CHAPTER 13 / ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE 487
Sample Essays: Practice Essay 2
Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the
question posed in the assignment.Our leaders love to tell us that only victory will do, as if they are imparting great wis-
dom. They seek only to defeat the enemy, to achieve the goal. Yet many times a loss,
particularlyone that is hard fought, is more valuable than victory. We cannot live a
life full of only victories, nor should we. The quality of our lives depends as much on
how we manage our losses as on how we achieve our victories.Assignment: Can a loss ever be more valuable than a victory?Write an essay in which you
answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your
position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science
and technology, current events, or your experience or observation.Sample 1: 6 points out of 6
My father always says, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” I can understand his point;
playing hard and fair is its own reward. We become stronger by learning how to lose gracefully. But sometimes
itiswhether you win or lose. Sometimes, nothing but victory will do.
There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of stories of people who tried to invent flying machines. Nearly all of
them are relegated to oblivion or, at best, quaint mentions in arcane history books or old film clips accompa-
nied by a silly trombone. But we all know the Wright Brothers. They’re emblazoned on every license plate in
North Carolina. We know them for one reason only: they succeeded. They got a big hunk of wood and metal to
fly. If their struggles led only to another hapless nose-dive off a cliff, their workshop would long ago have been
forgotten and replaced by a Piggly Wiggly.
Without question, World War II was hard fought by America, as much as we tried to avoid getting involved.
In the end, we lost well over a quarter of a million American lives to the struggle. Would it have been worth it
had we not defeated Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito? We could hardly claim any benefit if we had lost, and al-
lowed hundreds of thousands of more “undesirables” to be incinerated by Hitler and his henchmen.
Sometimes, a loss, hard fought, is more valuable than an easy victory. But whether this is true depends on
the worthiness of the goal. If we are true explorers, true noble warriors, true visionaries, then it is our respon-
sibility to envision goals that are worth every sacrifice to achieve.
Evaluation:This essay presents well-reasoned and cogent support for the view that “sometimes nothing but vic-
tory will do” although at other times “a loss, hard fought, is more valuable than an easy victory.” In taking such a
nuanced position, the author is obligated to articulate the distinctions between those times when victory is neces-
sary and those when a loss can be acceptable. The author accomplishes this by discussing “the worthiness of the
goal” and the fact that we can “become stronger by learning how to lose gracefully” and by giving examples of goals
well worth achieving. The examples of the advent of human flight and the American victory in World War II are rel-
evant and well presented.
Sample 2: 5 points out of 6
I studied my hindquarters off for that test. I had two Starbucks mocha javas (don’t tell my mom) to help me stay
up until 2:00 am studying for the darn physics test (circular motion and gravitation—yuk) and I still got a C−!
For months afterward, I swore that physics was the most ridiculous subject ever. But something about that
C−really got to me. I started to wonder why some people would spend their lives studying this subject that
seemed so difficult to understand.