Prompt: In both "This is Water" and "Consider the Lobster," David Foster Wallace crafts thought-provoking discussions that challenge readers to reconsider their assumptions about everyday life and morality. Wallace employs a range of rhetorical strategies to guide his audience toward critical reflection and empathy.

Choose either as your focus text, then write a well-developed essay analyzing how Wallace uses rhetorical strategies to achieve his purpose.

In "The Myth of Sisyphus," Albert Camus explores the concept of absurdity, describing Sisyphus's eternal task of rolling a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down as a metaphor for the human condition. Camus argues that life is inherently meaningless, yet humans can find meaning and personal fulfillment through the act of rebellion—by embracing the struggle itself. Camus writes, "The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Write an essay in which you take a position on the extent to which struggle and adversity are necessary for personal meaning and fulfillment. Use evidence from literature, history, philosophy, or your own experience to support your argument.

Samantha Irby has mastered the art of the rant—turning everyday annoyances into hilarious, exaggerated, and painfully relatable stories. Whether it’s the horror of answering phone calls, the awkwardness of social outings, or the absurdity of making small talk, she transforms minor grievances into comedy gold.

Now it’s your turn!

Write a short humorous rant in the style of Samantha Irby (or, if you prefer, in the spirit of Family Guy's "What Grinds My Gears?"). 

Your rant should:

• Focus on an everyday pet peeve: (group projects, bad Wi-Fi, loud chewers, unread emails, “fun” icebreakers, people who walk too slowly, etc.)

• Use hyperbole (exaggeration): to make your frustration as dramatic as possible

• Include self-deprecating humor: make fun of yourself along the way

• Use colloquial, conversational diction: (write like you're complaining to a friend)

• Play with sentence structure: (fragments, repetition, rhetorical questions) for comedic effect

Example opening:
Nothing fills me with more existential dread than seeing a "Hey, can I call you?" text. Call me? What are we, in the early 2000s? Are you my doctor with test results? Is my house on fire? No? Then text like a normal person. I cannot—WILL NOT—engage in real-time dialogue like some kind of medieval peasant who doesn’t have access to emojis and a "read" receipt delay strategy. Absolutely not.

Second example opening: 

You wanna know what really grinds my gears? When people leave the microwave with one second left and don’t clear it. Like, come on, just press the button! Now I gotta walk over, see “:01” blinking at me, and hit “Cancel” like I’m cleaning up after your unfinished business. It's not hard. It’s basic microwave etiquette.

That, and when someone says “Let’s circle back” in a meeting but never actually circles back. Just say you don’t wanna talk about it!

Prompt: Samantha Irby, an American comedian and essayist known for her candid storytelling, explores social anxiety, personal boundaries, and modern friendship in both her essays "The Worst Friend Date I Ever Had" and "hung up!" She employs rhetorical choices such as self-deprecation humor, hilarious anecdotes, hyperbolic and blunt diction (word choice), thought-provoking sarcasm, and vulgar profanities to have us giggling out of our chairs with each page, while also being quite convincing on the troubles of modern day life.

In a well-developed body paragraph, utilizing two pieces of evidence, analyze one or two of Irby's rhetorical choices and how they assist her to achieve her purpose.