TOW #23

            In Malcolm Gladwell’s book David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, he uses several forms of analysis to prove his overall point that being the underdog can often be advantageous. Gladwell spends the entirety of the book verifying that, throughout history, misfits and underdogs have miraculously overcome burdensome prejudice despite their apparent lack of skill. He believes that, in the case of someone who may be outnumbered or outmatched in strength, dexterity, or popularity, using alternative methods can be more successful than having all the winning attributes and following the classical methods that have proved prosperous in the past. In order to prove this nearly inconceivable claim, Gladwell employs the use of extensive statistical analysis. Gladwell uses this form of persuasion in order to prove his point by writing, “What happens in wars between the strong and the weak when the weak side does as David did and refuses to fight the way the bigger side wants to fight, using unconventional or guerrilla tactics? The answer: in those cases, the weaker party’s winning percentage climbs from 28.5 percent to 63.6 percent.” (Gladwell 21-22). By using statistics and by citing logistical evidence, Gladwell appeals to logos in order to support his claim that using unconventional methods can be more successful than trying to win in a traditional way. His statistical analysis also has egos due to its credibility and is thus difficult to dispute, further solidifying Gladwell’s point. This allows him to achieve his purpose of helping people understand that it is okay and acceptable to be weaker or to be an outcast, and that anyone can still be victorious by using atypical methods. Through his use of statistical analysis, which appeals to both logos and egos, Malcolm Gladwell successfully proves and supports his claim while achieving the purpose of his book. 

TOW #21

                In the eloquently written short story by Jason D. Hill, Hill uses a second person point of view to make a powerful statement and appeal to the reader. Bipolar, Lithium, Suicide and the Lost Years of my Life is a short non-fiction essay describing plight of a man, Hill, who suffers from Bipolar disorder while pursuing a PhD in Philosophy. He struggled to cope with the suicidal thoughts, or ‘death baby’ as he referred to it, and found himself in a mental hospital where he was diagnosed with the disorder. He was them put on the medication Lithium Bicarbonate, or Lithium for short, which caused many side effects like fatigue and lack of motivation. He chronicles his journey through this magnificently written piece. In order to show the reader what that time was like for him and to become closer with the reader, Hill uses a second person point of view in the narrative. He writes, “You are hopeful. You feel relieved; finally something to quiet the Death Baby. Then it starts. The world becomes flat. You feel flat. You cannot feel. You are numb.” (Hill 21). By using second person as opposed to first or third person, Hill is speaking directly to the reader instead of telling his story from a more objective perspective. This allows the reader to feel closer to Hill and his story, thereby sympathizing with his troubles. The use of this point of view also allows the reader to imagine themselves as having the disorder and creates a sense of empathy. Anyone reading this essay is more easily able to understand what having Bipolar is like and can put themselves in the shoes of others with Bipolar. Through evoking sympathy and empathy, Hill is able to make the readers understand Bipolar from a new perspective and relate to it much more. Hill’s use of rhetoric greatly benefitted his purpose and successfully proved his point.

TOW #20

In this political cartoon, President Donald Trump is depicted at an Olympic swimming event alongside strong, muscular athletes whereas he is drawn as very fat and is wearing floating helpers to suggest that he cannot swim nor will he do well in the race. A speech bubble drawn above Trump says, “Remember, if I lose, this race is rigged.” (Luckovich). The sketch was produced by Mike Luckovich, a prominent political cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning and the Rueben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. He makes many anti-Trump and pro-democratic cartoons rich in rhetoric and string reasoning. The image makes a powerful statement about Trump’s claims during the presidential election season about how if he lost to Hillary Clinton, he would say that the election was rigged and influenced by fake votes. In the picture, the Olympics are a symbol for the presidential election and the well-trained swimmers portray the more qualified politicians that were in the running alongside Trump. Luckovich uses the symbolism in the cartoon to show the viewer how Trump is making outrageous claims about the election process and that it should be expected that he loses because he is nowhere near as trained and deserving of the high position. No one would expect the fat, untrained Olympian to win just like people shouldn’t expect the mean candidate with no political experience to win the highest esteemed honor in America. Furthermore, the image suggests that Trump should not make claims about voting interference for the aforementioned reason, and that doing so makes him seem unappreciative and much like a sore loser. The symbolism in the carton were very successful in achieving the purpose of the cartoonists as the message was clearly stated and identifiable by any informed reader. 

TOW #19

                Malcolm Gladwell, an acclaimed and renowned author, wrote a book which describes how one can overcome their obstacles and become successful. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants is an uplifting book that employs statistical analysis and biblical allusions to inform the reader about underdogs and their favorable odds despite their countless setbacks. When discussing the probability of a weaker country winning a war, Gladwell cites a political scientist, writing, “Ivan Arrenguin-Toft did the calculations a few years ago, what he came up with was 71.5 percent. [… but] when the weak side does as David did and refuses to fight the way the bigger side wants to fight […] the weaker party’s winning percentage climbs from 28.5 percent to 63.6 percent.” (Gladwell 21-22). In order to show the reader how likely it is for the weaker party to be victorious through the use of alternative methods, Gladwell uses statistical analysis to appeal to logos. He thereby proves to the reader that it is very much possible that they can successfully use these tactics to their advantage, not just in international war, but day-to-day life as well. Gladwell also conveys this message to his readers by constantly alluding to the biblical story of David and Goliath. In the aforementioned quote, Gladwell states ‘the weak side does as David did’ as an example of how people can use different methods to win. As the story goes, Goliath was a giant who was sent by his army to fight a man from the opposing army, to which they sent David, an average Shepard’s boy. No one on either side expected David to win in hand-to-hand combat, but he surprised them by throwing a rock at Goliath instead, using the distance between them to his advantage. This took Goliath by surprise and knocked him unconscious and then David finished his job by cutting off Goliath’s head. By referencing this story often and especially by naming the book after it, Gladwell is able to remind the reader of how the underdog has been triumphant throughout history and that anyone else can be too. Therefore, Malcolm Gladwell successfully uses statistical analysis and biblical allusions to convince his reader that although the weaker side may not be expected to win, they easily can with an alternative method. 

TOW #18

                One February 1^st, 2017, world-renowned pop/rock sensation Beyoncé posted an image to the prominent social media site Instagram to announce her second pregnancy to twins with her rapper husband, Jay-Z.  The image shows Beyoncé kneeing on a bed of grass, in front of a halo-shaped flower garland, masked in a mint green veil and clutching her pregnant stomach. In the caption of the image, she surprised the world with her message, writing, “We would like to share our love and happiness. We have been blessed two times over. We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes. – The Carters” (Beyoncé). The sky above her is blue with one or two small clouds to symbolize how she hopes her pregnancy and the lives of her two unborn children will be. Parents want the best for their children, so Beyoncé used the background of her image to foreshadow the hopeful future of her children. Beyoncé also uses visual rhetoric in the veil that covers her face. It is green, which is a neutral color, to avoid ideas about the gender of the child. In addition to the clear sky and the green veil, Beyoncé used rhetoric in her text as well. Recent events and rumors would suggest that Beyoncé and her husband may not have been on the best of terms for the past few months or even year, but her anaphora in the caption of the word ‘we’ signifies a unity of the couple and is used to show the reader and viewer that the couple is strong and united. This reassured anyone who ever doubted their marriage that it is still okay, and proves that thy will be civil parents of their children. Though very subtle, these strategic details enhance the message Beyoncé is trying to convey through her post about her developing pregnancy and successfully express certain ideas. 

TOW #17

                On January 20^th, 2009, President Barack Obama was sworn into office as the president of the United States. Following his inauguration, he addressed the public with a moving speech about how the nation must work together in order to solve the plethora of issues it faced at the time. Throughout his time in office, Obama diligently worked to push past barriers and create the optimal environment for a nation of diverse citizens to prosper in. He made strides in lowering the price of health care, increasing minimum wage, legalizing gay marriage, and decreasing the unemployment rate as well as many other important actions. Some things he worked hard for yet did not change very much or still require effort to improve for a multitude of reasons. In his speech, Obama said, “Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.” (Obama). The president made a valid remark about the American School System that continues to hold true today despite his valiant efforts to resolve its problems. The schools in America continue to fail far too many of its students because of the rigid nature of its schedule and curriculum. Children in school are forced to make up their minds about the careers they wish to pursue past graduation but are then denied the supplements that are vital to achieving their goals. For example, say a student loves art and is very bad at their other subjects. A gifted student will still be required to take their core classes even if they are failing because they are trying to focus on the classes that truly matter to them and will actually help them reach their full potential as an artist. Such a situation would hold a student back from getting into a good college as a result of their poor grades and thus inhibit that student from receiving a good art education. This is just one hypothetical example in the midst of millions of real stories of how the school system has continually failed the students of America and led to an overall increase in stress levels and anxiety amongst students. Obama uses this argument as an example in a larger, inductive reasoning in which he uses examples like the failing school system and the high prices of health insurance to conclude that America was going through a troubling period in its history. Valid examples such as this aided his argument immensely and proved how true his point really was. 

TOW #16

Brian Doyle wrote “The Wonder of the Look on Her Face” about discovering some of the best writing tools while he was talking to a curious young writer. In order to properly explain the tool and to give it the justice it deserves, Doyle employs whimsical personification. Brian Doyle is an avid writer; he is editor of Portland Magazine and the author of a few renowned novels. This short story described his interaction with a nine-year-old girl who has an interest in writing as she asks him countless questions about his writing process. While talking to her and considering her questions, he was able to discover his favorite way to write a book. Doyle figured out that he likes to start writing books without clear outlines or any idea of how it is going to end so that he can make it up as he writes. He explained this tool, writing, “that didn’t seem as much fun as having a rough idea what might happen and then being startled quite often by what did happen. I said that I rather enjoyed that the people and animals in my books didn’t listen too much to what I thought should happen, hard as it was sometimes for me to watch.” (Doyle). His tool was to write without knowing the full course of the story so he could see where it led him. He used whimsical personification by saying that the animals didn’t listen to him because they were writing the story on their own. This assists his purpose of explaining how helpful the tool is by showing how unpredictable it made his stories through his use of rhetoric. He enjoys letting his story ‘write itself’ so he and the reader can be surprised by how unpredictable it is. I found this tool to be helpful in knowing how he uses this tool to write his books, and it also helped me understand how it is helpful in the writing process.

TOW #15

Young the Giant’s newest album, Home of the Strange, has a very interesting cover which employs vibrant color and unique imagery to accompany the songs in conveying an immigrants journey to America. The first single they released off the album, Amerika, tells the story of how Sameer, the bands lead singer, struggles to fit in to American society as an immigrant. Amerika, as a word, describes the worst aspects of America, for example its corruption, fascism, and racism. The song Titus Was Born explains his journey as a baby coming to America on a ship during an intense storm, which reflects the tumultuous environment he found himself in. The album cover is a valid expression of the theme of the music in the album itself. It shows groups of people of unique shapes and vibrant colors, which symbolize the diversity of people, holding distinguishable flags and entering a dark mountain in the middle of the cover. The dark, gloomy mountain has narrowed eyes and opens its mouth to allow the immigrants to enter. The image of the mountain shows how condescending the nation is when it invites people in but then puts up countless obstacles to prevent them from feeling completely at home in a foreign land. This conveys a message about how many people from different cultures and ethnicities excitedly come to America where they are promised freedom, when in reality, they are greeted with hostility and face many difficulties when trying to fit in and be accepted as Americans. I believe that the cover art of this magnificent collection of songs successfully achieves its purpose of helping the reader understand the harsh reality of immigrating to America. I think that the album as a whole, including the image and the music, has really helped me understand what people have to deal with when coming to this country. 

TOW #13

Elizabeth Wurtzel employed anaphora as a strategy to show how she thought that perhaps her life was turning around and thus how people and small things can significantly improve one’s mood just for it to fall back down again. She did so in her creative nonfiction book, Prozac Nation, which became a national bestseller and a major motion picture due to its profound truths about life with depression and trying to recover from it. In trying to make sense of the different aspects of depression, she mentions an anecdotal story of her short romance with a boy named Zachary; how that relationship elevated her mood just to deplete it shortly after when he broke up with her. She used anaphora by writing, “I start to think, Maybe Zachary and I will be together forever and it all really will work out okay. Maybe I will marry him. Maybe I am Cinderella at the ball. Maybe fourteen isn’t too young to know who’s right for you, especially since nothing ever seemed right before Zachary.” (Wurtzel 101). Through repeating ‘Maybe I will’ and ‘Maybe’, Elizabeth Wurtzel expresses how hopeful she was for the prospect of a better future, likely spent with Zachary. A few paragraphs later though, she breaks the unfortunate news that he broke up with her not long after their relationship significantly impacted how she was feeling. This instance, and this use of anaphora, was used by Wurtzel to show the reader how someone with depression has a fragile mental state that can easily be swayed by a simple interaction. It shows the reader how someone can transition from being a hopeful, loving character to an emotional wreck due to the actions of another person. I believe that her rhetoric helped her prove this idea and supported her purpose by showing how happy and hopeful she felt and how that great mood can be diminished so quickly. 

TOW #12

In a letter to the editor of the New York Times regarding an editorial article about the controversy in connection to Muslim women wearing traditional Hijabs and Burqas, Anne Rosselot strategically lists her credibility to support her point. The New York Times published the letter on its website due to its interesting points about people who disapprove of the custom of wearing the concealing articles of clothing. Rosselot’s purpose in writing and subsequently sending the message was to express her dismay and show the impracticality of how she is labelled as a bigot for wishing that people refrained from hiding their faces. In order to show her ethos as someone who is, in any other sense, not at all bigoted, Anne Rosselot listed her ethos as a liberal. She said, “I am a woman, a feminist, a Democrat, an enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter, the proud mother of a lesbian, a progressive Christian, a supporter of civil rights, a believer that Black Lives Matter, and a welcomer of refugees and other immigrants.” (Rosselot 1). These descriptors of Rosselot show the reader how she is not a bigot, because these are all feelings and actions opposite to those felt and taken by dictionary definition bigots. By listing all of the many reasons why Anne Rosselot believes she is not a bigot, she shows how insane it is that just because she worries about the security risks that emanate from women wearing the headscarves. She thus builds credibility of her statement about how she is personally not a bigot in order to support her claim that people who disagree with one liberal ideal should not immediately be cast out as conservatives or rudely called bigots. I believe that this use of rhetoric was incredibly supportive of the author’s thesis and effectively helped her convince the reader of her point. 

TOW #11

In his second inaugural address on March 4^th, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln employed the appeal to logos in order to strengthen his argument that though there was a lot to celebrate in America, there was even more to work on in order to create a better nation. Lincoln’s speech was very positive because he was glad to have been elected president again although it had and underlying tone that gave the speech an unhappier mood. Lincoln discussed how there were many things which the nation had to improve on before there could be cause for celebration. As an example of something that the country need to change, Lincoln stated, “One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it.” (Lincoln). In this quote, the president employed an appeal to logos in his specific fact about how many people in America were slaves prior to the Civil War. The shocking reality of 1/8^th of the country being slaves was an appeal to logic, or logos. Lincoln included this appeal to surprise the listener and convince them that slavery was a real problem that they were lucky to have changed, but also that there are still other issues which need to be addressed and fixed by the citizens. By appealing to logos in this way and by sharing a shocking statistic about the nation’s past in order to show how much work is still left to be done in the future, Lincoln further achieved his purpose which was to convince the listeners that the nation should be proud of where it has come from but also not neglect the progress it has yet to make. I believe that through this use of rhetoric amongst others throughout the piece, Lincoln proved the argument he was trying to make. 

TOW #10

In his political cartoon depicting the 2017 presidential inaugural address during which president elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office next January, author Mike Luckovich uses humorous irony to make a powerful statement about the man which American has decided to run this country. Mike Luckovich created this image for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, which he has been creating similar political cartons for since 1989. He has won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning and the Reuben Award for Most Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. The image shows the United States Presidential Inauguration, set to take place on Friday, January 20^th 2017 in which Donald Trump, who was elected president this year, is drawn swearing on the bible. In the image, Donald Trump is drawn saying, “For a limited time, you too can own one of these fabulous Trump Bibles.” (Luckovich). There is irony in how Donald Trump is using the most esteemed honor in American history as a ploy to make more money by selling the Holy Book for profit. By using this rhetorical strategy, Luckovich is making a powerful statement about how Donald Trump is more a business man than political figure, and that he will treat this high-ranking position as such. He is also making a statement about how Donald Trump plans to use his position in office to benefit himself and his business and that he does not respect the honor that has been placed upon him. It is clear that this image was created in spite of Trump, to undermine his political agenda and reason for running for office. Mike Luckovich used his skills as a political cartoonist to convey such thoughts of his and to show his audience the real man which they have voted for and placed in office. I believe that his use of rhetoric, specifically irony, convey a strong and pronounced message about this year’s president elect. Luckovich strategically employed the irony in his cartoon and it helped him effectively achieve his purpose. 

TOW #9

      Jesse Wegman employed subtle symbolism in his editorial piece, ‘The Doll in the Blue Pantsuit’ to convey how Hillary Clinton supporters showed such interest and commitment soon after she announced she would be running for her chance to become the 45^th president of the United States, although not long after that her supports lost interested which ultimately cost her the election. This piece was thoughtfully composed by Jesse Wegman, editorial writer on law and the Supreme Court for the New York Times and previously the managing editor of The New York Observer, days after Donald Trump was announced the president elect in the 2016 presidential election. In his article, Wegman talks about how his daughter once idolized a doll depicting Hillary Clinton, then discarded it until the day of the election. The doll was used by the author as a symbol of Hillary Clinton and his daughter’s ephemeral amusement was used to depict that of Hillary’s supporters. Wegman writes about his young daughter’s time spent playing with the doll, stating, “For a while, Sami loved the doll; she called it Blue Baby, and when her language got better, Hilly Kinton. Then she lost interest” (Wegman 3). Many people, mostly democratic voters in support of Clinton, blamed poor voter turnout on the account of liberal youth as the reason she lost to her seemingly incompetent opponent. In this text, Wegman uses the symbolism of his daughter’s doll to express to his readers how many people supported Hillary in the beginning of her campaign, then forgot about the ongoing election for a few months in between, only to regain interest in the last minute. Wegman later reveals in the article that he and his wife were devastated by the result of the election thus Wegman used his writing and employed various rhetorical devices to subtly intertwine his thoughts into his work. I found this symbolism to be powerful, although very hidden. If it was more pronounced, I feel like it would be much more effective in achieving the author’s purpose.

TOW #8

In Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel, the author employs the rhetorical strategies of allusion and metaphor to convey how sad and hopeless she felt in order to make her audience understand what it is like to have chronic depression. In this book, Wurtzel reminisced on the true story of how she came to realize that she was depressed and bipolar at a young age. She was a published author prior to the release of Prozac Nation and this book made her a national bestselling author. The rhetoric is evident when Wurtzel writes, “Just like Gregor Samsa waking up to find he’d become a six-foot-long roach, only in my case, I had invented the monster and now it was overtaking me.” (Wurtzel 46). By alluding to The Metamorphosis, a 1915 novel about a man who transforms into a giant cockroach, Elizabeth Wurtzel is able to support her metaphor that follows. She does so by relating a possibly confusing statement to something that is more commonly known and understood. Wurtzel’s mention of creating and becoming a monster is a metaphor for how she created and became a victim to her own sadness. By comparing the depression to a monster, Wurtzel is able to show her audience how terrifying and violent the illness is for most people and that it is often inescapable. She also states that she created the monster or the depression as a way of saying that she felt as though the depression was her own fault, which is a common and often misunderstood feeling for depressed people. Overall, Elizabeth Wurtzel strategically employs various rhetorical devices to further support her purpose of the book. I believe that she is very successful in doing so since I found that, as someone who has suffered from both bipolar and depression, what she said was very relatable and true. I can imagine that for people who have never experienced either disorder, reading this book would help them understand the common feelings associated with them. 

TOW #7

In “Getting In” by Malcolm Gladwell, the author employs the rhetorical strategy of repetition to support his idea that the pressure to get into top colleges is constant and repetitive for students in the United States. Malcolm Gladwell is a well-known writer, speaker, and journalist for the New Yorker. He attended college at the University of Toronto in Canada, as he recalls in his essay, and first heard of the competitive nature of U.S. college admissions soon after arriving in the country. Gladwell writes about how this surprised him and varied quite a bit from his experience with college admissions in Canada. He explores the purpose and reasoning for the prominence of this idea of getting into the best of the best schools. In the essay, Gladwell discusses the competitiveness revolving around college admissions in the United States and the pressure to get into a top university. He makes a point about this by writing, “the precocious and sensitive protagonist always went to Harvard; if he was troubled, he dropped out of Harvard; in the end he returned to Harvard to complete his senior thesis” (Gladwell 4). By repeating the name Harvard three times in one sentence, Gladwell makes a bold statement about how prevalent these prestigious Ivy League schools are in American society and that the proud, outspoken nature of the colleges creates stress for applicants to want to get in. The repetition of the prominent university name shows how Malcolm Gladwell believes that it is talked about far too often in the ambitious United States society, making the name almost seem redundant for people and students. I found that this device greatly aided in Gladwell’s strive to achieve his purpose throughout his essay. It made me think about and question the stress that society puts on students and that students put on themselves as well to get accepted into schools like Harvard. 

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.

 

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. 

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. 

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.