They Say, I Say Ch 5 Exercise 1

In the passage by Julie Charlip, a social historian, the issue of social class in discussed via her own personal opinions and through supporting statements made by others. However, in the sharing of all information, Charlip is able to successfully set her own opinions apart from those of other people. For example, her passage was opened with a quote from Marx and Engels. To introduce their views Charlip clearly states, "Marx and Engels wrote". She then continues on and argues how she felt about the quotation saying, "if only that were true..". Charlip goes on and later shares her thoughts by saying things like, "I find myself...". Lastly, in setting up her argument on social class, she used a quote from one of her sociology professors and introduced it with, "his definition". Charlip followed this quotation up with her own opinion saying, "but I always felt". Clearly, in her passage on social class, Julie Charlip not only included the views of other people but also her feelings toward the subject matter. She distinguished the differences in opinions for the readers through successfully setting up each statement which lead to minimal confusion and a clear idea of her stance as the author.