TOW#7: Nonfiction Piece

In the “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation”, Frederick D. Roosevelt informs the United States on the dreaded Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that occurred on December 7th, 1941.  Within this speech, Roosevelt, the President of the United States at the time, uses remorseful diction as well as repetition in order for Roosevelt to further relate with his audience.  Being that Roosevelt is the president of the United States during this time period, many people look up to Roosevelt as a man of higher authority and power than any other citizen.  Within his use of rhetorical devices however, Roosevelt manages to relate to his audience by making the Japanese out to be a common enemy to both him and the rest of the United States.  Within his usage of remorseful diction, such as “A date which will live in infamy”(para. 1), Roosevelt brings pathos to his speech, allowing for his audience to emotionally relate to Roosevelt both through anger and sorrow.  Being that this major event brought the United States into World War Two, this anger allows for an effective usage of propaganda in order to convince American citizens to enlist into the war.  While the purpose of the speech was not in particularly for the United States to gain more troops in its forces, the purpose was in fact for the United States as a whole to feel the need to unite against the Japanese.  Through this usage of remorseful diction, I believe that Roosevelt does a great job at convincing the American population to do just that.  If Roosevelt were not able to establish this pathos into his speech, the United States reaction to joining the war may have been a very negative one, but because Roosevelt was able to bring himself down to the level as the rest of the American population and establish a common enemy, the reaction was nowhere near as catastrophic as it could have been made out to be.  Because of this, I believe this speech was very effective.

TOW #6: Nonfiction Piece

In the editorial titled “The Grown-Ups Take the Stage at the Democratic Debate”, the editorial board for the New York Times discusses the oppositions brought up during the Democratic debate.  While this editorial mostly focuses on the Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, The author of this editorial often likes to compare the 5 democratic candidates depending on their policies.  Not only does the author tend to compare the candidates, but the author does it in a demeaning sense.   When discussing Bernie Sanders uncertain views on gun control for example, the author presents Sanders as “undermining his image as the righteuos truth teller” (nytimes.com 6).  By using this diction to cripple Sanders reputation amongst the Democratic party, The Editorial Board manages to further convince an audience compiled of Democratic supporters on who they should stand with during the debates.  Not only does The Editorial Board aim their editorial towards Democratic supporters, but they also attempt to pull in a republican party as well, trying to convince them to convert to Democratic candidates rather than those of the Republican party.  This can be seen during the intro of the editorial when the Republican party is referred to as a “circus of haters, ranters and that very special group of king killers in Congress” (nytimes.com 1).  While this essay does a fine job at comparing the democratic candidates in order to give democratic supporters greater insight on the debate, the editorial is weak in a sense that it is very biased towards the Democratic party.  The editorial does in a sense do a decent job at persuading republican supporters to switch over to the Democratic party, the author does very little to belittle the Democratic party themselves, simply taking away the author's credibility as a reliable source in terms of input on the democratic debate.  Due to this very biased standpoint, I do not believe that this is the strongest editorial for the democratic debate.

TOW #5: Visual

Through the usage of pop culture, the creator (who is left unnamed) of this image is able to sustain a large audience to the anti-smoking movement, creating an effective piece of propaganda.  While the image itself is simplistic, it manages to draw in a large audience due to its reference to the popular video game brick breaker, a game that is easily recognizable to all.  Within the picture itself, the bricks, which are broken during the game, represent a set of lungs.  This communicates to the audience that through the usage of tobacco, oneself is only slowly beating away their own health, in particularly their lungs.  Cleverly enough, the author also chooses to represent the paddle, which is used to hit the ball which breaks the bricks, is represented as a cigarette.  This shows the audience that cigarettes themselves are what are destroying our lungs.  As a result of this images simplistic and clear point, it is not only easy for the audience to comprehend the message, but it also has a greater impact on the audience because of its usage of the reference to brick breaker.  I believe that this piece of propaganda for the anti smoking community is very effective in a sense that it sends a deeper message to the audience of not only how smoking can affect your health, but also of why not to smoke.  Through the usage of brick breaker, the creator of the image is subliminally telling his audience that smoking is all fun and games until your health has depleted.  This relates to brick breaker because the game in itself is fun until all of the bricks are gone and the game is finally over.  Through this deeper interpretation, I believe that this ad not only completed its task in bringing the attention of the anti smoking movement to a greater audience, but also solidified itself as one of the most recognizable pieces of anti-smoking propaganda.

TOW #4: IRB Post

Through the first half of the book The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, who is also a writer of many magazines such as American Heritage, The New York Times, Outside, and Men’s Journal, Junger tells the story of a six-man swordfishing crew who goes out to sea in search of business.  A fisherman’s tale one might say; however, this tale in itself is one meant to entertain those who seek a thrilling non-fiction story, not simply those who enjoy the world of fishing.  While it is a valid argument as to why Junger writes this book in order to entertain those who have a divine interest in fishing, it is clear through Junger’s usage of rhetorical devices that Junger is trying to make an attempt at touching on the interests of many rather than the interests of one group in particular.  One usage of imagery that stood out in particularly is “Dawn at sea, a grey void emerging out of a vaster black one. ‘The earth was without form and darkness was upon the face of the deep.’  Whoever wrote that knew the sea- knew the pale emergence of the world every morning, a world that contained absolutely nothing, not one thing” (Junger 54).  Within Junger’s usage of both vivid imagery and rhetorical imagery, I believe that Junger manages to create a stronger appeal in his book to people interested in the genre of action and adventure.  Through this, Junger proves that his purpose in writing this book is not to inform people on an ironically-called perfect storm or to tell a story that is meant to entertain other fisherman on a swordfishing trip out to sea: it is meant to tell the adventurous and thrilling story of the crew of the Andrea Gail.  While the climax of the story is not truly reached in the first half of The Perfect Storm, it most definitely manages to hook on an audience that may not have been present if it were not for Sebastian Junger’s powerful usage of rhetorical devices.