TOW #4

Sleepless in Any City by Janine Zeitlin is a nonfiction short story about the writer’s insomnia which she faces during her time studying in Madrid. She feels like she is going crazy because she cannot fall asleep due to hearing ‘thumps’ that might not actually be there. The writer, Janine Zeitlin, is an award winning journalist. A few of her articles have been published in popular news outlets including USA Today and NY Daily News to name a few. Janine’s purpose in writing this short essay is to explain to her audience how being alone in crowded areas can cause people to hear things that are not really there as a way to help them cope with the loneliness they feel. She wanted to do this in order to prove to herself and to other people in similar situations that they are not weird or crazy, rather they are feeling the side effects of our dehumanized world. In order to achieve her purpose, Zeitlin employs the rhetoric strategy of personification. For example, she writes, “I am prey to the nocturnal creaks in my mind and weak to the city creatures that stir at night. I am lonely but not alone.” (Zeitlin). In this quote, Janine uses personification to describe the city as a predator that will steal away her sleep. This appeals to the authors pathos and makes the reader empathetic to her situation and allows her to create a villain in her story. She creates a character to describe the city as a way to direct her anger at something or someone other than herself and her condition. By playing victim to a more easily imaginable source of fear and hate, Zeitlin is able to blame something other than her sanity, or lack thereof, for her condition. This makes the reader understand that perhaps she is not crazy or delusional, just mistreated by society. I found this use of rhetoric to be helpful in supporting her purpose, although it did not quite do the job. More rhetorical strategies would have been very helpful to me as the reader. 

TOW #2

In The Art of Flight, author Fredrik Sjoberg retells the story of his cross country travels in his endeavor to understand his favorite painter’s motives and inspiration. Fredrik Sjoberg is a columnist and a best-selling author for his autobiography, The Fly Trap. In Chapter 7 of The Art of Flight, he is trying to explain the immense beauty and size of the Grand Canyon to anyone who has not yet seen it before. His overall goal in doing so is to help himself and the reader understand why Gunnar Wildfross, the painter, would make so much art depicting the same scene. Fredrik Sjoberg employs the rhetorical devices of imagery and similes in an attempt to capture the Grand Canyon and all its magnificence. Sjoberg describes the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on page 103 of the book by stating, “the climate is warmer and drier, the forest sparser and bushier, more or less like Southern Europe” (Sjorberg 103). He uses imagery to give the reader a clear image of the glorious view he is witnessing so that they might be able to comprehend the artist’s reason for painting it so many times. He uses a simile to compare the image to Southern Europe, a more universally known image, to further describe the view and give a more distinct idea of it to the reader. He wants to be able to capture the beauty of the Grand Canyon in his words and transport that scene to the reader of his book. By doing so, the reader will not only appreciate the incredible journey Fredrik made to reach that point, but they will also be able to sympathize with the artist and comprehend his slight obsession with the natural phenomenon. I found Fredrik Sjoberg’s description of the Grand Canyon to be very helpful and almost vital to fully comprehending his point. His excellent imagery allowed me to understand and feel what it was like standing on the edge of the immense canyon and absorbing its beauty. 

TOW #1

For my first Text of the Week assignment, I will be analyzing a political cartoon regarding the 2016 presidential election. Since the election is coming up soon, there is a vast amount of propaganda circulating the media. This photo specifically is a political cartoon depicting the wall which Donald Trump swears to build on the Mexican-American border. Instead of the wall being placed there, it is inside his mouth, blocking what he is trying to say. In Donald’s hand is a list of his ‘platform’ he is using to win over voters in the election. The artist is John Cole, a popular political cartoon artist for the Times-Tribune in Scranton, Pennsylvania. By creating this image, Cole is sending a message to American voters about one of the nominees. The author is using the element of irony to depict Trump as a hypocrite. Trump has talked about building a wall to keep illegal immigrant from entering the U.S. He rallied voters and audiences by describing the immigrants as criminals, calling them racist and sexist. The author is making a point about how if Trump wants to build a wall against such atrocities, he should place the wall in his mouth to prevent his words from spreading. John Cole spread this message to prevent people from getting wrapped up in Trump’s ‘inspirational’ speeches by telling a truth about what he says and means. I think the author supported his point to educated people, but not to most of the population. I was able to understand the message because I have been trying to keep up with the election since it will have such a large effect of the nation depending on who wins. For people who do not know as much, or who only view the election from one extreme side, probably would not understand the meaning as well since it draws points and information from both sides of the argument.

My First Nonfiction Book Intro

For my first non-fiction novel I will be reading The Art of Flight by Fredrick Sjoberg. It is about his travels and how he learned and saw many new things throughout his journeys which he was not expecting to come across. I chose to read this book because I want to travel the world someday so travel literature really interests me. I was also drawn to Sjoberg's theme of "accidental journeys" because I think it will teach me a very important lesson about sometimes letting go and allowing life to guide me.