1:2 Summary of Feel Free

1 Reply

Summary of Feel Free by Zadie Smith

I chose to summarize Zadie Smith’s piece entitled “Feel Free” because her writing style connected to me and I believe I am able to describe how her essay is well constructed at times and poorly constructed at others.

She begins by simply describing climate change as a series of feelings and mental images we once had and can relate to as opposed to understanding all the science behind it.  Many readers of this passage may not have a science background so her appeal is more general and is relate-able to the average reader. She explores the use of pathos by intricately bringing the readers into blooming thriving spring-time gardens with her and including detailed memories of blazing summers and and frosty winter holly berries.  She utilizes sensory details that have the readers actually seeing, smelling and feeling the seasons change. The reader is drawn into the world Smith once knew and is reminiscing about as they reminisce alongside her.

Zadie Smith describes the time of the year and the seasons that correspond to it with great detail.  She creates a Kinkade-like painting with her words.  Just as you are captured into this world that once existed she then shifts and begins to imagine a future that is not as beautiful and picturesque as she so nicely recalled it to be.  She starts a long and very confusing make-believe scenario that plays out in the future as she encounters her future granddaughter who is very upset about the world she lives in.  She loses her sense of ethos at this point, as I began to question how she can generalize about a 7 year old thoughts and questions and do with such negativity. The scenarios she conjures up and the no-so-appropriate conversations she has with this child leave her credibility in question.  This selfish and self-indulgent tangent just seems very out of place in her essay and unnecessary to her main point. I felt audiences around the globe losing interest at this point in the piece as Smith becomes now an unreliable and unrelate-able source.

This piece has a tone of bereavement, melancholy and loss to it, which relates to many readers who may also feel climate change is emotional and not all scientific.

Zadie Smith has magically shown and directed the reader’s mind to a world we once enjoyed – void of the threat of climate change. She vividly presents us with the world we can never quite enjoy again.  She unfolds the current climate status and finally asks us to look ahead to start to  reset our thoughts and determine what actions and plans we can do today to help prepare for the uncertain future.

I think for my first essay I will try to detail further examples of the three components of ethos, pathos and logos that are present and not as I summarize this essay.   I will also go into further detail about what appealed and worked in her writing and what did not.

0: The Last Northern White Rhinos

1 Reply
  1.    
    Here’s a picture of the World’s last two Remaining Northern White Rhinos. Once upon a time  widespread throughout northern Africa, Najjin and her sister Fatu are all that is left of there subspecies, which has been brutally hunted down for decades by poachers for there horns. According to google one pound of White Rhino‘s horn estimated 65,000 Usd: on the Asian Black Market.
    I’ve felt great grief in learning  there’s no more Male White Rhinoceroses survivors, The Last male named “Sudan” died in 2009, he was 45 years old. Breeding in captivity for Sudan was unsuccessful, making matters worse Najjin and Fatu are both unable to carry on a healthy pregnancy. There’s a famous saying by Trisha Yearwood, “What’s meant to be will always find a way” so don’t count theses Rhinos out yet.       A group of scientists in the next upcoming months will take eggs from Najjin and Fatu and attempt to fertilize them with frozen sperm. Collected from two deceased Male White Rhinos, If embryos are successfully created they could be transferred into a surrogate mother of a different Rhino species. Allowing a new population of White Rhinos to be created, even if the last two Rhinos are no longer alive.

1.1: Gretchen Whitmer’s Response to the State of The Union

1 Reply

I chose this piece to respond to because as a native Michigander I listened to this speech out of civic duty to the motherland.

“It doesn’t matter what the President says about the stock market.  What matters is that millions of people struggle to get by or don’t have enough money at the end of the month after paying for transportation, student loans or prescription drugs.  American workers are hurting.  In my own state, our neighbors in Wisconsin and Ohio, Pennsylvania and all over the country, wages have stagnated while CEO pay has skyrocketed.” – part of Gretchen Whitmer’s response to President Trump’s State of the Union.

Governor Whitmer’s response to the state of the Union was well written; with a simple strategy, she was able to answer a speech before hearing it. A close reading of this section of the reply shows how Whitmer used pathos to reach her audience and respond to the State of the Union. By focusing on the emotional struggles of Americans and supporting her case with emotionally charged ideas, Whitmer can respond without responding to specifics. What does is it mean precisely that American workers are hurting? I do not know, but I do not like it! What does it mean that millions of people struggle? I do not know, but I want someone to help them! Who is Governor Whitmer? Who cares, wages are stagnating, and the rich are getting richer! Well, what research institution provided these facts on the monthly budget of Americans; was it a double-blind study? What does it matter!? Americans do not have enough money to pay for their glaucoma medication!

We can see from Whitmer’s word choice that this is a well-crafted speech and lands squarely on your heartstrings. But, was it a compelling appeal for convincing America that democrats have the answer to the troubles the country faces? I would argue that no, this is a speech crafted to appeal to a certain kind of American. I think by dismissing the stock market and elaborating on the struggles of paying for student loans, prescription drugs, and CEO pay, the speaker is talking to a red-blooded working-class American. Let’s say it’s aimed at someone that drinks Budweiser over Lambrusco. Would this be effective rhetoric for convincing an upper-middle-class family that lives in a suburban home to forget about the gains their 401k made this year, maybe, maybe not. But, it seems to have been on target if she aimed to convince working-class voters to flip back the mid-western states that sent their electors for Trump in 2016.

 

 

 

Expectations

1 Reply

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. – Steve Jobs

I choose this speech in particular because I agreed with it. I read it to myself and thought, wow this is a good point. I am a very stress free person which honestly is not necessarily the best thing. Being too “go with the flow” is something that has cost me some opportunities in life. The audience of this text would be the general public, maybe some young people who don’t know what to do in life or are feeling low or unmotivated. Being someone who has accomplished much, having that kind of mentality strikes me as surprising. by listing the different attributes “all pride, all fear..” makes it more powerful. If I were to say all pride and fear, it wouldn’t have the same effect.

Trump’s Mental Health Care Proposition

1 Reply

“President Trump has a clear vision for our healthcare system: a healthcare system that’s affordable, personalized, puts you in control, and treats you like a person, not a number.

He has promised a system that protects vulnerable patients, and provides you with the affordability you need, the options and control you want, and the quality you deserve.”

These two sentences are from a speech given by Alex M. Azar II at the White House Mental Health Summit on December 19, 2019. In these two sentences, Alex uses pathos to appeal to the emotions of the audience. When Alex says that President Trump’s plan will treat the people under this program as “a person, not a number,” the common audience will feel important and awaken because they will feel that all this time they weren’t seen as a person in need of healthcare and because of President Trump, they now are. In the second second sentence, Alex points out the care Trump has for the “vulnerable” people and that can make one visualize the lack of care for many people that can’t afford proper health care. This is effective as it can reach out to people that are indecisive as to whether they should support Trump as president or not and make them feel as if Trump is concerned for the general public. This can be ineffective to people that are already enjoying the benefits of existing health care. From the tone of the speaker, we can safely assume that they are in support of Trumps work in the medical field.

1.1: Coronavirus in Flushing

1 Reply

“While there have been deaths, most patients have had milder symptoms and have been discharged after treatment.” (Griffin, 2020)

 

I recently came across this article about the testing for the Coronavirus of two people in the New York Presbyterian Hospital in Flushing, New York. What drew me to this article is the fact that this hospital is extremely close to Queens College. Going into the article I thought that Allie Griffin would be fear mongering trying to generate more clicks for other articles on the Flushing Post website, but to my surprise she seldom did.

In fact she attempted to reassure the public about our safety, she acknowledged the fact that there have been people who have died due to the Coronavirus, but she emphasizes many more people have been treated and sent home safely. The author’s use of numbers to create a mental image for the reader in the sentence beforehand appeals to the readers logos, “There are now 11 confirmed cases of novel Coronavirus in the U.S. and more than 14,000 worldwide. At least 360 people have died from the virus, which has symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath.” (Griffin, 2020) She effectively put the readers unrest to ease by showing only a small percentage of infected people have actually died.

1: “…They happen because of you.”

1 Reply

“When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.” Peter Parker “Captain America: Civil War (2016)

What’s interesting about this quote is that it has so much meaning, not within a superhero itself, but within anybody in a universe. It’s so relatable to anybody. You may think, “so what?” or “I really don’t care.”, that kind of thing. But once you hear someone say it, you might do.

In Captain America: Civil War, Tony Stark meets Peter Parker and Stark found out Parker is the Spider-Man and wants to recruit the young teenager to go to Germany and have him by his side. Before that, Stark asks Parker why he became Spider-Man? Parker, without going into many details, replied his responsibilities are to stop the bad things from happening. If he doesn’t, bads will happen because Parker didn’t do his job. Hence, where the quote above comes from. Rhetorical speaking, this speech used all Rhetorical strategies (Logos, Ethos, and Pathos). But how?

Logos are claims/ arguments that support a reason. In the speech above, Parker supports his reason of being Spider-Man as a responsibility due to having actual powers. This meaning doesn’t specify in the movie, but in the comics, they do. After Parker had these powers, he used him for selfish reasons. But his selfishness caused his Uncle Ben’s death. He warned Parker that “With great power, comes great responsibility.” This is here Parker started to be more responsible. Back to the speech, the “things” Parker is claiming are his responsibilities. When he stated “but you don’t”, he’s stating that he wasn’t being responsible, and the bad things happen because he was doing his job.

Ethos is how the speaker connected themselves to the topic being discussed. In other words, the tone. In this case, the tone of the speech used is very is upsetting but understanding in a way. Parker was upset about his uncle’s death. He wished he could have prevented from happening. But he understood that his actions comes with a price.

Pathos are examples or details used to connect to the audience. I left out something before starting writing this blog. This speech relates to me so much in many ways. I was never a responsible individual before. I never cared about my education causing me to fail. I use to be rude and disrespectful, and karma bits back to me. I always had karma because I doing bad things. So when I started to be a bit more responsible, good things started to appeal. Bad things can happen to me when I’m not doing my job as an individual. But it’s not me that can relate to this speech. It’s everyone else. When we don’t do our job responsibly, bads will happen.

Analyzing a Sentence

1 Reply

I recently had to read a book called “When it Rains it F-N Pours” by Mirian, and a sentence I would like to highlight is ” I hope that you will not judge me for the mistakes in my grammar and syntax in my writing , but judge me instead for the content and meaning behind my life experiences.” At first when I read this sentence I thought of it as a de-briefer, If that make sense. As if the author was telling us to read at our own risk. However, after really looking at it, I realized for me this sentence made the book feel real. For me, this sentence meant the author was stripping away her professionalism, her formality; which sometimes create a barrier between the reader and author, and she made me feel as if I was there in the moment with her. Through this sentence I gained a sense of normalcy with the author, which let me know that this probably was not going to be the best piece of writing I have read but probably more inspirational and forward telling then most.

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kair

1 Reply

The piece I choose to discuss is an expert from the book Milk and Honey by Rupi Kair.

” Did you think I was a city
big enough for a weekend get away
I am the town surrounding it
the one you’ve never heard of but always pass through
there are no neon lights here, no skyscrapers or statues
but there is thunder here for I make bridges tremble …”

There is a lot of literary devices used within these sentences. The author uses imagery and personification to develop strong visuals. The author describes herself not as a city where it can be busy, large, fast paced but more over as the town nearby, safe and sacred, quite even. This allows readers to have a different perspective of the kind of person she can be characterized as. The symbolism of the town creates a visual representation. She also uses Juxtaposition to contrast the two elements of the town versus the city in order to emphasize the play of words.

1.1: Training for the Professional

2 Replies

I started my job about a month ago and it has been tough to learn this new industry. I work in the commercial/residential leasing space and I was given a home-grown manual made by my predecessor. The manual describes how to complete necessary processes for the business and it is well made because it is organized thoughtfully, making it very easy to navigate and find necessary information to complete tasks. The author made subject headlines to separate specific topics and created a step-by-step process for every stage, included images and little notes to clarify confusing steps. I found this to be very effective in my learning but there are things the author did not consider. The author assumes that I have a background in this industry so there is a lot of crucial information that is not described, since the assumption is that I would already know industry terms and abbreviations. The actions I am told to take provide no context as to why I need to do it this way. This lack of information is not effective, especially for the reader because this was originally was designed to be my onboarding, training document to understand the industry.