SummaryofLoveisaFallacy

1、Summary of the TextThis essay surpasses the very informal writing style of Charles Lamb, who was extraordinarily imaginative and enterprising, and indeed demonstratesthe fun and beauty of logic. It is told by the main character whose name is never revealed.Though only 18 years old, I was the elite o

2、f my peers. One Friday afternoon I found my stupid roommate Petey Burch lying in bed in great distress. At first I thought he was ill but then I discovered he was desperate for a raccoon coat, the fad at that time, declaring he would give anything for it. It occurred to me that I could get an old ra

3、ccoon coat from my father and exchange it for "something" I had been coveting for some time-his girlfriend Polly Espy.The next Monday morning, I returned to school and showed him the hairy coat. He went crazy. However, he was not so happy when I told him my request. After long thought he g

4、ave in and allowed me to date the beautiful Polly.My first date with Polly on Tuesday evening disappointed me so much that I almost returned her to Petey, for she seemed too foolish to be my wife. However, her physical charms were irresistible so I decided to teach her to think and to learn logic.Th

5、e next time, at the campus trysting place I taught her the fallacies called Dicto Simpliciter, Hasty Generalization, Post Hoc, and Contradictory Premises, but her head was logic-proof. Again I wanted to give her back to Petey. Yet, in for a penny, in for a pound. I decided to teach her Ad Misericord

6、iam, False Analogy, Hypothesis Contrary to Fact, and Poisoning the Well. At this final fallacy, a glimmer of intelligence sparked in her eyes. I enthusiastically followed it up with a review of all I had taught her. My five grueling nights paid well: I had finally made a logician out of Polly. When

7、next we sat under our oak tree, I tried to change our relationship from academic to romantic, only to find each of my romantic phrases and proposals refuted by her as fallacies, finally rejecting me in favor of Petey! At my question for the reason of her not going out with me, she said that that ver

8、y afternoon she had promised to go steady with Petey. I was furious, and asked her for the logical reason for her preference of Petey over me.Polly's answer was that Percy had got a raccoon coat! The raccoon coat that I disliked and abhorred and had given to Petey for the privilege of dating Pol

9、ly was now the very instrument of my undoing! Love is delusive and logically unpredictable!Style & AppreciationThe title of the story, humorous and well chosen, has two meanings: when fallacy is taken literally, the title means: "Love is deceptive and delusive." When taken with its log

10、ical meaning, the title means: "Love cannot be deduced from a set of given premises."The story is satirizing a self-conceited freshman in a law school- the narrator of the story. He goes around smugly boasting and praising himself at every chance he gets. From Para. 4, he begins to employ

11、all the beautiful words he can think of, like "cool, powerful, precise" and "penetrating" to describe himself. Meanwhile, he takes every opportunity to run down Petey Burch, calling him "dumb", "nothing upstairs", "unstable", "impressionable&quo

12、t; and "a faddist", and Polly Espy as "a beautiful dumbgirl", who might "smarten up" under his guidance.The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that logic is a living, breathing thing, full of beauty, passion, and trauma, far from being a dry, pedantic subject. Humo

13、rously, the writer exaggerates every situation, with the result that logic becomes an interesting subject. The logical link of passage ideas is "logic- a living thing"- "exchange of a raccoon coat for a pretty but foolish girl"-"teaching her to be logical and clever''

14、;-"a Pygmalion becomes a Frankenstein", thus the theme "Logic is fun; love is not for love's sake but for fashion's sake, for wealth' s sake."To achieve his purpose, the writer employs a variety of writing techniques and a lexical spectrum-from the ultra-learned terms

15、 used by the conceited narrator to the infra-clipped vulgar forms of Polly Espy-to make his story valid, dramatic and colorful. His figurative language, grammatical inversion for special emphasis, short sentences, elliptical sentences and dashes throughout the story add to the immediacy of the story

16、.For instance, Polly Espy's exclamatory words like "Gee, Oo, Wow-dow and clipped vulgar forms like "delish, marvy, sensaysh,"etc. create the impression of a simple and rather stupid girl, contrasting strongly with the boasting of the narrator, and thus increasing the force of sati

17、re and irony.Again, every man has a fool up his sleeve. In Para. 145, the narrator argues that "the things you learn in school don't have anything to do with life", committing a fallacy of Dicto Simpliciter himself in his final desperate attempt to make Polly Espy forget the fallacies

18、he has taught her and convince her that he loves her and that she should go steady with him.Topic-centered paragraph writing is also one of the features. Take Para.50 for example. Its topic sentence is the second sentence-He was a torn man." The writer develops the paragraph by describing the b

19、ehavior of the man, using illustrative examples to develop the theme stated in his topic sentence.Also, his allusions are aptly chosen. The narrator refers to Pygmalion and Frankenstein because he courts Polly and Polly refuses him. He gets the same result as Frankenstein did. He is destroyed by the

20、 monster he has created, whereas Pygmalion was loved by the statue of Galatea.The conclusion is ironic in that the whole thing backfires on the narrator when Polly refutes all his arguments as logical fallacies before finally rejecting him. He has become the victim of his own cleverness; he is too c

21、lever for his own good. Affluence has replaced love, thus there is no question of taking brilliance, talent, or education into consideration when choosing a boyfriend and a husband. It has reduced the search to a matter of seeking wealth and keeping up with the Joneses.Indeed, this kind of love is a

22、 fallacy!An introduction to the text: Love is a FallacyThe purpose of the essay, according to the writer, is "to demonstrate that logic, far from being a dry, pedantic subject, is a living, breathing thing, full of beauty, passion, and trauma." The story is set in a law school at the unive

23、rsity of Minnesota, U.S.A. The protagonist, a self-conceited freshman in a law school, is made the narrator of the story, who goes on smugly boasting and singing praises of himself at every conceivable opportunity. From the very beginning, he starts to heap on himself all the beautiful words of prai

24、se he can think of - "cool", "logical", "keen", "calculating", "perspicacious", "acute", "astute", "powerful", "precise" and "penetrating." At the same time, the narrator takes every opportunity to do

25、wngrade Petey Burch. He considers him "dumb", "nothing upstairs", "emotional", "unstable", "impressionable", and "a faddist". What is more, he regards Polly Espy as "a beautiful dumb girl", who would smarten up under his guidance.

26、 In order to smarten her up, the narrator decides to give her a course in logic. Unfortunately, he succeeds too well because the whole thing backfires on him when Polly refutes all his arguments as logical fallacies before finally rejecting him. In desperation the narrator argues that "the thin

27、gs you learn in school don't have anything to do in life."（para.145）This appeal does not move Polly because she does not reject him on logical grounds. She rejects him because he does not own a raccoon coat as Petey Burch does. At the end of the story, the reader feels the narrator has got

28、what he deserves: love cannot be deduced from a set of given premises.The writer employs a whole variety of techniques to make his story vivid, dramatic, and colorful. This can be shown by having a closer examination of the original text from the following four aspects -lexical devices, syntactic de

29、vices, figures of speech, and discourse analysis.General idea of the text:全文概述This text is a piece of narrative writing . The narrator of the story , Dobie Gillis , a self-conceited freshman in a law school , is the protagonist. He struggles against two antagonists: Petey Burch , his stupid roommate

30、 whose girl friend he plans to steal , and Polly Espy , the beautiful dumb girl he intends to marry after suitable re-education . Petey, a faddist, is eager for a raccoon coat, and he decides to exchange his girl friend Petey for it with Dobie . Dobie has affection for Polly for long out of practica

31、l considerations.Dumb as Polly is , she has the makings to become a suitable wife of a lawyer. In order to smarten her up , Dobie decides to give her a course in logic . He teaches her how to recognize the common fallacies of logic . He succeeds too well because the whole thing backfires（造成相反结果 ）on

32、him when Polly refutes all his arguments as logical fallacies before finally rejecting him . In desperation Dobie argues that “the things you learn in school don't have anything to do in life The appeal does not move Polly because Dobie does not own a raccoon coat as Petey Burch does. Ironically

33、 , the raccoon coat which Dobie gives to Petey for the privilege of dating his girl , the raccoon coat which Dobie dislikes and abhors , is the instrument of his own undoing（毁灭）.美文欣赏及写作特点The whole story is a piece of narration of light , humorous satire. Its theme is stated in the title :" Love is a fallacy ”, which can be understood in two ways . When a fallacy "is taken literally , the title means:" Love is decepti