Rhetorical Analysis

I wrote my rhetorical analysis on Conan O’Brien’s Stuyvesant commencement speech. In my essay I addressed how he used pathos and ethos but had a lack of logos. My thesis stated that Conan connected with his audience through his humor by using pathos and ethos but failed to use logos so it would not appear that he was preaching to his audience. The strongest point in my essay was my incorporation of the rhetorical appeal and the rhetorical triangle. My weakest point in my essay was my language use and syntax.

In my essay I struggled with using the same tense agreement. I had several instances when I talked in present tense while I talked in past tense in others. For example, “Conan knew that he had to give an entertainment speech.” I used the present tense when I used the word knew and I used the past tense when I used the word had.

Another topic that I struggled with was syntax. I had difficulty getting my ideas out and making sense of them. My wording in some sentences made it a little confusing. Some of the ways I phrase my sentences can make it puzzling for the reader. To fix this I believe for next time I need to say the sentences aloud to make sure that the do in fact make sense. Another thing that could help me with my syntax is making sure my sentences flow and they are well organized. I also need work on my word usage. Making sure I use appropriate verbs and adjectives will help fix this problem. Another thing I need to work on my use of comma’s, this also goes along with sentence flow. If I put my comma’s in the right places it will help my sentences flow better, making my point and my ideas stronger.

In writing my paper I wrote an outline first to help organize my thoughts. I went through the speech and highlighted each pathos, ethos and logos in their own colors, making it easier to write my outline. When it came to writing my actual paper having the outline help me develop the organization of the paper. I discussed each element on their own and provided supporting quotes of examples. I used multiple quotes for each point I made to really emphasize it. I also watched his speech on youtube to really get the effect of the way he said things and how it came across to the audience. Despite my attempt to use good organizational skills, they were not the best and could still use some improvement. For next time I may want to have two or three other people proof read my paper and ask them to watch especially for organization. I need to make sure that all my ideas flow and that I use good transitional sentences in between each paragraph.

In writing my next essay I am going to focus most of my attention on organizing my thoughts better. Then I will make sure that I use the right words, good grammar and good sentence structure. Doing both of these will help me to make my point of the paper stronger and it will help me develop better skills as a writer.

Freire and Plato

In Paulo Freire’s, The Banking Concept of Education, ideas of student-teacher relationships are presented. Issues of being oppressed as students are brought up. In some educational settings the teachers oppress their students in a narrative character. The teachers teach their students in a manner that the teacher is the supreme authority and knows everything. The student is inferior and knows nothing. The students are to receive the information, repeat it, memorize it and repeat the process, this is known as the banking concept of education. This method is argued to limit the students creativity, individuality and their ability to think critically. The humanist theory of teaching contradicts the theories of the banking concept of learning. Humanist encourages their students to think critically, preparing them to be able to handle real life situations. In the end it obvious that with the humanist theory a student will be an independent thinker and will be more prepared for the real world. The students who were oppressed through the banking concept of learning will not be well prepared for real life situations and will be unable to think on their own.

Plato’s, The Allegory of the Cave form the Repulic, Book VII, talks about ignorance and learning. Plato stresses the idea that one needs to open their eyes to the world and be aware of their surroundings. You can not go through life looking at things in the same light or one-sidedly. Plato’s message to the audience is that you cannot be successful going through life with your eyes closed, or being ignorant. Plato proposes an alternate role of the teacher than in Frefire’s essay. Plato says teachers are to be facilitators in learning. Students are already full of knowledge. The teachers help the students realize their full potential by facilitating them and asking them questions. Plato believes that we learn through reasoning.

Both authors propose that the best way to learn is through individual critical thinking. Students and teachers are a team, not opponents with one being better than the other. Students learn just as much from their teachers as teachers learn from their students. One is not properly educated if they are oppressed or go through life ignorantly. A student most learn to be open minded and think for themselves.

Synthesis

Sprint and Nokia laid off workers because of the increasing competition within the cell phone industry. They gave an explanation as to why they decided to lay off workers and released it to the press. They laid off a reasonable amount of workers but did not get rid of all the jobs from one factory. Roger Smith did not like to discuss his reason for closing an entire plant. Sources reported that Roger’s reason for closing the plant was that he was outsourcing jobs to Mexico where labor would be cheaper. GM was one of the most successful and profitable companies at the time of Roger’s decision to close the plant. Roger’s decision to close the GM plant in the town of Flint was out of greed and selfishness.

30,000 people were laid off when the GM plant of Flint closed. Being the main source of income for many families of the town, the closing of the factory caused a great devastation in the town. Spring and Nokia waited to lay off workers when there was a logical reason. The cell phone companies had to lay off workers in order to save money in the competition to keep their business running. They were more compassionate in their decision to get rid of jobs within their companies. Roger Smith was very unreasonable in his decision to get rid of a mass amount of jobs within his company. He cause a great amount of strife for the people and families who were laid off. He showed no remorse for the families nor did he try and find alternate solutions for the family as far as income to live. Families were evicted from their homes with no place to go and could not afford groceries. When confronted Roger Smith acted like a coward and tried to avoid the subject at all costs.

Companies decide to lay off workers

I chose an article that talks about companies laying off employees. The cell phone companies Nokia and Sprint are planning on laying off workers. Nokia announced in early January that they will lay off 2,300 workers from their plant in Germany. It was also reported in January that Sprint is planning on laying off a considerable amount of people from their plants as well. With the increase in competition between cell phone companies the companies felt that they needed to make lay off’s. Sprint also has a need to lay off some of its workers as they are planning to relocate their headquarters to Kansas. It was also noted in the article that Sprint laid off 5,000 employees last year, but an explanation as to why was not included.

In Roger and Me GM decided to lay off an extreme amount of 30,000 of their employees. Roger Smith’s reason for laying all of these employee’s was to save money for the company, but GM was currently one of the most profitable companies. It appeared that Roger was a very greedy man and just wanted way to make even more money. The lay off’s of the 30,000 GM workers did not only have a big impact on the workers themselves but also their families and the town. Roger Smith showed no compassion what so ever for the workers that he laid off.

The Sprint company has reason to lay off their employee’s as they are relocating their headquarters, where a good amount of their workers are employed. Both Nokia and Sprint laid off workers due to the increase of competition within the cell phone industry, which will help create more profit for the company. Both the cell phone companies are laying off a good amount of workers, but nowhere near 30,000 workers. The cell phone companies had logical explanations for laying off their workers, but Roger Smith did not.

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Roger and Me

Michael Moore’s documentary, Roger and Me told the story of the toils of the town of Flint after the big GM factory lay off’s. Michael showed how the people suffered due to the 30,000 people of the town who lost their jobs at the factory. He did interviews with the former employees and their families and he showed the affects it had on the town. Moore uses logos to show the true effects of the devastation of the town of Flint.

Moore follows the town Sheriff throughout the whole movie as he goes to home after home evicting families out of their homes. He even kicks a family out on Christmas Eve. Having documented the families being kicked out the audience saw their true emotions and how realistic it was. Showing the evictions through the whole movie made it the effect more profound for the audience as we realized that these families were being kicked out their homes with no place else to go. Michael also interviews some of the employees about life after being laid off to get his point across even more. He shows how one woman had to take up a career of killing bunnies for their meat and selling it to make some extra money so she could go grocery shopping. Michael showed scenes as he drove down the streets of Flint with all the shops boarded up and no one on the streets. The town became one of the highest rated cities for crime.

The town tried to build itself back up by building a luxury hotel and building a theme park. Even the new attractions did not attract people to the town of Flint or make things better. The hotel and theme park did not get enough business and they too had to close. The documentary was very convincing that Roger Smith selfishly closed down the GM factory to make more money and had no compassion for any of the workers that he laid off. It was also convincing that the closing of the factory is the cause for how run down the town of Flint is now. Showing interviews that he had with the former

Wolfgang

Wolfgang’s comic strip is a great example of pathos. Being a comic strip there was no need for a lot of senory words as we can see it in the pictures, though the few words provide more explanation. In the first set of pictures we see what seems to be a man on his death bed at a hospital. He has x’s over his eyes, possibly signifying extreme sickness, for a few of the pictures. His face changes showing the pain he is feeling. He is hooked to i.v.’s, there are cards and flowers all over the room and a few pill bottles on the bed side table. There are no words yet so you are left to use your imagination as you interpret the pictures.

In the next set of pictures he appears to be dreaming. He is shown in many different scenes. He is in a house sitting on a couch with a young boy and a man, he is flying over a city he is watching a boy play baseball in a park, in a car with a boy and a girl and in the hospital with a young man. Then words are added to the comic. The first set of words we see say, “Wait that’s not right that’s not the way..” It now appears that maybe he is looking back on his life and has all of the sudden seen something that did not happen the way he remembered.

The young boy in the pictures begins to explain things to the old man. He tells the old man that his heart stopped and he may possibly be on the road to death. The old man asks if they are going to the heaven and the young boy tells him that his reward for living a good life is not going to heaven but the life of dignity is its own reward. At the end the old man comes to the conclusion that he should just let things be and they will turn out how they are supposed to. Wolfgang’s comic strip uses pathos as it discusses the idea of death, which is a very emotional subject.

The Southland

The Southland was written about the states of the south. They hold a great amount of history for our country. The author explains the great history behind the south and the north in the civil war. He takes the audience on a visual tour in our minds throughout the states with his use of imagery. The writing appeals to an audience interested in history. The author describes the great history in the battlefields from the civil war scattered throughout the south. He uses logos in using analogies to create feeling in his description of the struggle the south went through and still endures from the civil war days. He says, “Some you find living in the pomp and splendor of Jefferson’s time; some live like animals, in a condition comparable only to that of primitive beings in Africa.” Here he describes the people of the south and how diverse they are by using analogies and comparing some to animals of Africa. His word choice is very intricate and sophisticated setting a serious and informative tone for the piece. The author uses pathos as he is also very persuasive in his diction while he shares the passionate feelings of the south. The author shares some of his feelings, “I stand beside the graves of the dead in our own South the horror of war assails me with desolating poignancy.” This is a good example of his strong diction in creating pathos as he shares his feelings. He explains the friendly character the southern people have and how strongly they still stand age makes the south seem very appealing. He describes the south, “There are thousands of dream places in the old South. You can sit on a bench in a tiny Confederate Park or fling yourself on the banks of a levee or stand on a bluff overlooking an Indian settlement, the air soft, still fragrant.” He uses persuasiveness again in making the south very appealing to the audience. The southland is an informative piece on the great character the south carries and the history it holds.