Answer:
1. Rebecca Walker focuses on her own son as she develops her thesis. Is doing so an effective strategy to reach her audience? Explain whether the addition of quantitative evidence would have strengthened or weakened the introduction. As you develop your response, take into account what you believe Walker’s purpose is.
Walker's thesis provides an effective strategy without the use of quantitative evidence, as such evidence is most effective at supplying information of a general population, rather than one individual. As such, adding quantitative evidence would have weakened the introduction, as it would have taken the focus away from Walker's son and put it towards a large group of children having his same experiences.
2. Do you think the pressure Walker’s son was experiencing was simply standard peer pressure, or do you agree with her that the pressure was tied to gender roles?
Explain.
I think that Walker's son was experiencing peer pressure, just not a kind Walker has seen before. I believe Walker's son was going through a new, unique peer pressure specific to the school he was attending. He may possibly have been dealing with a type of peer pressure unique to his area/demographic.
3. Do you agree with this statement: “My beautiful boy and every other mother’s beautiful boy had what essentially boiled down to two options: fight actually in sport, or fight virtually on the computer” (para. 13)?
No. There are other ways to deal with peer pressure without conforming to it.
4. What does Walker mean by “the cultural imperative” (para. 14)?
A cultural imperative is a custom that you must conform to in order to succeed.
5. Trace the causal links that Walker makes in order to move from the pressure her son feels to participate in competitive sports to her worry that he “was being primed for war” (para. 17). Do you find any faulty linkages in her logic? If so, identify and explain.
First, Walker begins by describing her son's current mood and comparing it with his usual disposition. She knows that due to his behavior, something must have gone wrong at school.
Later, her theory is proven true when her son mentions sports, a topic that shocks her as it is not something he normally talks about. After his tearful outburst that he does not "have anything to talk about", Walker made the connection that because he felt left out due to his not playing any kind of competitive game (something his group of peers actively participate in), her son felt the need to engage in a sport of some kind.
Thus, her fear of her son being left out caused her to jump from the idea of her son picking up a baseball bat or a joystick to picking up a gun; as such, I do not believe she created a faulty link per se, but that rather, her paranoia resulted in her jumping to conclusions.
