Principles of Composition

Andrea Eagle

Week 2 Assignment 1
Principles of Composition
Professor Davenport
6/7/2014
Andrea Eagle

1

Principles of Composition

Andrea Eagle

2

Reading “Can’t we Talk,” by Deborah Tannen, I agree with her statement just for the fact that I occasionally go play poker with my husband at his cousins house. While we are there, I constantly catch them in competition with each other. It will start out as a normal conversation, but then steers off, and I hear my husband smart off and say “oh, on Call of Duty, I had a kill to death ratio of twenty­four and two.” After a few seconds, you will hear his cousin Mike reply,
“oh really, well I went thirty­two and six.” I don’t get the concept of why men do this, but in my head I’m honestly thinking who cares. Which I suppose back ups Tannen’s meaning, “Men grow up in a world in which a conversation is often a contest, either to achieve the upper hand or to prevent other people from pushing them around. For many women, however, talking is typically often a way to exchange confirmation and support.” (Tannen, 2013, p. 680) Women on the other hand empower each other. I can say that from first experience. I recently attended WTI in
Wichita, Kansas and three ladies had the biggest impact on my life. Despite going to the same school for the same education for the same career, we were not ever competing. We studied together, helped each other out on certain homework assignments, and made sure we supported each other throughout the whole process.
Tannen presented