<p>I came across the prompt "We most resent in others the very flaws that we ourselves possess. Agree or disagree?" and found myself at a loss for examples. Does anyone have some suggestions?</p>
<p>In my thread “Grade/read my essay” (also in this subsection of the forum) you’ll find an almost complete essay prompt from Princeton Review. Sorry, I’m just too lazy too type it all up again :P.</p>
<p>On the agree side. Many of us possess a level of arrogance, ignorance, greed and jealousy. So if you agree:</p>
<p>Arrogance. Think of world leaders who caused incredible harm to their nations because of their overconfidence and arrogance. Examples: (1) How about Napoleon and the very destructive invasion of Russia in 1812 and the followup battles that led to Waterloo. (2) How about Stalin and the death camps in Siberia, the cold war, etc. (3) How about Richard Nixon and the Watergate fiasco.</p>
<p>Ignorance. Think of modern world leaders who base their world view on discredited notions of human behavior. Think of the Church and its notions of scientific heresy.</p>
<p>Greed. Think of Bernard Madoff and his Ponzi scheme. Or Enron, etc.</p>
<p>Jealousy. Think of your favorite Shakespearean tragedy. Or opera.</p>
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<p>On the disagree side. Most of us possess a level of excessive persistence, blind loyalty, etc. These character facets may be viewed as “flaws”. But properly channeled they can lead to greatness.</p>
<p>Blind Persistence. Think of the great scientists, such as Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Mendel, Darwin, Einstein, and Crick & Watson. Think of the great explorers such as Columbus and Magellan, etc. Think of the great sportsmen and sportswomen who’ve climbed the highest peaks, who have run the fastest mile, etc.</p>
<h2>Blind Loyalty. Think of the characters in your favorite novels – those who displayed deep loyaly. Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bells Toll.”, “The Great Gatsby”, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, and add your own favorites.</h2>
<p>This is an open question – the most general of essay topics. You can apply it to every facet of human behavior.</p>
<p>Thank you! That was insightful.
While, using an example such as the Enron scandal, should I just elaborate on how it depicts human greed and lust for money? How do I show that we ourselves possess these very flaws? If I use an entire paragraph to describe the greed of Enron executives and then include a line saying that we all possess greed on some level and thus resent their behaviour, would that be sufficient? Or is there another (better) way to go about it?</p>
<p>I don’t see the point in the essay of dwelling on the “fact” that many of us have flaws, such as greed. It’s self evident. A sentence or two regarding your personal weakness would suffice. Focus primarily on the examples – and especially in the manner that they demonstrate the destructive aspect of such emotions.</p>
<p>Write! Practice! It’ll become obvious to you. Recipes don’t help.</p>
<p>I remember doing a practice test with this same essay question, I don’t remember where though.
For the Agree: I would use Beowulf, I would actually use this example and sort of bend it to include a story about how a prince hated Beowulf for being to weak to slay the Dragon, but in reality Beowulf is actually stronger than the prince. Parts of the Beowulf story were actually made up by the way.
For a second example I would use Hitler or something related to WWII since many of them hated the other countries for similar flaws that each individual country had. Or I can also use the Treaty of Versailles and how many blamed Woodrow for the failure of it when in reality America as a whole had a huge part too in its failure to pass.</p>
<p>Remember that you do not have to be 100% factual. I would say if something is believable, make it up. Also, remember that the people grading your essays know you had 25 minutes to write it, so keep that in mind. If it looks like you wrote it in 25 minutes, you can expect at least an 8, probably even a 10 or 11.</p>