TOW #3 – “Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?” by KJ Dell’Antonia

TOW #3 – “Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?” by KJ Dell’Antonia

            KJ Dell’Antonia, writer for The New York Times, wrote “Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?” on September 24, 2016. She explains how she has believed that she has been an introvert her whole life, but, suddenly, her views have changed. After reading the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, Dell’Antonia looked at herself objectively, asking the question “Am I actually an introvert?” With a little investigation and research, she decided that she was just selfish, caring more about herself than others, as well as many other self-proclaimed introverts in this world. Her aim in publishing this revelation is to open the eyes of her audience, many of whom are self-proclaimed introverts themselves, to the idea that they may be uncomfortable in social situations rather than an introvert.

            In order to do this, Dell’Antonia organizes her paper as if she were investigating this revelation as it is being read. She starts out with the big question and breaks it down, including the thoughts and discussions she has, until she reaches the answer at the very end. This helps with two things in her paper; understanding and relating. The audience gains a clear understanding of Dell’Antonia’s process and thoughts, therefore understanding why and how she came to her conclusion. It builds her credibility as it proves that her conclusion is plausible and, frankly, highly likely to be correct. In addition to this, the audience can hear Dell’Antonia’s own struggle with her personality and can connect to this struggle. They may relate to a situation or a feeling that Dell’Antonia experienced which will then leave a lasting effect on them.

            As a smaller part of her writing, Dell’Antonia also uses widely varied sentence structure. She often uses short and to-the-point sentences, making her purpose stronger. These sentences create a tone of finality and allow the readers to relate to her situation. She utilizes the sentences to say, “I didn’t want to do it, but I did. It’s over,” when talking about social interaction. She separates these sentences, however, with longer, beautiful sentences.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/opinion/sunday/am-i-introverted-or-just-rude.html?src=trending&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Trending&pgtype=article

Citation: Dell'antonia, Kj. "Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Sept. 2016. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.

TOW #2 - Visual Text: Political Cartoon by Nate Beeler

TOW #2 – Visual Text: Political Cartoon by Nate Beeler

                With the elections only a few short months away, everyone is starting to take notice. Political cartoonists seem fixated on the candidates, highlighting their flaws. Nate Beeler’s cartoon immediately draws eyes to the rather large Donald Trump with his internal organs showing. The cartoon, a critique on Trump’s released doctor’s note, shows an x-ray of Trump’s internal organs and a doctor analyzing them. Beeler has been a professional cartoonist since 2005, working at The Washington Examiner and The Columbus Dispatch. He uses his well-developed skills to put his thought about Donald Trump into a visual image.

            In this image, Beeler utilizes exaggeration as one of his main rhetoric devices. By giving Trump a large bile duct and a rather small heart, Beeler suggests his thoughts on Trump’s personality. A smaller heart shows that Trump does not feel much love or sympathy while a large bile duct suggests that he is a bile, or vindictive, person. This also suggests that Trump’s physical health is affected by his personality, implying that he is unhealthy because he is a bad person. Beeler also draws the doctor with a very small head, almost coming to a point at the top. This means that there is little room for a brain, or that the doctor is unintelligent. He cannot be trusted to analyze Trump’s health well.

            As well as this, the doctor says that “Mr. Trump is in tip-top shape and all internal organs appear normal, for the most part.” Beeler wrote the word “most” in red, whereas the rest of the sentence is black. This change in color puts an emphasis on the word most, showing that there are some abnormalities in Trump’s health and that his organs are not in perfect condition.

            This statement carries over the reality, where Donald Trump’s health was labelled as excellent. Nothing has been found contradicting the statement, though it is not convincing democrats that Trump can handle the job as President of the United States. Beeler’s cartoon highlight’s this, making an attempt to convince people that Trump is a bad person by drawing his insides.

Source URL: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2016/09/16/144821

Citation:

Beeler, Nate. Townhall.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.

ToW #1 - "Trump's Sexist Strategy Gets Assist from Matt Lauer"

On September 8, Peggy Drexler of CNN News wrote an article about Donald Trump. The article, titled “Trump’s Sexist Strategy Gets Assist from Matt Lauer,” focuses on how Trump has been using sexism to benefit in the 2016 presidential nominations, and how he now has support from Matt Lauer, host of a live forum on NBC. Drexler explains how both Clinton and Trump were questioned in the interview, though Lauer seemed to challenge Clinton more and gave her less time to defend herself. Drexler first starts the article by explaining the situation and, afterwards, she gives evidence of the speculation of Lauer’s equality in the interview by referring to social media. She quotes many tweets, including one from an aide to President Obama. Drexler, assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University and gender study scholar at Stanford University, wrote the article to inform readers of Trump’s sexism and Lauer’s support of this and to argue about his campaigning strategies.

                To achieve this purpose, Drexler develops a strong tone. She uses her examples and diction to create a tone that is colloquial and sarcastic yet aggressive. She allows her feelings of the Republican candidate to shine through her words. Her curt sentences, such as “As offensive as this sexism is, it’s not new,” illuminate her anger and present her information to her audience in a dramatic, almost suspenseful, way. This leaves her readers enchanted with what she has to say as the drama reels them in as well as walking away angry with Trump, thus lessening the support for Trump.

                In another effort to lessen support for Trump, Drexel includes graphics in her articles. She adds in recordings of phone calls, speeches, and even pictures of tweets that prove what she claims in the article is true, building her credibility. If the tone proves too aggressive for some, the graphics prove that she has a right to feel this way and discredit many counter arguments.

                Although my own bias might cloud my opinion, I enjoyed Drexler’s work and recognized how her rhetoric devices made a strong, coherent article. 

Article URL - http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/08/opinions/trump-gender-sexism-drexler/index.html

Article Citation - Drexler, Peggy. "Trump's Sexist Strategy Got Help from Lauer." CNN. Cable News Network, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 11 Sept. 2016. 

IRB #1 Introduction Post

            Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, by Caitlin Doughty is a memoir about learning how to work in a crematory and how to care for dead bodies. Writen by a licensed mortician, the book has underlying meanings of how society handles the fear of death and how this fear has shaped individuals. With raving reviews from Oprah, Natalie Kusz from the New York Times Book Review, and many more, this memoir has been recommended to me by my mother, a seventh and ninth grade English teacher. I am ready to pick up Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and see how my unique view of death compares to Doughty's view.

Robert Frost's "The Figure a Poem Makes"

An illustration of Robert Frost's "A Road Not Taken"

           Robert Frost, an American poet, wrote The Figure a Poem Makes in order to explain to the general public how a poem should be formatted and what a poem should include. Frost describes how a poem should surprise both the writer and the reader, how the poem should start, and how it should end. He explains that the poem should find “it’s own name as it goes” and it “begins in delight and ends in wisdom” (Frost 177). In his description of the poetry, he includes numerous rhetoric devices that sprinkle the essay with graceful and melodious statements. His audience, the general public, is kept interested by his use of personification, similes, metaphors, and beautiful imagery. As stated above, Frost declares that a poem should find “it’s own name” and that, at the end, it “run itself and carried away the poet with it” (Frost 177-178). This personification and the other rhetoric devices incorporated into the essay give the readers a visualization of the poetry and help them to understand how they should feel while writing a poem; thus, convincing his audience about the way a poem should be created. Frost also includes strong diction, creating an informative yet graceful and wonderstruck tone. This tone gives the readers insight to how Frost feels while writing and, thus, how they should feel. He effectively creates a vision of what a poem should be and how it should be created by doing this, informing his audience well. With these rhetoric devices, The Figure a Poem Makes was quickly published in 1939 as a preface to Collected Poems. Collected Poems is a book of Robert Frost’s poetry up to that point in his life, giving Frost credibility in The Figure a Poem Makes by showing he has experience with his topic. As the book was open to the public, Frost’s essay was also posed to the public, showing them how to construct a poem. Frost uses a combination of strategies to create an awe-inspiring essay about poetry that has helped to inform the public and will continue to for many years. 

Picture Citations

"Road Not Taken Drawing." Oahow.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.

Works Referenced

"Collected Poems by Robert Frost, First Edition, Signed." Abebooks.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2016. 

James Thurber's "Sex Ex Machina"

A turing machine, invented in 1936

          James Thurber, cartoonist, author, and playwright, wrote Sex Ex Machina in 1937, during the build up to World War Two. Published in the New Yorker, Sex Ex Machina is an argumentative essay that considers and then refutes that the fear of machines is connected to sexual desires. The industrial world was still booming during this time, with machines becoming part of everyday life. The fear of machines, however, remained abundant. Thurber proposes that the “menace of the machine” (Thurber 153) is caused by negative experiences connected to machines as opposed to sexual desires. He first presents the counter argument by analyzing a study done by a psychologist on reactions of three men to a car. This psychologist, Dr. Bish, formulates a connection between the reactions of each man and their sexual desires. Thurber then presents his argument by giving a possible explanation of why people fear machines and uses that argument to combat the experiment. Thurber’s argument is well supported by many examples from his life as well as from his friends’ lives. Thurber also brings to light the flaws in the opposing side’s argument, therefore strengthening his own. He uses rhetoric devices throughout the essay to add depth to his writing and to keep his audience interested. He includes ethos, pathos, and logos as well as strong diction and a surplus of figurative language, such as similes and personification. For example, he writes “menace” instead of “fear” and he states that his car “screamed” when he shares about his fear of car alarms (Thurber 157).Thurber uses these many examples to not only inform the public about the how the fear of machines is caused, but to comfort those who have experienced or still experience this fear. With the rhetoric devices creating a knowledgable yet comforting mood, the essay seems to be targeted towards the people who fear machines. His personal anecdote offers validity of the fear and builds Thurber’s credibility as he shows he has has experience with his topic. Thurber’s use of rhetoric devices and many examples makes Sex Ex Machina a strong and well supported essay. 

Picture Citation

"A Turing Machine Overview." A Turing Machine. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2016. 

Rachel Carson's "The Marginal World"

           Rachel Carson, American marine biologist, conservationist and full-time nature writer, wrote many books and other writings including her most popular book Silent Spring and her essay The Marginal World. The Marginal World was published in The Edge of the Sea in 1955, after World War Two. The post-World War two world inspired the public to be more environmentally active and gave them a new out look towards nature; a better environment would make for a better quality of life. Carson’s essay includes these new thoughts by using description, highlighting the animals, plants, lighting, and landscape of the shore. She goes into detail about how the environment makes her feel, saying she “gain[s] some new awareness of its beauty and deeper meanings” and that she senses “that intricate fabric of life by which one creature is linked with another” (Carson 215). Her description includes a surplus of imagery and figurative language. She utilizes personification to bring life to the surroundings, saying that the “delicate flowers heads would stir with life” (Carson 216), connecting her audience to nature, therefore giving the general public perspective on the feelings Carson felt while in this environment. Among this, she incorporates an allusion, citing that she  saw “what Audubon saw” (Carson 217). Being a painter, Audubon found the beauty and nature and painted it accordingly to create masterpieces. These rhetoric devices combine to create an inspiring essay about the beauty of the edge of the sea with an underlying message to help save the environment. The rhetoric devices cause the description to flow and advance the essay while keeping the general public interested in her writing. She was able to clearly and effectively describe to her audience the symbolism behind the animals and plant life and well as share her feelings that the nature arouse in her. With the craftsmanship of a writer and the knowledge of a marine biologist, Rachel Carson wrote a breathtaking essay that will inspire the public for years to come. 

Louisiana Heron, By John James Audubon 

Picture Citation

McNee, Lori. "The Importance of Being an Artist in Today's Modern World." Finearttips.com. N.p., 30 Jan. 2010. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.

Works Referenced 

Chowder, Ken. "John James Audubon: Drawn from Nature." PBS. N.p., 25 July 2007. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.