TOW #18: Man on the Tracks by Erika Anderson

In this brief, yet poignant and deeply emotional narrative of Anderson's experiences one afternoon on a New York City subway train, the author makes use of several rhetorical devices to achieve her purpose of conveying her feelings in that moment to the reader. She conveys these feelings of shock, fear, and confusion even at the time of writing through repetition, and a poetic examination of the days and weeks following the incident.

"When you watch a man on the tracks before an oncoming train, that’s exactly what you do: watch.
     You can shout at him.
     You can yell, “Train!”
     You can grip your New Yorker and suck in your breath.
     You can exhale when the Brooklyn-bound A stops twenty feet short.
     You can widen your eyes when the man stumbles in your direction, toward the platform"

This is how the essay begins, and the use of repetition empowers the text by conveying the frenetic atmosphere of the moment. This serves the text well because its main purpose is simply to convey the authors emotion. This sort of rhetorical repetition can be seen again at the essay's conclusion, when the author writes 
    "They say, “Wow.”
     They say, “Are you okay?”
     They say, “That’s horrible.”
     They say, “New York moment.”
     They say, “Survival of the fittest.”
     They say, “The train hit him and then what?”
     They change the subject.
     They say something else."

In this sense, the repetition is just as effective as it is in the introduction, as it conveys the disappointing nature of the reactions of the authors colleagues. The repetition is effective here and before because it manages to convey the entire emotional context of the incident; the shock and initial confusion, and the melancholy disappointment that follows in the days and weeks after the incident. The concluding lines of the essay also serve to encompass the entirety of the second rhetorical tool that Anderson makes use of. 

The examination of the disappointing reactions of those around her to the bizarre subway incident serve to showcase the nature of incidents like these. At the end, all she is left with is a number of unusual tidbits like the races of those who helped the man off the platform, and a feeling of lingering confusion.

Overall, the authors rhetorical strategies are well chosen and they support the intention of the piece quite nicely. the use of repetition frames the incident nicely and conveys the same sense of confusion and uncertainty surrounding the event, and the essay's conclusion helps to frame the way in which the author's feelings lingered following the event. 

IRB #3 Intro: David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

For my third IRB of the school year, I have chosen to read David and Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell. This book comes highly recommended from my father, and APELC seems like the perfect environment through which to understand the book at it's deepest levels. David and Goliath is a series of essays, ranging from such diverse topics as the impact of population decline on public views concerning elementary class size to early leukemia treatments in Chicago hospitals. Each essay is tied together by a progressive analysis of how the main character or characters in each essay overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to achieve their ends. What is unique about this book, and about Gladwell, is his ability to extract a network of meaning and symbolism from seemingly disjointed events across time and space. This can be seen in the title text, which bills itself first as an examination and critique of how it was that, in the famous biblical epoch, David managed to defeat Goliath, and is expanded upon in each progressive text, until a complete picture of how the David's of the world beat the Goliath's of the world is achieved. I look forward to reading David and Goliath, and hopefully gaining more knowledge about the world as Gladwell observes it.

TOW #20 1st Half of Gladwell's David and Goliath

In considering the purpose of the first half of Gladwell's David and Goliath, it is first essential to understand that the essay seeks to build a completed picture of "the art of battling giants," as Gladwell phrases it. With this notion in mind, it is true that the essays that comprise the first half of Gladwell's David and Goliath are intended to act as a sort of groundwork for Gladwell's later expositions on the nature of battling more powerful foes.

The first essay of David and Goliath considers the biblical epoch from which the book takes its namesake. First, it offers up a consideration of the historical setting, including a modern day examination of the location, and the nature of the region comprehensively known as Judea as being a hotbed for political conflict, even dating back to biblical times. It then delves into the specifics of the engagement between David and Goliath on that fateful morning, detailing in exact detail how David used the precision of his slingshot to fell the fearsome Goliath. This acts as an interlude to the book's first primary purpose: discussing the nature of perceived strengths that are actually weaknesses, and the role that this plays in battling stronger opponents.

To examine this, Gladwell first explains how this idea can be seen in the biblical epoch. He outlines how Goliath's numerous swords, daggers, full-body armor, and other battle equipment served as nothing more than hindrances in a one on one engagement against a more nimble opponent who could strike from distance.

He uses this principle to introduce his first example, of a girls 11-12 year old basketball team who made use of their opponents hidden weaknesses, which conventional logic viewed as strengths, to achieve their goals.

The full court press is a tactic rarely seen in modern basketball, at any level, because it often seen as a "dirty," even dishonorable, play to execute. It is far more conventional and well-regarded to allow an opponent to inbound the ball in a traditional sense, and focus defensive efforts as close to the basket as possible. When battling giants, however, this simply isn't a viable option.

Gladwell uses the example of a Californian 11-12 year old girls basketball team to illustrate this first principle in a modern setting. Where the good teams in their league seemed to dominate under the basket, it seemed as though the not-so-good teams were content to rely on traditional tactics, and suffer losses as a result. One team, however, decided to make use of an unconventional strategy, the full-court press, and capitalize on the fact that their more powerful opponents had no practice dealing with defensive efforts away from the basket.

This first example aptly illustrates Gladwell's intended principle, and provides for an intriguing glimpse at a modern application of ancient biblical principles.

TOW #19: Political Cartoon as a Visual Text

As tensions flared once again this month between the United States government and that of North Korea, political cartoonists once again turned to the deep seeded hostility for comedic inspiration. In this comic, a vintage Japanese warplane, representing hackers who recently compromised massive amounts of data from Sony Pictures, is seen bombarding the aforementioned company with binary code.

This comic, as published in The Week several weeks ago, is directed towards the educated masses of the American public. This is the case due to the fact that this publication's primary audience resides in the United States, and international publications of this publication are scant. It is directed more specifically towards the educated American public because the primary audience for a publication such as this would be politically conscious, liberally opinionated, highly-educated individuals. While this comic in and of itself is easily understandable, much of the content published in The Week is aimed at this sort of an intellectual audience. It is important to understand who the intended audience for this sort of a political cartoon is, as that viewership plays a large role in determining the sort of rhetoric that the comic makes use of.

In so far as this rhetoric is concerned, the comparisons being made between  modern day computer hacking against major corporations to achieve political ends, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor at the dawn of WWII in 1941 is blatant, but nuanced. While the comic can easily be taken at face value,  as a visual text showing a modern occurrence of a mostly historic issue, the level of nuance that the comic features are worthy of discussion, Perhaps the most interesting trait of this comic is the comical way that the violation of privacy rights is portrayed, along with the comical way that a surprise attack on thousands of Americans is shown.

TOW #16: Poltical Cartoon as a Visual Text

Published in the Houston Chronicle by cartoonist Nick Anderson this past week, this political cartoons seek to make a mockery of recent events surroundings the release of Sony Pictures The Interview. This cartoon seeks to make these points in response to several issues that have entered the national spotlight recently, concerning matters of international cyber warfare, and speculation concerning the growing role of North Korea in international acts of espionage. Specifically, this cartoon was created in response to the ongoing situation surrounding Seth Rogen and James Franco's political comedy, The Interview, in which the film's main characters assassinate Kim Jong Un.

Specifically, the artist's purpose behind the cartoon is to illustrate the degree to which political speculation and media frenzy around the "hot topic" of North Korea creates false perceptions of reality based on little more than baseless speculation and minuscule supportive evidence

It does this by depicting Kim Jong Un as a planet adrift in the cosmos, smiling broadly as the American media frenzy works towards his favor. In depicting Kim Jong Un as a planet, with a proportional gravitational pull, the cartoon evokes several important ideas, all of which are intentional. The first, and perhaps the most significant, is that it indicates the negative impact of the 24-hour news cycle, and the overall damaging nature of the "media frenzy" that comes to surround major international events. By showing a world leader as a planet, the artist provides a comical example of a very real issue; the inflationary effect of our media obsession with North Korea and the nature of the media frenzy in general. 

Overall the cartoon effectively achieves its purpose of offering a commentary on the state of the American media structure, the wrongful nature of American media's obsession with international politics, and providing a unique, most likely unconsidered take on the recent politically motivated tensions across the globe in the form of the artists suggestion that the gravitational pull of North Korea has led to harmful media speculation. It achieves these purposes through the use of a single rhetorical device; the depiction of Kim Jong Un as a planet, not a world leader. Most political cartoons are brief in their textual offerings, while others rely on no words at all. This cartoon is effective at achieving its purpose because it allows the reader to clearly grasp so much from a single, easily understood reference. 

TOW #15 E.O. Wilson's Advice to Young Scientists

In this poignant, brief TED Talk, scientific historian E.O. Wilson makes use of a number of effective rhetorical tools in order to enforce his primary purpose, that scientific discovery and the pursuit of knowledge needs to be a major priority for future generations, and that our cultural perception of "scientific talent" needs to shift if we are to make the most of our opportunity.

Chief among the tactics that Wilson makes use of are a number of personal anecdotes, each centered around his own experiences pertinent to the point he is discussing. A prime example of this can be seen when he discusses the notion that cultural stereotypes surrounding nerdiness, and the myth of the "mathematically giftedness." Wilson is among the most celebrated of modern scientists, notable for a number of significant biological discoveries, and the recipient of a number of awards from Harvard and Duke Universities, yet he is quick to admit that he did not reach calculus until he was 32 years of age.

This example does much to cement what is the central message of Wilson's speech; that we have to collectively stop shunning those who have no "natural talent" in mathematical pursuits to the point where they no longer wish to pursue STEM careers.

This principle of self-exemplification can again be seen when Wilson speaks directly towards those who have no "mathematical giftedness" but maintain an active interest in STEM fields. He provides the example of a childhood fishing accident which has left him mostly blind in his right eye. He uses this example of a supposed setback to illustrate the principle that it is both necessary and crucial for humanity on a large scale, and among individuals, to preserver beyond the obstacles that hold them back from attaining their goals.

TOW #14 Second Half of David Foster Wallace's Consider The Lobster

The second half of David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster consists of four essays, spanning several decades of David Foster Wallace's writing career, and a wide variety of topics. These include The View from Mrs. Thompson's, How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart, Up Simba, and Host. For this TOW post, I'll analyze the two that to me, held the most significance. 

The essay that I enjoyed perhaps more than any other in this collection was The View from Mrs. Thompson's. This essay, spanning about twenty pages in length, detailed Wallace's experience watching the events of 9/11 unfold from his neighbor's house in his small Illinois hometown. Wallace's essential purpose in discussing these events is to provide a unique view on a famous event, and in doing so, connect on an emotional level with his audience and provide his own perspective on the impact of 9/11 on the American psyche. While most publicly known stories from September 11th, 2001 take place in New York City, amid the smoke, dust, and chaos that so many experienced that day. In providing his experiences from a completely different location on that day, the sort of location that very few consider when they think about the events of that day. 

This in and of itself acts as a sort of powerful rhetorical device, as it allows him to connect with a much wider audience when he describes his feelings from that day. The vast majority of American's where going about their ordinary day to day to lives on that day; working in their offices, dropping their kids off at school, etc. By retelling his experiences of this day from the same sort of perspective that so many other American's did, he provides a powerful sort of pathos-based connection to the average American's that make up much of his reading audience. This rhetorical tool does much to enforce Wallace's purpose of connecting his own experiences with the experiences of other normal American's on that day. "I'm trying to explain the way part of the horror of 9/11 was knowing that whatever America the men in those planes hated so much was far more my own, mine, and Frank's, and poor old loathsome Duane's -- than these ladies America, too." By this he means that the real fear of the day was knowing that others held such hatred for the things that he, and all of his neighbors held commonplace. In this way, he acknowledges rather powerfully that his fears were the same fears that most American's held on that day, and immediately afterwards. 

The other essay that I particularly enjoyed from the second half of Consider the Lobster was How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart. This editorial can best be described as a scathing review of famed tennis Star Tracy Austin's biography, a generally critical commentary on the nature of modern sports journalism, and what he observes as a major problem regarding celebrities and their ghostwritten biographies. It begins with a bold confession on the part of Wallace; as a younger man, he was very much romantically interested in Austin. This is in part what led to his disappointment with her autobiography. The primary reason, however, for his disappointment in her biography was what he described as "breathtakingly insipid" exposition and a generally poor writing ability on the part of the author. 

This, in Wallace's opinion is precisely why these stories sell so well. As Wallace describes it, the American public looks to super star athletes and other celebrities for autobiographies and other material surrounding their lives because they are consumable, and because they provide the sort of "potato chip" reading material than many Americans seem to crave. In a word, Americans seem to crave the story of humble beginnings, natural talent, overcoming obstacles, and striving for perfection against all odds that seems to define every story of an athletic super star currently sold in book stores. While this essay was written in the early nineties, the same notion rings true in the modern era with recent film hits like The Blind Side, and the emerging story of the super star Little League world series pitcher Monique Davis, who won the hearts and minds of America this summer with an astonishing performance at the Little League World Series.  

To justify this belief of his, Wallace makes primary use of direct quotes from Austin's autobiography. These are the only rhetorical device needed, simply because they provide all of the evidence required to clarify Wallace's opinion that the nature of sport's journalism has taken a turn for the worst since the dawn of the super star athletes autobiography. Overall, he is successful in his claim due to the scathing nature of his critiques, the pointed and supportive nature of the quotations he pulls from the text, and the disappointed tone of his essay.