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4 - Integrated Writing Two Responses Chevalier For Workshop Participants To Score
4 - Integrated Writing Two Responses Chevalier For Workshop Participants To Score
Response A
The reading passage and the lecture discusses about the accuracy of the memoir written by Chevalier de
Seingalt. The writer says that there are many parts in the memoir that are not true, and the lecturer contradicts
these parts, insisting that the memoir is indeed quite accurate.
The passage tells that he borrowed a lot of money when he lived in Switzerland, although the memoir
tells that he was very wealthy while staying there. This contradicts the fact told in the lecture that he had to
borrow money in order to purchase properties initally.
The reading passage says that the conversations between Chaevalier and Voltaire can't be accurate,
because it has been written years after the talk. However, the professor tells that Chaevalier wrote down
everything he could remember after the talk, and witnesses who have lived with him have approved the fact.
The reading passage tells that Chaevalier has bribed the jailers to escape from the Venetian prison, using
the politically connected friends. On the contrary, the lecturer tells that other prisoners had much stronger
friends, and still they couldn't escape by offering bribes. Plus, after Chaevalier's escape, the ceiling of the room
where he stayed had to be repaired, which implies that he really did escape the jail by himself.
Response B
The lecture states that the Chevalier's memoirs were accurate. The passage states that the critics are
skeptical about the accuracy of Chevalier's memoirs. The lecture and passage are in contrary to each other. The
main topics for contention are about Chevalier's wealth, Chevalier's meeting with the famous writer and
Chevalier's escape from prison in Venice. According tothe passage the critics argue that these records are not
accurate. The lecture defends these records by giving sufficient proof.
The passage had stated that since Chevalier had borrowed money from a Swiss merchant he was not a rich
man and hence his memoir is not accurate. The lecture answers this by stating that Chevalier was a wealthy
man. He spent a great amount of money on parties and gambling. To support this he had to sell his property. It
usually takes some time to convert property to liquid asset. He had to take loans to support his partying and
gambling habits because it takes time to sell the property.
The critics in the passage argued that since Chevalier wrote about the conversation with Voltaire many
years after the conversation it cannot be accurate. The lecture refutes this by telling that Chevalier used to take
note of his conversation with Voltaire at the end of each day. He used these notes later while writing the
memoirs. His freinds had seen him consult his notes while writing his memoirs about his meeting with Voltaire.
The critics in the passage also disagree about Chevalier's claim on how he escaped from the prison in
Venice, Italy, They say that it is difficult to escape by making a hole in the ceiling by using a piece of metal. They
state that he bribed the jailers and they helped him to escape. He used his powerful friends to bribe the jailors.
The lecture defends this by stating that there were many others in prison who had more powerful friends than
Chevalier but they were unable to escape from jail. The lecture also states that by seeing the archives of
government records of that period they could see that the ceiling of the prison in Venice had to be repaired.
Thus the lecture says that Chevalier escaped from jail without bribing anyone.
The lecture completely defends Chevalier's records and its accuracy, and gives enough proof and data to
support the authenticity of Chevalier's claims. The critics in the passage have to cme up with more data to
disprove the accuracy of Chevalier's memoirs.