme or issue in the passage. Instead, provide a focused topic sentence that states a clear, focused interpretation of the quotation, and develop and support your topic sentence, using quotations from the given passage to illustrate and support your analysis.
QUOTATION
It is important to remember that the prison in which Gide struggled is not really so unique as it would
certainly comfort us to believe, is not very different from the prison inhabited by, say, the heroes of Mickey
Spillane. Neither can they get through to women, which is the only reason their muscles, their fists and their
tommy guns have acquired such fantastic importance. It is worth observing, too, that when men can no longer
love women they also cease to love or respect or trust each other, which makes their isolation complete.
Nothing is more dangerous than this isolation, for men will commit any crimes whatever rather than endure it.
We ought, for our own sakes, to be humbled by Gide’s confession as he was humbled by his pain and make the
generous effort to understand that his sorrow was not different from the sorrow of all men born. For, if we do
not learn this humility, we may very well be strangled by a most petulant and unmasculine pride.
–The Male Prison, p. 3
