Audrey Holmes -- The Paradox of Time

  In thinking about the Mark Twain quotation that was part of the prompt
  for this assignment, it's necessary to recall that Twain was first
  and foremost a "humorist" and a satirist -- his first goal in almost everything 
  he said and wrote was *to make people laugh* (at others and at themselves) 
  and then to get them to think about how silly a lot of their preconceptions 
  and actions are.   So it seems to me that his idea that aging in reverse 
  would lead to an "infinitely happier life" is not really a serious proposal. It's 
  a way to get us to laugh about the indignities of aging.  He wants us to think 
  about whether being young is really any better than being old and whether life 
  really would be any better "in reverse."  But it's also possible to take this
  as the opportunity for a philosophical reflection and your paper is doing
  that very well.  

  One initial comment: You say that "aging would be harmonious with experience"
  if one aged in reverse or something similar a couple of times.  It was not
  immediately clear to me what you meant by this.  But I think I understand now.  
  Aren't you saying something more like: "a person's level of experience and 
  his or her physical condition would be more closely aligned" if one aged in 
  reverse?  That's more like what you say on page 2 and it would be a clearer
  way to describe what you are getting at from the start.  

  Apart from the fact that I think you're taking Twain too seriously, your essay 
  relating to this idea from the film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is 
  excellent.  You have thought deeply about the movie and you have developed a 
  very strong and detailed understanding of how it works and what it tries to say.  
  You do a good job of pointing out ways that Benjamin's story essentially 
  shows that what Twain is saying is not true at all on the literal level.  You 
  also do a very good job of discussing the other key issue.  If *everyone* was 
  aging "in reverse" together, then that would be normal and there wouldn't be 
  any story.  But an individual living "in reverse" in a world of people aging 
  in the normal direction faces extreme obstacles at almost every step of the 
  way.  Even though he or she might have many of the same physical-age-appropriate 
  experiences as other people, his or her physical appearance and condition 
  will always be out of step with his or her mental age *from the point of view 
  of those other people*.  

  One usage comment:  It's true that the phrase "begging the question" has come
  to mean "asking for, or raising the question" especially in everyday speech.
  However, it originally meant a technical logical fallacy in an argument
  where you "beg the question" by assuming the thing you are trying to demonstrate.
  You might run into sticklers on this point in writing for other classes.  I know
  I (mis)use the phrase the same way you did from time to time, though.  So no 
  penalty; just be careful.  


  Content -- A

  Structure/Mechanics -- A