TOW #20- Unbroken part 1

          This will be my fist attempt at the argument TOW’s for my IRB. So lets see how it goes. I will be answering the question, “Do you agree, disagree, or qualify they authors main argument.

            For my IRB I have read about half of the book Unbroken. One of the main arguments, at least what I think is an argument is the ideas that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This book follows the life of Louie Zamperini and his life’s accomplishments. One of the first things the author shows you is that Louie has a rough childhood. “Bullies, drawn by his oddity and hoping to goad him into uttering Italian curses, pelted him with rocks, taunted him, punched him, and kicked him” (1). He was bullied as a child and grew up hated. Obviously this was something that motivated him. It was then the reason that he went out for track. Then from there he worked through the pain to training to get good and set records. And then eventually go to the Olympics. It was the pain that he always worked through. Pain was his motivation. And I think that is what the author is trying to say. 

            I agree with this idea. I think that working through struggles makes people come out stronger than ever before. One of the examples that I can think of that I am currently learning about is a man named John D. Rockefeller. He by no means lived an easy life as a child. According to an article by thestreet.com, Rockefeller was2 “One of six children, he was raised almost single-handedly by his devout Baptist mother while his father, a traveling salesman of questionable character, was on the road. It would later be learned that his father had a secret second wife” (Mont 1). Yet he worked hard earning himself money and savings to which he was able to invest in a part of his brothers oil company. Through his skills and hard work ethics that he acquired as a child he was able to grow his company to one of the largest in the world becoming one of the richest men on earth at the time. It was the American dream and that is what the author of Unbroken is expressing through his book.

TOW #19- "Attitude" by Margaret Atwood

       

       This week I read “Attitude” which is a speech written by Margaret Atwood. Atwood is a Canadian novelist and is one of the most honored authors of fiction. This speech was written to an audience of college graduates where she gave her insight on life. Her purpose in the speech was to explain, using humor, that the student aren’t prepared for life, but it’s all about the attitude they express which will either make life great or terrible. She goes into saying, “I’m here to tell you that it’s an armpit out there. As for your university degree, there are definitely going to be days when you will feel that you’ve been given a refrigerator and sent to the middle of a jungle, where there are no three-pronged grounded plugholes” (Atwood 1). In this quote there is a lot of humor and an analogy. Quotes like these were found throughout the speech and it truly made it enjoyable. For this reason it was very effective and got her purpose across. 

         Another example of this wonderful humor can be seen when she says, “a liberal arts education doesn’t exactly prepare you for life. A preparation-for-life curriculum would not consist of courses on Victorian Thought and French Romanticism, but of things like How to Cope With Marital Breakdown, Getting More for your Footwear Dollar, Dealing With Stress” (Atwood 1). In this quote she effectively uses humor to add to the pathos of her speech. As a bonus she also expresses some credibility. She knows the courses are “Victorian Thought and French Romanticism” because she went through the same things as these graduates. So when she explains it, the addition of that information makes her speech all the more effective.

         I’m not sure if this is a rhetorical device but Atwood talked about how she was writing this speech a lot. She talked about her thought process and why she talked about what she did. This is probably a strategy of some kind and I thought it was very interesting and useful. 

         I recommend this speech to anyone who is looking for a good TOW.

TOW #18- Pepsi Advertisement

For this TOW, I have decided to do a Pepsi advertisement that I have seen many times before, but have never looked deeply into.  This advertisement has the obvious purpose of expressing how Pepsi is better than its competitor, Coke. Although it cant obviously be seen, the red bottle represents Coke with its famous red can and white wave on it. This was made so that the audience, who are soda drinkers, are more inclined to choose Pepsi over Coke. The author, Pepsi, expressed this message in a number of way that worked great.

One of the most obvious features of this advertisement is the background. It is blue like the Pepsi can. I don’t really know what the name of this deceive is, but I believe it is effective. By having the background blue, it adds emphasis on the other can, the Coke one. It perhaps makes it stand out and seem like and outsider as though to make it seem unappealing.

The other most prominent device is the personification of the straw in the drinks. The advertisement clearly juxtaposes both can to one another. Everything is the same about them. The angle, the water drips, the top. The only difference is the straws that go into them. The Coke straw seems to be putting up a struggle, as though it doesn’t want to go into the can. The Pepsi straw on the other hand is in without a fight. This personification of the two straws is meant to show that it doesn’t want to go into the Pepsi, which makes it seem unappealing to the audience looking at it.

This advertisement is simple and doesn’t have a lot going on. But I believe that it is super effective. Pepsi’s advertisement team clearly knows what they are doing and I am sure that this advertisement has made them some money.

TOW #17- Is Humanity Getting Better? by Leif Wenar

      In a time where racism seems like the worlds biggest problem, hate being everywhere, and rich ruling over the poor, it is sometimes important to take a step back and appreciate what we do have. “Is Humanity Getting Better?” by Leif Wenar, a writer for the New York Times, shows us what we should really appreciate. Ever since the turn of the century humanity has gotten better. Wars have lessen, death by disease has lessened, starvation has lessoned. All of these are great feats that humanity has achieved over time and they are under appreciated. That’s exactly what Leif Wenar’s purpose is: to express to people who complain about the way people have turned out that there is a lot of good in society and also that we need to grow and learn as a people more quickly or everything is going to catch up with us.

            One of the greatest ways the author helps to express this opinion is by little narratives throughout the article. When describing the death from the plague in London, Wenar writes, “Now spared from their predators, the rats spread the affliction even more fiercely. The medical advice from London’s College of Physicians — to press a hen hard on the swellings until the hen died — did not slow the disease. In the end, the Plague of 1665 is thought to have killed almost 20 percent of London’s population” (Wenar 1). These narratives not only include facts and statistics in order to appeal to logos, they also use imagery and depiction in order to appeal to pathos as well. This excellent use of narrative throughout the article enhances the readers experience and helps them to understand and connect to the point being made.

            This article brings up a lot of good points about the future and the direction we are heading. It was a very good piece.

IRB intro #3

      For my book this MP I've decided to read Unbroken. I was recommended this book by a friend and fortunately I've only seen the end of the movie, so I can read it then finally watch the whole thing. Looking forward to this book.

Tow #16- A Deadly Wandering pt. 2

I have finished my second book this year, A Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel. I have to say that I really did enjoy it. For anyone that is a science lover, this book is perfect for you. It combines a true story with loads of scientific studies to make a great book that is fun to read. Based off the story of Reggie Shaw, this book discusses the consequences of distracted driving. Reggie was a 22-year-old living in Utah who was texting and driving. He swerved into the other lane and hit 2 scientists commuting to work. At first Reggie denied texting and driving but after some evidence against him, Reggie came clean. Problem was this happened in 2006, before states passed laws on texting and driving. The judge ultimately found Reggie guilty of homicide but only served in jail for several weeks because of the law. Now Reggie is a public speaker who talks about the impact texting and driving had on his life. The purpose of this book wasn’t to discuss texting and driving though, the idea was to show how technology is getting ahead of us. The speed of technology doubles every 2 years and along with this humans have an addiction to having everything under their own control, so trying to get a control on technology has become a major time consumer and distraction. This book was written for all audiences as it pertains to all drivers.

One of the greatest things Ritchel does in his novel is appeal to logos. One of my favorite quotes from the book was, “He repeated that the texting driver faces a six fold crash risk, whereas a driver talking on the phone faced a four-times increase in likelihood of a crash, which he said was roughly equivalent to someone who is legally drunk. A drunk driver and a person on a phone were equally likely to crash, whereas “we’re seeing the risk factor for accidents when someone is texting exceeds the level when people are legally drunk.” (Ritchel). I just found this statistic crazy and it expressed all the research that can be found in this awesome book.

TOW #14- Thanks to El Niño, Thirsty California Is Suddenly All Wet by Mike McPhate

         

       This particular article caught by attention because California’s drought has been a problem for my father. He works for IKEA as a project manager, so he is in charge of building stores across the country. As of now his project is in Burbank, California which is affected by this drought as much as the rest of the state is. So when reading this article, good news was brought to my attention. According to Mike McPhate, an editor for the New York Times, California has been hit by a major drought for the past 4 years causing a world of problems. Luckily, thanks to El Nino, a warming in the Pacific Ocean that affects the rest of the world, California is getting some water back. Starting last Sunday, California has been met with many major storms bringing above average rainfall to the whole state. Over the next week, the whole state is suppose to get over an inch of rain and there is suppose to be over a foot of snow in the mountains which is essential for the state. Brought with all this are flooding and very rough ocean currents, but according to quotes from the article, the people of California are just happy to have the weather somewhat reverse the effects of the drought.

            McPhate’s purpose in writing this article is to not only inform the nation of this good news, but to also give the people some hope. One of the best strategies that McPhate uses to express this is the way he delivers facts. Its not really something I notice a lot, but McPhate tends to express his facts in his own words; so no direct quotes are used that often. As seen in the quote, “Parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains could get more than a foot of snow, enlarging snowpack that plays a major role in meeting the state’s water needs as it melts in the spring” McPhates delivery allows him to express facts in a way that isn’t boring and lets him make his article flow well. This expression of facts really allows his purpose to be expressed well.