Collections Grade 11 Guiding Questions
Collection 3Against Nature" by Joyce Carol Oates
Read the argument "Against Nature" by Joyce Carol Oates. Then, reread the lines indicated with each question below. Answer each
question, citing text evidence.
1. Epigraphs, or quotations, often appear at the beginning of a work to summarize or emphasize author's purpose.
Epigraph: Why did Oates choose these two epigraphs to open her essay?
2. Lines 1-5: Read the author byline and identify Oates's main purpose for writing.
3. Lines 63-68: Which text suggests a narrative writing structure? Which text suggests an informative writing structure?
Analyze and evaluate the effect of the use of multiple structures on the essay.
4. Lines 80-97: What are the three brief narratives in these lines? Analyze and evaluate why Oates includes these stories at
this point in her essay.
5. Lines 117–124: What claim does Oates make in these lines? How does it further her claims about nature? What evidence
does Oates use to support this claim?
6. Lines 125–136: How do Oates's comments about Thoreau in these lines connect to her ideas in the previous paragraph?
7. Lines 252-253: Why, at the end of her essay, does Oates refer to Johnson's quote from the epigraph?