November 29 Class

This is just a reminder to have your essays completed for class tomorrow. After those are turned in, we will work on rhetorical analysis using some famous Christmas songs and we will end our semester with some creative work. I have materials for card-making and a few literary games prepared. You have all worked hard this semester! I'm so proud of all of you.

Grammar Matters

Assignment for Nov. 22

Please bring your five paragraphs to class for our workshop. You will have your introduction and four of the body paragraphs from our assignment sheet on The Giver. Also, we will have our vocabulary quiz in class over lists 7-10.

Rhetorical Analysis of Taylor Swift's Blank Space

Here's Taylor Swift's video "Blank Space" with some rhetorical analysis. This is fantastic. Look at the way this guy dissects the visual and audible elements.

Grammar Matters

Reminder for Nov 15

Class,

Remember to bring in your introductory paragraph and one body paragraph. Also, review your vocabulary words for our game.We will have the quiz next week. Remember to look on the blog for the assignment sheet I handed to you last week if you lost it. Your paragraphs must follow that formula. There are very specific requirements for the introductory and body paragraphs. Remember, for this week, you only need to choose one body paragraph that will later be included in your longer essay due in two weeks and write the introductory paragraph. Also, you can proof-read your work by going through the steps listed on the blog. All citations must be in MLA format.

One last thing: Make sure that you have watched the three speeches posted last week. I will pick one for your in-class writing assignment tomorrow.

See you tomorrow!
Heather

Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have A Dream Speech

Many of you have probably heard of this speech, but have you watched it? Why do you think this historical and groundbreaking speech was so successful? What types of rhetorical devices does MLK use? We will come back to this master of rhetoric over the school year. As writers, it is important to learn from the best, and as far as I'm concerned, this guy was the King of rhetoric and persuasion.

Braveheart Freedom Speech (HD)

What rhetorical devices do you see in this speech?

Logos, Ethos, Pathos

According to Aristotle, rhetoric is “the ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion.” He described three main forms of rhetoric: Ethos, Logos, and Pathos.  Whenever you read an argument you must ask yourself, “is this persuasive? And if so, to whom?”  Most documents will rely primarily on one means of persuasion, though effective arguments often make use of all three. Remember the "sweet spot" of rhetoric. 

Definitions

Logos: The Greek word logos is the basis for the English word logic.  Logos is a broader idea than formal logic--the highly symbolic and mathematical logic that you might study in a philosophy course.  Logos refers to any attempt to appeal to the intellect, the general meaning of “logical argument.”  Everyday arguments rely heavily on ethos and pathos, but academic arguments rely more on logos.  Yes, these arguments will call upon the writers’ credibility and try to touch the audience’s emotions, but there will more often than not be logical chains of reasoning supporting all claims.

Ethos:  Ethos is related to the English word ethics and refers to the trustworthiness of the speaker/writer.  Ethos is an effective persuasive strategy because when we believe that the speaker does not intend to do us harm, we are more willing to listen to what s/he has to say.  For example, when a trusted doctor gives you advice, you may not understand all of the medical reasoning behind the advice, but you nonetheless follow the directions because you believe that the doctor knows what s/he is talking about.  Likewise, when a judge comments on legal precedent audiences tend to listen because it is the job of a judge to know the nature of past legal cases.

Pathos: Pathos is related to the words pathetic, sympathy and empathy.  Whenever you accept a claim based on how it makes you feel without fully analyzing the rationale behind the claim, you are acting on pathos.  They may be any emotions: love, fear, patriotism, guilt, hate or joy.  A majority of arguments in the popular press are heavily dependent on pathetic appeals.  The more people react without full consideration for the WHY, the more effective an argument can be.  Although the pathetic appeal can be manipulative, it is the cornerstone of moving people to action.  Many arguments are able to persuade people logically, but the apathetic audience may not follow through on the call to action.  Appeals to pathos touch a nerve and compel people to not only listen, but to also take the next step and act in the world.

Examples of Logos, Ethos and Pathos

Logos

Let us begin with a simple proposition:  What democracy requires is public debate, not information.  Of course it needs information too, but the kind of information it needs can be generated only by vigorous popular debate.  We do not know what we need to know until we ask the right questions, and we can identify the right questions only by subjecting our ideas about the world to the test of public controversy.  Information, usually seen as the precondition of debate, is better understood as its by product.  When we get into arguments that focus and fully engage our attention, we become avid seekers of relevant information.  Otherwise, we take in information passively—if we take it in at all.

Christopher Lasch, “The Lost Art of Political Argument”

Ethos

My Dear Fellow Clergymen:

While confined here in Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely.”...Since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable in terms.

I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against “outsiders coming in.”...I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here.  I am here because I have organizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.  Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saith the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.  Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Pathos

For me, commentary on war zones at home and abroad begins and ends with personal reflections.  A few years ago, while watching the news in Chicago, a local news story made a personal connection with me.  The report concerned a teenager who had been shot because he had angered a group of his male peers.  This act of violence caused me to recapture a memory from my own adolescence because of an instructive parallel in my own life with this boy who had been shot.  When I was a teenager some thirty-five years ago in the New York metropolitan area, I wrote a regular column for my high school newspaper.  One week, I wrote a colunm in which I made fun of the fraternities in my high school.  As a result, I elicited the anger of some of the most aggressive teenagers in my high school.  A couple of nights later, a car pulled up in front of my house, and the angry teenagers in the car dumped garbage on the lawn of my house as an act of revenge and intimidation.

James Garbarino “Children in a Violent World: A Metaphysical Perspective”

Queen Elizabeth I’s Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, 1588

My loving people,
We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We do assure you in the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people. 

Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett), Tilbury Speech

Here is the film version of the Tilbury Speech. What important elements did they leave out, do you think? How does the director succeed or fail in its visual rhetorical argument?

Assignment for Final Semester Essay, DUE NOVEMBER 29th!

                                                 The Giver Rhetorical Analysis

This assignment has you writing at least a three-page response to The Giver. You must include Paragraph One, Paragraph Two, and the Conclusion. You must choose three other paragraphs from the list below for a total of six paragraphs.

Paragraph One: Introduction

Choose a topic to discuss in relation to Lowry’s novel that interests you. Here are some examples of banished items or concepts in the novel: love, hate, religion, pain, music, dancing, books or literacy, art, history, memories of the past, war, protest, rudeness, race, color, vehicles, climate, and biological families.

What does Lowry seem to argue in relation to the topic that you have chosen? In your introduction, use the Oxford English Dictionary to define your essay’s topic. Use the definition as a springboard or catalyst for your essay’s thoughts. Starting off with a definition lets the reader know that you are laser-focused on the particular theme you have chosen.

Paragraph 2: Rhetorical Analysis

Does The Giver succeed or fail in its rhetorical argument? How can you tell? Choose three characters to represent the use of pathos, ethos, and logos. Discuss them at length. Review our definitions to refresh your memory of Aristotle’s appeals.

Paragraph 3: Visual Rhetoric

How does the film version of The Giver use visual rhetoric to persuade the viewing audience? What aspect of the film stands out to you in your memory as being the most compelling or striking scene? Why? Talk about this.

Paragraph 4: Sameness

Define the term “Sameness” in this novel as used by Lowry. Why is Sameness a bad thing in this novel? Why is it evil? Why is it dangerous? Explain. Discuss in depth.

Paragraph 5: Politics

Think about our current global or national politics as they are somehow connected to the ideas that you are discussing in your essay. Tie in the current global or national politics in this paragraph. For example, if you are writing about the idea of a false sense of “safety” that exists within the community of The Giver, it might work well to focus this paragraph on a discussion of the recent Paris attacks last year on Nov. 13^th and how those attacks affect Americans and our local communities here in the U.S. You do not have to do any research for this paragraph, but be sure to prove that you are “at the party” in terms of paying attention to what is going on in the world or current events so that you can write coherently on the topic you have selected. Know the facts!

Paragraph 6: History

Do some historical research that is relevant to your topic. Include it here. Be sure to cite sources in the text of your essay as well as on the works cited page.

Paragraph 7: Personal Narrative

Share a personal narrative. This story should help to further prove your point and strengthen your argumentation and should relate somehow to your overall theme.

Paragraph 8: Conclusion

Restate your main assertion and leave the reader with an interesting thought or question.

MINIMUM 3 pages total. Highlighted paragraphs are required. You choose three other paragraphs from the list.

Grammar Matters

Class for Nov 8

Hi Class,

Just a reminder to watch at least 15 minutes of the debate and make a list of logos (evidence) for both Clinton and Trump. If you would also like to record the pathos and ethos, you are welcome to! Remember to read chapters 6-10 of The Giver. Your written assignment was to write one academic paragraph on either "Imagine" or "Harlem" and discuss whether these pieces represent a dystopian or utopian view of society. Also, one quick reminder that tuition is due at the beginning of the month, so if you have not paid for November, please do so Tuesday morning.

Kindly,
Heather

FULL: Fiery Presidential Debate - Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton