Margaux Higgins
Malthus on Population
Although the wealthy have more self-restraint than the poor, the population must be governed through both preventative and positive checks to supply the demands of the population. Without checks population increases while the amount of food stays the same. If the population grows larger the amount of food will no longer be sustainable, resulting in the starvation of people. Without a way to monitor population growth, there is greater increase in poverty along with a lack of food. The first way to control population is preventative checks. If a family does not have enough money to support themselves, they should not have as many children. In limiting families, people will be able to live with in their means. The second kinds of check is a positive check. Positive checks naturally keep the population low. These include poverty, famine, disease, and wars. Both kinds of checks keep the population down so that the resources are not used up. Because a large population cannot be sustained, different ways of monitoring are needed to support further existence.
I think that you have a really good paragraph! I can't think of much that you need to change but the only thing is that you could maybe add some tension in your thesis/topic sentence and make it stronger.
ReplyDeleteYour thesis is really strong however you could probably incorporate a couple of quotes in your paragraph to make it stronger. Other than that it's really good!
ReplyDeleteYour analysis is really good and I like your thesis, although it might need a little more tension. You could double check your first piece of evidence. I don't think that amount of food stayed the same, I think it just increased slower than the population.
ReplyDeleteMargaux, good paragraph. I would just point out to you to use more transitions in your first paragraph and when you end the paragraph for that transition to paragraph #2. Good stuff though.
ReplyDeleteThe reminder on transitions is really helpful, thanks!
DeleteYou went into good detail about what each of the checks are and how they help control population. However you could add a little bit about how Malthus thinks that the poor can't control their urges to reproduce.
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