My mother taught me that So what? was a rude question, but I can't get along without asking it. What my mother objected to, of course, was its rhetorical usage, as a contemptuous judgment—not a question at all, really, but a derogatory statement. I, however, use the expression for serious inquiry, in the classroom and in my head. This question, I tell every class, is what they should ask themselves as they write, what keeps me honest as I write. I think that Clarissa is a great novel: So what? This passage echoes the theological views of Isaac Watts: So what? The question challenges me to justify what I'm saying, to articulate assumptions, and to confront intellectual difficulties and reminds me not to relax into simply having an opinion or to take my views, habits, behavior, and judgments for granted.