Outside Reading: Reflective Essay #3

Reflective Essay: "Enigma: Asking the Mind to Jump Through Hoops"
By Teller
published December 6, 2010

       In this reflective essay, Teller uses a dinner conversation between his friends to discuss the idea of mental games like puzzles and what their point is. Teller questions them using a logical and persuasive tone. He argues that instead of "deliberately expos[ing] yourself to stress and frustration," why wouldn't you spend your time more usefully (1)? Then he switches to a more thoughtful tone as his guests give their opinion and teach him the importance the puzzles have. 

       

      The guests begin to convince Teller about the importance of puzzles using personal experiences about ways they can impact ones life. One guest shares his puzzle experience as a way to learn that one can break down difficult and overwhelming problems to solve them in a simpler way, helping as a historian to write history. Another guest tells how he makes workouts more effective by teaching people to "break down the lifting movement in their heads, like his puzzle... to identify which muscles need to fire" (2). The next guest shares her experience of crossword puzzles as a way to bond with her mother and build a strong vocabulary. After more discussion involving a sour cranberry in the cranberry sauce and magic tricks that "drive people crazy and scare them to death," they come to the conclusion that "pain... can be pleasure"(4). 

      

      By writing his reflective essay as a discussion with a persuasive and thought provoking tone, Teller successfully gets his point across. Rather than a whole paper trying to explain why he believes pain can be pleasure, he shows us the conversations that led to this conclusion, helping the reader understand the idea much more.  This tone would work for an AP essay because it is appropriate and easily understandable. 

      Teller does a fantastic job using a persuasive, thoughtful, and logical tone in a conversation setting to justify his explanation that, "whether in a jigsaw, a workout, a crossword, a magic trick or a too-tart fruit," oddly enough people enjoy this pain anyway (4).