TOW #10- "What are Masterpieces and Why are There so Few of Them?"

           Written in the 1900s, during the time of the great depression, this controversial piece of literature reminds us of the time when the Americans, including Stein, believed that they could no longer be inspired to create masterpieces. In the Essay “What are Masterpieces and Why are There so Few of Them,” Stein displays her opinion on what builds a masterpiece. Through the use of ambiguous sentence structures and repetition, Stein intrigues the readers’ curiosity to get to her purpose in explaining what a masterpiece is, isn’t, and why there are so few of them.

            Stein’s style of writing ignores the rules of grammar and sounds as if she is directly speaking to the audience. However, Stein purposely manipulates her words to display the exact mess of thoughts on why there are very few masterpieces: “I’m I because my dog knows me but, creatively speaking, the little dog knowing that you are you and your recognizing that he knows, that is what destroys creation” (Stein, 131).  This ambiguous sentence structure shows how ironically, clarity on one’s identity consequently make one remember themselves and fail to produce originality, a masterpiece.

            In addition to his unique style of language, Stein continuously repeats words and phrases to emphasize the negative effect of over thinking. By stating that “Remembering is never clear [because it] makes secondary writing [when] one begin[s] to write something and suddenly remember something. If [that person] continue[s] to remember, [the] writing gets very confused” (130). This shows the difference between pieces and masterpieces and how it requires one to avoid labeling and limiting their possibilities on their creations.

            Overall, I don’t think that Stein’s devices are effective, because even though they were insightful and deep, the purpose got lost in the complex ideas that he wanted to share. However, her way of approaching the readers was unique, one of the qualities of having a masterpiece.

TOW #9- “President Obama Offers a Statement on the Attacks in Paris”

            Dozens of people fell to the pools of blood, escaping from the cries that filled the Bataclan Theatre, where gunmen fired towards the crowd of innocent French civilians. In an instant, families were torn as they held onto the motionless bodies of their loved ones. Bombing and shooting up six different places in France simultaneously, terrorists left over three hundred people either killed or injured. On November 13^th, President Obama delivered a statement on behalf of enraged Americans in a conference, where he appealed to pathos to imply his strong desire to support and assist the French government in their war against the terrorist groups.

            His anger aroused by the injustice he witnessed occur in France, Obama uses pronouns such as “we” and “us” as evident in the quote, “This is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share” (para 1,2) in order to morally justify U.S. plans of helping France in the process of seeking justice. He also recalls back to how America has “gone through those kind of episodes ourselves” and could “count on the French people to stand with us” (para, 5) in order to help U.S. citizens remember to give back to France for what they’ve done for us. To emphasize their unity in power, Obama portrays the two nations as victims of terrorist attacks and portrays his strong compassion for the families and friends in Paris, whose lives are now forever changed.  

            For me, the speech was effective, because I wanted to join Obama in offering our condolence to France throughout the speech. Through his appeal to pathos when emphasizing the values the people of U.S. and France share, Obama powerfully depicts his supportive stands.

IRB intro post #2- "The Liars' Club"

The memoir "Liars' Club" by Mary Karr, is a story of Karr's dark childhood that consisted of growing up under an alcoholic father and a neglectful mother. The catastrophic events that she describes makes it hard to believe that this book is a true story. I chose this memoir, because I was intrigued by the narrative tone and small flashbacks that are told in between stories, which reveals the author's humorous tone. Despite the hardships, Karr reveals the conquering of her past and the discovering of the future.

TOW #8- “The Soloist” (Part 2)

            With an ambition to change Ayer’s life, Lopez continues to convince Nathaniel to stay at Lamp, a facility center that could protect him and his instruments. Due to Nathaniel’s lack of trust in doctors who work in Lamp, Lopez struggles to make progress in Nathaniel’s life until Peter Snyder offers free music classes to Nathaniel. Once Nathaniel settles down in the facility, Lopez begins to search for Nathaniel’s lost sister and father to reconnect the three of them. However, when Nathaniel reads all the articles that Lopez has written about him, he is furious and demands Lopez to stop helping him. Lopez is left with a crushing disappointment and a recognition of the limit that has been imposed by the severe disorder of schizophrenia. In order to portray his hopeless defeat against Nathaniel’s condition, Lopez includes repetition of inappropriate diction in the memoir, “The Soloist”.

            Lopez’s dream is broken when Nathaniel yells, “I don’t have to stay in this stinking town that I absolutely motherfucking hate. I despise Los Angeles. I despise you!” (Lopez, 258). The strategic diction creates a sense of frustration that Lopez feels when realizing that even though his column audiences praise him for his actions, Ayers will never be capable of acknowledging Lopez for his guidance or seek help to get treatment for his schizophrenia. Not only that, but Lopez, as an author includes the repeated sentence, “get out”, spoken by Nathaniel to build up the tension that is present in the atmosphere. Nathaniel’s harsh diction in response to Lopez’s articles is what makes this text portray Lopez as a failure in his battle against Nathaniel's schizophrenia. 

TOW #7- “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”

          In the “Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, Richard Rodriguez shares the conflicts he had to withstand growing up as a bilingual Hispanic living in America. He expresses his complicated encounter with the American culture and continues to reveal the positive and negative affects it had on him. Attending a private school with Caucasians, Rodriguez felt that he had to abandon his Hispanic culture and speaking Spanish because it yielded him from learning English. He soon began to feel a disconnection between him and his parents and “no longer kn[ew] what words to use in addressing them” (para, 18). Although he felt that it was important that he assimilate to the American culture, he felt “guilty” and felt a “sad confusion” (para, 41) at home. Through Rodriguez’s use of anecdote, he is able to appeal to ethos and pathos in order to emphasize the struggles he faced growing up as a bilingual child.

            When establishing ethos, Rodriguez shares his experiences of having Spanish as his primary language by gradually revealing the conflicts he faced when learning to speak English. Humiliation, terror, and sadness, he describes, sums up his childhood. This reveals his credibility as the experiences and feelings that are describes, were what motivated him to write the memoir. Pathos is revealed when he explains his poor relationship with his parents. He describes how he “shared fewer and fewer words with them” (para, 35), as he tried to neglect the culture that used to be important. He also claims himself as a “victim of a disconcerting confusion”(para, 46), emphasizing the emotional impact the new culture and language had on him.

            Overall, Rodriguez’s use of anecdote that helped to appeal to ethos and pathos is a successful method of emphasizing the distraught he felt growing up as a bilingual child. As a bilingual child myself, I was able to connect to his experiences and reflect back to the South Korean Culture that I came from. 

TOW #6- China’s Big Test

          In most Eastern Asia countries, it is a strong belief that elite U.S. education is beneficial when applying for successful jobs in foreign countries. In 2013, “U.S. reached more than 270,000” Chinese students, with a “16.5% increase each year” (Rauhala, 5). During the October SAT test in 2014, however, the College Board administration has found evidences of students in China illegally obtaining and sharing test materials, and told the students that their SAT results would be delayed. This left the Chinese students with devastation as college admission deadlines approached. In the article, “China’s Big Test”, Emily Rauhala reveals anecdotes and juxtaposes two ideas in order to compare and contrast different existing opinions on Chinese students in America.

            In the beginning paragraphs, Rauhala introduces a story of Xu Quing, a Chinese student preparing to study abroad. Her anxious process of studying for the SAT test and the shocking response after receiving an e-mail from the College Board reveals the author’s sympathetic feelings toward the innocent Chinese students who were affected by those who cheated. The writer also includes China’s nature of cheating my mentioning “Gaokao”, an exam that determines the lives of young Chinese, which give them undeniably high pressures, essentially become a leading cause to why they cheat. Not to mention, the Chinese parents have stressed the importance of education since they only have one child due to the “one child policy”. The writer than, juxtaposes the Chinese students and the American students to portray a different side of the situation.

            Showing a different view of the problem, the author mentions how Harvard has admitted only “5.9% of applicants for the class of 2018” (Rauhala, 7), stressing how it has gotten more difficult for Americans to get accepted in colleges. The parents in America are worried that the foreign students will take over the jobs and positions in high authority. They have recently begun to voice the unfairness as the Chinese are taking advantage of the time difference between America and China to allegedly cheat on the exam. This has added more to America’s uneasy relationship with East Asia.

            Overall, Rauhala’s anecdote and juxtaposition of two opinions leaves the readers with a great understanding of the existing conflict between China and America.

TOW#5- "This Won't Hurt A Bit"

            While browsing through a social media page, I came across this eye- opening picture. This visual text was used by a vegan journalist, who uses photo-shopped images of women wearing makeup to convince other women to stop purchasing from cosmetic companies that brutally test on animals. Through the use of imagery, perspective, and pathos, the journalist arouses the emotion of readers.

            Without an explanation of what animal testing is like, the picture itself describes the violence that it contains. The bloody and swollen face of once a beautiful woman is attention seeking, emphasizing the brutal effects of animal testing if it was done on human. When I first encountered this photo, I was scared to find out how undeniably cruel animal testing was. It was an eye- opening experience to see the true story on behalf of tested animals.

            Although many pictures that argue against animal testing often portray poorly treated animals, this journalist used a different point of view to make women into victims of the violence. This change in perspectives allows women to relate personally more than the picture of abused animals. Not only that, but his change in perspective evokes guilt and anger for the readers.

            The journalist uses pronoun such as “you” to emotionally approach to the readers. Even though it is hard to sympathize abused animals, this picture of blistered woman evokes sympathy and even guilt as it allows the readers to reflect on human’s poor choice of actions.

            Overall, this dark and cruel piece is shocking to many, and the guilty feeling is what makes this text effective in raising awareness of violence that takes place in animal testing and in persuading women to avoid buying animal tested products.