Classifying Thinkers (A summary of the previous text)

We don't really know how to define intelligence. However, this does not discourage some people from categorizing others according to their intelligence or lack of it. In his essay, "Thinking as a hobby," author William S. Golding does exactly this. Golding divides people into three categories: grade-three thinkers, grade-two thinkers, and grade-one thinkers.

According to Golding, 90 percent of the population represents the largest category, called grade-three thinkers. These people are docile. They follow orders and they obey other people's wishes. They never learn to think for themselves and cannot distinguish truth from lies. A dictator could take control of them and make them do whatever he wanted, as if they were sheep. The resulting mob would be brutal and ugly.

Grade-two thinkers, Golding's second category, are less likely to be influenced by a dictator. These grade-two thinkers, who make up 9 percent of the population, see corruption in the world. For example, grade-two thinkers may question the honesty of religion or political institutions,but they fail to find new ideals to believe in.

The remaining 1 percent of the population are what Golding calls grade-one thinkers. They not only see corruption, but they also know how to seek truth. Their lives are defined by beauty, wisdom and knowledge. Such thinkers are creative and imaginative geniuses, like Mozart, Michelangelo, and Einstein, who opened new worlds in music, art and science.

One wonders in which category Golding would place himself. Surely not among the "sheep"! Golding may prefer to believe that intelligence prevents people in the top tenth percentile of the population from following political dictators, but the number of doctors, teachers, lawyers, and writers in many countries who were willing supporters of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao shows that this belief is incorrect. In fact, sometimes the common sense and compassion of the ordinary man is all that stands between civilization and barbarism. As one of the so-called sheep, I say bah to Mr. Golding!


Answer the Questions:

1. Circle the thesis statement. How does Golding classify people?
[The thesis statement: In his essay, "Thinking as a hobby," author William S. Golding does exactly this.]
[Golding divides people into three categories: grade-three thinkers, grade-two thinkers, and grade-one thinkers.]

2. Underline the topic sentence of each body paragraph.
[Body paragraph 1: According to Golding, 90 percent of the population represents the largest category, called grade-three thinkers.]
[Body paragraph 2: Grade-two thinkers, Golding's second category, are less likely to be influenced by a dictator.]
[Body paragraph 3: The remaining 1 percent of the population are what Golding calls grade-one thinkers.]

3. How does the author describe 90 percents of the population? The remaining 9 percent? The final 1 percent?
[The author explains that 90 percent of the population are docile. They follow orders and they obey other people's wishes. They never learn to think for themselves and cannot distinguish truth from lies. As for the remaining 9 percent, the population is said to able to see corruption in the world. For the final 1% of the population, they not only see corruption, but they also know how to seek truth. Their lives are defined by beauty, wisdom and knowledge. Such thinkers are creative and imaginative geniuses.]

4. Underline the examples used in the third body paragraph to describe "Grade-one thinkers."
[Mozart, Michelangelo, and Einstein.]

5. What is the writer's opinion of Golding's essay? In which paragraph do you find this opinion?
[The writer feels that the current situation throughtout the world contradicts Golding's opinion. Thus, he is rather in disbelief of Golding's essay. This opinion of his can be found in paragraph five.]

6. What support (facts, examples) are used in the conclusion to argue the writer's point of view?
[Golding may prefer to believe that intelligence prevents people in the top tenth percentile of the population from following political dictators, but the number of doctors, teachers, lawyers, and writers in many countries who were willing supporters of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao shows that this belief is incorrect.]


Cohen F Robert and Miller Judy "Reason to write -Strategies for success in academic writing"
Oxford University Press

1. How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?
[The text is all about the journey of a ten-year old girl, Chihiro into a fantasy world and how she must find her way back to reality. The protagonist’s experience in the alternate world represents her passage from childhood to adulthood. In the opening scene, the viewer is informed that Chihiro and her family are moving to a new town. This is also a form of journey for her, in terms of leaving behind old memories and learning to adapt in a new environment. Furthermore, she travelled on a train ride across the spirit world to visit Zeniba in hope of breaking her curse over Haku.]

2. What is the main issue in the text?
[The main issue in this text would be the autocracy rule. Yubaba, the main antagonist of the film and an old witch with an inhumanly large head and nose, supervises the bathhouse with an over-bearing and authoritarian personality. She took Chihiro's name and renames her "Sen" in order to hold power over her for the duration of the contract. She also does this to her other workers, so she can keep them in service forever. Haku works as Yubaba's direct subordinate, often running dirty errands and performing various missions for her. Furthermore, discrimination is also a problem throughout the text. After Chihiro is put to work, she encounters difficulties; she was given hard and menial tasks. As an additional example, she was denied bath tokens whereas others were granted those with ease. Besides that, greed for money is an obvious topic. Yubaba is only interested in taking care of guests for money, while the bathhouse staffs are crazy over gold.]

3. What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?
[Chihiro Ogino, the ten-year old protagonist of the film, has several commendable traits. During her adventure she matures from a whiny, self-centered, and pessimistic child to a hard-working, responsible, optimistic young girl who has learned to care for others. She is also persistent, as shown when she insists on getting a job from Yubaba. Once being accepted, she works diligently with the help of Lin, who in the end warms up to Chihiro and grows a strong bond with her. It can be seen that she eventually becomes very well-mannered and polite and cares deeply for those around her, especially Haku and No-Face.]

4. How does the text develop your understanding of the world?
[Personally, the text has helped to expand my understanding of being hard-working, particularly in a competitive society nowadays. Chihiro is an ideal role-model; she works like a horse to accomplish her daily chores under Yubaba and is willing to go the extra mile. She never gives up in her quest to recover her parents and escape. Besides that, there are lots of people in society who are dictators, more than eager to control and exploit others for their own personal gain. Yubaba has this sort of personality and practically worships gold. She rules her employees with an iron grip and seizes anything prized from them. Communist countries such as Vietnam perform such acts towards their population, and the people are oppressed. This, in my opinion, should be avoided as people have rights and freedom.]

1. How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?
[The novel opens with Alice having decided to take a short walk due to boredom, and she spots a talking rabbit with a pocket watch which vanishes into a rabbit hole. Curiosity takes Alice down the rabbit hole, and an extraordinary journey into a magical place begins. Her adventures with the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the caterpillar are of a kind that leads her to question herself and the knowledge that she has about herself and of the world. In fact, Alice undergoes a sort of self-realization journey throughout the story. The text also symbolizes a typical escapade of a child into a fantasy world.]

2. What is the main issue in the text?
[In my point of view, external features or appearance is the main issue in the text. In Alice’s quest, she encounters a variety of weird and mythical creatures such as a caterpillar who smokes with a Hookah, an overly grinning Cheshire cat, and even a Gryphon. These creatures were of great help to Alice, helping her in her journey across Wonderland. For example, her encounter with the caterpillar was very helpful because it is through the caterpillar that she manages to master the way in which one could change their height depending on the situation. Her experiences with the Mad Hatter and March Hare, however, were awful and any sort of attempt to learn something logical was futile. Alice’s encounter with the Queen of Hearts was equally appalling, as the Queen was a sadist at heart and preferred to execute her subjects at any given opportunity. Alice’s final realization of reality, that the characters are just a pack of cards, is the realization of the manner in which external features can influence the mind of a human being, especially that of a child.]

3. What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?
[Regarding qualities worth admiration or disapproval, I would prefer to express my disgust for the individuality of the Queen of Hearts. The most horrifying trait the Queen possesses is her fanatical gusto of sentencing her subjects to decapitation at almost any circumstance. Her favorite quote of ‘Off with her head!’ or ‘Off with his head!’ is excessively brutal and cruel, and Alice has an instant and lasting negative impression of her. Furthermore, the Queen does not act like one and lacks in reasoning. During the court session, she was more eager to behead the witnesses than hear their statements. Additionally, she is poor in controlling her people, as shown during the croquet game. At the end, all the players, except the King, the Queen, and Alice, were in custody and under sentence of execution. Luckily, the King pardoned the entire lot.]

4. How does the text develop your understanding of the world?
[The text helps me to understand the world through a different perspective; a growing child’s version of the wide world. During the years when people travel from their childhood to adulthood through adolescence, they are hardly aware of what exactly happened during the process. A psychological maturing occurs when Alice finds herself alone and, at times, neglected in Wonderland. She learns to fend for herself and realizes the importance to maintain her personal identity. More than once, she is misunderstood and eventually mistreated by the creatures in Wonderland. It is through her eyes that the author comments on various modern-day issues, for instance hypocrisy, greed, power, and sexuality. Furthermore, there are certain times in the text where Alice reacts in fear instead of affection, due to her still being a young child. This is exemplified by her experience with the puppy in Chapter 4. The cute puppy, in fact, just wanted to play with her. In spite of this, Alice was terribly afraid of the puppy, partly due to her shrunken size.]

1. How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?
[The text elaborates about the life of a Chinese girl named Adeline Yen Mah. A rundown of the text would reveal that it is a lifelong journey for her trying to achieve success in order to attain her parents’ love and recognition. Ever since Adeline’s father remarried, she suffered abuse, lack of care and ignorance by her parents, especially by her stepmother Jeanne Prosperi. As a whole, Adeline went through a great deal of misery and anguish. She was even sent to orphanages and boarding schools and was left to fend for herself. To make matters worse, her siblings bullied, manipulated and exploited her right until the very end. However, with the help of Aunt Baba and her grandfather Ye Ye, she managed to cope and furthered her studies. She was admitted in the University College in Bloomsbury as a medical student at the age of 17. In time, she passed her studies with flying colors and worked in many places such as Hong Kong and New York. Eventually her financial status would pose her no problems, attributable to her diligent attitude. Her journey into parenting was also a tough one, when her first marriage ended up as a failure.]

2. What is the main issue in the text?
[The foremost issue in this novel would be family problems, as faced by Adeline in her life. She was mistreated by Jeanne Prosperi, nickname ‘Niang’, the second wife of Joseph Yen. Niang had somehow brainwashed Adeline’s father and all he cared for was earning more money. Adeline and her other siblings were considered second-class by Niang and Joseph. She was ever jealous of Adeline’s exceptional academic performance. A good example: When she sensed that Aunt Baba had a positive influence on Adeline and that Adeline constantly seek comfort from Aunt Baba, she forbid them both from being together. Therefore she always conspired against the first four children of Joseph and caused disruption. Thus, there was continuous disarray among the Yen household. Furthermore, being materialistic is also another topic of concern. Adeline’s father practically worship and treasure money more than his children. Niang, on the other hand, was more than willing to inherit all of Joseph’s assets when he died by changing his will. Lydia, the eldest daughter and sister to Adeline, plotted against Adeline by poisoning Niang with fraudulent thoughts. This resulted in Adeline being excluded from Niang’s will and so her portion would be distributed among the rest.]

3. What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?
[Although Adeline is the main character in the book, I am instead obliged to bestow my admiration to her aunty, Aunt Baba. First and foremost, I would like to salute her for her willingness to sacrifice for the betterment of the family. She decided to give up any hope of marriage with the aim of taking care of her brother Joseph’s children. In the end, she became a spinster. She even resigned from her job at the Women’s Bank even though she was in a good position and received a steady pay. At a time, she had to rely on Joseph for financial support. Besides that, Adeline respected Aunt Baba deeply, as she was more like a mother to Adeline. This, in turn, displayed Aunt Baba’s caring and loving personality. She supported Adeline with all her heart; cheered Adeline up during hard times and praised her for brilliant academic results. Under the tyranny of Niang, Aunt Baba provided morale support to Adeline. She was also a pleasant companion to Ye Ye, keeping him company during lonely times. What's more, she had an iron resolve when it came to hard work. She strived for success under Grand Aunt and was promoted. She readily accepted life’s strains and labors, notably at the closing stages of the book, where Aunt Baba lived a harsh impoverished life though she was contented with it. Her final wish from Adeline was a humble one: she longed to move back into their old house at No.15 and spent her last days there. Adeline did fulfill that wish and she lived there till she died.]

4. How does the text develop your understanding of the world?
[As the main issue of the text is about family problems, it makes me understand that life isn’t just all sweet and smooth; there are people out there who are cruel and heartless. Niang is a perfect example of nastiness as described by Adeline. Niang had bullied Adeline and tarnished her image among family members with any available option. Niang, as a stepmother, obviously despised the first four children of Joseph and cared only for her own son Franklin. Besides Niang, Lydia, Gregory, Edgar and James all took turns picking on Adeline, as she was the youngest and the best achiever of the family. Lydia even went to the extent of imposing a sort of excommunication on Adeline for the sake of money, even when Adeline helped her son. This implies that in certain situations, greed for money is able to overcome family unity and values. Besides that, the text confirms that sexism and racism are topics subjected to immense criticism around the world. Adeline was lowly treated in England when working there due to her gender, whereas Joseph felt inferior to Niang by reason of her French blood. Undoubtedly, the sense of superiority among Europeans still exists, though this should be eradicated as everyone is equal in the eyes of God.]