Alejandro Zepeda

Professor Lasley
English 1A Critical Thinking and Writing
10 October 2016
Robillards Essay through the use of BEAM
In Amy E. Robillards essay, It's Time for Class: Toward a More Complex Pedagogy of
Narrative, she explains the discrepancies prevalent between the way individuals of different
socioeconomic classes perceive time, distinguish the concrete from the abstract, and how the
use of the narrative in college composition is a powerful tool. College students of all social
classes should be allowed to use in their composition. Robillard reveals that ones upbringing
directly correlates to the way one perceives time and how this perception of time creates
distance and misunderstanding between both the working and the middle class, especially when
they are placed together in institutions of higher education. Robillard explains how the working
class cannot focus on the abstract because they are far too preoccupied with their present
responsibilities. w It is the concrete problems of life which the working class is primarily
concerned with. Their situation, unfortunately, does not allow them to linger on the abstract
because time is extremely limited. Whereas in the middle class, these individuals possess the
luxury of understanding the abstract and dwell on the things of the future. Also in her essay,
Robillard praises the use of the narrative. The narrative is the form through which these working
class students in universities can fulfillingly write powerful composition with the execution of
both their personal story and abstract analysis. These two practices in combination with each
other not only speaks to the experience of the working class student but also aids in leveling the
playing field on the court of academic composition between social classes. To better understand
the claims that Robillard desires to make in her essay, the implication of the BEAM analysis will
be used. The BEAM analysis was originally developed by Joseph Bizup and is described as a

better way through which students can classify their sources for producing effective research
composition.
The first element explained in Bizups BEAM analysis is background. Background as he
states is, the terms background and background source to refer to materials whose claims a
writer accepts as fact, whether these facts are taken as general information or deployed as
evidence to support the writers own assertions(75). Bizup explains how irrefutable fact should
be taken as true. In the context of Robillards essay this element can be applied by defining
what the working and middle classes are and the narrative itself. As Robillard writes, She
describes that both classes are intrinsically different in regards to the way that they perceive
time. Our background on the middle-class involves the preconceived notion that these
individuals can fully live a college experience to its fullest. They have access to the resources
needed to succeed academically and perform to the satisfaction of university professors.
Working-class individuals do not function nor are they educated in the same way, therefore, their
performance at the university level fails in comparison to that of middle-class students. Robillard
goes along to define the narrative and its importance. Robillard says the narrative helps in
understanding the following,We understand our present by interpreting our past, analyzing its
details and selecting the plot line(84). The narrative is an account of someones personal
experiences and stories. Robillards journey from the working class to the middle class was not
simple, however, she finds the narrative to be a vital piece of her identity in her writings.
Bizup then goes on to the next element of research writing which is the Exhibit. As Bizup
mentions, I use the terms exhibit and exhibit source to refer to materials a writer offers for
explication, analysis, or interpretation(75) In other words, the exhibit can be seen as examples
that Robillard uses to make her claims. In the process of explaining the importance of the
narrative, Robillard gives an exhibit with the example of her own narrative. Robillard states in
her essay,I am immersed (present tense) in the middle-class value system of higher education.
But I come from a lower-class background. I hesitate to call mine a working-class background

because my father died when I was four and my mother didn't work until I was in high school.
We lived on Social Security and welfare(83). Robillard uses her unique perspective as someone
who grew up in working-class who eventually made her way up into middle-class society to
defend her stance on the importance of the narrative why it is so essential to working-class
students.
The following element that comes next in Bizups BEAM method is A,Arguments. Bizup
regards this method as, I use the terms argument and argument source to refer to materials
whose claims a writer affirms, disputes, refines, or extends in some way(75). Robillard
challenges the school of thought on the narrative and stakes her claim for why this practice
should be more widely accepted within the academy. Many universities and university
professors teach composition through the abstract form of analysis and argument. These are,
however, strategies with which working-class students are not familiar with. The narrative, she
believes, is a tool with which a working class student can further develop his or her composition
along with analysis and argumentation. Robillard remarks on the way the narrative is viewed,
The concrete, well, that was too simple, it was what others considered peripheral.I think this is
the reasoning that writing teachers fall prey to when they decide that narrative is too easy for
students, that narrative doesn't challenge students to think(81). The narrative is too often
seens as unnecessary or irrelevant because of the fact that it is the sole production of the
student. Robillard states how the academy has already determined how all students should
learn and the narrative, unfortunately, does not fall under that spectrum. Robillard remarks, As
long as we continue to devalue the possibilities of narrative in the composition classroom,we will
continue to marginalize the possibilities for working-class students to develop an understanding
of why things happen, their consequences,their material results in the present(76). This
statement further reinforces the notion that the divide between the social classes will only
continue to grow when college composition is not catered to those who are participating in it. It

is for this reason that working-class student need a tool such as the narrative so that they may
have chance to excel along with their middle-class peers.
The following and final element in Joseph Bizups BEAM strategy is the method. Bizup
clarifies the final element as, ... materials from which a writer derives a governing concept or a
manner of working(76) These are the sources through which Robillard drives her essay to
support the use of the narrative in university composition. At the beginning of her essay,
Robillard cites three authors and three of their quotations. [I]n my family the past provided the
only possible understanding of the present. -Linda Brodkey",Writing on the Bias"528 (74). It is
this quotation from Brodkey that propels the vital function of the narrative which is to make
sense of the present through reflecting on the past. The following quotation goes on to extend
on the feelings of the working-class, When left my to own devices, I continue to measure the
value of the present in terms of itself rather than the future.The future interests me when the
present becomes intolerable Brodkey 542(74) From this quotation, Robillard extrapolates the
main concern of the working-class which is the lack of focus the working class has on the future.
Although the working class is concerned with the future, the priority of the working class is to
live in the present. The working class individual cannot be solely concerned with the future
because he or she must first assure themselves if they have enough to eat the next day or if
they have earned enough to pay the electricity bill for the month. These are the problems that
the working-class person must first prioritize before he or she can start focusing on the future.
The final quotation goes as follows, Autobiography is a sensitive instrument of critique,
certainly the only critical apparatus sensitive enough to register the subtle rumblings of class in
higher education. - Carolyn Leste Law, The Making of the Working- Class Academics 7 (74).
Robillard goes on to elaborate on this by detailing the fact that the narrative is essentially the
only tool through which universities can grasp the reality of the working-class. Robillard
develops her school of thought by identifying sources whom she believes reflect the qualities
and benefits associated with the narrative.

Although BEAM is a useful tool in developing coherent analysis of any writing, it is not
the only form of Rhetorical analysis. Rhetorical analysis involves analyzing who and what is
trying to be persuaded and how effective that persuasion is on the reader. Strategies such as
word choice and tone play roles in the effectiveness a well. Many other aspects come to play for
example: The speaker, what is the message and what is the purpose of the message, what kind
of audience is the speaker attempting to reach, and what forms of persuasion should be used.
There are three ways in which we can achieve a persuasive tone in our rhetoric. This first is
regarded as Ethos. This use of this form designates whether our the writer is credible or not.
The writer must first establish a connection with the audience that he is attempting to convince.
The writer must therefore make himself sound completely informed on the topic that he wishes
to present his audience. The next category is Pathos. Through pathos, the writer is capable of
making his audience experience different emotions. He can influence his audience and write
effectively enough so that they may identify with the topic. The final category is Logos.
Through logos, the writer can make reasonable arguments and claims with sufficient proof and
evidence to support his points and convince his audience.
Overall, the BEAM method that Joseph Bizup has created presents another
possible option to analyzing and developing rhetoric. Background demonstrates Robillard's
concrete definitions of the working and middle class and their differences along with the further
explanation of the narrative. Robillard uses her own personal experience as a narrative for her
exhibit. Robillard continues to further challenge the academy and their stance on the use of the
narrative and engages in effective argument. She then makes her points possible by involving
the ideas and methods of other writers who believe the value of involving one's past and
experience into their writing.

Brief summary of Robillards Essay

Explain BEAM
Look at traditional ways of Rhetorical analysis- word choice, Tone
5 double spaced essay

Method- Narrative provides one way of interpreting and ordering a history. Devaluing narrative,
then, can deny certain students the opportunity to develop a class consciousness, thereby all
but ensuring their uncritical identification with the middle class
Method- ...because the working-class student struggles with the relationship between his or her
past and his or her present, it becomes critical that we recognize the ways students rely on their
past experiences to understand new knowledge.