Sojourner Truth

"Ain't I a Woman?"

Ethos: ethical appeal
Logos: logical appeal
Pathos: emotional appeal
*All are rhetorical appeals.

In Sojourner Truth's Speech of "Ain't I a Woman", Truth uses to ethos, logos and pathos in order to show the importance of woman's suffrage. This speech was given before a large group of white men and women. Truth begins her speech by appealing to ethics, ethos. She describes the work done in her life and shows that she has worked just as hard as a man, if not harder. Truth's strongest part of her speech is her emphasis on logos, or appeal to logic. She uses the analogy of having a cup; if a woman's cup (political voice) isn't as big(important) as a man's cup, should women not get any say at all? "Wouldn't you be mean not let me have my little half measure-full?" Truth describes the struggles she has had to overcome; all of them and she is not given the right to have a voice? I believe Truth's strongest point is when she makes an allusion to the bible, saying "one woman turned the world upside down" and insists that multiple many could fix it. The allusion to the bible gives everyone a common ground. Finally, Truth closes with a thank you to reiterate her politeness.

Amanda Coyne's Reading

The Long Goodbye: Mother's Day in Federal Prison

Coyne has chosen to write about a very powerful topic; it is a true example of the love felt for children by mothers. Right away a strong emotion is evoked as she describes the mothers receiving their flowers and treasuring it. It's sad, somethings so simple that we can take for granted can hold such a stronger meaning for someone else. As Coyne goes on to describe the mothers smelling their children, it reminds me of animals; it seems so primitive. It reflects that these women are being held like animals, and therefore they resort to animal-like behavior. It's depressing as Coyne describes the environment, like the stale sandwiches and restricted conversations held by one another. Although Coyne was not there for the "prepping" that the prisoners went through for the visitors, her assumptions seem very plausible.

John T. Edge's Reading

I'm Not Leaving Till I Eat This Thing

The sensory details are amazing, right off the bat, he uses them to describe his surroundings. I think it's funny how Edge describes the gross processing of pig lips as if it were something so normal as tying your shoes. But then when he describes the look of pig lips, it starts getting gross. Edge's transition from present to past, to tell background information, is smooth and it flows well. Similarly, the dialogue does a good job of keeping the story flowing. Edge's closing of eating a pig lip is great, it connects him to the people he was interviewing; he is not just a reporter, he is a character. Once again, his sensory details were amazing, especially as he describes eating the pig lip. I can imagine eating the pig lip myself, as gross as that is!

Brian Cable Reading

The Last Stop
Cable's tone caught me off guard. I'm not sure if he is trying to lighten the situation by joking about it, or if he just a insensitive. I felt that Cable was attacking the mortuary business. As he went on, I felt that he became less judgmental. I suppose since it is a profile essay he was caught off guard initially by the fact that it is a business. I do think Cable did a good job mixing in the facts he researched in with the morgue description, it flowed. At then end when Cable sees a dead body, it's really surprising. I was curious before, but I don't think I would have done that, it seems disrespectful, especially how he goes on to say that he was "happy" to see one.

Tobias Wolff and Rick Bragg Readings

On Being a Real Westerner
I feel there is a condescending tone in Wolff's description of himself finding the rifle the be a "necessity" for being a Westerner. I guess Wolff is looking back at him himself as naive. I have a bunch of questions popping up as i read this. What year does this take? I guess a long time ago, because he aspires to be a "Westerner". Also, who is Roy? Is he a weird neighbor, older brother, or dad? And is there something wrong, like mentally, with Roy, why does he whine? How old is Tobias Wolff? Similar to our class discussion, I agree that when Wolff describes himself admiring his rifle poses, it reminds me of the pictures that surfaced on the internet of the Virginia Tech shooter. It begins to get really disgusting as Wolff describes his happiness as he stalks the people passing his window, with his gun. I can fully picture the scene, happy, unsuspecting people, and a dumb kid with a gun; I am waiting for and accident to happen. When it gets tot he part where he wants to shoot something, It is scary, I think he might of actually shot a person if there had been one walking by. I find it so ironic that he tells his mom that there is a dead squirrel, and then continue to describe himself as an animal, after he just killed an animal. Even though the he feels remorse in the end I kinda feel that I just read a memoir of a future serial killer. Even though I found this memoir to be very gruesome, I preferred this one, it was able to hold my attention.


100 Miles per Hour, Upside Down and Sideways
Introduction is great. Bragg describes the feelings he felt toward his car, and makes it comprehensible for his audience through describing it as "an approaching storm", something everyone has seen. I like how Bragg transitions from paragraph 1 to paragraph 2 as he uses the same reference, slingshot. As Bragg goes on to describe the car, his detail is vivid and makes it easy to "see" the car. Bragg's praise for his car seems a bit obsessive; especially how he refers to it as "her" and only lets one person drive. Bragg's story is pretty typical, he is over taken by the power he gets from the car and ends up wrecking. It's funny, as Bragg was describing the crash scenario, and before it was mentioned, I was thinking he was really lucky, everything was in the right spot for him not to get hurt. Making Connections: I think the car not only fulfilled Bragg's "High school status", but the work he put forth was a lot and to be able to see the result of his hard work, must be really rewarding.

Dillard and Brandt Readings

An American Childhood
In Annie Dillard's "An American Childhood", she recalls a time in her childhood, where she experienced an exciting chase. I love how Dillard use short, then long sentences in her first paragraph, the choppy lines make it seem that she is telling the story form a child's perspective. As Dillard describes running away from the angry man, she gives great details to where exactly they are running. The details almost make the story seem very recent, or almost like the narrator is still the same seven year old girl. It's so funny that Dillard is disappointed when her "hero/captor" catches up with them and expects, and wants, something more extreme than a lecture. I've never been disappointed for not being punished enough, she must have been an odd child, but makes a great author.

Calling Home
In Jean Brandt's "Calling Home, Brandt recalls a time in her adolescents when she shoplifted. Brandt's description as she is leaving the store actually makes my heart beat faster, wondering if she is going get away with her "crime". I can feel how nervous she is as she describes her thought racing. I feel like I understand exactly what Brandt was feeling as her story progresses.

Chapter Four: pg 116-127

Notes:
*The introduction is what keeps the readers to continue reading.

Writing Response
"Herb's Chicken" is a very discriptive narrative of a woman(Lundin), along with her husband, learning how to "process" a chicken. I was dissapointed by this piece. I do not believe that the narrartor used a strong beginning; the only thing that hinted at something interesting was the word process in quotes. The narrative goes on the explain the gruesome steps to processing a chicken. I feel that Lundin did however provide a a good description for Herb, through allowing him to "talk". And as for the message of this narrative, I'm not sure that Lundin was able to convey one. at the end of the story, after the blood and guts details, she "chirps" that she can probably make the chicken, which, I feel, ruined her message. She goes on to say that she's not going to eat the processed chicken. Until the end, I thought the message was to be vegetarian, or animal friendly, but now I'm not really sure what it is. The "chirp" at the end is kind of eerie to me, because chirping makes me think of birds and she just watched them be killed. "Herb's Chicken" was really strange to em and I felt it lacked a message.

Chapter Four: pg 109-115

School Lunch
Pooja Makhijani's narrative is a look into a period of time during her youth when she felt different, and "left out". The narrative was ironic for me, in the sense that, I expected Poooja to overcome her embarassment for her culture when the other Pakistani girl was introduced. But instead, this character seemed to aid her in her "coversion" to one of the other girls. Aisha supplies Pooja with mini pizzas, and various other white foods, while Pooja gives her traditional Pakastani foods; this whole arragnment seems almost unfair to Pooja's mom. I guess it's up to Pooja what she wants to eat, but I feel that Pooja did not really try and persuade her mom, instead Pooja casually lies and trades food to feel less distant from the girls she wanted to be like.

Eggs
In Aba Opincar's narrative, I was totally set back from Aba's lack of respect for his mother. His narrative reminded me of Judy Brady's "I Want A Wife" essay, for Aba talks about all the things his mother does for the family, but has no gratitude.

Chapter One: pg 3-15 & pg 16-31

Notes

• Rhetoric is the purposeful use of language or images.
• Basically rhetoric is all around us, almost everything has a rhetorical meaning.
• As Aristotle said, "Rhetoric is the faculty of observing in any given situation the avaiable means of persuasion". This bascially means (1) Observe a situation (2) Communicate message in appropiate way (3) Persudae your audience.
• Exigence is call for change; in a rhetorical exigence, only discourse, or language, can solve the problem at hand.
• In rhetorical situations you ahve rhetorical audiences. This group is "hand-picked", it is a group that will most likely respond and bring about change.
• Similarily, a rhetorical purpose is to infulence your audience.

Writing Responses

Judy Brady's "I want a Wife" is a sad look into the expected roles that women have had to assume over the years, as wives. The essay is written from the perseption of an overworked wife, kind of assuming a male persona and mocking him for it. The roles of a wife, range from fulfilling the children's needs to fulfilling husabnd's wants. The way woman, more specificly, wives, are portrayed seem more like slaves than spoues. I belive this essay is a cry for help, and highlights the stress on modern woman nowadays, how they are oftentimes overworked and severely under appericated.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s exert from "Letter From Birmngham Jail" striked me as odd. I have always thought of MLK as a strong leader for equal rights, but unfortunatley in his writings, although I did find some powerful quotes, I felt that he somewhat succmbed to the "clergymen". Specifically near the end when Dr. King asks for forgiveness, "If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me". My mom has always said "kill your enemies with kindness", so I guess his mother like engraved that into his head. I understand that some of the things he writes is to turn the tables and make the clergymen think, but i feel it was excessive.