By 11:59 p.m. on July 15, you will need to post a response to
the following questions: How would you
characterize your author’s writing style?
What kind of diction does s/he use, and what tones are created by that
diction. Choose a small selection
(approximately 4-6 sentences) to analyze closely, and post your analysis on the
blog. You should cite the page number
and paragraph of the selection you choose.
Consider the following questions to help you compile your response. Do not feel you need to write in a formulaic way. These are guidelines. We are looking to see what you can do. You will be assessed far more on effort than you will style, so do not stress if this is an unfamiliar format.
a) Who is the speaker, and what does the
speaker want the audience to do, think, or believe? (This can be a simplified
thematic sentence – TAG + purpose). (TAG stands for Title, Author, Genre)
b)
How does the author develop his or her claims and support his or her purpose?
What specific strategies are used, and why are they used?
c)
Who is the specific audience, and how do the strategies affect the audience?
Why do they care, and how do the strategies make them care even more?
d) If the audience is effectively persuaded by
the strategies, what will they do, think or believe? (This is a more specific
statement of purpose).
82 comments:
In South Los Angeles, California crime rates and murder cases have intensified and have grown to become a major component in the lives of the black community. In Ghettoside, by Jill Leovy, the speaker tells the story of a murder in America alongside many other unsolved and forgotten cases to highlight the injustice system and bias that resonates among the black community leaving many of the families of the murder victims left with no answers. Many victims such as “Bryant Tennelle was shot on May 11,2007” a month before “Fabian Cooper, twenty-one, was shot to death” along with his friend “Salvador Arredondo, nineteen” (Leovy 18, paragraph 2). As well as on “April 15, twenty-two-year-old Mark Webster” while leaving a club was “fatally shot” (Leovy 18, paragraph 3). On the same night “some black men caught up with Marquise Alexander, also twenty-two” and shot him to death. (Leovy 18, paragraph 4). Four days later, “Maurice Hill” was killed along with people like Isaac Tobias, Eric Manderville, Alfred Henderson, Kenneth Frison, and Wilbert Jackson, all in which were murdered and their cases presume unsolved. The speaker chooses to include these names to grab the audience’s attention and emphasize the gravity of the situation and how cases are left unsolved. The justice system only views these cases as numbers and statistics to argue “they have their own laws” and choose violence. The black community is seen as a war zone, however everyone for themselves. Only sort of protection is through emphasizing and implementing fear into others to gain authority and power, basically joining a gang is their only option. There is no escaping. However, these cases are not just another add on to the pile, these cases are all human beings, someone’s loved one, all worth living unfortunately taken away from that opportunity. The authors style of writing uses emotional and statistical appeal to grab the audience’s attention. The author successfully does so making the audience feel not only guilt for the injustices in society but as well as shocked and disappointed in the number of lives lost too often. Overall, the author does a well job in drawing and addressing the situation creating a sorrowful tone, yet investigative towards the cases.
In the novel Missoula, Jon Krakauer takes a look at rape culture in the college town of Missoula and closely examines the story of young women who have experienced this traumatic event while maintaining the common idea that rape can happen to anyone and can be done by anyone. Jon Krakauer's writing style can be characterized as very informative and contextual; he opens his chapters with description of the city of Missoula or the general setting to provide a wide scope of the day to day lives of Missoulians. After that, he narrows into the specific lives of individuals living is this city, such as Allison Huguet. Krakauer’s extensive description serves to humanize the individuals he writes about and spark empathy from the reader who can find key characteristics to identify with.
Krakauer decision to describe Huguet as “an elite athlete” who had taken “self- defense classes” instead of a helpless victim who didn’t do enough to protect herself sheds light on a new narrative that rape victims are not foreign or rare; they can be anyone you see in your day to day life, in any of the sports you compete in, or the person standing next to you in your self-defense class (Krakauer- first full paragraph on pg 14). Rape is not as uncommon as individuals like to believe. The extreme detail that the author puts into his description also combats one’s instinct to generalize rape victims to one specific case and instead provides insight into how every situation is extremely unique. This is a point of persuasion to the audience because it evokes a realization that the repetition of these events is all too common.
The prevalence of rape is also emphasized by the thorough background the author provides about Donaldson, the individual who raped Allison Huguet. Similar how he describes Huguet as a complex individual who is more than a rape victim, Krakauer also describes Donaldson’s college career as a “fullback and linebacker for an NCAA Division I football team” (Krakauer- first full paragraph on pg 14). This description is included with the intent to alert the reader into realizing that an attacker can be anyone in their surroundings despite titles or your relationship to the person. All in all, Krakauer’s informative writing style allows the audience to logically see the reason behind his implied purpose and shift into agreeance more easily with his rationally explained point of view.
In "So You've Been Publicly Shamed" the author Jon Ronson wants people who have social media to understand that anyone can be humiliated. As an example Ronson included a personal anecdote that persuades with strong diction.Ronson writes "left me feeling powerless and sullied...",(pg3,p2). Ronson uses "powerless" and "sullied" to create a clear connection to people who have been embarrassed on a very public platform much like Twitter.His use of this strategy affects his audience ,because it enables them to relate on a personal level making Ronson seem even more sympathetic.Therefore, people who have been cyber bullied will understand that even public figures like Ronson can be humiliated in such a horrific manner.
In the novel Killers of the Flower Moon, the author David Grann expresses his writing style as suspicious and inquisitive. His writing style involved the suspiciousness of the two murders that made me as a reader inquisitive about the deaths that someone made that is not sympathetic. Grann emphasized that the two murders connected which led met to wonder that this case of a killer impacted lawmen to create a greater group then them to handle it such as the FBI. The impact of the diction ".32-caliber pistol," (Grann 27) reminds me of the controversy gun control topic that is occurring today. When Grann questions if the murders have a "coincidence that both victims had been wealthy Osage Indians in their thirties?" (Grann 27), Grann's tone led me to believe more that murders have a dark side and a common motive to who they want to kill. Murders risk there dignity in killing someone. While the FBI have to be one step ahead to solve the cases that results in who they will be. On page 27, in the first paragraph, there is a connection between the two killings that the author tries to convey without implying it. It indicates that Grann viewed the two killings to be suspicious long before the FBI could figure it out. This foreshadows that the two cases are what initiated the involvement of the FBI rather than a routine murder case. Throughout this novel the speaker is Grann wants the audience to wonder if being rich and being connected to the oil industry even now in present life is a risk as it was in 1912 between the Osage Indians. Also, believe that the title Killers of the Flower Moon has a more detailed story that is known between the tribe and recalled during the month of May. This novel is non-fiction which the author told a real story that he knows in detail behind the Osage murders, start of the FBI, and believed we should be educated about. Grann develops his claim that the two murders are related and take part in May as so did the killers of the the flower moon. Grann's purpose is that the murders have an impact from writing this novel to reveal the Osage Indians have a bigger story then we know. The strategies I identified are the author questions himself so he can imply his view on the murder without saying the real answer to why they connect. The author wants his audience to have suspicion if the murders are realistically a sign that effected the Osage Indians. Which the audience is readers that do not know much and Osage Indians so Grann wants us to know more behind the Killers of the Flower Moon and how the Osage connects to it. The strategies affect the audience by make the readers questions what he is trying to convey is the answer. The audiences cares what Grann is trying to convey without saying the answer from making them suspect that there will be more behind from where the FBI was birthed that is what makes them care more to want to know of the view point of Grann. The audience will think and believe that in the month of May there is more that involves murders that started the FBI to be known and be more aware of accepting Indians while doing less murders to have peace and not devastation.
In the novel Missoula by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer gives us a clear insight about a specific college town that is known for its multiple rape incidents. Krakauer’s message that he is trying to express is to help the audience have a better understanding that unfortunately rape is a common crime and to show how the justice system handles these situations and to reveal some true stories of victims who were stuck in this trauma and their individual experiences. It’s crucial for him to make others “understand what deters so many rape victims from going to the police” (Krakauer, authors note, and pg.xiv, paragraph 1). Krakauer’s writing style is very informative and he uses his knowledge from real incidents to enlighten the novel in a professional yet emotional way that brings the reader sympathy to the victims. A line that really sticked out to me was when Krakauer mentions that the officers said, “Well sometimes girls cheat on their boyfriends, and regret it, and then claim they were raped.”(Krakauer, pg 60, paragraph 3).Shows the ignorance that some victims experience and how they can be generalized as. Which ties back to the thought of describing rape in a logistical way and use his book to fight for the justice these victims need.
In the novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta lacks, Rebecca Skloot gathers information about HeLa, the first immortal human cells. Skloot decides to study the person responsible for the HeLa cells; however, Skloot soon discovers that Henrietta Lacks never knew about the impact that her cells had in the medical field and other people’s lives. Skloot uses distrustful diction in order to hint at the lack of ethics in the medical field. Skloot’s writing style, while informative, also provides a lot of background information in order to clearly show Skloot’s reason for writing the novel.
Skloot describes the setting in which Henrietta’s cells were taken advantage of in order to clearly convey the inhumane decisions made in this time period. Henrietta Lacks was “unconscious on the operating table” which shows how Henrietta is not able to give any sort of consent during her surgery (Skloot 33). Skloot also includes that “no one had told Henrietta the TeLinde was collecting samples” (Skloot 33). Henrietta’s cells were taken from her while she was unconscious without any prior knowledge of regarding her cells. Her cells were placed in a “glass dish” to be further studied (Skloot 33). Although Henrietta cells led to many scientific breakthroughs, Henrietta was taken advantage of and did not give consent for her cells to be studied. Skloot included much of Henrietta’s story in order to make sure that her readers knew the person who was responsible for many scientific breakthroughs.
Skloot also used Henrietta’s incident in order to clearly show how ethics should be a very important aspect in the medical field. Skloot included prior examples of people being taken advantage of, such as Jews during the Holocaust, in order to further emphasize the importance of ethics in our society. Skloot provides various examples in order to persuade the reader about the importance of ethics and also inform the reader about the ways that people of status and credibility, doctors, could take advantage of people.
In "So You've Been Publicly Shamed," Jon Ronson compiles different stories about those who have been publicly shamed in order to reveal that media has made it more accessable to publicly shame someone and while it has its benefits such as exposing those who are harming others, it also has its downfalls. The first chapter is a personal anecdote about the time when a spambot was programmed to impersonate Ronson on Twitter by Luke Robert Mason. Ronson asked for the spambot to be disposed of but was denied. He goes on to express how the bot made him feel "powerless" and caused his "identity to be redefined wrong by strangers."(pg.3) This led Ronson to lose control of what he wanted to portray himself as and have difficulty changing the first impression that the spambot had created for him to strangers. Since Mason and his team wouldn't destroy the spambot, even though it was causing Ronson distress, they agreed to a filmed discussion that would be posted on YouTube. When the video was posted, many viewers began leaving supportive comments to Ronson such as "This is identity theft", along with more drastic comments such as hoping Mason and his team "die painfully" due to what they had done to Ronson (pgs7-8). Mason and his team were being publicly shamed on YouTube because of their behavior towards Ronson and the pain that they were inflicting on him whether it was intentional or not. The two comments listed above are on opposite sides of the public shame spectrum. The first one is siding with the one who is being wrong while still showing that they believe that what the shamed did was wrong. The second comment has turned their public shame into a more violent protest which causes the shamed to become fearful and the wronged to feel sorry for the shamed. Social media has become a double-edged sword pertaining to public shaming. It shuts done whatever wrong is being done but it also ruins people who may not deserve to be ruined even if they did do something wrong. The personal story allows those who use social media to see how their actions of public shaming affects those that it pertains to. Ronson explores in depth the emotions that are created when publicly shamed and the finality that it creates. He writes about these ideas in order to stop the brutality of public shaming and to cause social media uses to think about how they express their opinions and show support. If social media users choose to follow the change that he is proposing, then they will stop sending threats to show support and will be supportive to those who have been wronged in a more positive way.
In The Immportal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot breaks down HeLa cells and their immortality as well as the ethical debate that followed, with the goal of bringing Henrietta's family out of obscurity. Skloot wanted to know more after hearing the name HeLa and the topic never being brought up again. Skloot's writing can be characterized as both emotional and informative. The author writes in a way that creates a want for justice in the reader through the use of distressful, emotional diction. Deborah, one of Henrietta's daughters, does not know much about who her mother really was - she only really knows about what her mother contributed to science through her cells. Deborah wants to know things about her mother than she cannot get through the cells, like the "common little things" such as what her "mother smell[s] like" or even what "color" her mother liked (Skloot 53). In this paragraph, there is a sense of distress from Deborah because all she has ever heard about her mother comes from scientists or other articles, and she asks who she is supposed "to trust now" (Skloot 53). While Skloot's style is very informative and provides extensive details about the lives of those who were affected by the discovery of Henrietta Lacks' immortal cells, it is also an emotional narrative about the recognition that Henrietta did not recieve. Even though her cells made great contributions to science in the 60s, her family still suffered and was never brought to light. Her cells were commercialized and her family never recieved a single cent. In short, Skloot creates a story about how ethics always need to be considered when trying to find a solution to an issue because there are far reaching effects that might not be seen in the immediate future.
In So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson wants readers to understand the effects of publicly shaming someone and how the public have used public shaming as a tool to gain a voice and settle issues that they believe are not correct. After being publicly shamed himself, Ronson strives to travel the world and unravel the truth from well-known public shamings. Ronson helps readers understand why he is so determined to make these public shamings known by opening up the first chapter with a personal experience of his where he had been both the one who was shamed and the one who helped shame others. A spam bot that was made by three guys who wanted to use this bot as an experiment, used Ronson’s identity, stole it, and used it for their own benefit without consent. Feeling powerless yet determined, Ronson continuously fought with the owners of the spam bot to have the fake Twitter page taken down, and when they refused to comply, he took it upon the public to shame them for their actions by posting his interview with these men on YouTube, which resulted in them deleting the spam bot for good. Ronson felt like the had ‘won” (Ronson 8). The men who had tore his identity away from him “had been shamed into acquiescence” (Ronson 8). It was almost like “their public shaming had been like the button that restores factory settings” (Ronson 8) but “something was out of kilter” (Ronson 8) after. The only reason Ronson won was because “the community rallied” (Ronson 8). Ronson uses diction like “rallied” to make the reader understand that public shaming is a group effort and how shaming others is the way society gains its voice and how it fights back. Ronson describes society’s shaming as emotionally violent through his tone because it shunned the men who created the spam bot into utter silence; they were too afraid to protest against society. And although Ronson won, he realizes that public shaming can also leave things “out of kilter”, which means for every shaming, the environment between the world becomes less and less balanced and civil. Ronson sets an uneasy tone after he had won the fight with deleting the spam bot. Public shaming can lead to one winning an argument but it can also led to one's life being ultimately ruined. By introducing both the pros and cons of public shaming, readers will feel more responsible for what they put out on social media. And by including both sides of the story, readers are able to put themselves in the shoes of those who did the shaming and the shamed. Ronson started the paragraph by stating what he had gained from the help of public shaming, which was winning, to stating how things felt out of harmony, or “out of kilt” (Ronson 8) by the end of it as well. Overall, Ronson shows how public shaming is the way society grows its voice and states their opinion and how it can also make one feel powerless. The act of publicly shaming someone ultimately leads to a roller coaster of emotions for everyone involved in the situation.
Missoula by Jon Krakauer is written to explore the rape culture in college campus'. Krakauer informs the reader about the victims and the rapists by going into dept of multiple rape cases of young women. From using statistical evidence, to background of the city to the emotional encounters during the rape, Krakauer illustrates how being rape can happen to anyone under any relationship or situation. Krakauer begins by talking about rape in a wide range with factual evidence of how common it is for a woman or man to get rapped and how many of those people actually report it to the police. From the beginning Krakauer judges the way the world approaches rape by speaking of the "relatively narrow definition of sexual assault". The author criticizes the how most people see rape in order to get the reader to question themselves on how they have been thinking of rape culture. Krakaeur continues to to narrow the spectrum of his speaking to the city of Missoula by speaking of all of its accomplishments and history as a city. By doing this, Krakauer creates a sense of normal in order to highlight the idea that rape can happen to whoever, whenever and wherever. Finally by going in dept with the personal stories of each victim, the reader is able to grasp some sort of understanding of how victims and rapists deal with the situation. Knowing a victim of rape may not be common to many so this book full of personal events helps the reader take them into count while rehashing their idea of rape.
In "so you've been publicly shamed," Jon Ranson is a book that consist of a variety of stories in which public shaming is a problem. starting off his booth author Jon Ranson inputs a personal example in which a fake instagram under his identity is being used without his consult. The profile consisted of a few mutual friends of his and some explicit tweets, with the knowledge he had Ranson contacted the fake account asking if Luke Robert Mason the person who's responsible for the "spambot" account.on page 2 while ranson tried to shut down the account the person who's misrepresented responded with "repurposing social media data..." Knowing all the things he did Ranson was concerned with his image being displayed out in the open with somewhat vulgar and misrepresenting his persona into someone completely opposite of him. the author inputs his story to create awareness of this problem of public shaming and how it's something that should be addressed rather than ignored. the author uses his personal example as a way to tell the audience that he's experienced public shaming and he could relate to what other people have experienced as well, so with that personal antidote being at the beginning of the book followed by other series of stories its an opportunity to show how this is a big problem to be addressed.
In Ghettoside, Jill Leovy uses statistics and different point of views to really grasp the audience's attention to the real problem in South Los Angeles, California; the murders of black men. The author tells a murder story among other unsolved or forgotten homicide cases to highlight the injustice system that we have and still occurring in America. Black male citizens living in the "ghettoside" of Los Angeles have been viewed " as if [they] had bull's-eyes on their backs" (Leovy 10) all their lives. One example of a young black man living in South Central is Josh Henry who had to use his "battle-ready reflexes" (Leovy 14) in order to save the life of his friend, Bryant Tennelle, who had been fatally shot in the head moments earlier. Like other "common young men in South Central who have known danger" (Leovy 13), Bryant became one of the many others who failed to survive in the streets that he so called home. The author not only continues to provide endless cases of similar homicides like Bryant Tennelle but also raises up the problem of black men murdering other black men though the blame for these murders ends up being pointed to the police. Such as Officer Greg De La Rosa was once on duty to help a black victim who had been shot by another black man but the man yelled at him to "Get the fuck away from me!" (Leovy 17) because he had been way more afraid of what the police might do to him than worry for his own life. This kind of fear has caused many black people living in Watts to live a life knowing nothing may be done after they are gone. Such as the deaths of "Mark Webster [who] walked out a biker club...was fatally shot by someone who opened fire from a distance " and " Eric Mandeville... was shot and killed while walking outside, almost certainly targeted by black gang members because he was young, black, male, and looked like one of their rivals" (Leovy 18-19) were both just "regular" murders of this part of town. Leovy chooses to include these names because these black men are not animals killed for their savage actions but to allow the audience to show that these peoples' only options living in these kind of conditions are implementing fear on others or else live in fear. There is no way out of the terror that has forced the black community to live upon because of the lack of justice the police fails to put upon.
Born a Crime is an autobiography by Comedian, Trevor Noah, on his life as an illegal mixed race person during and after the South African apartheid. The majority of Noah's novel is written in a style that is characterized as humorously anecdotal instead of the typical chronological order of most books. Noah prefers to recount his adolescence memory by memory, using specific events in his youth to illustrate the inequality he faced with and by his community. Noah uses a combination of informative yet humorous diction in order to inform and engage his readers. Between each chapter of Noah's life, he includes a page where he describes aspects of the apartheid, South African life and culture, or additional information for the next chapter. Even in these more serious sections, Noah still implements humor to lighten the seriousness or simplify the topics he discusses. In order to describe the struggle of colored South Africans after the apartheid, he uses quite casual language. Noah writes how colored people had been, "brainwashed into believing [their] blood is tainted" (Noah 120). Since colored people were half black, half white before apartheid set in, they were not subjected to the cruel treatment of blacks during apartheid. At that time, whites were the minority but lived lives without any discrimination, colored people were the second class, mixed race products of of the European colonizers and their affairs with with the native women.Instead, they spent their lives, "aspiring to whiteness" (Noah 120), but, "some fucking guy named Nelson Mandela...[flipped] the country on its head" (Noah 120). With power in black hands, colored people had learn to love the portion of themselves they had learned for so long to eliminate. In Noah's words, "All of a sudden it's 'Planet of the Apes', and the monkeys have taken over" (Noah 120, paragraph 3). Noah creates an easy concept to grasp for outsiders to apartheid. By using curse words and references to pop culture, he establishes a relationship between himself and the audience where he is not just an author but a regular guy. Noah knows the pain caused by apartheid and life in South Africa, but he sees that the most universal way to relate it to the world is through the use if comedy to eliminate the cultural barrier.
In " The Devils Highway," Luis Alberto Urreas witting is very unique. Urrea tries to focus on individual things that are happening in the desert, he tries to connect with people who have gone through the desert. He tries to explain the reasons why people decide to cross the border and try to risk their life. Urrea digs deep on what people go through in their hometown and how they don't have enough opportunities to succeed in life. He describes how the desert is filled with danger with people to go through, such as many varieties of poisonous insects and reptiles. Urrea creates a suspense theme by describing how "The Coyotes," are used to take many people to the United States. He also points out how the two main things that unify the two sides are "each others distrust of its own government,"(pgs.54,55) he tries to point out how the Coyotes pay the soldiers off. The Mexican government puts up a sing that tells immigrants not to cross the border, which many walkers cant read, is the only thing Mexico is trying to do to stop them from crossing the border. Overall the author does a good job explaining what the people have to go through, and many things that should be done to help these people.
Born A Crime, by Trevor Noah, is an autobiography about his life as a mixed person during the aparthied in South Africa. Trevor Noah's writing style is a mix of informative switching to anecdotes. The anecdotes often have a break of humor that give his personal stories a brief sense of lighthardedness. He uses serious diction to create a heavy and intense tone.
"And if an interracial couple got caught, God help them. The police would kick down the door, drag the people out, beat them, and arrest them. At least that's what they did to the black person. With the white person it was more like, 'Look, I'll just say you were drunk, but don't do it again, eh? Cheers!' That's how it was with a white man and a black woman. If a black man was caught having sex with a white woman, he'd be lucky if he wasn't charged with rape" (Page 22, Par. 2).
Noah ties in religion at the start of his example, "God help them," to emphasize his point that racial mixing is a heavy crime. He goes on to elaborate that interracial mixing with a black man and a white woman is even worse than the mixing of a white man and a black woman. This thinking implies that black men are not worth as much as white men, and it also enforces double standards since the black man would be lucky "if he wasn't charged with rape." This thinking is also racist and sexist, but unfortunately that was the normal for that time during the apartheid.
In the book Missoula by Jon Krakauer he narrates sexual assault stories that have been committed in Missoula Montana. Krakauer in his book wants to inform the audience to be aware when you go to college or in a univeristy that sexual assault happens everywhere. He wants his audience to know that if they ever experience sexual assault to report it and not be affraid to do so because it can prevent another person from being raped. He writes this book also to demonstrate how sometimes women that don't report these sexual assaults affects them and triggers them in their everyday life. He supports his claim by writing the way sexual assault cases have been treated by the justice system in a college as well as the police. His writing is very informative by him using specific examples in how these cases are treated. For example, when he narrates the story of Allison Huguet who was raped by her best friend who'd she known since first grade. She didn't report the rape until years when it started to affect her life and when she heard of another girl who shared her story to prevent other women from being sexually assaulted (44). There was no trial and they where not charged with anything because she moaned and did not explicitly say no (41). These stories have a really effect on the reader with emotions of anger sadness and disbelief he is really good at saying that this is happening and the we should we need to do something about it. It's easy for people to ask why didn't you scream or defend yourself but what they don't realize is that its really hard. When you are force to have not consensual sex you are paralysed , scared for your life and in some cases you don't know whats happening to you until it ends. In page 76 it says that " when people are rape, the exeperience is so traumatic that it causes them to behave in a variety of ways that may be seen as inexplicable." If the audience was persuaded they will believe that the justice system at the college as well as the police should do more then just push these cases away and treat them as fake. They will try to do something about this situation that is affecting a lot of people. Lastly they will think before they act. They would put themselves in their shoes and ask themselves what if they where the ones going through rape? They wouldn't mistreat them and accused them of falsely accusing someone of being raped if they were not there.
In Devil’s Highway, Luís Alberto Urrea wants the readers to comprehend the difficulties that people face when crossing the border between Mexico and the United States. Urrea uses situation dog different people facing similar problems to describe the difficulty of crossing a desert with lack of resources and low chances of survival or salvation. Luís Alberto Urrea emphasizes that it is before you cross the border that the challenge begins. Urrea includes paragraphs of why the members of the Wellton 26/Yuma 14 decided to go to the coyote Don Moi. By including their backstories he demonstrates that the main reason for why people choose to go to such extreme measures is for the sake of the family and experience the “American Dream” that is believed by many people. These people have hope in having a better future but the Coyotes do not care what happens to the people after they get paid. There is a sign saying to not pay the Coyotes with “YOUR LIVES!!!,”(Urrea, 55) Urrea includes this and emphasizes the fact that people are not guaranteed safety and after being paid the Coyotes will leave the people by themselves and the Coyotes are the ones who will profit in the end. It also adds to the fact that the government is not trying to do much to try and keep the people safe from searching for the Coyotes if all they have is a sign.Urrea also adds the fact that people should be aware of the danger and the amount of influence the Coyotes have. They may be able to pay off soldiers from looking for them when taking the people across the border and people may think that is beneficial to them but in fact it is detrimental for them because they have lower chances of survival due to not being able to locate them and save them. It demonstrates that Coyotes take advantage of those who are desperate and lead some people to their demise, as well to the corruption their is in the government. By people being aware that others face they could try and help by taking action such as reporting missing people immediately because every second counts when being in the heat and staying in poor conditions on the way.
In "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", Rebecca Skloot decides to research the cells that had revolutionized medicine by eradicating polio and having a major breakthrough in gene mapping. Since very few people knew about the woman that had provided the HeLa cells, Skloot made it her mission to let the world know who Henrietta Lacks truly was other than simply just cells. Due to Henrietta's black skin color, doctors and scientists that had gone to medical school and had vowed to provide proper health care to each patient, took advantage of Henrietta's cervical cancer by obtaining her cells. Although the Lacks family had been notified that Henrietta's cells were taken, none of the professionals chose to explain the true purpose as to why the cells were deemed necessary. While focusing on the story of who Henrietta and the Lacks were, Skloot also emphasizes the journey she had to take in order to obtain information from the Lacks family. Skloot had gained the Lacks' trust once they realized that her intentions were pure and honest in the decision of choosing to tell Henrietta's story. By those who had encountered her, Henrietta was described to have "walnut eyes, straight white teeth, and full lips. She was a sturdy woman with a square jaw, thick hips, short, muscular legs, and hands rough from tobacco fields and kitchens" (Skloot 43). Through the early physical description of Henrietta, Skloot makes sure that the reader is able to have an insight as to what Henrietta looked like in order to further create a connection between the reader and the unfair discrimination that was experienced by both Henrietta and the Lacks family. Due to the fact that the book was written about 50 years after the HeLa cells were discovered, Skloot begins to write in the past in order to provide a background on the importance of HeLa cells to the readers. Once the background begins to be fully established, Skloot begins to jump back and forth between the past and the present in each chapter in order to begin including details of how the discovery of Henrietta's true story was beginning to teach her about her own white privilege and also how the Lacks family members were continued to be impacted even in the present by the unfair discovery of the HeLa cells. Skloot's ability to give raw descriptions to contribute to Henrietta's story causes an awakening in the hearts of the readers by further motivating to advocate against discrimination and racial bias in a world in which those with privileges choose to utilize such privilege to cause harm upon people that are distinct from them.
In the biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, Skloot becomes desired to find who Henrietta truly was and acknowledge her life story as she is the reason we, today have so many advances in the medical field. Skloot learns about Henrietta in her biology class but becomes stunned as her professor, Dr. Defler could not finish his lesson completely on the HeLa cells because Henrietta's origins were still undiscovered. Skloot wrote this biography to educate everyone on Henrietta's behalf, the reader believes that no focus was put on discovering more about Henrietta because she was African- American and not represented at the time her cells were unrightfully taken. The biography, consists of a variation of points of view, it shifts from Skloot talking about her journey on finding who Henrietta was, to 3rd person by Skloot telling us Henrietta's story. We all encounter hardships in life and sadly it's inevitable, "When them pains hit, looked like her mind just said, Henrietta you best leave. She was sick like I never seen. Sweetest girl you ever wanna meet, and prettier than anything. But them cells, boy, them cells of hers is something else. No wonder they could never kill them." (Skloot 85) After becoming extremely engaged in the different stories told by different people in Henrietta's life, the reader also becomes sympathetic towards not only Henrietta, but also those who saw Henrietta's body deteriorate over time. These strategies allows the audience to get a grip of the real world, and become aware of the little things we should cherish in life. With this, the reader is encouraged to take action on always giving the person credits when it is deserved because as we can see Henrietta's struggle and pain was endless.
In Missoula by Jon krakauer, the author uses a matter of fact tone and is informative in order to show the audience how common rape accusations were in the small college town; especially how rare it was that a case like this were to be properly handled. By meticulously describing the life of one of the rape victims like Allison Huguet and many others, the author illustrates how being raped not only affects you in the moment but may also define the rest of your life from that moment on. The use of obscene language makes the incidents much more genuine and authentic rather than a fictional story of young girls. In page 26, when Allison is confronting her childhood friend about the incident, his response is so "heartfelt" that it seems to be a practiced apology. The way that the author uses everyone's actions and commentary gives the audience a chance to be although a bit disoriented by some responses, they are also intrigued to know more of why these situations even happen in the first place. Furthermore, the authors purpose is to not only tell the story of these rape victims and what they went through, but to dive deeper into how our justice system works and how devastating it is to relive the events as they were seeking equity.
Luis Alberto Urrea’s writing style is heavily based on compiling many stories together and stitching them together by having aspects of some stories overlap with the others. In his book, The Devil’s Highway, he is writing about the attempt of 26 men to cross the border through the Southern Arizona desert, which is also known as The Devil’s Highway. In order for him to depict the unforgivingness of finding yourself in a situation like this, he needs to use gruesome imagery and unpleasantly specific details. Through the use of these, he creates a morbid and agonizing tone throughout his stories. Luis Alberto Urrea tries to use all the dialogue that he collected but he only collected a limited amount so his next best strategy is to use their thoughts, which he can only imagine, and their actions. His audience can have a really wide span since so many people can be interested in the telling of this true story. But if it had to be narrowed down, it would be more directed towards Americans as a form of informing them what immigrants have to go through to get to where they are, and to Mexicans possibly contemplating to attempt the feat as a form of discouragement. It is more of an impactful book for the latter audience because they are the ones who have heard these stories but their situation is so harsh, that they decide to embark on the journey either way. However, reading this story in such detail could really impact them in a different way and it could even make them decide against doing it. “They’d walked into hell trying to escape the Border Patrol, and now they were praying to get caught” (Urrea pg8 paragraph 4). This quote shows just how horrible conditions can get. Their goal was to escape them but at they end they wanted to be caught in order to go back to their harsh lives that now seem like heaven to them. This would have the audience really analyze weather it is worth it to attempt crossing or staying home and struggling through life. All in all, Luis Alberto Urrea accomplishes to tap into the readers’ logic and feeling using relatable stories dealing with the exact steps they might want to take.
In "Ghettoside," Jil Leovy writes with one goal in mind; reveal to its readers the exceedingly disapproving raging number of mass homicides that go unnoticed,focusing primarily on the black on black murders in South Los Angeles, and how the system fails to provide justice causing the lives of blacks to appear "cheap" (Leovy 8). To address this issue, Leovy uses supportive facts about the increasing death rates of black lives and constantly includes personal details such as names of the victims and short stories about family members whom lost somebody in the midst of these tragic murders; for example, often the first at the crime scenes are hysterical parents in discomforting pain as they watch their children take their last breath in their very own arms which causes for the reader to experience a very direct and deeply connected experience filled with almost the same exact emotions as those family members as if we the readers, too, had just lost a loved one. In other words, Leovy does this to make its readers sympathize with the daily lost of black lives and urges the audience for the justice system to take action and serve the justice needed to the families of those whose lives were innocently taken. Not only does Leovy persuade its readers to think this way but he also opens our eyes about how society belittles the lives of African Americans and minimizes their actual worth which emphasizes yet another of America's never ending flaws. Often, because these black on black on murders happen on a daily basis at such high rates, both the media and the justice system have grown so accustomed they don't do or say much and that is where the problem begins. Since these homicides don't receive the correct attention, how are we going to expect a solution? In the LAPD office, another murder just adds another folder to the stack of unsolved murders that will soon be forgotten and the fact that very "few murders [are] covered in the media" does not help but rather hinders the process to justice (Leovy 37). However, Leovy ensures that not all hope is lost by mentioning notable homicide detectives like Skaggs who unlike most, recognize the imprudence of the system yet strive to solve these unlawful murders despite the doubts and odds he will be faced against. Skaggs, in fact denied promotion to the elite Robbery-Homicide Division or RHD, because he realized with the promotion he could not be as helpful as he was as an LAPD detective so he remained an LAPD homicide detective and continued to have "his steady faith that things could improve with he right kind of effort" (Leovy 27). And that is what it all comes down to, effort. Leovy recognizes and bombards us with the endless amounts of black on black murder in Los Angeles and constantly reminds his audience how it is so easily forgotten and nothing is done. However, his readers are encouraged to take action against the unfair justice system which all begins with hope and effort for change.
In The Jihad Nextdoor, by Dina Temple-Raston, Temple-Raston aspires to reveal how middle eastern immigrants were viewed prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and after the attacks. The author also wanted to fully grasp the racism present. Temple-Raston develops her presentation backstories and comparisons such as "The Curse of Mckinley". Her writing aims for Americans as well as American immigrants as there is a division between the two. The author uses American beliefs to grasp the audience's attention before further explaining how their immigrant counterparts are able to relate. Upon the audience's persuasion, Temple-Raston hopes that the American people develop more of an understanding of what their country was built on; the beliefs of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The author proves whether and immigrant or citizen an American is American.
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah is an autobiography about his experiences from a mixed raced child to a mixed raced adult. Noah shares his story using humor through his anecdotes and informative prose. I believe these strategies effect the readers in a positive way. They allow the readers to get a good laugh and an insight on how difficult it was during the time of Apartheid to be a child of a white father and black mother. Through his different stories it allows the reader to further open up their minds to the different challenges faced. The different strategies Noah uses gives the reader a more personal connection and a better understanding of South African life and their struggles.
"When I was little she always caught me, but as I got older I got faster, and when speed failed her she'd use her wits. If I was about to get away she'd yell,'Stop! Thief!' She'd do this to her own child. In South Africa, nobody gets involved in other people's business--unless it's mob justice, and then everybody wants in." (Page 11, Paragraph 2).
This quote describes the environment Trevor was in through his life. Through humor this anecdote shows he is very personal and building a foundation of trust with his audience and readers. This is the beginning of the many stories of his relationship with his mother who is the most integral part of his book. The reader learns more about Apartheid from the life experiences he reveals through his stories. Thus making the readers have a better understanding and appreciation for the struggles of South African people.
Missoula tackles a long standing debate of the heinous crime of rape. As Krakauer simply puts it, "Rape is a much more common crime than most people realize," (1) the first sentence of the text, written in somewhat simplistic language, sets up the reader to begin thinking about just how common rape is, without calling it an epidemic, letting reader form conclusions. Throughout the text, Krakauer persistently remains impartial, stating all the facts and presents all sides of "the argument" about rape through cases, studies and following the people the story revolves around. Furthermore, Krakauer's style of writing is so intricate, he is able to seamlessly blend the heinous rape stories to create a sense to the reader that all of the rapes are interconnected, some even overlapping, and that although all unique, most lead to the outcome. Like stated before, Krakauker not only explores the rapes, but also explores false allegations, the court system and reasonable doubt. Krakauer is able to remain impartial, even presenting a false rape allegation in detail, explaining that " nobody should be subjected to what Brian Banks was forced to endure." (121) The author explains how the subject of rape can impact so many people's lives and beautifully crafts a way to expose all sides of the rape epidemic, letting the reader, at the end of the day, make their own conclusions about it. To the reader, Missoula is just one giant story about something bigger that is happening in our country, although the language is rather dry and simplistic, Krakauer's true purpose is not to make the book exciting, but rather, he just wants to expose the epidemic, so he just states facts and pulls the reader with the complex stories made in such simple writing.
In The Jihad Next Door the author, Dina Temple -Raston tries to reveal how Muslim people were treated before and after the terrorist attack on the twin towers. Raston shows the difference on how muslims were treated by telling the background story of a small place in New York city named Lackawanna. How the people who lived there were mostly from the Middle East and how before 9/11 they were a very close community. It was a very friendly and happy environment where everyone knew eachother. That was until 9/11 when regular teenage boys were getting arrested because of phone calls that they were making to family members back in the middle east. The authors purpose for writing this book is to reveal how Americans treat people differently based on what their race is whether it is subconsciously or not. The author uses both sides of the story to help readers understand what makes an American.
In his book “Killers of the Flower Moon”, David Grann depicts the systematic killing of wealthy Osage Indians to show how money was the reason that they were hunted. For example, when Gran writes of Lizzie’s death in chapter one, he researched and explained how she was killed very meticulously. The bullets between the eyes, the fact that she had money, the fact that she was drunk, the fact that she left with someone in a car all serve to shoe how her wealthy lifestyle was what her murderers were trying to get to. Grann does this again when talking of the Osage auctions in chapter 6. He portrays the setting very clearly and how much each well sold for to add more reinforcements to the argument that the Osage murderers were after the great wealth that the Osage possessed. Grann is writing to Americans to show them that Native Americans have been hardworking people and break the stereotypes that they are just lazy. By being very thorough in his facts, Grann makes it difficult for his audience to refute his argument makes his argument stronger. In the end the audience is very persuaded by Grann’s argument, but there is not enough interest in the subject for there to be any legal action. This book, though, does bring light to many injustices that Native Americans have faced, many of which America has no idea about.
Over the course of time, science has been defined as a series of facts that appeal to those seeking a definite answer. Science is not euphemized; it's the hard truth. However, Rebecca Skloot sprinkles a more emotional and personal view in her book revolved around the most uncredited woman in modern medicine, Henrietta Lacks. As an african american woman in the era of Jim Crow, Skloot uses her book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," to expose the lack of morality science had when it came to the extraction of body samples from billions of patients without approval. Skloot moves through a timeline within each chapter to show the course of Henrietta's story and attempts to reach justice for the exploitation of her cells. Skloot's use of anecdotes and personal experiences in first person show the journey she has had in uncovering the truth on who Henrietta was to give these "immortal cells" an identity. Prior to the publication of this book, Henrietta was an unknown individual mentioned for no more than a few minutes because who she was as a person was not as important as her cells, "HELA." Skloot begins her biography by giving physical citations and information that allow the reader to make their own judgement regarding Johns Hopkin's and their unapproved extraction of Henrietta's cells. After going in for radium in her cervical cancer treatment, "Henrietta knew nothing about her cells growing in a laboratory," and would immediately return to "tobacco fields and hours churning butter(42)." Skloot later emphasizes the effects HELA cells have had on modern medicine in the curing of many fatal diseases and points out the irony in the fact that HELA cells have formed a multi million dollar industry Henrietta's family has yet to see the benefits of. After Henrietta's passing, her family would continue to live in poverty and struggle in being able to afford health insurance which lays the foundation of science and its failure to follow morality and ethics.
In Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann, Grann attempts to convey the seemingly endless and rigid case of The Osage Murders. Through factual and despairing diction Grann creates the tone of disillusionment as there seems to be no rest for the Osage. Grann uses quotes directly from Osage Tribal Council records, diary entries, court transcripts, and many more sources to develop the disillusioned tone of the case. For example Grann quotes from Wah-Ti-An-Kah, an Osage chief who stood at a council meeting and said, "My people will be happy in this land. White man cannot put iron thing in ground here. White man will not come to this land," (Grann.44). Through the heartfelt diction expressed Grann further conveys a tone of loss as the Osage feel powerless against "the white man." To add on, Grann also quotes "the air was filled with cries of the old people, especially the woman, who lamented over the graves of their children, which they were about to leave forever," (Grann.44). The strong imagery presented by sorrowful diction allows the audience to become further emotionally invested to the case as it portrays the harsh and heartwrenching reality the Osage where forced to face. Furthermore, Grann states, " the Osage bought the territory for seventy cents per acre and, in the early 1870s, began their exodus," (Grann.44). Through factual diction Grann projects the genuineness of the case and allows the audience to grasp the realness of the situation the Osage where placed in. In Killers of the Flower Moon, Grann wants the audience to understand how historical the case of the Osage murders was as it exposed "one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history." Grann shows no filter in his work as he packs in factual statements from credible sources as his main objective is to inform the audience of the Osage murders and show just how inhumane and historically significant this case was. Grann use strong emotional and factual diction along with images to get the audience to feel as invested in the case as possible, as the case exposes the cultural discrimination and prejudice in America.
Trevor Noah's memoir Born A Crime, is an astonishing story narrating a mixed child's life born in South Africa during Apartheid .As a comedian it is no surprise that Noah would use humor to captivate readers' attention only to discuss the variety of cultural elememts set in South Africa.Trevor Noah repeatedly implements colloquial diction as a way to express his personal tragic stories, in a manner that makes the reader comftorable with the serious topics while yet not minimizing the seriousness of the situation.Besides tackling issues of racism, Noah also challenges society's hypocritical ideas of the poor and mistreatment manifested by ignorance from the wealthy's inability to lend a hand. To go off of peoples usual expression, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime," (Noah,190) the author rectifies such statement by saying, "What they don't say is,'And it would be nice if you give him a fishing rod." (Noah, 190) Trevor Noah expresses the struggles of rising from poverty in a society that is meant to keep the privileged in a high standard in order to mantain control of the poor. As that is how society in South Africa worked, the prevelance of inequality among people pushed diving lines that kept the idea of progress unimaginable.
Through the non-fiction So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson not only wants to shed light to the public's ability to use public shaming as a pedastal to gain traction or a voice in media, but he also exposes the potential long-term consequences public shaming may have on its victims. When it comes to evidence, there is nothing more concrete and effective as first-hand experience. In the beginning of the book, Ronson tells a personal anecdote about the time he was public shamed through a fake "spam-bot" account on the social media app, Twitter. Because of this experience that Ronson had, he is able to speak about it from a unique perspective because he is someone who actually went through it; he has that credibility. Because Ronson is able to appeal to his credibility when surfacing the complications of public shaming, it allows him to both develop and strengthen his argument because he is able to make claims and reach conclusions from his experience alone. Also, from the very beginning of the book, the reader can almost instantly identify that Ronson uses humor as a means to persuade his audience. Since the age of people who may read this book could range from an upcoming senior to a recent doctorate graduate, its important that humor in a book like this is objective and plays a key role, in which in this case, it does. Humor is a great way to keep a reader engaged, and it allows for a book to be an easier read. By using humor, Ronson is able to get the reader to empathize with him because they are getting an idea of what his personality is like. And by being both humorous and personal with his story, it provides a sense of vulnerability with the reader, making it easier for the reader to emphasize, and thus further strengthening his ability to persuade. But why does this all matter, why does Ronson use these strategies, what is he trying to say? On page 24, paragraphs 6-8, Ronson answers this compilation of big ideas with a big idea. It reads, "Michael asked me if I'd ever been in that position. Had I ever stumbled on a piece of information that, if published, would destroy someone?" Here, Ronson seems to ask an implicit question to the reader, what would you do? Would you do what Michael did? By Michael posing this question to Ronson and then Ronson then writing about it, it provides Ronson a gateway to explore the ethics of Michael's choice to expose Jonah Lehrer's fabricated quotes of Bob Dylan. Later in that same section, it reads, "'Don't do it,' he said." The reason Michael says this is because he was having difficulty dealing with the repercussions of negatively affecting someone's life; it was too much for him to carry. Most people would say no, no they would not intentionally destroy someone's career and many aspects of their life by exposing how they lied in a book. But what if you were paid to do it? What if you were low on money and had a wife and daughter to help provide for? These circumstances were ones Michael was actually in, and it it makes the scenario that much more interesting when one begins to think of the ethics that are involved in public shaming. Also, Ronson may implement these implicit ethical questions to help the reader think about the implications of public shaming. In one specific case, Ronson describes the story of Stephen Glass. Glass was exposed for lying in a story, and later graduated magna cum laude in law school, yet was denied the ability to practice law in California. So not only can public shaming affect someone in the short-term such as getting fired from their job, but it may also affect them long-term and prevent them from getting a new job in the future. Therefore, by using personal anecdotes, ethics, and real world examples, Ronson is able to begin the process of showing the reader how public shaming can affect the participants on both sides.
In The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, Urrea is very blatant about what happened to,not only the Yuma 14, but also many other "walkers". Urrea's blatant writing is seen through the picturesque diction which creates the full imagery of how the "walkers" attempting to cross suffered, as well as their surrounding area. Urrea says that,"Visions of home fluttered through their minds. Soft green bushes, waterfalls, children, music..." while they were in the desert which "was as alien to them as if they'd suddenly awakened on Mars"(pg.3,4, paragraph 3,1). Urrea characterizes the Devil's Highway as "more death", and there was "no water; there wasn't even any shade"(pg.4, paragraph 4,6). Urrea's picturesque diction helps to convey the difference between the two settings the "walkers" are presented with. Urrea creates a desperate tone through his diction because the people trying to cross over are in a new environment, and theyret just trying to find a way out. You can see the desperation Urrea says,"They were walking now for water, not salvation"(pg.4, paragraph 2).Urrea even adds that "many of the 'undocumented-entrants' are indigenous" which means that what the United States considers 'Mexican', is very foreign to them, and Urrea states "They were aliens before they ever crossed the line"(pg.38,40, paragraph 4,2).
In "Missoula" by Jon Krakauer, the author's writing style can be characterized as direct and informative. Krakauer does a good job giving plenty of background information to help the reader understand all sides in the justice system. His perspectives includes: the victims,doctors, law enforcers, reporters and the predators. This wholistic view can be described as direct because it does not limit the reader's knowledge of what rape culture and sexual assault is like in the justice system especially in college towns. Most importantly, Krakauer truly highlights the victims' pain and trauma by sharing their assault stories without any sort of censors to illustrate to the reader how much the victim suffers during and after their assault. Krakauer also includes the psychology of what the victim goes through because of their traumatic experience. Not only does he bring in the victims' stories, but also society's reaction to it. One of the victims from Missoula, Allison Huguet was raped by her childhood best friend, Beau Donaldson a football player from University of Montana. When news got out to public, Allison received almost no support or sympathy from people, the comment section said things like," First off, chicks exaggerate on rape" or "It cannot be true" (54, 3) (53,5). Allison was also told by a Detective that she "..better prepare for the hardest ,nastiest fight of [her] life.." (34,2). Krakauer includes this point of view to show how hard it is to prosecute these types of cases and the response from society is usually negative and accusative, law enforcers tend to see how difficult it can be on the victim because the defendant is likely to "[tear] apart" their life and "every aspect of it would be exposed to the public" (34,2). To conclude, Krakauer utilizes persuasive techniques such as pathos and ethos to help the reader comprehend rape culture and its effects on society, but most importantly the victims. He wants the audience to feel the victims frustration with difficult cases and to see how ignorant and careless society can be about rape culture. -Shakira Muniz
In " The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," Skloot is very informative discussing the facts and personal parts of Henrietta Lacks and the technology used to replicate her cells. She is not biased and does not have to push her feelings onto the reader on the ethics of Henrietta's case. The reader can form their judgments because Skloot includes Dr. Gey's and Dr. TeLinde's intentions of the unapproved use of Henrietta's cells and her children's personal stories. She gives definitions on medical terms many people do not fully know. She gives information to the reader who then deciphers it into their own opinion. African Americans in this time were segregated because of Jim Crow laws. Today, many people including my generation have a different mentality on race and implement fairness and equality. Skloot's book talks about her trying to learn more about the woman that produced the first never ending cells. Skloot uses a direct quote from Dr. Howard Jones, an american surgeon in gynecology and one of the first reproductive specialists in the U.S, that admits to many of 1950 Doctors' intentions . Johns Hopkin's believed that since patients are treated for free, " it was fair to use them as research subjects(pg29)." This is very dehumanizing because with this mentality, people are treated like animals because they have no other choice but to be used as guinea pigs with or without consent. Dr. Jones admits that hospitals like "Hopkins, with its large indigent black population, had no dearth of clinical material(pg30)." Hopkins was the hospital many african americans would go to because they had no other way of paying for medical care. Hopkins provided care for free which appealed to many african americans especially since they were ignorant to them being used for research. Places like Hopkins would be full of research subjects that could be used in studies and trials. Skloot uses this information to show how corrupt the medical system was and continues to be in the case of Henrietta Lacks because her cells were taken without approval and then would be used for profits by doctors all over the world while her family continues to live poor.
- Brandon Feathers
In the novel "Ghettoside" by Jill Leovy, she goes into the negatives and positives and problems with in the law systems regarding homicides in Los Angeles. She approaches the people in the law system and the people of L.A by reveling the stories not through the outside, but through the inside. She doesn’t this by following around members of the LAPD (the investigators) to get a deeper more hands on understanding of what goes on in homicide cases. On page 9 if the book she speaks about how “many critics complain that the criminal justice system is heavy-handed and unfair to minorities.” Giving how she investigates homicides in more poor and “ghetto” areas (which are the minority) that are more or less swept under the rug this sentence stuck out to me the most because it gave me a feel of what the main concern is. She also brings up the way America as a whole “has long been more violent than other developed nations” meaning that the people in America are what made homicide rates go up which lead to a decrease in amount of time put into investigations. At the beginning of the book Leovy follows around a LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) detective John Skaggs who focuses mainly on homicide cases that are pushed aside and ignored. Leovy follows the detective that brings attention to the minority cases.
In Ghettoside the author, Jill Leovy makes it clear that she wants to expose murders that happen in South Los Angeles that don't get much recognition. With her style of writing she makes you think about the cases as if we were in the same situation making us feel for the victim's family. Jill Leovy develops her claims by talking about specific crimes that actually happened and talks about how the family's reacted to the murder. Her strategies are used to make the reader care more about the unknown murders and make us have feelings for their families. The specific audience is the reader and her strategies make us care even more because the families didn't get the justice they deserved for their loved one. If the audience is persuaded then they'd most likely protest when a crime goes unnoticed or is unresolved.
-Patrick Gomez
In the Jihad Next Door by Dina Temple-Raston, She explains how the muslim community was affected by the events of 9/11. She explains the effects by telling the story of a small place in New York city called Lackawanna. Lackawanna was home to a community made of mostly muslims that were very close to each other and it seemed as though everything was peaceful. But after the events of 9/11, More and more teenage boys have been arrested for the misunderstatement that the calls they made to their families were calls to the terrorists. The authors purpose for writing this book is to reveal how Americans treat people differently based on what their race is. The author uses both sides of the story to help readers understand what makes an American and how events that threaten other's homes lead to prejudice about others.
"So You've Been Publicly Shamed" unearths the motives of those who've been humiliated and who humiliate through use of social media. Author, Jon Ronson comes across what seems like a spambot of himself, but is later introduced to it as an "infomorph" for the sole purpose of data collection by researcher, Luke Robert Mason (Ronson p.2 pg.6). As a firsthand victim of the public, a fire within Ronson is initiated, motivating him to explore the intentions of multiple public shamings over social media platforms and the power that the internet provides for society. Ronson begins to reveal public shamings with none other than his own online experience to prove to the reader that Ronson is vulnerable to the public as is everyone with a platform. When addressing the shaming, Ronson describes how he felt "powerless" against a fictional impersonation of his page (p.3 pg.5). He decides to have a filmed interview with Luke Robert Mason and his team behind the so called infomorph "for an hour", only to find himself in the same crossroad as before with no gained understanding of the philosophy in which Mason and his team created the impersonating twitter page (p.6 pg.9). The conversation between the two parties went around in circles until Ronson overheats, calling Mason a "TROLL" (p.7 pg.4). Reluctantly, Ronson posts the filming on yet another media outlet, YouTube, but this time receives comments shaming the opposite party, Mason and his team. Although Ronson was at first "giddy with joy", he eventually "frowned" at the cruel words others left below the video (p.7 and 8). Ronson's intentions were not to have others believe that team should "die painfully", but to have them peacefully remove the spambot. From this moment forward, Ronson makes it his personal goal to visit every popular public shaming, taking note of the positive and negative effects that the social body imprints amongst it's victims of shame.
David Grann, in his novel “Killers of the Flower Moon,” had made a clear overview of the book by giving the meaning of the title in the first paragraph. Being a quite symbolic title, Grann had related the Osage murders to how many small beautiful flowers were being killed off by other larger plants. Osage Indians had actually given the name of May “the time of the flower-killing moon” because many flowers would bloom before, causing an imagery of what seemed like as if “gods had left confetti,” but then be slowly killed off due to taller plants “stealing their light and water.” By explaining the behind meaning of the title in the first paragraph, Grann had made a clear connection to how there was a time where Osage Indians had bloomed due to finding oil under their land, making them wealthy and popular, but then white people had creeped near them, marrying them to get even closer, and slowly one-by-one, had murdered the Osage tribe to steal their wealth and oil. Though the true story could be seen as just the explanation of how the FBI had started, as the organization was created in order to solve the case of the Osage murders, David Grann had gave the story more emotion than that. Grann had put more heart into the details of the characters, describing each occurrence that led to the downfall of the tribe more clearly, almost exactly like how he described the flowers’ downfall in the first paragraph; “The necks of the smaller flowers break and their petals flutter away, and before long they are buried underground.” David Grann had given many factual details of the story, quoting records of the case and dairies, and the author could have made the novel an informational true story of the building of the FBI, but David Grann had a different purpose in his novel to be more about the grievance of the Osage tribe, the curse the tribe had due to envy of others.
Catherine Lopez-Tamayo:
In the nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, the author, David Grann, details the events surrounding the mysterious murders of people residing in Osage county located in Oklahoma during the 1920s. Grann’s purpose in writing this book is to describe and acknowledge the facts and accounts surrounding the murders to the reveal the person responsible and how they affected the systems of law enforcement. Until it is actually discovered, the reader is left wondering who did it and trying to come to a conclusion using the evidence provided. The author includes significant details about who the victims were, how they were related, and motives behind their deaths to increase the intensity and prompts the reader to take specific people into consideration. Because this is book entails a mystery, Grann tries to keep the audience on their toes and make each detail seem shocking and important to maintain a state of curiosity.
In “ So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” by Jon Ronson, the author starts off by telling his personal experience with being publicly shamed and makes himself the victim to create sympathy within the reader. Ronson uses short sentences that get straight to the point, rather then a detailed description, to quickly summarize his enraging experience and later focus on what he considers more important: the attempted solution. By saying exactly what happened, and excluding his opinion, Ronson develops ethos and convinces his audience that he is a credible source. Ronson ends his anecdote with a simple statement of “ I didn’t know what to do,” reflecting his frustration in feeling powerless over the situation. Ending the first page of his book with such a relatable statement causes the readers to be engaged and curious to know how he solved the mess, as everyone has been an equally annoying situation at least once before. This forthright tone is appealing to readers because it demonstrates how Ronson does not want his audience to feel pity towards him. He is strictly sharing his experience to raise awareness to the wrong in public shammings. If the audience is effectively persuaded by Ronson they will continue to read how Ronson handled the situation and will take precaution to ensure that they are never responsible for putting anyone in the same uncomfortable situation that Ronson experienced.
In Ghettoside by Jill Leovy, the author uses decisive diction in order to show the seriousness that detective approach murders with. For example, when an innocent black boy, Dovon Harris, was murdered Leovy uses words like “earth-shattering”, “vigor”, “muster” and “defining” (Leovy pg. 129 paragraph 3) to explain how Skaggs felts in the aftermath of it. This is very strong and “in your face” diction. The author includes this because the reader would not be able to ignore the intensity of it. Leovy was trying to convey how serious the homicide investigation would be to the detectives. In order to accomplish this. The vocabulary she used would have to be powerful so that there was no doubt in the seriousness that the situation would be approached with. Not only does this characterize the detectives as intense and decisive, but it emphasizes the overall theme of the book. The author is trying to convey how the murder of black men is of low concern amongst police. By using this positive intense diction, it shows the importance and rarity of the attitudes of the detectives. This image that is created highlights just how common other murders are treated and how those detectives handle it. The book is intended to be read by people who don’t live in South Los Angeles or are exposed to murder at this high of a rate. Even more so, the book points out the racism that allows it to happen. There are people who do not believe that police can be racist or that black on black crime has to do with racism or flaws in police. By using these cutting words, even people who are skeptics can’t really argue against the significance of these murders or what is so different about the attitudes of these specifics cops. It is how the author starts to break down that skepticism and becomes more persuasive or her message. If an author is trying to persuade the reader about a message, then the writer needs to know exactly what that is. Leovy knows what her message is and in return uses vocab that won’t leave room for too much interpretation or doubt. The decisive diction creates a tone of seriousness in order to show readers how concerning the murder of black men is.
In the novel Missoula, Jon Krakauer dives deep into the rape culture in a college town which has been covered up by the justice system and the community around it; krakauer unveils the negative impacts of the normalization of rape by elaborately telling the stories of various rape victims who have suffered the physical and mental tolls of such a traumatic event and how helpless they felt throughout the whole experience. Jon Krakauer’s writing style can be described as crucially descriptive and omniscient; he continuously connects the experiences rape victims of the University of Montana, and he brings forth outside knowledge of the background of the town’s justice system and other facts about rape. Krakauer also jumps from one story to the next while leaving the reader in a cliff hanger to parallel with doubt and anxiety that the victims are feeling as they are uncertain of what will happen next during their cases. He uses a variety of empathetic tones alongside cold factual diction to both humanize the individuals he writes about while also bringing forth the reality and severity of the rape crisis that surrounds not just the University of Montana, but most if not all colleges and Universities in the United States. Krakauer’s decision to metaphorically add how the prosecutor “having methodically led Jordan Johnson to the edge of the cliff, Adam Duerk asked the question intended to nudge him to the abyss” and the following victorious feeling interrogation by Duerk serve as a major deceptive pat on the back for the reader (Krakauer 314). Although the reader has gained a sense of joy as they analyze the interrogation that leaves them without a doubt that the victim will receive justice, the reader is eventually slapped in the face by Krakauer. The idea that Johnson has no escape from a verdict of “guilty” as his responses seem to largely crack down his actions truly leave the reader in a heartwarming mood. However, due to the character (Johnson) the defense attorneys have created and the misconceptions of the jury about how a rapist and rape victim are supposed to look like and act allowed for the jury to conclude “not guilty”. Krakauer uses the sense of hope and that same hope being stepped upon by the conclusion of the case to clearly point out how rape cases are often lost due to the naivety of the public. Rape can happen to anyone by anyone, and it can easily be overlooked if nothing is done about it.
We live in a world where we glorify rapists rather than the victims. A world where we rather believe the athlete, the "nice guy", and everybody else rather than the real victim. Rapes are often blamed on the clothing or the amount of alcohol that was consumed, often saying that the victim was "asking for it". When in reality one should really focus on the fact that rape is rape and the victims should not be shamed and rapist should not be glorified. In the book, Missoula written by Jon Krakauer the author writes in a eloquent and informative way to teach the readers about a Rape town in Missoula, Montana. Where rape victims are often seen as liars and the rapist are let free. A town where the people who we actually look up to feel safe and call when we are in danger are the ones that turn and gives us their backs when we most need them. Jon Krakauer through the novel not only uses statistics to prove misconceptions that people have about rape but also tells the stories about a few victims. With the end goal to make us realize that rape is not something that only exist on the tv but it is real and it happens. The thing about Krakauer is that he is not afraid to write the truth. He is not afraid to explicitly illustrate what the victims had to suffer and the ways they had to endure that experience. I feel that he writes in this manner because it makes the audience open their eyes and realize how this world is messed up in many different ways. With that he then goes on to talk about some victims and what they went through. when I read Kaitlynn Kelly's story it made me feel infuriated at the legal system and the way people feel like they have a right to decide whether a victim is lying or not. People fail to realize that when someone gets raped the least thing they want to do is go report it because they want to forget what happen and want to go back to what they were before. often the victims feel ashamed feel like they are going to be judged or feel like they will look down on them. in Kaylynn Kelly's case we see two ways the police talk to the victims. the first like Officer Krastel in which the officer when talking to Kaitlynn made her feel that her change in mind when she got to the dorm room with Calvin was something "understandable and acceptable" (Krakauer 77). Then we can see a difference when she is talking to detective Brueckner where the detective made her feel as a liar as someone who actually consented the rape. asking her about " Why Kelly didn't do much more to awaken her roommate next door... and why was she using a quiet voice when telling him to stop" (Krakauer 79). When Kelly was asked questions like these the detective made her feel like the rape was her fault he made her feel little he made her feel that he feels that he does not believe her. in fact because of the way she responded the police did not believe she was raped rather they believed that she was consensually doing it. Even though she had enough evidence to prove otherwise. Just imagine how she would've felt I feel that that's how Krakauer writes he wants us to feel the injustice, he wants us to realize how little we are doing to help the victims. Krakauer wants the justice system to understand that this is real and not from a scary movie. He wants us to question people who we elect he wants us to fight for these victims because they don't want anybody else to go through what they went through and to stop idolizing rapist because one thing everyone should know is that rapist is not "a guy in a ski mask, wielding knife, who drags women into the bushes" (Krakauer,132). They are regular guys who know you who you have seen multiple times in fact, "85% of all rapes are in fact committed by assailants who are acquainted in some way to their victims" (Krakauer, 129). Making us realize that we should stop seeing rape as something unreal and we need to do something about it because both males and females should not be victims of such heinous crime.
In the novel Missoula, Jon Krakauer draws attention closely to the justice system as rape victims in a college town speak up. Krakauer uses evidence from rape victims in Missoula, Montana to illustrate a bigger picture. As sexual assault cases in a small college town begin to take numbers, Krakauer focuses on the victims and their story. Being aware that many rape cases are not reported, this gives the audience insight of what really occurs between the victim and the justice system. For example, Allison Huguet was raped by her childhood friend Beau Donaldson. Huguet remained quiet about the incident for fifteen months and even then she didn’t tell her father about it until the police came. This event was significant because as a rape victim, she almost couldn’t even tell her own father, especially since it was someone they trusted. Beau was a really close family friend and this was seen as betrayal. The audience is able to sympathize for the victims as they go into depth about their case. The relationship between the victim and the rapist is an important key to show that it could be anyone. In addition it brings up that, “The law states that a victim is incapable of consent if he or she is ‘mentally defective or incapacitated’ ; ‘physically helpless’ ; or ‘overcome by deception, coercion, or surprise’” (Krakauer 47-48). Since Huguet was asleep when Beau raped her, she was unable to give consent, but other cases have been dismissed as they are “not a prosecutable case”. Some rape victims are not give the justice deserved for such a crime. Through Krakauer’s writing he brings awareness to the reader using his own documents to show that since rape is seen as common so many cases are dismissed, but justice has not been rightly served.
In the brutally honest and captivating memoir, Born A Crime, Trevor Noah utilizes a collection of personal anecdotes and occasional reflections to sum up his life growing up in a post apartheid world in South Africa. I felt that his particular writing style was extremely personal, as is expected from an autobiography, which is what caught my attention when deciding what book to choose for this assignment; However, as I continued to invest my time into the book, I found the author's unapologetic and raw outlook on the experiences he faced as a child to be what solidified my interest in the story. One of my favorite moments from the memoir consists of Noah recounting his relationship with his mother and how she allowed him to experience a world outside of the poverty that surrounded him: "As modestly as we lived at home, I never felt poor because our lives were so rich with experience" (Noah 72). Despite the hardships that came with the aftermath of apartheid, his mother raised him with the idea that there was more to life than what imagination in Soweto could limit him to. He explains early on in the book how meticulously apartheid played a role in South Africa, so that even after it was demolished, it continued to have an effect on society's hierarchical system.
Furthermore, being born mixed race, an illegality at the time, determined Noah's place in society even after the regime had fallen. In spite of this binding lifestyle, Noah describes his life growing up to be fulfilling as he was taught to live with "no limitations on where I could go or what I could do," unlike the vast majority of black South Africans who fell into the cycle of poverty left behind by apartheid (Noah 73). In this passage, he utilizes reflective diction to reminisce how his mother's abnormal ways of raising him in a world of perpetuity deeply impacted his belief in a world of possibilities, leaving the audience with a taste of optimism and perseverance.
Angela Hernandez:
Intrigued about Henrietta Lacks story, mostly known as HeLa, Rebecca Skloot gathered information about the abnormal cells that restructured medicine. Rebecca Skloot, author of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," wants the audience to know that Henrietta was more than just a few cells. Skloot made it a journey to obtain valuable information from her family in order to write Henrietta's biography. First, Rebecca goes through getting their trust after they saw that her obsession for Henrietta was for her to be recognized. Henrietta did not know her rights nor did she gain any valuable education. Instead, "she knew about harvesting tobacco and butchering pig" she also "didn't read or write much, and she hadn't studied science in school" (16). By this, the audience had an insight of Henrietta's past and present life which gave everyone information of who HeLa really was by providing the background information of Henrietta Lacks. Thanks to Henrietta and her devastating cancer, medicine all over the world took a giant leap forward and was able to get a better understanding of other diseases. Doctors, scientists, people in general are grateful and care because if it wasn't for Henrietta there probably wouldn't even be medicine in their cabinets.
In Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, Grann’s shows no favoring to the two sides in the case of the subject he is passionate about. Particularly in the first two chronicles which is out of three, he presents the events as descriptive as possible, with little additional commentary of his own thoughts. Although, the goal he wants the reader to understand is to provide them with the context and facts of the Osage Reign of Terror. To educate the readers with pure facts to have them try to see it through Grann's eyes. This is a reason why I chose this book to read as Grann is blunt with events that have occurred. In my opinion, I do not like when the author finds a need to sugar coat the truth as I enjoy seeing it how it is. The quote “History is a merciless judge. It lays bare our tragic blunders and foolish missteps and exposes our most intimate secrets, wielding the power of hindsight like an arrogant detective who seems to know the end of the mystery from the outset.” (pg.277, Paragraph 1) As I read this I think about how vulnerable someone can be when having the knowledge of something they regret having committed holding the fear of the person who can be a threat to what they would hold the dearest as they would have power over what you do in order for it to stay hidden.
In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann retells the story of the Osage and how their riches brought them death. Native Americans living in Osage became rich after oil was discovered under their reserve. Grann writes in third person with a focus on the Brown family. The conflict of murders rises when Anna Brown is found dead in a ravine. Grann tells the story with great detail while also adding information gathered after the case had been solved. The use of these comments gives the story a much bigger real life feel to it. They cause the reader to be constantly reminded that this mystery truly happened. Grann somewhat foreshadowed the murders by introducing the jealousy of Americans towards the fast rise of the Native American riches. He includes the quick change from being "the poor Indian" to "the rich redskin" (Grann 7). The transformation from the discriminated to the wealthy caused the American society to grow hatred for the Osage community. Grann uses objects such as "mansions... chandeliers... diamond rings" in order to portray the riches that the American Indian (Grann 7). His wealthy diction helps the reader to visualize the true change from a traditional Native American to a wealthy American lifestyle. Grann uses a familial tone when describing the relationship within the Osage community, but he counters that tone with a negative one when describing the relationship between Americans and Natives. This conflict in relationship helps set up the mystery behind the murder and allows Grann to set up and intense mood for a nonfictional story of "The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI."
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack, Rebecca Skloot, a science reporter, use symbolism and a non-judgmental tone, in which the change in point of view is clarified to set apart the development and the backstory. Skloot has two main jobs as a reporter, to tell the background story of the Lacks’ family and the development of HeLa in scientific research. While the author manages to challenge the real meaning of immortality by questioning which version of Lacks each community of values, HeLa- the scientific-ceaseless cell, or, Henrietta Lacks- the heart of a family. For example, “All it takes is one small mistake anywhere in the division process for cells to start growing out of control, he told us. Just one enzyme misfiring, just one wrong protein activation, and you could have cancer. Mitosis goes haywire, which is how it spreads”. (Skloot 3) In which she is able to transcend information to the reader, yet she lets loose when she begins to discuss family matters and speaks more loosely and poetically as she builds symbolism through religion as she discusses personal events.
Through rhetorical symbolism such as, "Beautiful and otherworldly—glowing green and moving like water, calm and ethereal, looking precisely like heavenly bodies might look. They could even float through the air.” (Skloot 295) reveals allegory. Skloot connects them to the Christian ideals, and the Lacks idea of HeLa cells being Henrietta’s restoration on earth. HeLa, therefore, comes to symbolize both spectrums, to the symbolise both human struggles to find a cure, or sanity, and the struggle against mortal life events.
Andres Hernandez
In"The Devil's Highway" by Luis Alberto Urrea the author's writing style is personal and
compassionate. Urrea represents several human values like religion, money, superstition
and more. The "Devil's Highway" is a book about courage and human sacrifice.
"there wasn't enough fluid left in them to bleed"(chapter one page 5)this explains there
are five men who just passed the mountain. In addition "as far back as the 1850's the
region was described as"a vast graveyard of unknown dead....the scattered bones of human
beings slowly turning to dust" Travelers may see clumps of dried ironwood trees that have
been dead more than five hundred years" a forest of eldritch bones." Nevertheless I feel
like this means this is graveyard of human remains and a deserted place to visit or go,
but the human man or women would do anything to find freedom or peace no matter how far they will go.
By Alondra Torres
“After a victim has reported a crime to the police, many people believe that the decision whether or not to charge the suspect with a crime, and then prosecute the suspect, is the prerogative of the victim. News media often contribute to this misconception in stories about rape victims by reporting that a victim “declined to press charges.” In fact, the criminal justice system gives victims no direct say in the matter. It’s the police, for the most part, who decide whether a suspect should be arrested and prosecutors who ultimately determine whether a conviction should be pursued.” (Krakauer, 86)
This citation from Jon Krakauer’s investigative novel, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town, Krakauer strategically references false impressions that the audience has in order to increase, and drive through, the impact of his discoveries while simultaneously encouraging the audience to have an internal conversation about the topic of rape and the judgement that proceeds it. By referencing false impressions that the audience has, Krakauer encourages the audience to have an open mind towards his research and discoveries. For example, a study done by Cornell University on “The language of persuasion,” discovered that the most persuasive and impactful arguments implement the technique of referencing the audience’s original thoughts, suggesting a level of contemplation and respect by the opposer, and introducing new ideas. The study also showed that another successful technique of presenting an argument is engaging in conversation. While Krakauer cannot physically have a conversation with readers, he is able to encourage the audience to reflect on their own thoughts through the use of relatable dialogue, such as, “many people believe.” This inner, more intimate, conversation is ultimately able to spark more change in thought rather than a possibly open, intimidating, conversation with strangers. Ultimately, Krakauer’s main goal is to provide factual information that initiates not only a change in perspective about rape, but also initiates a conversation about looking more into the things that we perceive as fact, but may only be a manipulation of the mind by an authoritative figure. To provide more context, an authoritative figure is generally someone that can be trusted, and is well informed, such as a newspaper. However, just because a person is in a powerful position, does not mean that the answers that are provided are 100% correct. Thus, Krakauer is trying to warn the audience about blindly trusting media outlets or other authoritative figures. The strategies that Krakauer utilizes to drive his point across, encourage the audience to become invested in the topic of rape because it makes the audience think about all of the times that they have misjudged a situation, causing the audience to be more cautious about their own prejudices throughout reading the novel and getting insight into these cases of rape.
By Alondra Torres
My Sources:
Krakauer, Jon. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. Anchor Books, 2015.
The Language of Persuasion. Edited by Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle, 26 Apr. 2016, www.independent.co.uk/news/science/how-to-convince-some-to-change-their-mind-according-to-science-a6867291.html.
-Adrian Regalado
This one is mine.
This one is mines, Nathaly Rivera:)
-Alejandro Nevarez
By Salma Argueta
From what I read in Born a crime, Trevor Noah, has very specific details of his childhood experiences to adulthood. His writing style is different because he does not use the typical 'beginning, middle, end' format, he uses a chronological format. in section 1, he uses words like Volkswagen to describe his abusive stepfather. "If it hadn’t been for the Volkswagen that didn’t work, we never would have looked for the mechanic who became the husband who became the stepfather who became the man who tortured us for years and put a bullet in the back of my mother’s head …” (Part 1, Section 1). The tone I would describe this section as outraged because his stepfather was a bad father figure to Trevor. in the end Trevor is a better man than his father and stepfather.
I believe that Trevor Noah's motivation for creating his book is to inspire people who are dealing with the same problem Noah had when he was young to find there place in the world, just like he did. when you discover yourself, you will start believing that you can overcome any obstacles that comes your way by putting your mind to it. One of the arguments he is building is that challenge authority and question the system because his mom is a Christian, who worships God and God can challenge her and question her when she made a mistake, but then again, God forgives everyone. In conclusion, what I've taken from the book is that "Regret is what we should fear the most ", because all the regret you have inside of you will someday kill you.This book also taught me that tough love is the way to show how much our parents care to show there child what's the system.
Angela Hernandez:
The motivation as to why Rebecca Skloot wrote "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," was because she wanted the audience to know that this African woman got her cells taken away without her permission to do a test about cervical cancer. Due to her cells never dying, Ms. Lacks' cells were distributed throughout the country and were successful in creating vaccines to cure any type of disease. Now, Henrietta's family never received any form of profit from those cells being sold nor did they or anyone else in the world rely knew how "HeLa" cells originated from. Skloot made it her mission to find out as much information from Henrietta by talking to her family. Although it was not easy at first, Skloot convinced then all that she wanted the world to know the life that Henrietta had and the lives that she would be saving thanks to her cells. Skloot uncovers Henrietta's past which plays a major role in her visit to the hospital. As stated before, Henrietta is an African American woman and due to just that fact she did not have a chance to finish her education. Ms. Lacks had no idea what the doctors would be doing. Scientists saw that Henrietta's cells would not die and by this great discovery with her cells, she was able to bring medication for all those who needed it. The only thing Rebecca Skloot argued, is the idea to let society know the story behind "HeLa", one of medicines greatest gifts thank to Henrietta Lacks. Skloot also wanted the audience to be aware of the story behind Henrietta herself and how those cells got to be taken out of her body. Skloot wants the praise to be given to Henrietta who is now dead and her family by letting all those around know the real reason why a lot of the medication was produced. This bibliography has taken me back in time and through all the events that Skloot made so vivid, I was able to experience Henrietta's life through her own eyes. I saw all the heart ache and all the pain she went through by being an African woman and also by having her cancer. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," tells the story of a beautiful tobacco farmer and all the racial politics of medicine. Such a beautiful book that makes the reader feel like it's an adventure rather than a plain book.
Rebecca Skloots writing style changes from Henrietta Lacks story to her diagnosis in a more medical term. We are able to see how Henriettas life was and all the obstacles she had to overcome. Then we can see what's really going on inside her body and how all this has changed the health world. Rebecca uses a formal diction which creates a serious tone. A very interesting quote that stood out to me was the one n page 100, "...a geneticist in Texas accidentally mixed the wrong liquid with HeLa and a few other cells, and it turned out to be a fortunate mistake...Researchers world wide would soon begin identifying chromosomal disorders..." This quote shows how powerful these cells were and how lucky we were to discover such a breakthrough from an accident. This makes you think what could have happened if this accident never occurred and how things could be now in this day in age. For an example, Alexander Fleming, a biologist who was investigating Staph, left on his vacation and accidentally left a dirty dish on his counter. When he came back he found a fungus that killed off all the surrounding bacteria and this changed modern medicine forever. These accidents are something we should be thankful for because if this never happened, who knows how our morality rate would be to this day.
Yesenia Ramirez August 10,2018 at 4:00
In killers of the flower moon David grann writes a novel about 2 murders Anna brown and Charles Whithorn. He starts of his novel by describing flowers that bloom in April and it looks as if the “Gods had left confetti” but then in may the “Spiderworts” kill these precious flowers. David then talks about the members of the Osage, they were driven off their land to what they thought was a worthless reservation was only discovered decades later it was the largest oil deposits. They become the wealthiest people, ( “ The Indian, instead of starving to death .... enjoys a steady income that turns bankers free with envy” pg.7). Although they had the riches, the family became prime targets. The Burkhart sisters were close, so for mollie to see another sister die she knew something was up. ( “leaving behind the first hint of the darkness that threatened to destroy not only her family but her tribe” pg.17). David writes his novel with the truth and facts, especially the detail and mysterious tone really bring it to life. His audience is the readers he want us to really dig in the evidence and see why each suspect might have a motive. David purpose to write the novel is to bring back the case and reveal the truth about the murders.
Jacqueline Garcia June 21, 2019
In the novel Born A Crime, by Trevor Noah, the authors writing style can be characterized as sarcastic along with using slang diction within the novel, creating a childlike tone. Noah compares his relationship with his mother as a "tom and jerry relationship" (pg.11) a show that most kids watched. Noah also uses curse words when describing himself, "naughty as shit" (pg.11). The use of the word shit, a slang diction, within that sentence gives the tone of a teenager speaking which is what Noah most likely wanted to happen since his character seems to be young. Lastly, Noah mentions how he "loves videogames" (pg.11) and that "time would fly" (pg.11) while he plays until his mother is behind him ready to punish him "with a belt" (pg.11). Both mentions of video games and time flying by give this paragraph, once again, a childlike tone. In the end, the authors writing style can be characterized as sarcastic by the use of slang diction within this paragraph.
In the novel The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, Urrea's writing style can be characterized as fatigued as they use imagery to depict the harsh conditions people are exposed to within the desert. Urrea begins introducing the novel by describing the "five men [stumbling] out of the mountain pass so sunstruck they didn't know their own names" (Urrea 1). Urrea chooses the words stumbling and being sunstruck in effort to emphasize the results of being exposed to the harsh conditions of the desert. Urrea depicts the immigrants as having "burned nearly black" and their lips being " huge and cracking" (Urrea 1). Urrea also includes that "their hair was hard and stiffened by old sweat" as "their bodies were no longer sweating" (Urrea 1). Urrea captivates the physical appearance's of the immigrants in effort to emphasize the risks they face as result of looking for better job opportunities. Lastly, Urrea mentions that they were "drunk from having their brains baked in the pan" and "they were seeing God and devils" (Urrea 1).Urrea includes the contrast of God and devils as a way to include the destiny
of immigrants as they either face death or success. In all,Urrea includes a weary writing lifestyle in effort to create a realistic image of the conditions immigrants face and its results.
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