Question: L‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍awyers are inherently biased toward their clients. The clients are obviously biased. The mediator is the only individual who is unbiased, ‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍neutral, and not supposed to favor either party. Do you think in practice that this can actually be achieved?

14 Dec 2022,10:32 PM

Select two or three texts, and discuss the similarities and differences in how each deals with a common theme. Examples include, but are not limited to: the difference between humans and animals; love; death; sex and gender; grief and mourning; law and justice.

When considering the differences between two or three “treatments” of a theme, pay attention to the use of literary language. In other words, use the close reading skills we have practiced all semester, and which are outlined at length in the close reading handout.

Below is the list of texts you may use for your final paper.

Kant, "What is Enlightenment?"

Descartes, Discourse on Method

Wordsworth, "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal"

Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey,"

Coleridge, "Frost at Midnight"

Coleridge, "Rime of the antient mariner"

Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale"

Keats, "Ode on a Grecian urn"

Joyce, "The Dead"

Kafka, "The Metamorphosis"

Poems like Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale" or Keats, "Ode on a Grecian urn" and other you can find online. The rest of the texts I will send to you.

For this assignment, you will have to create your own two prompts!

Examples of the prompt can be:
Prompt 1. The differences between the theme of life in “To a Little Invisible Being Who is Expected Soon to Become Visible” and the theme of death in “A Slumber did my spirit seal.”

Prompt 2. How is the theme of death different and portrayed in “Ode to a nightingale” and “The rime od an ancient mariner.”

Prompt 1. How is the theme of pain/suffering present in "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" and in which way do the authors' use narrative to connect them to the living as well as the dead?

Prompt 2. Both poems, "Tintern Abby" and "Ode to a nightingale" both touch upon the recollection of memory. How do these texts similarly and contrastingly use them to address the future and the past?

Anyway, you have to create your own prompts.

Close Reading Handout:

Close reading is the most basic technique of literary analysis; it is the core skill of all literary criticism and scholarship. Close reading is so important because it is not just a kind of reading. In fact, it’s all about writing. Academic essays about works of literature are really made out of close readings. They are the building blocks of academic arguments about literature. Just like a play or a movie moves from scene to scene, an essay about a work of literature moves from one close reading to the next. The reason for this is really simple: arguments always rest on evidence, and for literary critics, the evidence is always from the text. Your evidence will always be a quote. Close reading is the technique we use to analyze textual evidence.

When you close read, you select a single passage from the larger work in order to observe the facts and details about the text. Your goal is to notice all the striking features of the text. And because texts are really just words, you do this by examining the way in which the text is written. You might notice:

--Rhetorical features, like Caliban’s use of “performative” language to name himself in A Tempest. A paper comparing The Tempest to A Tempest might examine other uses of the performative across the two texts. Think of magic spells and curses… Another example of a rhetorical feature is “apostrophe,” which a comparative paper on Coleridge and Wordsworth might examine.

--Style and Literary Language. For example, the complex metaphors and even the sound of Césaire’s language.

Structural Features. Is there something striking about the way in which a text is organized? How are the different parts put together? How, for example, does the structure (the sequence of events) of Descarte’s Discourse on Method serve the book’s central argument?

--Patterns in the treatment of specific themes. In other words, are there patterns in the way certain topics are talked about? Is there a common thread, for example, in Keats’ reflections on mortality?

--Patterns of correspondence or opposition. Are some ideas always associated with others? Are some ideas always opposed to each other?

Please note that in this handout uses the framework developed by Jarrel D. Wright, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. I suggest you take a look at his website. His description of close reading is very helpful:

http://teachingcollegelit.com/tcl/?page_id=255

Every Close Reading has three steps: (0) Understanding, (1) Noticing, and (2) Explaining.

Always Read with a pencil or pen in hand. Annotate the text. Highlight key words and phrases. Write in the margins. When you notice a feature that seems significant, write it down. Close reading is already writing.

(0) Understanding

First, you must gain an accurate understanding of the text’s surface meaning. What precisely is happening in the text? What is its context? Who is speaking? Do you understand all the words? Which words, phrases or sentences are being used literally and which words and phrases are being used figuratively? (In other words, which descriptions tell us what is “actually” happening and which descriptions are being used metaphorically to tell us something specific about what is actually happening?) If you understand the text in this sense, you are able to summarize and paraphrase it. Getting here is already a lot of work, but it is only step zero because close reading goes beyond mere summary and paraphrase. In your analytical writing, use as little paraphrase or summary as you can. Close reading only happens after understanding.

(1) Noticing / Observing

Once you are sure you understand the surface meaning of the text, read it again. You should already have been reading with a pencil, but it bears repeating: highlight key words and phrases. Write in the margins. What stands out in the way the text is written? When you notice a feature that seems significant, write it down. Here you are reading with a microscope. Pay attention to small details in the way the text is written. Our assumption here is that the details of the text – even the choice of a single word – matter. The text might always have been written in a different way, with different words, different sentences, different rhythms. What difference does it make that the text has been written in this particular way?

Now step back and look for patterns in the things you’ve noticed about the text: repetition, contradiction, similarity. Interpret your observations. This is called “inductive reasoning:” you move from the observation of facts (your data) and to the interpretation of them. What conclusions can be inferred from the patterns you have observed? What are the effects of these miniscule textual details? What effects to their patterns have within the larger text? How does the pattern work? Why does it work in that way? What function does the pattern have within the whole? What literary or aesthetic role does it have? Are there concepts behind the text? Do the patterns of words indicate a network of ideas?

(2)

Explaining

In answering these questions, you are moving on to the third and final step, (2) explaining. You are now transitioning from interesting features of the text to making reasoned claimed about what features are significant in the text. If you think you can describe in a sentence or two what makes these features significant and why, then you have a thesis. By the end of your close reading you now have the thesis of a paper – and you are able to defend that thesis by performing that close reading in writing. Close reading is both the work you do to arrive at your main idea and your main method for arguing and defending it. In observing striking features and noticing patterns, you have collected a mass of data. This data is the evidence you provide in the form of quotes. Your job in writing is thus to show, step by step, how the text is working and why.

Below is the list of texts you may use for your final paper.

Kant, "What is Enlightenment?"

Descartes, Discourse on Method

Wordsworth, "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal"

Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey,"

Coleridge, "Frost at Midnight"

Coleridge, "Rime of the antient mariner"

Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale"

Keats, "Ode on a Grecian urn"

Joyce, "The Dead"

Kafka, "The Metamorphosis"

Expert answer

The notion that a mediator can be unbiased and neutral in their approach is an ideal goal to strive for, but it is not always achievable in practice. It may be the case that certain cases have predetermined biases and underlying motivations of the parties involved which cannot be ignored, thus making a truly "unbiased" mediation difficult. For example, if one party has significant financial resources or leverage over the other, it may inevitably lead to an unjust result even with an impartial mediator.

Moreover, there are potential conflicts of interest when selecting a mediator such as loyalty towards either side or having prior knowledge of both parties’ positions which can influence the outcome of negotiations. Additionally, ethical concerns arise when mediators fail to remain uninvolved in the resolution of a dispute, as they are supposed to act as an objective third party and remain impartial.

In spite of these difficulties, however, it is possible for mediators to remain neutral and unbiased in their approach. They can do so by being aware of any potential ethical dilemmas before entering negotiations and actively managing any biases that may arise during the process. Furthermore, lawyers should refrain from taking sides or pushing one party’s interests over another's when presenting evidence or making arguments in order to ensure fairness. Ultimately, true impartiality between two parties in mediation is achievable but only if all involved put forth the effort to ensure neutrality throughout the process. ‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍‍This requires open and honest communication, as well as an appreciation for each other's perspectives in order to reach a resolution that is satisfactory for both parties. By following these guidelines, it is possible for mediators to remain unbiased and achieve their goal of settling disputes fairly and efficiently.

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