Summary, Analysis, Response Essay Example

Sample Summary, Analysis, Response Essay for "The Year that Changed Everything"

Here is a sample Summary, Analysis, Response Essay that I wrote by compiling the responses of my class to an essay that is in the 6th edition of Perspectives on Argument by Nancy Wood,“The Year that Changed Everything” by Lance Morrow.

The Morrow essay was a bit difficult for my students to understand because it required some historical knowledge of the time period to make sense, so I am not surprised that it was taken out in favor of other essays in the most recent edition. However, it does still exist online in the link to the side if you want to compare the original to this Summary-Analysis-Response. For my instructions on how to write this sort of essay essay, my Hub How to Write a Summary, Analysis, Response Essay. That Hub also gives a useful format you can copy.

This essay is one that I compiled from all the suggestions given during an in-class exercise last year. Since it is based on a group response, it is a bit longer than the typical student essay I require. I generally ask students to do essays that are 300 to 500 words, and this one is over 700 words.However, I think it is useful for you to see the format, and to see a thorough example. This essay could be used in discussing a topic such as:

• What is the most pivotal year in the last century?
• What are the most important events in the last century?
• Unrevealed secrets have important effects on history.

Format

Note that although I do expect the sentences and paragraphs within each section to read smoothly, you do not need to put transitions in besides the headers which indicate each section. The first thing on the page should be a bibliographic entry in MLA or whatever format you are using.

Morrow, Lance. "The Year That Changed Everything." Time (2005). Print.

Summary:

In his informative essay, “The Year that Changed Everything,” Lance Morrow claims that 1948 should be considered a pivotal one in American history.The author says this year was one in which future Presidents Nixon, Kennedy and Johnson went through “formative ordeals.”He explains how each man’s life was changed through decisions to reveal or conceal secrets.Nixon rose in politics through attempting to uncover communist activity in the Alger Hiss case.Kennedy prepared for the presidency by concealing his Addison’s disease and allowing his family to cover up family sexual indiscretions.Johnson hid the questionable balloting in his congressional election.Morrow also mentions other provoking secrets of this era such as Kinsey’s sex report, DDT, and Orwell’s novel, 1984 .He alludes to changes in world events by noting Gandhi’s assassination, The Marshall Plan and the birth of the State of Israel.Suggestively, Morrow notes that in this year of secrets and the birth of television Americans questioned again whether they were a moral or immoral people.

Analysis:

“The Year that Changed Everything" is a definition essay is written in a classical style which attempts to persuade the audience to accept the author’s conclusion that 1948 was an important year.The author backs this claim up with three main subclaims which show how this year was important in the lives of three future Presidents: Nixon, Kennedy and Johnson.Furthermore, he links these presidents and this year by claiming that all of them were involved in either uncovering or covering up secrets.In paragraph 7, he claims that these dramatic secrets were an emblem of this era, which exemplified the uneasiness of Americans about who they were.He gives more examples of secrets in paragraph 8 and examples of great changes in paragraph 9.He then concludes with his major thesis that 1948 was a year when three future presidents encountered “formative ordeals” which propelled them toward their presidency but also toward tragedy.

The audience for this article is educated people.The author expects people to not only understand his references to the Kinsey report, DDT and Silent Spring , but also to be able to deduce how these support his thesis.While dropping these references and allowing the audience to inductively understand his points may be effective for those who lived through this historical period, it makes the article less effective for younger people who, for example, don’t have memories about DDT nor remember pictures about what it did to birds and animals.The author attempts to establish common ground through historical references but these may not be effective for those who don’t know them.What also limits the effectiveness of the article is the fact that the author does not explain how his examples relate to his thesis.The logical connections between his examples are also sometimes weak.Does Nixon’s involvement in uncovering the Hiss case really compare clearly to Kennedy’s cover-up of his medical history and Johnson’s cover-up of his dirty politics?

What is effective about the essay is that it causes the reader to think differently about what sorts of events should be considered important and it also makes the reader think about the connections between personal decisions and political events.

Response:

I think that this essay is very thought-provoking even though I do not think Morrow clearly connects his examples to his thesis, and I think his explanations are weak throughout.I also think that his choice of 1948 is rather arbitrary for some of the examples. For instance, Kennedy found out about his illness in 1947 and concealed it until his death, so why focus on 1948? Nevertheless, I do think that Morrow convinces me that 1948 was a “seedbed” for a chance in the way in which Americans viewed themselves, politicians and the political process.Our current adversarial politics and distrust in politicians does seem to be rooted back in the Vietnam era and Watergate, the era when these three Presidents were in charge of our country.Finally, I like the idea that at the core, Americans believe it is important to question:“Are we a good people or a bad people?”

This article will be useful in my paper about the question, “What do Americans ultimately believe about themselves?”I will use this paper to discuss how this question was formulated and worked out in the last century.