Blog#3: How is writing an act of aggression disguised as an act of charity?

After rereading the article assigned by David Bartholomae, I noticed that there were a lot of details I had missed, but the most interesting phrase that stuck out to me was "...what is generally true about writing-that it is an act of aggression disguised as an act of charity"(Bartholomae 516). Question number nine asks, what is my understanding of this? When thinking about the word aggression, I naturally think of physical gestures, violence, attack, and force. However in this particular context I am "appropriating" the word as "proactive", "goal-orientated", and "willful". When thinking of the word "charity" within this context it seems to be a "foundation" to promote goodness, a "gift" that benefits all beings. The concept of charity seems to fit the results of language, dialogue and literature...after all, literary works are often viewed as collective outlooks on diverse human experiences. I think Bartholomae's reference to writing being a form of aggression disguised as charity is somewhat accurate and is expressed by his commentary on the "commonplace", "a commonplace then is a culturally or institutionally authorized concept or statement that carries its own necessary elaboration...provides a point of reference and a set of pre-articulated explanations that are readily available to organize and interpret experience"(Bartholomae 516). When talking about beginner writers, there is an understanding that they are "outsiders" of discourse trying to work themselves in, they can begin to do this by attempting to access these "commonplaces" which seems to be various voices/perspectives. For example, the student who wrote the clay model essay relied on his "scientific language" to try and dramatize his experience with building the earth model in order to orient himself within the college-bound setting. This is the aggression that Bartholomae is referring to. Aggression seems to be the "risks" that these beginner writers are taking in hopes of being considered worthy of gravitating more closer to this realm of discourse. The "charity" then seems to be the final product of this aggressive effort. As the writer takes more risks by practicing different voices and writing from different perspectives, their writing becomes more charitable. It is easier for the new found "expert" writer to "better imagine how a reader would respond to a text and can transform and restructure what they have to say around a goal shared with a reader"(Bartholomae 514).

In conclusion, this phrase that Bartholomae uses describes the journey/creative processes of becoming a "better" writer. Students are aggressively eager to imitate and anticipate how their teachers "know what they know" and how they would work out the problems that they assign in order to construct a good piece of writing. Students have to actively assume that they already are privileged without actually being so all while being completely in tune with their audience and anticipating the skepticism/ideals they hold. It is using this aggression to balance their own individual voice simultaneously and if done correctly, eventually these writers will be able to be a part of some charitable discourse that is privileged enough to partake in the writings of collective personalities within our human experience.