Read Eula Biss's essay "No Man's Land," which was handed out in Tuesday's class. Type and print your responses to the following questions:
1. What has Biss come to say in this essay?
2. According to Biss, what does it mean to be a pioneer? Don't look for one sentence to answer this question; think of the essay as a whole.
3. Biss writes, "Even now, at a much more wary and guarded age, what I feel when I am told my neighborhood is dangerous is not fear but anger at the extent to which so many of us have agreed to live within a delusion—namely, that we will be spared the dangers others suffer only if we move within certain very restricted spheres, and that insularity is a fair price to pay for safety" (p. 154). A. Are you persuaded by Biss's expression of anger in this sentence? If so, explain how she has earned the reader's trust to express her anger. If not, explain why you are not persuaded by her expression of anger. B. Whether or not you are persuaded by her anger, what do you think of the point she's trying to make?
