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. 

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.