TOW #16 - The Glass Castle

The second half of The Glass Castle describes Jeannette Walls’ life during middle school and beyond. She moves to New York City with her sister after she graduates. She sees her parents on occasion until her sister gets arrested for stabbing her mom. Her dad dies from a heart attack, and the book ends describing Thanksgiving dinner 5 years after her father’s death.

Jeannette Walls is a credible author, as her instant ethos was established through the story being about her life. The Glass Castle may be written for people who are struggling with their familial lives. The text was written after seeing her (homeless) mom in New York City, reminding her of her childhood.

Walls uses many rhetorical devices. Some of the ones that she uses includes symbolism and irony. Walls uses symbolism with her boyfriend and her family. Her first husband is, “a man who was exactly the opposite” of her dad (268). She later divorces her husband and marries someone who was “more right” for her. This divorce shows that she doesn’t need someone who is exactly the opposite of her dad, because there were some good aspects of her dad that she loved. Just as in every family there are good aspects that are loved. Walls uses irony with her mother’s land. For Walls’ entire life, her parents were poor. They moved around and barely survived. However, Walls later finds out that her mom owned about $1 million in land. The irony is that her mother had all of this money, but was unwilling to use it because getting the money would mean selling the land. If she sold the land, she would be giving up a familial tradition. However, if she used the money, she would be helping her family.

I think that the author wants to show that there is balance between “turbulence and order” (288). She loved her parents even though they were extremely free to the point of being dangerous, because her family found a balance between freedom and danger. She believes that her family, no matter how crazy, was good. She loves her family, and no matter what could not abandon them. Her purpose may be to try to reach out to other families and remind them that familial love is unbreakable. I think that she did accomplish her purpose because she uses her own life to explain how much she loved her family, even though she had a lot of reason to resent her parents.

TOW #15 - Or Drink And.

Ever since we were little students have been hearing about the negative effects of drinking and driving. Many programs are utilized to prevent alcohol-induced accidents. These programs tend to use a scare tactic, which shows the terrifying aspects of one bad decision, and hopes to scare people from performing such actions. Research suggests that shock tactics do work, but they need to be targeted and followed by strong enforcement of driving laws. This advertisement is a perfect example of the scare tactic that advertisers use.

This text was created by Abramet to prevent drunk driving. Abramet published the text, which is the Brazilian Association of Traffic Medicine. The text was composed for any kind of driver, hoping to remind them to not get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs. The text was written because there are many drug and alcohol related car accidents.

The text uses symbolism and tone to create a powerful image. The can symbolizes a car after the driver has been drinking. The can is crushed symbolizing it is empty, which means that the drinker was drinking. The car is also crushed to show that when one drinks and drives, they have a high chance of getting into an accident.

The text also uses tone in their picture. The colors are all dark and negative, which goes along with a gloomy tone. If the text had bright colors, the message would not be as powerful. But by having dark colors, the text effectively shows how drinking and driving is a bad decision that will not end well.

The author created this text to attempt to stop drivers from driving under the influence. The author uses a scare tactic to show the negative impacts that drinking and driving have. The caption is “You can drink and drive. Or drink and.” The incomplete sentence suggests that the driver would not drink and drive, but drink and crash and not be able to finish his drive.  I think this picture is extremely powerful in showing the effects of drinking and driving. It has a powerful and uses a scare tactic well to remind drivers to only drive sober.

TOW #14 - TrumpCare

There has been a lot of speculation over the successfulness of the new president elect’s presidency for the next four years. With a new president elect there comes a big promise of a revised health care plan for America. The text was written, in the Wall Street Journal, for Americans who are concerned with the president elect’s plan for our health care. The Wall Street Journal is an extremely credible journal as the editors stress having as little bias as possible. However this particular article is an opinion article, which seems to have liberal bias. This was written this week, as many texts are being published on the new president elect as his inauguration day gets closer.

The author uses sarcasm to show in an entertaining way the effects of Trump’s healthcare plan. He said that, “Mr. Trump campaigned on repeal but also left TrumpCare open to negotiation and, well, interpretation (‘something terrific’).” By including the “something terrific” quote, he is saying that having an open health care plan will backfire, and is not something terrific, but something that can harm many Americans.

Appealing to logos helps create a strong argument because it gives a lot of basis to back up one’s argument. The author says, “given the law’s large and ongoing failures on almost every measure: premium trends, enrollment, limited doctor and hospital networks, insurer participation. Affordability, choice and competition are due for another tumble next year under the status quo.” By including all of these different measures that need to be factored into health care, he uses facts to show the importance of the next few months.

The author also uses rhetorical questions. He says, “Does the President-elect have any better ideas on legislative strategy, or is he merely going to toss around the sayings of Chairman Donald from Trump Tower?” By asking this question, he shows that he doubts that Trump actually has an idea of what he is doing, but he will simply toss some sayings around to seem like he does.

Ultimately, this article shows the fear that many Americans have with Trump’s ability to follow through with his promises. He creates a case for the importance of having a proper health care plan and how it needs to be taken very seriously as it could create “creating chaos in our entire economy.” I think the author strongly established his purpose as he effectively used sarcasm, appeals to logos, and rhetorical questions to show the importance of Donald Trump’s health care plan. He ended his text with, “If [Republicans] muff this one, they’ll deserve to be run out of town,” showing how disastrous he feels the TrumpCare plan could be if it fails.