Name: Denise Carlton

Date: 11.05.2019

Grade 11 English Language

End-of-year Argumentative Essay

Prompt: Write an essay on a divisive topic important to you.
Explain the problem/situation and then name at least two misconceptions people
have about the topic you chose. After explaining why these misconceptions came
about and why they are incorrect, make a case for your own opinions on the
subject. Please conclude by using a call to action, to motivate your readers to
do something about what you explained.

Possible topics include but are not limited to: Climate
change, Digitalization, Cloning… Creativity is encouraged, as long as it is a
topic important to you and can be seen as controversial/divisive.

A topic that becomes
increasingly relevant and divisive among students the closer they get to graduation
is what the plans of each student are for his or her future. Now, this may not
seem like it should be as divisive of an issue, especially because plans are,
generally, very varied according to each individual, and it is widely acknowledged
that students should have the opportunity to take these decisions themselves,
as they are relevant mostly only to themselves. Yet still, in the face of
developed plans and individual wishes, the issue of the future can be so
polarizing that even lifetime friends may end up on opposite sides of the
divide, and may, as a result, end their friendship. In light of the recent
split in the eighteen-year friendship of my brother Josh and Chrissy Dupré, the
issue has become all the more relevant to the students of this school,
especially as the argument leading to the cessation of communication could have
been avoided through careful analysis of the underlying issues with the
friendship but also with the pressures that come with senior year. In this
essay, misconceptions about the aforementioned situation as well as the actual
motivating factors of both parties will be analyzed to show how transitions
such as this can be handled in a more positive manner, as well as to make a
case for why (these two dumbasses should get their heads out of their asses) a
more reflective approach to such situations might be beneficial in the future.

A common misconception
about the case of Chrissy and Josh is that the split in their friendship was
not due to the mentioned argument at all, but because of a lover’s spat that
they are now trying to cover up. Rumors that the two were dating have circled
the school ever since they arrived holding hands in first grade, but as a
relative of Josh the author of this essay can guarantee that this is the one
direction the relationship of the two has never gone to (Now this is not to say
that there never were any feelings, that is something only the two case study
subjects can ever completely confirm or deny, but it is to say that never at
any point in their lives were the two of them dating). Therefore, the argument
that the cessation of communication was due to a lover’s quarrel stands on
very, very shaky legs and can therefore be disregarded in the further
continuation of this essay.

Another theory that has
been voiced by casual observers of (this mess) the disintegration of this friendship
is that the two friends were so scared of missing each other in the future that
they decided to say a preemptive goodbye. Now while this is a concept that
works well in songs like Sam Smith’s “Too Good at Goodbyes” or …. , real life
is not as accommodating. Firstly, the natural human reaction to an imminent
goodbye is not withdrawal but an almost obsessive desire to spend as much time
with the other as possible. Both Josh and Chrissy have been quoted, on multiple
occasions since their quarrel, to have said “I miss [insert name of the other
here] and I wish we were still talking” (Josh: 03.03.2019, Chrissy: 23.05.2019).
Josh and Chrissy are neighbors, and their families have always had a good
relationship. The amount of effort the two are clearly displaying in avoiding
each other at all costs points towards the fact that there must have been an
actual argument, that caused them to hurt each other enough for neither of them
to believe in resuscitating this friendship.