“I Know Why The Caged Bird Can’t Read”

Discussion Questions 1&2

1. I disagree with Francine’s statement. I believe passion for reading is traditionally established at a younger age when the parents read with their children. I do believe however that love for reading is lost in High school. The dry pieces that are required reading for High School Students can make reading seem mundane and completely obsolete.
2. She is explaining how surfacely the teachers are presenting the books. They should be focusing on the book and now on the discussions on how experiences in the book have related to a students life.

Questions on Rhetoric and Style 1-3 6-9

1. Prose uses four different personas to establish her ethos in this piece. The first is that of a parent of High School Children. From this role she takes on concern and interest into her child’s education. The second is a High School student, having been through many of these books and experiences she is able to relate to a student reader. The third is a researcher. She compiled and went through multiple reading lists and asked students about their experiences to get a grasp on the scale of her topic. Finally she established ethos through her jobs as an educator. She herself has taught college courses and has seen the loss of reading in her student’s lives
2. I believe she starts out with this kind of language to make her opinion clear on the subject. I also sets the tone for this essay. I believe that a reasonable reader would keep on reading to fully understand her view even if they didn’t agree with her.
3. She assumes that the students are willing to read and that they want to make an effort to read good literary works. She also assumes that they will make a difference in their lives and outlook. This is not always true some kids gain nothing from education and simply see it as something their parents make them do. Only a truly motivated teen will gain anything from these books.
4. I do agree. The use of badly written works is hypocritical to the purpose of the teaching literature. If teaching proper English was the purpose using poorly written materials is a bad way of teaching.

Chaucer’s Argument

The argument presented in the Chaucer speech is a very interesting one. It appeals to the people in its comedy and pathos and it gives them a taste of something they have not seen before.

            The appeal to comedy is in the over exaggeration of the speaker. This comes through in dramatic lines like, “the protector of Italian virginity” and “can trace his lineage back to Charlemagne”. These lines are totally unlikely and impossible and are therefore funny. This appeal to pathos is important because if the audience is laughing they are not arguing back with the speaker, making his or her argument affective.

            The speaker audience relationship is mostly for entertainment. He is delivering them something to make them laugh and forget about how dirt poor and starved they are. The Audience subject relationship shows comedy and their ability to laugh at the ridiculous statements. Finally, Subject speaker is important because this is this man’s work and it comes from him, his words are the only thing he has left.

How Dumb Can We Get

Anti-intellectualism is a fast-growing epidemic in America. The utter lack of appreciation for anything of value to an educated being is embarrassing. I believe that Susan Jacoby was correct in identifying the problem but I don’t entirely agree with her thesis. Technology is not, in my opinion the reason for Americas intellectual downfall. It is the lack of value placed on knowledge. I believe that if kids where better prepared from a young age and taught value and values they would be more prepared to do more than take tests in their academic career.

            I also find it appalling how unmotivated people are to questioning beliefs and common knowledge. The first comment in the forum seemed very ignorant to me. It seemed as though the author of it was making laborers (that make up much of Americas population) sound stupid. It is as if they ended up there because they where to stupid to think or go to college. This thought process is completely close-minded, if that is what a person is passionate about then why go to a job they hate when they can have their dream. All too often when engaged in debate an opponents rebuttal is somewhere along the lines of “that is just how it is”. This shows a lack of knowledge in the sense that the individual is unwilling or unable to learn something new. If they would simply listen to the other person they might learn something new, or even develop a stronger belief in what their own cause is. This unwillingness to question the world around us is only allowing people to settle with the minimum.

Arrangement

I believe that Jody Heyman’s essay, “We Can Afford to Give Parents a Break” uses the classic model of arrangement. The first paragraph is the introduction is gives a baseline of information into what the author will be talking about. The thesis is included in when She explains that,”It only seems appropriate to disabuse ourselves of some of the myths surrounding out government’s treatment of mother’s. The narration is found in paragraphs two and three, as the author explains how maternity leave is important to children’s health and how sick leave can improve parents control over their children’s health. The confirmation can be found in paragraphs four, five, and six. This is where the U.S.’s standing among other countries is addressed. This allows for further persuasion and to confirm the topic in the readers mind. The refutation is present in paragraphs seven, eight, nine, and ten. This is where the author dispels “myths” about the sick and maternity leave’s affect on social issues. This is important because it makes their case more believable and credible, in other words it appeals to the logos. Finally, paragraph eleven concludes the essay rounding it out into one whole idea; that the U.S. would be better off to give leave to working adults in efforts to help solve some of Americas social issues.

School Fine?

Modest Proposal and the “School Fine” article share a satirical approach that is very effective in grasping the reader’s attention. Both articles use satire to bring attention to social issues. The appeal of satire is that it brings to the situation some humor. Humor makes the article easier to read because it makes the topic less boring. Satire makes articles easier to read because it gets more people to read than it would usually. I know for myself that when I sit down to read a piece that if it uses satire and humor I am more likely to continue to see what the author has to say.

Al Gore Comic and Visual Rhetoric

This cartoon portrays when Al Gore took a private jumbo jet to receive his Nobel Peace Prize. The satire in it is that he was receiving the award for his work with global warming, yet his private jet was a huge waste of jet fuel and caused huge amounts of emissions.

The speaker in this cartoon is the author. I was unable to find who the author is but I would assume that he was trying to portray Al Gore, his subject, as a hypocritical person.  I was able to find that the cartoon was about Gore because of the name of the plane “Gorestream”. I knew he was on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony because of the large medal on the wing and it was his own private jet because he is tho only person on the plane. Last of all I noticed the saying Think Green on the side of the plane, I believe this is to provide the humor in the comic. The audience is very broad but I believe it can apply to the U.S. as a whole; it paints a picture of the kind of people we elect to represent us.

The ethos in this comic are not very clear. I was unable to asses the authors validity or his political views I do believe he is a fairly intelligent person because of the small attentions to detail that help make his cartoon appealing. Logos on the other hand are very clear. They express the situation in almost exactness and give a picture to a widely common opinion. The pathos are represented in either humor or frustration. Humor in that its ridiculous how hypocritical Gore is and also frustrating in the sense that it can make a person angry that so much faith is put in the people representing out country yet they can be so unintelligent.

Einstien’s Letter To Phyllis

I believe that the rhetoric value of Mr. Einstiens’s letter to Phyllis Wright is moderate. I believe that he answers the question but not in whole. Einstien’s subject was scientists belief in a higher power through religion, he spoke as a highly esteemed scientist, and and it was explained in a way his audience a 6^th grade girl could understand. His rational idea is that everything is determined by laws. His ethos are his analysis of his explanation, and his pathos is how he chooses language that makes him sound more simple and easier to relate to.

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