TOW #16—IRB: “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” By Katherine Boo

TOW #16—IRB: “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” By Katherine Boo

                Poverty has torn our world apart. It resides in every country, every state, every city. It is extremely prevalent in India, where slums squat all around the outskirts of cities. The poor hide in the shadows of sky scrapers and scavenge through the trash of the rich, hoping to find something valuable. Millions of people live this way and there isn’t much they can do to help themselves. However, aide can be found from those who make a good living, who live with the benefits the poor have never had. But sadly, many people do not help. Most do not know the dire situation that is rampant throughout the world and some simply do not seem to care to help. Journalist Katherine Boo traveled to India and wrote a book on the lives of a few people living in the slums of Mumbai. She intertwines thoughtfully crafted diction in her story-like nonfiction book to create the feelings that her characters were experiencing in those moments. With this knowledge, readers feel inspired to help and to lend to the cause of the people living in the slums.

                Boo has the specialty and the ability to add powerful emotions into her writing. She clearly conveys what her characters feel, from each perspective and in each situation. It helps to explain the characters’ motivations, hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, and insecurities. She does this by choosing her words carefully. She uses powerful verbs such as “shrieked” (Boo 96) and “inspected” (Boo 135) to convey feelings in the characters’ actions. Her strong description, such as “mast-straight” (Boo 135) and “poking along in bitty hearings” (Boo 205), paints a picture and adds feelings to the situation. Thus, the reader can easily develop relationships with the people and their situations. Whether this causes sympathy, inspiration, or depression, it motivates the readers to take action and to help people who experience this same pain.

                Boo’s book, sold world-wide, has inspired many. As the years pass, it only inspires more to take a stand on world poverty. Boo uses powerful language in her book to express the feelings and emotions these real, struggling people have and to motivate others to take action. 

Tow #15--“A Fix for Gender Bias in Health Care? Check” by Jessica Nordell

Tow #15--“A Fix for Gender Bias in Health Care? Check” by Jessica Nordell

                It’s not hard to see that there is a gap between men and women in society. It wasn’t until 1920 that women could vote and, even now, women get paid less than men, are expected to stay home to watch the children, and take on the household duties. In hospitals, this gap is also occurring, not only among the employees, but the patients as well. In Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, 45% of women who could have been cured died of preventative blood clots. In men, the percentage was only 31. This was not due to the treatment they received but the way they received it. Doctors seemed to be more careless and non-attentive to women, favoring men. However, as the article presents, the hospital came up with a check list, resulting in less deaths and no gender imbalance.

                Nordell keeps her tone light and informative. Since her subject contains controversial material, such as the gender roles, this tone could have easily turned to anger, revenge, or even fear. She, however, uses phrases such as “It’s not clear what causes these differences” and “unintentionally” to show that, although she is a woman herself, she does not harbor anger. Her article is about how this difference between men and women can be lessened, not about why it is caused. Her lack of anger draws in a larger audience and keeps both women and men reading. Personally, I have read a lot of articles about women’s rights and, as a woman myself, I am turned away by the over-emotionally and rage-filled tone. I am sure men, feeling attacked, do not engage with the article either. Nordell’s approach stays focused on the medicine, keeping her audience happy and intrigued.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/opinion/a-fix-for-gender-bias-in-health-care-check.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&contentCollection=health&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront

Tow #14 – FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address

Tow #14 – FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address

                On December 7, 1941, the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by Japanese fighter planes. Over 2,000 soldiers died, 20 naval vessels were destroyed, 300 airplanes were destroyed, and another 1,00 soldiers were injured. The very next day, President Franklin Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan in his Pearl Harbor Address, bringing America into World War II.

                FDR had to appeal to congress in order to declare war. To do so, he carefully controlled his diction. At the start of the address, he speaks about America’s previous peace with Japan. He utilizes the past tense to reinforce the idea of broken peace and betrayal. He often says “was” to refer to their relations with Japan and later changes to words such as “useless” and “deliberately planned”. This changes his tone from hopeless to angry. At first, he represents the hopeless and sorrowful feelings of the American people by representing the pain and betrayal they have felt, reinforcing this feeling by referencing how America and Japan were united together in their efforts to keep peace in the pacific. By later transitioning to an angry tone, he represents the internalized feelings of the American people. The people who have lost family, friends, colleagues, and co-workers are angered by the deliberately planned deaths of their friends. Following the stages of grief, FDR presents his proposal. As can be assumed, congress is also moved by this and thus, has experienced these stages of grief. This not only arouses the feelings in each member of congress but validates them as well.

                Simply by utilizing the English language, President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on the Empire of Japan. A few days later, Japan’s allies declared war on the United States and officially brought them into World War II. FDR’s address on Pearl Harbor indirectly brought America into World War II. 

TOW #13: Visual Text – Cover of CoolBook Magazine

TOW #13: Visual Text – Cover of CoolBook Magazine

                Junior year is the first year I can go to prom, (without an older date, of course) meaning that many magazines have and will be sending me their ads for proms dresses. The first magazine I got this year is CoolBook, a magazine that I have never heard of before. This may be the case because it only includes prom dresses and, seeing as I have never had to shop for one before, I have not had the pleasure of discovering it yet. Its cover, displaying a woman in a dark green-teal dress, is simple with only two main colors on a white page: purple and green. It encapsulates the he simplicity, yet the beauty that their prom dresses have to offer.

                The woman on the front is wearing a simple off-green dress with jewels at the top. Her body is turned away, though her eyes stare directly at the camera. Her mouth is parted, halfway between a smile and a sultry look. Out of everything on the front cover, it is not her dress, her abnormally large earrings, or her smoky eyes that catch my eyes; it is her mouth. Her mouth, ever so slightly turned up shows the happiness this model is feeling in her dress. However, it is not a grin or a laugh, or even a full smile. She is still serious and, as they are suggesting, sexy. The simple position of her lips represents the range of emotions a girl can feel in a prom dress from CoolBook.

                The cover contains two main colors; purple lettering and the green of the model’s dress. It is simple, not too crowded, with darker tones against the bright white behind it. Pantone’s Color Institution has named Greenery, a color inspired by the greens found in nature, as the color of 2017. The magazine entraps audiences by using this popular color and pairing it with a dark, faded purple, another very popular color. Though the two aren’t complementary colors, they pair well on the cover and give a stark contrast, defining sharper lines on the magazine. This sharp line can be seen as popular amongst other societal beauties, such as sharp jaw lines, or thick black glasses. By using the shape of the model’s mouth and two contrasting yet popular colors, CoolBook creates a front cover appealing to any teen.

                 

TOW #12 – IRB: “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” by Katherine Boo

TOW #12 – IRB: “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” by Katherine Boo

                Katherine Boo, journalist and writer, traveled to the slums of India, observing the lives of the people for three years. She tracks not only one person, but multiple, gaining different insight to the daily lives of the people of Annawadi. Hopes are high as the economy prospers, but before long, Abdul, who sees a bright future in the trash of the rich, is charged with a serious crime. The economy starts to shift and the hopes of the people plummet. Boo’s rocking story shines light on the tough situations rampant through, not only India, but every country. She uses extremely strong and descriptive diction to paint the picture of these lives to show the middle class and the rich the pain and the suffering the lower class must endure to get through each individual day.

                Boo excites an emotional response in her audience by using well thought out diction in addition to listing the experiences she observed while in Annawadi, the slums of Mumbai. She includes phrases such as “the belly-down splay of alcoholics” (3), “booby-trapped with contentions” (5), “broken-toothed, profit-minded Santas” (6), “turned his snot black” (7), and “brittle stack of newspapers” (8) to describe the slums. The diction helps to describe the people, the rich, the land, their jobs, and, overall, their lives. It highlights the overwhelming buildings housing the rich surrounding the slums, the terrors and the fears of each individual job, the mindsets of people who have worked too hard to gain nothing, the homes that may fall in at any second. Her diction paints a picture of the slums, both emotionally and physically. Without saying anything forthright, Boo informs her audience of the precarious situation in the slums, illuminating the differences between the luxurious life of the middle class and the lower class.

                Simply by using stronger language, Boo already evokes an emotional response in her audience and demonstrates the lives of the lower class in the slums of Mumbai. 

TOW #11 – Chief Seattle’s Speech by Chief Seattle

TOW #11 – Chief Seattle’s Speech by Chief Seattle

                In 1887, still-developing America proposed to buy the land territory of current day Washington state and Oregon from the native inhabitants, ruled by Chief Seattle. Seattle himself, described as eloquent, powerful, strong, and wise, responded to the proposition with a speech. He outlined Native American feelings, wishing to be friends with the “pale-faced” white men while also conflicted about cultural conflicts. In the speech, he does not give an answer to the president’s proposition, but rather, prefaces it with the complicated feelings both he and his tribe are feeling. At the end, he artfully presents a condition that must be accepted for his tribe to agree to giving away their land. His build up to this condition includes eloquent personification and carefully chosen diction to sway his white audience.

                Chief Seattle, a mastery of speaking, included beautiful personification in his speech in order to beautify the land that the Americans wanted to buy from his tribe. He says, “Sad-voiced wind moans” and “…the very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours” (Chief Seattle). This personification gives the nature emotions and feelings that every human can relate to, making the nature not only beautiful, but relatable to the American audience. It makes the nature graceful, beautiful, imperfect, as a human is. This, then, helps to demonstrate to Seattle’s audience why the Native Americans feel a connection to the last they are being asked to give away. Since the condition is developed around a connection to the land, Seattle knows that this demonstration will pull out feelings in his audience, encouraging at least sympathy. This sympathy creates understanding of the condition being presented and, hopefully, acceptance.

                During his speech, Seattle carefully choses beautiful, descriptive diction to create a tone of superiority among his American audience. He uses words such as “fond”, “sacred”, “hallowed”, “mighty hosts”, “dusky spirits”, “solitudes”, and “throng with the returning hosts” (Chief Seattle). This diction creates a superiority complex surrounding the Native Americans. By describing themselves as “hosts”, they claim that they belong to this land. This states to the citizens of a new nation that they cannot simply buy this sacred area, which is beautified by Seattle’s words. He states that the Native Americans have more rights to the land than their “pale-faced” brothers. In terms of the presented condition, this gives American a more forceful push. It states, without directly stating, that they must accept the condition or they will only get the land when the tribe dies.