Tow #4 - Advice to Youth, by Mark Twain

Ryan Dalsemer

9/29/13

Advice to Youth (Mark Twain)

    Advice to Youth, by Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), was written in 1882. It is an essay by Twain that simply states his advice to the youth of the 1880's. Twain appeals to all three ethos, pathos, and logos in this short essay. Firstly, he establishes ethos because he is Mark Twain, He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age,” and William Faulkner, another great American Author and Nobel Prize Laureate, called Twain "the father of American literature.” Twain also wrote two very famous books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often called “the Great American Novel.” He appeals logos because he writes things that are simply common sense. For instances Twain writes, “Go to bed early, get up early -- this is wise. Some authorities say get up with the sun; some say get up with one thing, others with another.” He does not have an arguable argument; he is just stating things that everybody should know, like being careful with firearms, and respecting elders. Twain lastly appeals to pathos because this essay is actually very funny for being written almost 130 years ago. He says humorous things like, “If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didn’t mean to.” By appealing to pathos his audience, the youth, or anyone else reading it will be able to read on and enjoy his essay. Reading his satirical essay, one will not get bored and stop, and thus Twain can share his purpose of educating the simple things of life to the youth of America.

Tow #3 - Barack Obama Ad

Tow #2
9/22/13

The Barack Obama "Hope" poster is an edited picture of Barack Obama's profile created by an artist named Shepard Fairey, which was mostly viewed as Obama’s icon for his 2008 election and came to officially represent the 2008 Obama presidential campaign. The image is a stylized stencil portrait of Obama in solid red, beige and dark blue, with the word "progress", "hope", or "change" below (and other words in some versions of the image).

            The author, Shepard Fairey uses rhetoric to convey his message. More specifically Fairey appeals to ethos, pathos, and also logos and the word “Hope” is the key. He does this to try to appeal to his audience, the voting population of America. First, Fairey appeals to pathos by writing the word “Hope” on the poster. This connects to all the citizens of the United States of America because at the time of the 2008 election the country was in bad shape. By displaying the word “Hope” it eases the fear that the country’s well being is declining. This makes Obama seem like a hero, which is the purpose of the advertisement, to help Obama’s campaign for office. Fairey also appeals to logos, in a simple way. He does this by stating, this guy can fix the country’s problems, and he states this because it is simply a noble looking picture of a presidential candidate, with the word “Hope” underneath it. Lastly, he appeals to ethos. He establishes credibility by simply his association with the presidential candidate, who could become one of the most powerful people in the world. One word could make all the difference. The word “Hope” makes this poster. What on a day to day basis might seem like an ordinary word, with the right picture and the right subtle message could become very influential, and inspiring.

Tow #2 -IRB Reading Intro (outliers)

For my first independent reading book I am reading the novel Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. In this novel, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the factors that help to create major success. In support of his thesis, he explains how Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates achieved his extreme wealth, why the majority of Canadian ice hockey players are born in the first few months of the calendar year, and how The Beatles became one of the most successful musical acts in human history. This book seemed very interesting to me, Gladwell is very intelligent and connects the dots about things that no one else can. I hope to some how learn the way Malcolm sees things, and how he thinks about things in such depth that he can solve the simplest of reasons of why things are the way they are. He can see things about small topics like the age of Canadian Hockey Players that no one else can. 

Ryan Dalsemer's AP English Blog

TOW #1 - Article: “King Kong (1933) A Fantastic Film in Which a Monstrous Ape Uses Automobiles for Missiles and Climbs a Skyscraper”

By MORDAUNT HALL.

Published: March 3, 1933

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F03E3DC173BEF3ABC4B53DFB5668388629EDE

In 1933, Mordaunt Hall wrote a movie review on the very famous movie, King Kong, entitled, “A Fantastic Film in Which a Monstrous Ape Uses Automobiles for Missiles and Climbs a Skyscraper.” This article is Hall’s interpretation of the movie. Hall describes the movie as a fantastic tale, and “it essays to give the spectator a vivid conception of the terrifying experiences of a producer of jungle pictures and his colleagues, who capture a gigantic ape, something like fifty feet tall, and bring it to New York.” The article starts with a summary of the movie, (and possibly reveals too much) and ends with an overall description of the work. Hall’s purpose of the article was to shed a light on the movie, and to intrigue readers to go out and see the film.  Interestingly enough, Mordaunt Hall was actually the first hired movie critic for the New York Times, and work with the newspaper for over a decade, which makes her a pretty credible source.

            Mordaunt Hall accomplishes her purpose by using rhetoric devices. For example she uses simile to describe a scene in the movie, Hall writes, “Her body is like a doll in the claw of the gigantic beast, who in the course of his wanderings through Manhattan tears down a section of the elevated railroad and tosses a car filled with passengers to the street.” By using the simile she is able to connect to her readers. Not everyone has scene the scene in the movie, but by describing what the scene was like, Hall was able to make the reader understand, without having to see the movie first hand. Using rhetoric devices the author accomplished her goal of intriguing readers to go and see the film, because with the description she put out using rhetoric, people can determine if that is the kind of movie they want to see.