Due Nov 2

Riffing on a Secondary Source

Sontag’s essay, “In Plato’s Cave,” is filled with big claims about photographs and the roles they play in society. Her writing is evocative but complex, so it requires active and attentive reading to appreciate its insights.

The following exercise aims to help you deepen your understanding of a passage by translating her ideas into your own words and fleshing her argument out with an example of your own choosing.

1. Choose one of Sontag’s thought-provoking but dense and difficult sentences (or a short passage)—a passage that you find intriguing but perhaps a bit puzzling, ideally a passage with ideas that could potentially be useful to you in your own analysis of a photo. Type out the original sentence, using quotation marks to signal that these are her words, not yours.
2. Paraphrase the sentence by finding synonyms for all of the key terms. Don’t just go for the gist of the passage (i.e. don't try to summarize or condense) but instead strive to create a parallel version of Sontag’s original sentence.
3. Repeat this exercise, using a different set of synonyms and reversing the sentence order as much as possible. (This is more difficult, but it will often result in a cleaner paraphrase.)
4. Repeat the exercise, but this time simplifying and condensing her idea in summary form. You might head this version up with "In short, ..."
5. Think of a photograph or personal experience that exemplifies Sontag’s point. In a few sentences, describe the photo or experience, making clear how it illustrates Sontag’s argument.
6. Read back through your three paraphrases, noting which version best conveys Sontag's meaning. Clarity a plus, simplicity a plus (so long as it doesn't over-simplify—or so long as the simple version is just the starting point for a fuller explanation).
7. Write a stand-alone paragraph that introduces Sontag's idea and explains it by reference to the example you chose in step (5) above. Feel free to incorporate bits from everything you've just written. You may use all three of your paraphrases, or just one—experiment and see what works best for you.

Paste the finished ¶ from step (7) into the comment box below. Then, after posting, post the relevant quotation from Sontag as a "Reply" to your comment.

This exercise is adapted from Writing Analytically, by David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen.