Essay 8

Ben’jamin
Mr. H Salsich
English 9
16/11/10

Essay 8 Outline

TS: What we do does matter
Bell word: minute

Hook: Space is huge
Comment: We don’t even know what is there
Comment: Earth is small

Thesis: Very small but we still make a difference


Topic Sentence: Dickens is wrong
Echo: microscopic, miniscule

SD: People are complex
Comment: We are bigger and more important
Comment: We do not have “mere human knowledge”

SD: We are here and we matter
Comment: We need to take care of ourselves
Comment: There might not be other people out there

Conclusion: We ourselves are what is here, we are most important

Topic Sentence: We can’t listen to Dickens here
Echo: infinitesimal, insignificant

SD: We need to think we are important
Comment: We can’t always clean up for everyone else
Comment: As a world, we need to know Earth is important

SD: We can’t top everything
Comment: Compete w/ something that might not be out there
Comment: Human nature

Conclusion: Dickens is wise, but he might be wrong here



Ben’jamin Dameron
Mr. H Salsich
English 9
18/11/10

A Small People, a Big Universe:
An Essay about People and Space

All of space and time and all of existence for ever past and into the future of tomorrow are huge. It is so big and goes back so far and will continue for so long, that we have no clue on what is really out there. Compared to the vastness of space and time, we humans in our little corner room, in our little time, are emotively minute (FAST words(Bell word)). However, Earth is so small and space and time so big, that we should care little about them; we should care about what is happening here, and here is what matters.

I believe that in chapter 16, Dickens says that we, humans, in all of our brilliance, are microscopic in comparison to all of space and time, and Dickens may be very wrong (appositive). Dickens states that we have only, “mere human knowledge” but are minds have expanded that far from our humble beginning that only a heartless man could say they were mere. We are big; we are huge, and we disserve more than to be a worthless pile of life on a mound of dirt and water. Dickens implies that there is a greater being out there somewhere, being religious, or alien, but no matter what it is, we no more about it than in Dickens time and there is no evidence to support there being something there; we are here, and we are what matter. Instead of researching or bowing our heads to something that might not be real, we as a race should focus on “split[ting that one] ray of light” instead of dreaming of that maybe person that can split our planet. There might not be anything out there, but we know we are there, so why worry our little noggins about being so miniscule(FAST echo). We do not know if something is really out there, so we may hide our stony faces if we want, but we should not fantasize over something that might not be real.

If my theory about Dickens’s passage is correct, we as a human race cannot listen to him. Our infinitesimal little race is not doing very well. We are abating the planet and doing very little about it. If the humans are not doing well, we should not be putting ourselves down with books that say that we have, “mere human intelligence”. It also might not be wise there are extra terrestrial beings somewhere out there in space and time, making us even more insignificant, a useless luxury to galaxy, as a diamond is to a watch, for the watch does not need the diamond to function, and it does not make it work any better, but, people need to feel important, like the spring in the watch that is necessary for the constant ticking and tocking. Something very enthralling about humans is that we always have to be best. If there is something out there better than us, humans will not resist from trying to top it. It may be unwise to put ourselves down, or try to top aliens out in space, so we really must believe that Dickens’ passage is wrong.

One of Dickens’s pieces of writing in A Tale of Two Cities could be interpreted as saying that there is a much greater being than humans and that we are small compared to them. It could seem like he is saying that it does not matter what our name was or how long our name lives in songs and stories, because we are nothing compared to the vastness of space and time. With all the problems in the world, we really need to be encouraging ourselves so it might be unwise to listen to Dickens. However, no matter how big the edges of space and time go out into the dark unknown, we need to know that our walls and cities can stretch to the edges of our planet and all that we know.

Self Assessment

1. One problem that I am continuing to work on in my writing is my opening and closing paragraphs. I really just have a hard time getting all my ideas into a small paragraph. Often I end up with long confusing sentences that really could be a lot smoother.

2. My greatest strong point in this piece of writing I believe is my cumulative sentence in my second body paragraph. I believe that it is a great piece of writing that really enhances the paragraph.

3. The one big weakpoint in this essay has got to be my second body paragraph. I don’t feel like I got all my ideas down strongly enough. This makes the paragraph hard to read and it bounces around ideas a lot.

4. I believe that there are strong parts and weak parts in this essay and I would be quite pleased with a B-.