TOW #30- Dear Future APELC Student

Dear Future APELC Student,

This is going to be no easy task.

You are probably walking into this class with some impressive grades you have earned the past two years, specifically well in English courses the last two years. With that said, no matter how successful you have been previously this course will challenge you in ways you have never been challenged academically.

For myself, I decided to take this course at the end of my sophomore year as I had done well in both freshman and sophomore honors language arts classes. I felt like I was ready to move up to an Advanced Placement course and succeed in that course similar to the success I have found in every Language Arts class I have taken in my time at Wissahickon. The only problem is, this course is not like every other Language Arts course offered previous to Junior Year.

You will be challenged like you have never been challenged before in writing and your analytical reading. You will be given readings to analyze that are not easy to pick up the first time going through. You will have homework assignments that are nearly impossible to save until the night before. Along the way you will see grades that you may have never even seen or imagined that you would ever receive in school.

However, after going through the course, you will see yourself as a better writer, reader, analyzer, and growth as a student. The difference between a student first walking into Mr. Yost’s room in September and a APELC student who is up at 8am on the day of the AP Exam is exponential, and through the course of the year everything is purposely instructed to prepare you for that day in May in which you show everything you have learned. At times you may have regrets in taking the course, or may be in fear of receiving grades that have never been present on your transcript. Nevertheless, at the end of the day this class is truly a marathon, and after the ups and downs of taking this course you will feel satisfied with the growth you will experience in only a year with Mr. Yost. 

Trust me, it will all be worth it even during the times where nothing seems to be going right in the course. You can really take my word for it as I had some of the worst lows I could ever have imagined in the course. There will be times of disappointment, but it will surely be reversed into the success and gratification that are associated with the growth gained from taking this test.

Best of Luck to You,

Drew Geller

TOW #29: Our Obsession With Guns

In Michael Moore’s documentary Bowling for Columbine he has many claims that collectively make up for his overall argument regarding the gun issues in our modernized American society. With that said, one of his most focused on claims is the fact that Americans are obsessed with guns. At first, such a statement comes off nearly as a hyperbole when seeing the documentary, however after seeing Moore’s argument, it soon begins to make sense that this obsession could very well be the reasoning behind our gun problems we face today.

Moore interviews people from his own state of Michigan who are nearly obsessed with guns to the point where they stress it is a necessity in their life. The militiamen he interviews stress that guns are a right of being an American, therefore if an American does not own a gun, they are simply not capitalizing on one of the many opportunities there are for being an American citizen. Additionally, Moore compiles many different commercials we have all seen on TV, primarily commercials with an intended audience of children, which advertise child guns that are almost identical to those that an adult would have. Thus, Moore even goes out on a limb and says that this obsession is not even with adults, it begins with children therefore by the time they are adults the obsession has already developed and can lead to the issues we have today with firearms.

Furthermore, Michael Moore depicts America’s obsession with guns with more evidence as he travels to locations such as a barbershop where you can get your haircut, but also purchase a gun while you’re at it. He also goes into the house of a man who has a gun hidden right under his pillow, and the man’s simple yet convincing response to having the weapon under his pillow was for protection. Moore adds to this claim that Americans are obsessed with guns by tying it to another claim of his that Americans are obsessed with guns due to the fact that Americans live in fear. Hence, having a gun is what makes Americans feel safe, and with so many guns in circulation, this is when the catastrophes we hear on the news begin to make sense as these guns end up in the wrong hands.

After watching this documentary, the progression of Moore’s argument seemed to come alive in my mind, as it seemed to come together like a puzzle. The main claim, that Americans are obsessed with guns, begins to make sense when you look at the illustrations of fear in which our people live in portrayed from the media and other sources. This claim is further emphasized when Moore compares the safer Canadian society without guns to that of Detroit and other major cities in which there is atrocities everyday related to gun violence. 

TOW #28: "Bowling for Columbine"

Michael Moore’s documentary Bowling for Columbine dives into the heated discussion regarding gun control that exploded throughout the nation after the Columbine High School Shooting. Moore was born in Michigan, a region where he calls “A State of hunters” since many individuals there have hunting down as one of their hobbies. Additionally, to gain a sense of ethos Moore specifically mentions that he is a member of the NRA, and more importantly, as actually a national champion as a teenager for rifle shooting. With the film including an immense amount of additions such as commercials, past videos, and more importantly many interviews, Moore orchestrates a documentary that collectively consists of many valid speakers and also enhancers to his documentary that speak much louder than the sole voice of Michael Moore. Moore has a snarky sense of humor, which is depicted in many of his interviews that adds a touch of relief to such a serious topic. Moore has fun with some of his interviews as he comes face to face with some of the most stubborn individuals who advocate the need to bear arms in the 21^st century American society in which we live in.  Even though the Columbine shooting is what sparked the interest of Moore, he travels throughout the country as well as Canada to interview individuals years after and questions them about overall gun policies that may not even pertain to the exact shooting at Columbine. With that said however, Moore definitely originates his search with the Columbine shooting and expands it to the bigger picture when he questions those of the NRA and also others around the country about their experiences with guns. Moore purposely creates this documentary into a movie in order to expand the general audience who will see his film, mostly because he wants the audience to be American people and they will therefore realize that Moore has created a strong argument. His purpose of the video is to question the reason we all need guns in such a safe modern society, and thus the audience will now be shifted in their opinions after watching his film.  

Moore first points out the obsession Americans have with guns, then transitions it to the fact that Americans have guns for the lone purpose of living in fear and needing a sense of security. In order to reach his purpose that guns are not needed as a necessity in our American society, he uses various techniques in his documentary such as humor and juxtaposition. Moore has a creative sense of humor that is clearly exhibited early in the documentary when he sets the scene by saying everything was normal in America, “our president was bombing some country we don’t even know the name of”. With the topic of gun control connecting to the emotional topic of death caused by guns, the occasional joke of Moore brightens the mood of the overall documentary to relieve the sense of sadness that is provoked from the insanely sad stories he mentions such as the death of a 6-year-old girl. Additionally, the use of humor suggests to the audience that this is nearly common sense what Moore is informing his audience. All of his evidence is so convincing and complied coherently that he comes off as blunt as possible in a humorous way to suggest to the audience that change needs to be done. With the hard work Moore did to compile all of his interviews and videos, the use of humor is only necessary because the audience will have no other rebuttal to such an argument.

Moore also uses juxtaposition in his documentary to further stress the American obsession to guns, and how our policies need to change to adapt to such violence arising from uncontrolled gun regulations. Moore compares the deaths around the world from the largest countries similar to the United States, and with such drastic numbers this comparison technique clearly illustrates the American issue when it comes to guns. Also, to further the comparison Moore travels to Canada where he interviews many Canadians and even walks into their open houses to stress the fact that these people lack fear and therefore have a limited number of deaths per year from gun use. Even though I only mentioned two devices Moore uses to achieve his purpose, it would be foolish not to recognize the fact that Moore strategically composed his documentary into a progression from one event in our history to a larger question about our society in comparison to other countries. With such a drastic progression, Moore needed to transition yet maintain the audiences understanding of such a complex issue with our society. 

TOW #27: Reflection

After competing the APELC Exam on 5/9/14 I truly felt the growth that I had been waiting to feel all year long. After completing the exam I felt that I had been prepared enough for the test, and with all of my highs and lows I blew it out of the water on 5/9/14, the day that mattered most. I also experience this sense of growth when looking at my TOWs that range from September until now, and to really, REALLY, see the growth I even look at my summer work for this class.

When I first used to complete these TOW assignments, my responses were extremely formulaic and were lacking in analysis. They were purely descriptive, and they would simply explain the author, audience, and purpose, while only saying how the author achieved the purpose in a miniscule section of the overall TOW. With that said, my progression of analysis greatened immensely throughout the year, as well as my creativity. I went from listing everything about SOAPst to mentioning these concepts throughout my TOW and analyzing them to see the impact or importance they have on the overall text’s purpose. Additionally, I began to select tougher texts, which was a good challenge since the AP Exam obviously does not have the easiest or most interesting texts that you need to analyze on the multiple choice section and analysis writing section. While it is important to consider everything about SOAPst, I definitely think the progression of my TOWs mastered the compromise needed to maintain both a good chunk of analysis (much more than I had earlier in the year), however explain the reasoning behind why the author’s rhetoric was successful in achieving the text’s purpose.

With these TOWs I believe that I have gained much needed assistance in analyzing a texts purpose and then being able to write about it. I know with a lot of my analysis essays in class I used to always search for only devices, and also not even truly understand the author’s purpose, the most crucial aspect to analytical reading, before I began to write my essays.  Yet I have not mastered it completely, I feel that I have made great gains in regards to the ability to read a text and clearly identify its purpose; therefore, it is much easier to see how the author got to their purpose with the devices they implemented within their text.

Throughout the year I constantly struggled with reading when it comes to timed increments, therefore even with these TOW assignments I still have room to grow as a reader. Although these allow to me to better my skills when it comes to reading to find the purpose, I still need to get better so when it comes to timed reading, at faster paces I will still be able to finish quicker yet completely comprehend the text and be able to write an essay on it, or complete multiple choice questions on that text.

Even though at first I thought of TOWs as a weekly assignment that was just sort of irrelevant to the correlation of success on the exam, I began to see how important TOWs are to the ability to better one’s analytical skills. Similar to an athlete and their repetition to create muscle memory, a student who consistently did their TOWs would naturally become a better reader whenever it came to reading a text, finding the purpose, and then finding the devices the author used to get where they did. This increase in analytical skill also helped out with visual texts as well, and these assignments collectively helped increase a skill that is so vital to an audience since they will be able to see the big things and also the little ones that an author intentionally includes in their text to send whatever message is needed to the readers.  

TOW #26-Written Text: Should Scientists 'Jurassic-Park' Extinct Species Back to Life?

John D. Sutter’s text regarding the decision to bring extinct animals back to life challenges the moral argument to whether or not we should let science bring back things that are meant to be gone forever. Sutter finds success in achieving his purpose and addressing both positives and negatives on the topic with his research, mostly because Sutter lacks ethos for his text. This is quite interesting because many of my TOWS have revolved around authors who excel in their field, yet Sutter does so in his text with the use of collaboration of citations from others who excel in science fields that pertain to biology.

In the first sentence, Sutter states, “I thought this was a joke” in response to the question whether or not we should bring other animals back to life. Even though it was unprofessional, it starts out his essay with defining the situation because his audience, common people, would presumably have the same reaction when they open up his text online.  With a strategic arrangement, Sutter then begins his text by starting out with real life examples of research that actually brought animals back to life. Furthermore, Sutter addresses the fact that more research is being done to bring animals such as the Wholly Mammoth back to life.

After introducing the current tasks at hand for some of the biological centers around our nation and their quest to use DNA to recreate animals that no longer exist, Sutter then dives into his personal (and others) views about the morality and also ethical approach to bringing animals back to life. With the use of metaphors, Sutter is able to connect the complex jargon of Biology to the mundane concepts we all know as human beings that use the Internet. At one point, Sutter compares recreating animals to the computer shortcut “command Z” which basically is the undo button on the computer. Therefore, such a metaphor clearly depicts the things we are doing in our laboratories, and also if this is even the right thing for us to do as the ultimate comparison to bringing animals back is to the movie “Jurassic Park”.

After formulating an argument that starts off with what this recreation idea spawns from and also to what is being done within the laboratories within our own nation, Sutter now focuses on the “cons” of such an action. With listing the negatives of recreation, the audience will now understand how while it is good to be able to do so, we cannot afford to due to the mass repercussions that are associated with an action to redo the past basically. 

The Dodo Bird (Extinct since the 1600s)

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/02/opinion/sutter-jurassic-park-endangered/index.html?hpt=op_t1

TOW #25: Visual Text: BMW Advertisement

Visual texts have the power to illustrate the physical evidence that written texts lack. In this BMW Advertisement, they depict the abuse of Drinking and Driving, and why it should be prevented. With the use of juxtaposition, the advertising team at BMW was able to create a coherent visual text that has a convincing central argument relating to the harmful effects of drunk driving. While this image was released within the last 10 years, the context could be anytime as there has been a rise in awareness for the prevention of drunk driving. Additionally, it looks good on the behalf of car companies if they promote current public interests such as a movement to keep the roads safer.

When first looking at the image, the viewer sees the contrast, or juxtaposition, between an actual leg and a prosthetic leg. The comparison between what we are used to normally seeing and a foot such as our own contradicts the robotic looking leg that you see someone that is disabled have. After seeing the contrasting images, you then read the text that creates irony saying that humans cannot be replaced such as car parts. This alludes to the notion that while in accidents, primarily caused by drunk drivers, the cars can always be replaced but not the damage to humans.

This creates emotional appeal to pathos, as the reader of this advertisement will now realize that the image is of someone who unfortunately was one hit by a drunk driver. The effect of the emotional appeal creates the moral obligation that is only makes sense that an innocent one should never be harmed permanently. Then of course, to reinforce the company’s message the logo of BMW is at the bottom of the page so the last thing the reader takes in is the idea that BMW supports good causes relating to driving, such as preventing the amount of drunk drivers and creating awareness.

Therefore, I believe this advertisement was effective in the way it was simple, yet in its explicit juxtaposition that illustrates two completely different ideas, the audience will clearly realize the purpose of creating awareness of drunk drivers. Nobody wants to be put in the situation where they themselves would be in danger of such individuals, thus they will join the public awareness movement of BMW and people will also buy BMW cars as they support their communities and are a company of the people.

TOW #24-Written Text: Want Green Cities? Lose the Cars

Eric W. Sanderson, a conservation ecologist, has had enough with cars. In his CNN article “Want green cities? Lose the cars,” he pleads to why we don’t need cars in cities. With the context being Earth Day, Sanderson states his claim that in order to have greener cities, we need to eliminate the cars within them.

In order for Sanderson to build his argument based off such a specific claim, he lists the harm of cars on our cities and also how they are detrimental to the environment. By listing the everyday nuisances when it comes to driving, the audience will eventually see what Sanderson is explaining. For example, he lists the negatives of driving such as noise, traffic, fuel costs, and so on. Therefore, the audience (mostly consisting of adults who drive because CNN is a news source for people of all ages) will now realize that they are in agreement with Sanderson because they have had at least one of these issues with cars most likely. After listing the negatives of cars and how they will prevent us from a movement to make cities “greener”, Sanderson now has to offer his plan in order to keep society functioning without cars.

The build up of Sanderson’s argument is effective in that it addresses a claim, why his claim is a necessary problem to fix, the effects it has on the environment, then completes his argument with avenues for us to investigate in order to fix the problem. The author could have simply just rambled on about how cities are not green, however Sanderson addressed an aspect of cities such as cars, and then built his argument towards how cities do not even need cars, so it only makes sense that if we limit our use of cars in regions where we have other modes of transportation, our cities will indeed become greener.

Sanderson also uses informal diction in his text when he talks to the audience on a first name basis, calling his readers “you”. When he does this it builds an audience with a common unity, people of the country who drive and suffer the negatives when it comes to driving. By uniting his audience, the text now more arguable since the readers will collectively agree that cars have a lot of ulcers such as traffic, noise, etc, and by eliminating them we can also make our cities greener. Sanderson’s text was successful in arguing its claim as it strategically builds the argument from an idea to why it needs to be changed and finally the way we should go about changing this; he essentially provides his audience with the full package of his idea. 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/21/opinion/sanderson-earth-day-cars/index.html?hpt=op_t1

IRB Post- Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

For my final IRB I have selected a nonfiction text that has been heavily focused on in my AP U.S. History curriculum, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever . This text focuses on the Lincoln Assassination, however I will be interested to read this because of the central argument that you can pick up on from just reading the title. While the assassination obviously was devastating, I think it will be unique to interpret the argument to how it changed our nation forever. Therefore, this book will not only convey the historical aspects of the assassination, but use evidence to support their argument to how important this moment was to the development of our nation post Lincoln presidency. It is also assumed that this text will use a "rewriting history" approach where they will predict what would have happened if Lincoln were not killed, and all of the other possibilities that could have happened. I found this book online when looking for a possible IRB, and due to its rating and reviews I think it will be riveting to read an argument text (after we have finished the unit) and tie it to something that I have already learned in another class. Additionally, since this book is fairly new (2013), I think it will be a great recommendation for history enthusiasts such as myself if I really enjoy reading this text.

TOW #23: IRB- Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself

Now that I have finished the Jay-Z autobiography Decoded, I can safely say that this was one of the most in depth biographies I have ever read about an individual that was not an autobiography. Even though this Jay-Z biography does not assume automatic ethos for the author because he is writing about another man, as the text develops you soon realize that they do indeed have a sense of ethos because of all of their research on Jay-Z’s life.

One unique tactic the writer of this text implements in their biography to enhance its illustration of Jay-Z’s life is the use of his own lyrics as both visual images and also titles and subtitles of the chapters within the book. With there being so much detail about the life of Jay-Z, it will be assumed that the audience of the text will be individuals who have some passion for his music. Therefore, it only makes sense that the audience will understand that the titles of each chapter are actual lyrics and quotations from the rapper himself. The author of this text definitely relies on the previous knowledge of their audience peace most of their devices would prove ineffective if the readers did not know anything about Jay-Z’s music.

Additionally, using Jay-Z’s words as a guide for the biography extends the author’s sense of ethos because he uses the exact words of Jay-Z as a path of the biography itself. Writing a book about someone else is no easy task because you not only have to gather about information about someone else, but you need to attract readers who will believe that you have the vast amount of someone else’s life in order to write about them. Thus, this device of using common phrases of the audience’s familiarity proves to be a useful technique for the author to gain ethos, however would definitely be an ineffective tactic if the reader has no clue about Jay-Z or his music.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this biography about one of my favorite rappers Jay-Z and I think it was nice to change it up this marking period and read a biography. It is a unique perspective to find rhetorical devices within a text that is so black and white such as a biography. 

TOW #22: Written Text: Obsession?

This text written by CNN’s reporter Sally Kohn, a progressive activist, wants her readers to consider why we are focusing so much on the missing Malaysian Flight 309. While she clearly addresses that the story should be important because of the hundreds of missing people, she juxtaposes this situation with what else is going on in the world. Therefore, by comparing this issue to the many issues we face worldwide, she comes to a conclusion that when it comes to human behavior, people will only focus on the major catastrophes and ignore the smaller ones.

Kohn definitely builds her sense of ethos by including citations from people experienced in this field of study, such as writers from the New York Times, and also statistics from researchers who develop data in their fields as well. With this Malaysian flight catching so much of the world’s attention, the audience of this text could be any reader as long as they know about the missing flight because if they do not know about this current event, the rest of this article will not make any sense to them.

This text is quite successful because of Kohn’s use of juxtaposition to clearly illustrate how the Malaysian flight story has found so much attention on the news recently. By comparing the hundreds of people missing on the plane to the amount of people who die from cancer each year, the innocent kids who are part of child sex trafficking, and the women who suffer from AIDS. The use of comparison strengthens Kohn’s argument because the reader will now realize that while this flight is important, the immense focus on the story should be nearly irrelevant because of the issues we face everyday as 

people.

Additionally, the use of juxtaposition leads into Kohn’s conclusion that people only focus on the events that are unknown to us, such as the missing flight. On the other hand, we do not focus as much on solid evidence we are sure of, such as men and women’s 25% risk of getting cancer in their lifetimes. I think the author clearly achieved her purpose by truly exposing how “irrelevant” this story is contrast to how much attention it is getting from the public. 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/19/opinion/kohn-flight-370-obsession/index.html?hpt=op_mid

TOW #21: Visual Text- Palm

The makers at Palm have realized how tough it is for someone to manage all of their appointments and information that build up as we live our lives. With effective advertising, they now have informed their audience that the Palm is the product they need to stay organized. While their audience is pretty much any individual who has a constantly busy lifestyle, the image of the hand also relates to the audience because this will directly apply to any person that also writes stuff down on their hands. The purpose of the advertisement, not only to simply buy the Palm, is to inform the audience that the Palm can organize everything going on in your life.

The use of straightforward diction definitely enhances the advertisement based off the two words as headers, “Chaos” and “Order”. Since both are exact opposites, the audience will be able to see the purpose in the advertisement since order is preferred over chaos. This leads into the juxtaposition pictured within this advertisement. This advertisement also effectively utilizes the juxtaposition rhetorical device simply because one side of the image there is pictured one idea, and on the other is a contradictory illustration.

On the side labeled chaos, an individual who has lots going on yet lacks the organization to maintain all of this information writes all of their information down on their hand. On the other hand, the right side of the picture is quite simple, containing the palm device in front of a simple white background. The message the company clearly depicts through the juxtaposition is that one simple device such as the Palm, can handle everything you would ever need to write down from your busy life.

The use of juxtaposition really emphasizes the organization one can maintain with such a device, and prevent you from writing everything down. Additionally, the largest message on the person’s hand is “Buy Palm” so not only will the audience realize how simple it would be to use a palm, but also out of the many messages on their hand, buying the Palm is their priority. 

TOW #20: Written Text: I Have A Dream

One man had a dream. A simple one, yet powerful enough that it could forever change the status of racial equality in our nation for eternity. In his “I have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King first builds his ethos with his location of the delivery (being the Lincoln Memorial) because of President Lincoln’s contributions to the equality of African Americans. With his audience being Civil Rights activists and also racists and an extended audience of people throughout the world, MLK also alludes to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation by saying “Five Score years ago” in order to build his sense of ethos, and furthermore broadcast his purpose of demanding racial equality for African Americans in the United States of America. With that said, King does stress the importance that Blacks will not rise through conflict, and they “must not be guilty of their wrongful deeds”.

MLK achieves his purpose by uniting his audience as Americans. Dr. King references some of the most prolific American documents that are the foundation of our nation such as the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Not only will it boost King’s ethos as well as use our founding father’s own words about equality to stress the need for racial equality, but it also unites the audience as one American people as these documents represent our existence. Therefore, by uniting his audience as Americans, (and to an even further extent, “Children of God”),  it only makes sense that racial equality is essential and deserved if we are all American people.

Likewise, King uses repetition to emphasize the need for racial equality in America. King states “Let Freedom Ring” many times while adding a diverse region of our nation, which illustrates how he wants there to be equality among all citizens in all corners of our country. He also states “I have a dream” which is followed up by an idea that could be possible if all citizens in America had the same rights. Both of these examples of repetition become a list by the time King stops repeating each of these phrases, which ultimately allows the audience to truly see the benefit and also the obligation it is for all citizens within the U.S. to have equality.

TOW #19: IRB: The Hard Knock Life

I originally decided to read Monuments Men as my IRB for the marking period, I actually have been hooked on a book my cousin let me borrow titled Decoded. This book is actually a biography that explain how Shawn Carter, aka Jay Z, prospered from a impoverished kid living in Brooklyn to the famous celebrity we now know today as Jay Z.

Since the text is a biography and not an autobiography the author needs to establish their sense of ethos due to the fact they are retelling another’s life, however I believe they flex their knowledge in their depth of knowledge about Jay Z within the first few pages of the text.

While the text is interesting and primarily focuses on the rhetorical device of anecdote to stress the overall growth Jay Z has illustrated through his not so easy life, there is another device Random House uses in order to exhibit the man Jay Z truly is. Every few pages, there is a few lines of Jay Z’s actual lyrics however to make things interesting the writers of Random House decided to annotate those lyrics and show why Jay Z made them or even why he came up with them.

The use of lyrics may seem elementary since the audience will have some recollection of the song because they are most likely a Jay Z fan reading about his life, but it is more complex with that. The addition of the lyrics tie what the audience knows about Jay Z to the story of his life, because for the most part most rappers rap about their lives and their struggles to reach the fame and glory they desire. The familiarity of the lyrics to most audience members is what actually makes the use of lyrics successful in this biography because if the audience can tie what they know about Shawn Carter’s music to the story of his life, they can now piece together the life of Jay Z and reach the purpose of the text which is to highlight the humble origins and rigorous journey of Jay Z. 

TOW #18: Visual Text- Heinz Ketchup

While flipping through a recent Sports Illustrated magazine, this advertisement caught my attention the second I flipped to this page because of the red background in comparison to the many white backgrounds that are present on the other pages of the magazine.

This visual text published by the makers at Heinz clearly is informative and is telling the audience in a unique way that their product is the most natural ketchup on the market. By making the classic Heinz container look like a stack of tomatoes, the audience not only is familiar with the shape of the Heinz bottle, but also realizes the message that Heinz is sending to their audience.

I am not a ketchup fanatic, which is what Heinz takes into mind with this simple advertisement because if they really wanted to tell us about how it is 100% tomatoes they could have listed reasons why. However, Heinz was smarter than this by making their advertisement completely visual. The audience does not have to read an entire paragraph or look at this page for more than a second while flipping trough the magazine because the image resonates in the readers mind as soon as they glance at the tomatoes shaped bottle.

I think it was strategic by Heinz to create both a simplistic yet complex image that gets the point across to the reader because all it takes is a glance at the page and the purpose of Heinz’s advertisement is reached and thus successful with this ad. 

IRB #3: The Monuments Men

For the third marking period, I decided to chose a nonfiction text that is based off a historical account rather than my past one which focused on research and investigations. While I have become familiar with The Monuments Men because of its film that is being released in the near future, I have decided to read the book and hopefully compare it to the movie once it comes out. I think this topic seems pretty interesting because I did learn a lot about World War II freshman year, however this twist on the war shows aspects of what world war life was like for Europeans who were not exactly in the same situations than the ones we learned about. In addition, since I am Jewish I am interested in this time period where some of my ancestors faced some of the most inhumane treatment in history; therefore, I have a lot of knowledge to expand on because I learned about WWII and the Holocaust in both school and Hebrew School. Not only do I hope to gain knowledge about this subject because it is a subtopic of the war I am unfamiliar with, but I also am interested to see how a historical text uses rhetorical devices to enhance the text and ultimately achieve its purpose. I also always find it interesting to read books and compare them to the movie because for the most part the movie is always inferior to the book rating because it is altered than to book.

TOW #17: Written Text: Following the Rules

Jason Marsh, editor in chief at Greater Good Science Center recently created a hypothesis that indicates that adults follow the rules to a strict interpretation of rules rather than kids, even when their other option deals with ethics. Marsh not only references historical experiments done by deceased scientists that proves his hypothesis, but also current events that have been all over the news to strengthen his idea. While his purpose is to convince the audience that his hypothesis makes an argument and is true, Marsh builds up his argument from a smaller idea to a bigger picture as his text continues.

With the use of current examples such as a man left for dead by local fireman or a boy denied a school lunch because his account was in the red, both examples connecting to the emotional appeal of the audience that we follow the rules too much as adults. To contradict these examples with one that even furthermore supports Marsh’s idea, he uses an example of a boy who went across his street to save his fallen elderly neighbors, even though the boys mother told him that he should not go check on her.

By using such powerful examples to illustrate Marsh’s purpose, the audience gets a better idea of his hypothesis because they not only can visualize the events as they are read off the page, but the ethical side to each example clearly depicts that we follow rules to the point where we have no ethics. Marsh wants us, the audience and the citizens of this country to realize that we are so used to following rules that we literally will take a child’s lunch away, or not save a man we know needs help because the fire department was not actually called for help.

These powerful examples add up throughout the text to a point where the readers soon judge those bystanders mentioned in the text, then realize as a people we need to change our interpretation of rules to prioritize on the well being of others than constantly following guidelines.  

This link can be found at

 http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/01/opinion/marsh-empathy-utah-school-lunches/index.html?hpt=op_t1

TOW #16: IRB- Eating Animals

In Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals, he continues his investigation of the food industry and tries to promote the idea that having a carnivorous diet might not seem as great as it does if you are ignorant to what truly happens in the food process. One chapter focuses on the environment, which clearly supports the idea that eating animals is not helpful due to the environment. It was quite intriguing reading this investigation due to the fact that the statistics were indeed strong and supporting, in addition to the spurts of humor that kept the reader from dozing off while reading about the food process.

Toward the end of the text, tied together his investigation and applying it to how it affects the average person. Until this point in his text, he has explained the issues of the food industry but not it directly affects those readers who would reply, “who cares?” With the use of a metaphor throughout an entire chapter, he transforms the dinner table for eating into a globe for the reader to visualize every person in the world dining at one location, including the pathways each bit of our food undergoes until it reaches our plates. With the use of such figurative language, Foer is successful in achieving his purpose due to the fact that he allows the reader to accept the investigating and also the reasoning to which it affects them; therefore, Foer not only addresses a problem in our society, but how it affects the reader in the long run. In my opinion, Foer successfully achieved his purpose with the devices of figurative language to tie everything “unclear” to the reader with mundane terms, in addition to using humor to keep the audience focused through the explanation of Foer’s investigation.

I would recommend this book to any reader, especially because this book was written for any reader in particular because the food process affects us all. I think it was both interesting and quite interesting because I didn’t realize there were so many issues with the food we eat regularly. 

TOW #15: Written Text- Take Pregnant Woman Off Ventilator?

This text resembling a debate almost, regards the decision to whether or not a woman who is pregnant should be taken off life support. While she is the prime example of thousands of people who are brain-dead yet remain alive through technological devices, the text analyzes the debate on weather people on live-saving devices deserve to have the plug pulled on them.

The author of the text is Cynda Rushton, who specializes in hospital ethics; therefore she specializes in this area of study and is face to face with this incredibly difficult issue on a daily basis. While the text is on an international source such as CNN, it suggests that the audience is any particular citizen because this decision is quite controversial due to the many different values people has when it comes to natural death, and keeping someone alive who cannot be saved. The context of the text is recently, as this issue regarding a pregnant woman on life support in addition to a teenaged girl who also was on life support and the news of her was on national news sources. With many examples of Americans faced this unimaginable decision about keeping their loved one alive as a vegetable, the bigger picture, or propose of this text is to analyze whether or not a law or just a moral code that is the family’s decision is needed to make such a vital decision concerning human life.

One key appeal that the text appeals to is obviously pathos, mostly because the text in concerned with an emotional topic such as a loved ones life. A majority of the audience will not be able to know what it truly feels like to be in that scenario, but through imagining it the author will reach their purpose because of the emotions connected to allowing someone to die in their loved one’s hands. I truly believe that this text was effective because of its current examples of people on life support, and through the emotional appeal people will soon ask the same questions as the author did in this text.

This text can be found at: 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/08/opinion/rushton-munoz-case/index.html?hpt=op_mid