Anniversary

In Anniversary by Jon Hassler, Hassler shows readers that the man in the text is part of the middle class based on his power and authority over his students through the use of symbolism.  Hassler shows this idea through the symbol of the red ink in the quote “In my ten years of teaching I have learned to understand the power of red ink” (Hassler, 37).  In this quote, the symbol is the red ink.  The color red symbolizes power and strength.  Hassler uses the symbol of red ink in order to demonstrate the amount of power that the man in the text holds.  The man is a teacher and this symbol clearly shows that he has a lot of power and control over his students because he has the power to give them any grade that he feels is the best to suit the piece of writing that they constructed.  He gave one of his students named Becky a higher grade than she deserved because she had wrote about her father not doing well and it was a very sentimental and emotional piece of writing.  Being able to give a student any grade demonstrates the amount of power that he has over his students.  By having power and control over his students, it points out that the students are weak and inferior to the teacher.  This demonstrates that the man is part of the middle class because although he has power over his students, he wouldn't be considered extremely powerful in society based on his occupation of teacher.  Therefore, throughout the text, the man shows that he is part of the middle class through the use of the symbol of red ink that Hassler uses in order to show the man’s power and authority over his students.
In order to fix this composition, I first changed the wording on my thesis so instead of saying that Hassler showed the man as being part of the upper class, I said that he was part of the middle class.  I changed it to middle class because he does have power over his students, but he is not very powerful in the rest of society.  I also added an example into my composition about the fact that he gave a student a higher grade than she deserved because her writing was sentimental and emotional.  I used this example in order to help analyze my thesis and help prove the point that I was making.