TOW #7 - "The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist" by Laura Blumenfeld, Written Text

In "The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist", Laura Blumenfeld decodes and simplifies the unnecessary hatred between two groups of people in war by humanizing both groups through juxtaposition and pathos. In this New Yorker article, Blumenfeld tells of her adventure in the West Bank in visiting the family of the terrorist who shot her father thirteen years ago. All she wants to know is the shooter's perspective on the situation and the reasons why he did it, so she introduces herself as a journalist instead of the victim's daughter to get the real story instead of a biased lie. She learns along with the reader that both people, the shooter and the victim, are real human beings. She helps the reader come to this realization initially through juxtaposition. She starts off the essay by writing, "The gunman wasn't home [...] 'That's him,' the woman said, pointing over her grand children's heads to the gunman's photograph. 'He tried to kill someone,' she said in an easy voice" (Blumenfeld 1). Referring to him as "the gunman" and this emotionless account of events dehumanizes the shooter. As the story progresses and she makes contact with the man, we begin to learn details about his life, his family, his dreams, and we start to see him as an actual person when Blumenfeld refers to him by name: Omar. The placement of these two different viewpoints almost makes the reader feel guilty for viewing the man this way. Blumenfeld expertly plays on the reader's emotions and coerces them into realizing that although Omar may have gone about it in the wrong way, he is just another human being standing up for his beliefs. In a letter to her father, Omar writes, "I would like you to know I've prayed a lot for you [...] I would first like to express to you my deep pain and sorrow for what I caused you" (Blumenfeld 8). The reader feels for Omar in this moment because they realize he is not a bad man after all, just a man who has made mistakes. The powerful message that war is more than just guns and bombs, it is a battle between real people with real reasons to fight is thoroughly taught by Laura Blumenfeld in "The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist".

TOW #6 - "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" (Written)

Zora Neale Hurston pushes a powerful lesson towards the people of the past and present world who are something that makes them feel different in "How It Feels to Be Colored Me". With a title like that, the reader may make an initial assumption that this essay is about having pride in your race, but that is not the case. Hurston shows people that although people may feel different because of their gender, race, sexuality, etc., they cannot allow that to define them. She tells of the importance of pushing past these boundaries and allowing yourself to be your own person. She fully accomplishes this through personal anecdotes as well as a powerful metaphor. She tells the reader of when she moved and first realized her skin color made her different but she did not allow it to affect her when she writes, "I was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a little colored girl [...] but I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all [...] someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me" (Hurston 115). Even from a young age, she did not allow for her skin color to define her or keep her from being herself. She clinches the end of her essay with a metaphor that leaves the reader with a thought-provoking question. She speaks of people as paper bags of different colors with jumbled contents, and if one were to dump all the contents into a huge pile and refill them all, the contents wouldn't be much different. She ends the essay with, "perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place - who knows?" (Hurston 117). She is suggesting that the color of a person's bag (or skin) will never define what contents are on the inside, which is the message she conveys all along.

TOW #5 - WWF PSA, visual text

The World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF, interestingly attacks the belief of humans that only the adorable animals are worth saving in this advertisement. When people hear the term "endangered species", one of the first animals to come to mind is most like a tiger or a panda, one of the more appeal species, rather than, say, the Dodo bird. Pandas are known for their cuteness as well as their status of endangerment, which is why they are one of the main species to receive donations at the WWF, an organization dedicated to helping the wildlife of the world, especially the endangered species, not only survive but thrive as well. However, in this ad, WWF is taking a stand against that to the general public or anyone willing to donate or take action by essentially saying, "Just because other species may not be as 'adorable' as the panda, they deserve just as much help". The WWF accomplishes that through juxtaposition and appealing to pathos. The initial placement of the "panda" in the center compared to the other sea creatures surrounding it speaks volumes. It allows the audience to see the issue at hand, because some people may instinctively think, "Well, yeah, I'll help the panda, but what on Earth are those things?" This is precisely the reaction the WWF wants in order to show the audience that is the exact issue at hand. This is a work of satire because it is forcing the audience to realize the error of their ways in the hopes of changing their actions. To accomplish this, the piece also appeals to pathos, making the audience feel guilty for only donating to the pandas (or a species like it) and unintentionally ostracizing the other species. Hopefully, this public service announcement will help the world's citizens see the error of their natural instinct to help the cutest species and broaden their helping hand to the other species of the world.

TOW #4 - "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, IRB part 1

         The narration and description in the first part of Jeannette Walls' "The Glass Castle" propel the story by serving the reader a heaping plate of "What?" with a side serving of "She can't be serious." As Walls depicts her own life for anyone willing to listen at any time, she draws the reader in with a present day tale of her taxi ride home as she passes her homeless mother on the street. The confusion hits the reader like a brick wall as they ask themselves, "Why is her mother homeless if Walls is perfectly well off, even well enough to support both her parents if needed?" She then continues to narrate the story as she writes about taking her mother out to dinner and the reader begins to see inside her mothers brain. Walls, quoting her mother, writes, "'You want to help me change my life?' Mom asked. "I'm fine. You're the one who needs help. Your values are all confused'" (Walls 5). This leaves the reader wondering why her mother and father behave the way they do. Walls predicts this response because she expertly throws the reader into her childhood and introduces her family. Her description is especially effective in this part of the book because she writes just as a little girl would think. She really changes herself into the girl she once was. She also does an incredible job of describing and introducing her father. She writes, "The doctor said bandages were necessary to prevent infection. Dad stared at the doctor. 'To hell with infection,' he said. He told the doctor that I was going to be scarred for life because of him, but, by God, I wasn't the only one who was going to walk out of there scarred" (Walls 13). Walls could have very easily written "and then Dad threatened the doctor", but by depicting the situation descriptively the way she did, the reader has a better understanding of her father's personality. The purpose of the first part of "The Glass Castle" is to introduce the characters and give some background to the current situation. Walls flawless accomplishes this by giving the reader a little taste of crazy and leaving them craving more.

TOW #3 - Visual Text, Fiat PSA

             

          Despite the Spanish phrases, this powerful PSA crosses the language barrier and gets across the message without much trouble. This much needed PSA in a world where drinking and driving is becoming more and more of an issue is sponsored by Fiat, an extremely popular car company, which makes them credible to the topic. This ad speaks to all drivers globally as it simply but boldly states, “Now you see. Now you don’t. Avoid Accidents. Don’t drink and drive.” Although the message is clear and easily understandable, it is not what the message is but how Fiat conveys it that makes this piece truly effective. The most predominant rhetoric device here is pathos. Fiat brilliantly uses a child riding a bicycle as the victim to draw out intense emotions from the audience. Undoubtedly, any driver knows a child that they car strongly for, whether it be a son or daughter, a niece or nephew, or maybe even a student. This ad forces the audience to think, “What if that was me behind the wheel, and my son on his bike?” Another important aspect of this piece is the mood it creates for the audience. Fiat’s use of neutral and somewhat solemn colors gives off the feeling of emptiness and isolation. Colors play an important part in our emotions: often times red stands for anger, blue for sorrow, green for envy, etc. However, the lack of color sends an important feeling of thoughtlessness and emptiness, the emotions felt during and after drinking and driving (not that I would know). Fiat wants to raise awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving, and expertly chooses specific rhetoric devices to achieve this goal.