Exploring the Text

  1. What does Joyce Carol Oates think about boxing?

    Question

    WvD/qlpt4lzzWb4zUwGWBQhKPjtDvqj8sRamu7J1DAyqPwYZ7lQ7Wr5WbEA=
    Chapter 9 - The Cruelest Sport - Exploring the Text: What does Joyce Carol Oates think about boxing?
  2. What do the two epigraphs—one from Walt Whitman and the other a Greek inscription—suggest about how Oates will approach the subject of boxing?

    Question

    WvD/qlpt4lzzWb4zUwGWBQhKPjtDvqj8sRamu7J1DAyqPwYZ7lQ7Wr5WbEA=
    Chapter 9 - The Cruelest Sport - Exploring the Text: What do the two epigraphs—one from Walt Whitman and the other a Greek inscription—suggest about how Oates will approach the subject of boxing?
  3. Oates alludes to Thomas Hobbes, a seventeenth-century philosopher, who described the life of man as “nasty, brutish, and short,” to characterize the life of a boxer (para. 2), adding “and not even that remunerative.” What is the effect of this allusion? What other literary allusions does Oates make? How do they help her develop her ideas about boxing?

    Question

    WvD/qlpt4lzzWb4zUwGWBQhKPjtDvqj8sRamu7J1DAyqPwYZ7lQ7Wr5WbEA=
    Chapter 9 - The Cruelest Sport - Exploring the Text: Oates alludes to Thomas Hobbes, a seventeenth-century philosopher, who described the life of man as “nasty, brutish, and short,” to characterize the life of a boxer (para. 2), adding “and not even that remunerative.” What is the effect of this allusion? What other literary allusions does Oates make? How do they help her develop her ideas about boxing?
  4. What rhetorical strategies does Oates use in paragraph 6 to respond to the counterargument that boxing is “America’s most popularly despised sport.”

    Question

    WvD/qlpt4lzzWb4zUwGWBQhKPjtDvqj8sRamu7J1DAyqPwYZ7lQ7Wr5WbEA=
    Chapter 9 - The Cruelest Sport - Exploring the Text: What rhetorical strategies does Oates use in paragraph 6 to respond to the counterargument that boxing is “America’s most popularly despised sport.”
  5. In paragraph 9, Oates states that American boxing is about race, but that the moral issues are ambiguous, posing a rhetorical question about whether there is a moral distinction between “the spectacle of black slaves in the Old South being forced by their white owners to fight . . . and the spectacle of contemporary blacks fighting for multimillion-dollar paydays. . . .” Do you think there is a moral distinction? Does Oates answer the question? If so, how does her answer differ from yours?

    Question

    WvD/qlpt4lzzWb4zUwGWBQhKPjtDvqj8sRamu7J1DAyqPwYZ7lQ7Wr5WbEA=
    Chapter 9 - The Cruelest Sport - Exploring the Text: In paragraph 9, Oates states that American boxing is about race, but that the moral issues are ambiguous, posing a rhetorical question about whether there is a moral distinction between “the spectacle of black slaves in the Old South being forced by their white owners to fight . . . and the spectacle of contemporary blacks fighting for multimillion-dollar paydays. . . .” Do you think there is a moral distinction? Does Oates answer the question? If so, how does her answer differ from yours?
  6. Explain why Oates finds the sport of boxing paradoxical. Give examples to support your answer.

    Question

    WvD/qlpt4lzzWb4zUwGWBQhKPjtDvqj8sRamu7J1DAyqPwYZ7lQ7Wr5WbEA=
    Chapter 9 - The Cruelest Sport - Exploring the Text: Explain why Oates finds the sport of boxing paradoxical. Give examples to support your answer.
  7. Oates cites African American writer Gerald Early (para. 6), who compared boxing’s exploitation of maleness to prostitution and pornography’s exploitation of femaleness. Do you agree? Explain why or why not.

    Question

    WvD/qlpt4lzzWb4zUwGWBQhKPjtDvqj8sRamu7J1DAyqPwYZ7lQ7Wr5WbEA=
    Chapter 9 - The Cruelest Sport - Exploring the Text: Oates cites African American writer Gerald Early (para. 6), who compared boxing’s exploitation of maleness to prostitution and pornography’s exploitation of femaleness. Do you agree? Explain why or why not.
  8. Look carefully at paragraph 21, in which Oates creates a parallel between Muhammad Ali’s later fights with Joe Frazier and Shakespeare’s dark tragedy, King Lear. What is the effect of this comparison? How does the allusion help you understand the complexity of the sport of boxing and Oates’s feelings about it?

    Question

    WvD/qlpt4lzzWb4zUwGWBQhKPjtDvqj8sRamu7J1DAyqPwYZ7lQ7Wr5WbEA=
    Chapter 9 - The Cruelest Sport - Exploring the Text: Look carefully at paragraph 21, in which Oates creates a parallel between Muhammad Ali’s later fights with Joe Frazier and Shakespeare’s dark tragedy, King Lear. What is the effect of this comparison? How does the allusion help you understand the complexity of the sport of boxing and Oates’s feelings about it?