Simple Pleasures Criticized

In the essay your group has been assigned, find how Holland presents, and responds to . . .

- Reasons why People Aren’t Indulging in Her Simple Pleasure

- Criticisms of Her Simple Pleasure

 Find:

• Where in the passage is the titular activity criticized? If it's just one or two sentences, name the page, and which paragraph on it, and the sentence/line (e.g. “pg. 4, 1^st full paragraph, 2^nd sentence”). If there are one or more paragraphs with criticisms, name those paragraphs, then pick from within them just one or two criticisms to discuss in the next several bullet points.
• Who is it voicing the objection? “Some,” “Other people”?
• What verb is used to characterize their criticism? Do they “object,” or “say”?
• What tone does Holland have toward the objectors? Scorn? Understanding?
• How much space is given to the objection itself: a phrase? A sentence? A pair of sentences? A paragraph? More?
• How does Holland respond? Does she directly attack the opposing view, proving it wrong? Or does she offer a concession: they’re partly right? And what is the tone(s) of her response?
• Overall, why do you think the length, tone and content of her response would help her to bring people around to endorsing her "simple pleasure."

Example: Holland advocates for fresh-brewed coffee in “Coffee,” so where does she present the opinions of those who criticize fresh-brewed coffee, or don’t drink it?

• Here, on pg. 7 in paragraph 1, sentence 1: "For you instant coffee drinkers who claim you use the savage brew because you need only a single cup, the answer is equally simple . . ."
• She calls them "you."
• You "claim"
• By calling fake (instant) coffee a "savage brew" she mocks it, but with humor. As a drinker of fresh-brewed coffee, she's civilized. Instant coffee drinkers are barbarians--wild and primitive, like witches "brewing" poison. This is hyperbole--funny because coffee isn't that important.
• The opposite POV gets a clause "you who claim that . . . only a single cup"
• The rebuttal takes 4 sentences to describe the steps of making "real coffee," and one more sentence characterizing those steps as "no . . . more difficult or time consuming than stirring chemical powders." Note: here, "chemical powders" has a more negative connotation than "savage brew." This is a precise, almost scientific description of "instant coffee" that suggests it's unnatural and therefore unhealthy.
• She makes it sound like making fresh-brewed coffee is easy, and that instant "chemical" coffee is so unsatisfying, that as a reader I thought, why not give real coffee a try? She has given me the recipe and procedure to make good coffee. What's stopping me?