Writing a Narrative Argument
Suggested Essays

From The Mercury Reader (Pearson Custom Publishing @ www.mercuryreader.com)

• Maya Angelou, "Graduation"
• William F. Buckley, Jr., "Why Don't We Complain?"
• Annie Dillard, "The Chase"
• Olaudah Equiano, "Journey into Slavery"
• Louise Erdrich, "Adam"
• Pico Iyer, "Tour of the City: Encounters Between East and West"
• M. Kadi, "Welcome to Cyberia"
• Jack Kevorkian, "A Case of Assisted Suicide"
• George Orwell, "A Hanging"
• Anna Quindlen, "Gay"
• Mike Rose, "I Just Wanna Be Average"
• Scott Russell Sanders, "Death of a Homeless Man"
• Randy Shilts, "Conduct Unbecoming: The 'Copy' Berg Story"
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Address to the Seneca Falls Conference"
• E.B. White, "Once More to the Lake"
• Patricia J. Williams, "The Death of the Profane"

Note: Each of these essays is listed in The Mercury Reader Selection Guide with "Narration" and "Persuasion" as the primary strategies of development.  Many other essays (along with images and literary selections) are included in the database which would also make fine texts for discussion and models.

Bradbury, Nancy Mason, and Arthur Quinn.  Audiences and Intentions: A Book of Arguments.  3rd ed.  Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997. 

Note: This reader includes a section titled "Five Arguments Using Personal Experience" (pages 155-185).  The following five selections are included:

• Maxine Hong Kingston, "No Name Woman"
• Enrique Lopez, "Back to Bachimba"
• E.B. White, "Once More to the Lake"
• Paule Marshall, "From the Poets in the Kitchen"
• Richard Wilbur, "The Writer"

Faigley, Lester, and Jack Selzer.  Good Reasons with Contemporary Arguments: Reading, Designing, and Writing Effective Arguments.  2nd ed.  New York: Pearson-Longman, 2004.

Note: This rhetoric-reader may be the only one on the market right now with a specific chapter on "Narrative Arguments" (Chapter 8, pages 169-181).  As an example, it includes Leslie Marmon Silko's essay, "The Border Patrol State."  The chapter also includes a nice checklist of "Steps in Writing a Narrative Argument."

McQuade, Donald, and Robert Atwan, eds.  The Writer's Presence: A Pool of Readings.  4th ed.  Boston: Bedford-St. Martin's, 2003.

Note: This reader has an Alternative Table of Contents on pages 917-930.  Under "Narratives" is a sub-section listing "Narratives That Illustrate a Position or a Philosophical Perspective," and under "Arguments" is a sub-section listing essays "Arguing from Personal Experience."