Sunday, October 23, 2016

TOW #6

In this political cartoon by Jerry Holbert for the Boston Herald newspaper, the author uses hyperbole and humor to capture the audience’s attention and cause them to understand the bad situation this nation is in as a result of the nominees running for president. Jerry Herald is a photographer and political cartoonist for the Boston Herald, a reliable and dignified news source. The cartoon depicts three people sitting down near a board game. The man on the left says “Would I rather get thrown off a cliff or run over by a truck?” (Holbert) and the reader, as well as the lady sitting to his right, assume that it is a question from a ‘Would-You-Rather’ board game. The man on the right then clarifies the reality of the situation by saying, “[It’s] not a game, he’s deciding ‘Hillary’ or ‘Trump’” (Holbert). The man was referring to the 2016 presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, suggesting that neither would be a good fit for president by comparing the choice between them to picking one of two awful deaths. The hyperbole in Holbert’s comparison is in the extreme nature of the options the man on the left was trying to pick between. This rhetorical strategy draws attention to how horrible he thinks the two candidates are and that either one is going to have devastating effects on America’s government and citizens. The author also used humor in his depiction by comparing something so important as choosing between presidential candidates and playing a silly bard game. This draws the attention of the reader and makes them more attentive to the message which Holbert is trying to get across. The two devices work together to create an extreme and joking tone for an image regarding a heavy topic. This pulls the reader in and shows them how serious and horrible the state of the election is in. I believe that the author was definitely successful in his strive to achieve his purpose and I found that the cartoon was very funny and knowledgeable at the same time.
 

Sunday, October 16, 2016

TOW #5

Mikayla Joffe
TOW #4

In The Butterfly Effect by Jennifer Lunden, the author uses drastic comparisons to help the reader understand the migration of Monarch butterflies, the beauty in their journey, and, overall, form a new appreciation for the spectacular creatures. This essay by Lunden won her first place in the Creative Nonfiction’s Winter 2011 issue and a Pushcart Prize. More of her works have been featured in Orion and Wigleaf and the Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine. In this essay, Lunden depicts her journey from the frosty Canada to a more temperate area in California, similar to that of migrating monarch butterflies, although she traveled via plane. By employing the strategy of comparison, the author explains the differences between the journey of Monarch butterflies in their migration and the human journey on an airplane. She does this to create a feeling of envy in the reader, making them jealous of the simplicity in their migration and thus bring the reader to further admire the elegance and magnificence of the often over-looked insect. Lunden writes, “When a monarch butterfly sets off on its journey to its winter destination, it does not have to pay a $100 fee because its suitcase is 25 pounds over the limit. It does not have to take off its shoes, its watch, its coat and scarf, in case of bombs. […] It does not have to worry about going down. It does not worry.” (Lunden 10). By describing all of the small nuisances of travel which humans going on planes have to endure, like paying fees and removing various articles of clothing as a precaution against bombs, and comparing that too the simplicity of the butterflies’ journey, the author supports her purpose. Jennifer Lunden therefore sparks a newfound appreciation and admiration of monarch butterflies in the reader. I, too, experienced this feeling of jealousy and appreciation for the butterflies. I was swept up in the author’s writing and use of rhetorical strategies and I believe that she achieved her purpose with ease. 

Sunday, October 9, 2016

TOW #4

In What You Learn in College by Karen Donley-Hayes, Hayes uses powerful anaphora to provoke a sense of urgency and anxiety in the tone so that the reader can feel what she was feeling and understand the terror she experienced. The author is the College Editor at Hiram College and has published many works in sources like The Journal of the American Medical Association and The Healing Muse. What You Learn in College is a short nonfiction story about a dreadful period of revelation for the author in which she agrees to play strip spin-the-bottle in with her college friends while under the influence. The text was written for other college students to prevent them from partaking in risky or dangerous activities, given that they have just received a tremendous amount of independence. In order to achieve her purpose, the author employs the rhetorical strategy of anaphora, repeating the same two phrases in order to change the tone of the essay. This device is evident when she writes, “The bottle spins. You learn you couldn’t leave even if you had the nerve […] The bottle spins. You learn […]” (Hayes 3-7). Not only does the author use anaphora at the beginning of each paragraph by starting each with ‘You learn’, but she strategically uses the device here as well. By repeating the phrase ‘The bottle spins’ followed by the sad revelations she discovers afterward, it builds up to her regretting the decision, and it creates a feverish sense of anxiety for the reader. The urgency can be felt as the reader quickens their pace and devours the words to reach her final lesson. This makes the reader’s heart race and breaths shallow as they follower her on her similar journey, thus making them feel the same way, understanding her fear, and knowing not to make the same mistake. I whole-heatedly believe that the author accomplished her purpose. Her work made me fear for her and feel scared with her. It taught me not to make quick decisions like she did, which is what she was trying to achieve.