Broader Reflective Essay

     From the beginning of this semester, I have been presented with all types of challenging writing assignments, all of which have made me adapt as a writer, researcher, and reader. One assignment that resonated with me was the first unit paper in which I was required to write a four-page minimum paper narrative speaking of something I have come to no longer believe. This essay allowed me to channel myself into an essay in a way I have never done before, allowing all my emotions to spill out upon the paper in front of me as well as methodically planning how each paragraph was to be organized to appeal to the reader. That assignment stands to me as the best piece of writing I have ever produced, where every little string tied right back to the center, and as a bonus, it profoundly utilized the rhetorical devices we had been learning about in class. Additionally, it was an assignment that placed me in a new environment of peer critiquing when it came to our drafts. All and all, this was an experience that has greatly strengthened my writing capabilities.

 

     One aspect of this class that was quite common that occurred very often was reflection assignments, memorably the first ever assignment was a reflection on ourselves as readers up to the beginning of college thus far. This assignment forced me to come to terms with what I knew I was lacking in the English scene but also allowed me to brandish many of the skills and writing that I did bring with me to colleges, such as narrative and poetic writing. I did also realize that although my reading was adequate when it came to reading more informational writing, it came short when it came to more rhetorical and fictional writing. I am always happy to make further strides in my reading and writing though.

 

     In terms of writing, I have found that with more narrative or poetic writing I don’t feel the monotonous drag of informational or persuasive writing, in which I am to rhythmically include evidence, but a certain anticipation of a great new iteration of my abilities. I do end up struggling at the start though because I want to craft the writing so perfectly, and I become worried that if I can’t start that way, as well as how could I hope to maintain it. Feedback has often been helpful as it stood as a test of whether or not my structural plans worked to my benefit with the reader.

 

     With research, I have found that instantly assuring the reliability of a source is very effective to get the exact evidence you are looking for in a nearly unquestionable way. Unfortunately, high school hadn’t particularly prepared me for the level of research I needed to engage in at the college level. Having had a whole year of online learning as well surely didn’t help me in finding the will to do such in-depth writing, but this only led me to become more prepared and prevail.

 

     This semester has provided me with one very main key thing which is a broad understanding of all the different rhetorical techniques one could find or use in writing. Some techniques of which I had heard but never quite understood and others had names that I didn’t even know were words. Thus, the greatest improvement was going from only just hearing of these devices to using them abundantly in the papers I wrote for this class. Moreover, we learned about appeals and how best to appeal to an audience if one attends to interest them or appeal to them. Whether this is in a logical, emotional, or ethical way of trying to convince the reader of the significance of your ideas.

 

     This semester has truly been a great opportunity to grow in reading and writing and has allowed me to understand the many ways to approach writing my future college essays rather than the previously perceived boring persuasive format. I am quite excited to work on these skills and near a level of near perfection at writing.

 

Unit 2 Rhetorical Landscape Essay Revision Reflection

Essay 2 Revision Reflection:

     MLK having the vision of being challenged with captivating his listeners appeal and senses relating to the skillful technique of imagery, using frequent metaphors through his figurative language to motivate and inform his audience through his speech particularly (“I Have a Dream’’ MLK Jr.) has demonstrated his ability to move his intended listeners in a profoundly impactful way all the while still connecting relevant modern-day issues and topics such as the normalized life of discrimination and the sub consequently unfortunate altercations of segregation as a whole portrayed through mastering the framework of pathos and ethos. It can be inferred through the transitions used of ethos using his prior knowledge of his intended listening audience and the occasion of what would be considered a credibly reliable way to build the bridge of using first-person experiences. For instance, one such sprucing from the Declaration of Independence connects his listeners’ ethical appeal, of not just equality but of the mobility to roam freely with natural and unalienable rights, also backing up MLK’s original standpoint that he advocating for his original catchphrase of “I Have a Dream”. MLK approaches his strategy of engaging his viewers’ senses and appealing to emotion with much optimism, he also didn’t fail to recognize and acknowledge the distress and downfall of the inevitable future that is in store for generations to face and confront, through careful use of pathos. This was most specifically used through his informing speeches about discrimination, revolving around what his four children growing up in an unwelcoming environment will have to endure, learn, and overcome obstacles and hardships like no other may enlighten the viewers’ sympathetic imagination and structure a new point of view when it came to what is more significant of value at the time. MLK used pathos consistently in a period where it was most desperately needed as it was controversially a puzzling subject on what was truly the right path within the Civil rights movement,  from the ’50s-’60s juggling between both the segregational tensions of North and the South’s divisions, needing advocacy for a better-instituted mindset and first-hand witnesses and experiences shared such as MLK himself.

 

Revision of Unit 2 Rhetorical Landscape Essay

Stride for Civil Rights

 

     One prevalent social movement of the 20th century was the Civil rights movement, which revolved around achieving equal rights for African Americans. After the end of slavery resulting from the Civil War and the unsuccessful results of reconstruction, the African American population of the United States remained under a continuous strain of oppression. The objective of the movement in the 50s and 60s was against the segregation that occurred in schools, voting, and all aspects of ordinary American life; this period was already a volatile period of American history with the Vietnam War and the peak of the Cold War, which only made the struggle for racial justice and equality all that more difficult. Momentous leaders of this movement who stood as the pillars of rhetorical action who fought for this very purpose are Martin Luther King Jr., who chose the peaceful route, and Malcolm X, who chose the violent one. Throughout this movement, countless examples of rhetoric were demonstrated and aligned in correlation to such rhetorics as ethos and pathos such as the infamous speeches, the documents associated with the event, and the many signs upheld at peaceful and nonpeaceful protests, displaying civil disobedience of refusing to obey a regulation or power unjust in a peaceful manner exhibiting a form of resistance without the actual use of violence. These examples of rhetoric are deeply intriguing because they often compounded on each other and concretely supported each other.

 

     The first example of rhetoric of this movement is Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, a speech that is abundant with rhetorical devices and appeals. It was given on August 28th, 1963, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, which delivered Reverend MLK Jr’s message to not only the mainly African American gathering that attended the speech but to America as a whole. The message was that the United States had defaulted upon its promise of equal freedom and justice for all: yet through peaceful protest and steadfast commitment, America remained capable of honoring this pledge. Portions of the speech speak to Junior’s magnificent dream that “one day this nation will rise and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” (“I Have A Dream”; MLK Jr.). Or his dream that “one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” (“I Have A Dream”; MLK Jr.). Both of these examples develop a potent appeal to ethos by MLK as he first refers to the nation’s creed found in the Declaration of Independence, thus appealing to the ethically based connotation of such a phrase. Then in the second, above-mentioned line, he speaks about how when all the metaphorical wrongs are corrected, they will reveal the Lord’s glory, which especially appeals to ethos as MLK is a reverend and highly acclaimed member of the clergy, and his words about God greatly appeal to people’s ethical sense. MLK being well versed in mastering the art of the rhetorical use of ethos having directed attention to take into account the main speaker’s trustworthiness and accountability, in the long run, relating to when his well-known speech  (“I Have A Dream”; MLK Jr.) through resonating more sincerely with his viewers, he implies that he is in the same orchestra within his metaphor when it comes to his morals, and socially-accepted within his behavioral principles indicated through his tone. He also illustrates his credibility by painting how his reputation ethically and morally never really lessened or declined as he kept up to date with the clergy and conducted what he self-preached encouraging civil disobedience and non-violence as one of his primary tactics moreover to show how refusal to retaliate to violent outrages is not a mindset of weakness but a way of courage demonstrating to his audience supplementally more care to an issue before presenting his demurral when it comes to discrimination and segregation. MLK using the skillful technique of ethos, also insinuated how barbaric responses and reactions would be considered ethically uncivilized manner despite being challenged with a primitive law that’s unsuited for a way to continue life. 

 

     MLK also said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.” (“I Have A Dream”; MLK Jr.). MLK’s somber use of repetition coupled with his optimistic mention of children severely appeals to pathos because it targets people’s emotional perception of their children and their futures. These lines also worked in MLK’s favor in unifying the audience, which consisted of both mentioned races. MLK uses pathos through his deliberate word choice of how many African Americans have confronted and been conflicted with discrimination and as well as segregation, due to the color of their skin forsaking and abandoning, and nevertheless dispositioning the role meant for them in their community and of their actual well being in a society like how it was, appealing through his meaningful terminology and expression of persistence of how it might also just possibly be like for his four children growing and developing to learn in an environment of eradicated law and order. When observing the speech from the perspective of Cicero’s canons of literature we see that the way MLK took the arrangement canon of rhetoric, he placed more logical and introductory information of the dilemma at the start, yet a more heartfelt and emotional rhetorical canon of style to strengthen his rhetorical canon of delivery. MLK achieved that goal perfectly. Every rhetorical choice within the speech demonstrates how it is a flawless attempt at portraying the message it intended to and helped thrust forward the Civil Rights movement.

 

     Another example of rhetoric in this movement is a poster called, “Only You Can Prevent Ghetto Fires by Ron Cobb in 1967, (https://posterhouse.org/blog/a-century-of-posters-protesting-violence-against-black-americans/

5th image). This poster was created during a group of riots and was intended to rile up moderate African Americans who weren’t as vocal about police brutality. The speaker here is a prominent American-Australian political cartoonist who is strongly aligned with the movement, and his main message for his audience of moderate African Americans is that they are submitting to a system that cares little for them and that they need to speak up. This poster speaks to ethos and pathos, ethos is demonstrated by how Smokey the Bear is replaced by Uncle Tom who is known to be an African American character who just submits to his white slave owners. This is henceforth, capitalized as the poster illuminates to the viewer through its structured intentional setup the natural way of life for the average enslaved African American under the law to a white person involuntarily being obligated to oblige to a certain ethic tolerance enduring a lifestyle not solely just morally undeserved and signifying unfair prejudice but loutishly coarse to untie from. This political cartoonist also intertwined the inveterate use of  Pathos with how it instigates feelings of anger through injustice and incorporating inequality as a whole, and the recurring stumbling block of an everlasting cycle encompassing the foremost example of being forced typically as an African American acceding to yield what was required of their duties to not eventuate to worsened conditions. This compels the viewer to coax to the standpoint that any common enslaved person depicted by Smokey the Bear had been also replaced with no other than Uncle Tom, and without seizing committing to a white slave owner without an accord. This may seed an emotion of anger and dismay of the appeal of adversaries remaining to continue following a disheartening notion of insensitivity and strife to fight against a hostile situation, leading to its unfair bias of life due to a system with no impartiality of equity providing throughout his political cartoon as a reference of the American-Australian political cartoonist viewers the normality of the circumstances as it seems to accuse moderates of submitting to the same system, forcing them to face the hardships of the ghettos that still yet to constrain and be administered daily. The use of the Smokey the Bear format is effective because it acts as a metaphor implying the urgency of hardship, and the use of Uncle Tom is extremely crucial as it brings up an infamously insulting term for those found to be accepting of inequality.  Thus, both of those rhetorical choices most definitely support each other to strengthen the point that the speaker is trying to make.

 

Unit 3 Research Paper Essay Reflection Statement

Essay 3 Reflection:

  Being able to apply my knowledge of terrorism and its widespread effects, helped me grasp and gain a deeper understanding when researching of Al-Qaeda’s militancy towards the foreign world, its influence, how counterproductive their attacks were in the long run, and its lasting effects on terror within the Middle East and Western nations. Using the useful tool of hypophora, the rhetorical device, posing a question that the reader/ intended audience may be perplexed about and responding helped me engage back lingering questions and provided clarification within the commentary of the responses within my analysis. Which also may have carried any weakness or shortcoming, or not have been able to include before, to provide a full description and justification of its significance to the inquiry questions. This is expressed with how exactly the Jihad movement carried out by the extremist Islamic terrorist group (Al-Qaeda) became the resulting factor of leading aggression to the U.S, and Western nations, and how the U.S. embassy and Western nations responded and retaliated to Al-Qaeda as a result after falling from its initial status, and reverse the misfortune that brought distress upon many people to overcome any future cases. Using another different rhetorical device, through the helpful gadget of analogy, I was able to implement the idea of comparing two partially similar events to show the intended reader/ audience the resemblance but also its recognizably different aspects of both the devastation of 9/11 and the attacks the World Trade Center has encountered. Illustrating these commonly popular, and familiar events has hindered the primary objective of Al-Qaeda the extremist terrorist group, and its attempts of bombings and attacks being publicized actually lead to being counterproductive towards its initial intention in the first place, and sub-consequently proceeded to put Al-Quaeda in a position where they had created a huge target on they’re back, that was irreversible. Lastly, given the opportunity to use the antithesis of pairing opposite ideas in a parallel manner I was able to show the contrast of the links between terror, and the war on terror, and how it directly correlates to its negative impact on employment rates.

 

Unit 2 Rhetorical Landscape Essay Reflection Statement

Essay 2 Reflection:

Coming across the opportunity to explore and dissect the Civil rights movement due to sectional divisions rooting from the North and South leading up to the outrun, of segregational tensions after the failed attempts of reconstruction following its environmental influence in schools, churches, voting, and unfortunately most places of being employed with typically a white boss. A notoriously known politician that aided support continuously to the prominently radical Civil rights movement with a lasting effect was MLK who led and fought for peace, inspiring people to act by persuading and informing people through his self-imposed speeches and rallies referring to pathos in several instances of  “I have a dream” for his four children connecting toward a stance of what our future will look like and forcing people to think outside the box for the next generation that is in store for the sake of the livelihood of children suffering from racial discrimination. MLK initially operated off of trust and connections with his intended viewers by sharing his first-hand experiences of racial segregation by which he also approached his stories with well throughout solutions creating a foundation of a new sense of freedom.   MLK has also branched out a different rhetoric of ethos, by informing his audiences of his credential of being a member of the clergy or otherwise known as a baptist minister alongside being a Civil rights leader, additionally, the American-Australian political cartoonist demonstrated through his art that the majority to all of African Americans are putting up with an intentionally unfair system that has no regards for their life, and should refuse to accept a corrupted system. Finally, the last compelling rhetoric strategy notably used repeatedly was logos which engaged many people to gravitate to him when the provoking idea of insisting on historical events and a collection of clear logical connections that would sway the opposing viewer’s attention insisted a logical argument to be confirmed peacefully and serenely.

 

Unit 1 “This I No Longer Believe” Essay Reflection Statement

Essay 1 Reflection

 For the first, “This I no longer believe” essay I utilized imagery and metaphors to demonstrate an experience that formed and influenced my original belief that once a person’s life was headed in a certain direction that they were destined to be hopeless. I recalled what I saw and what I felt seeing my mother in that room, in a way that not only invoked my emotion but would invoke the same emotions in the reader to help them understand my original belief. After my initial belief, I went on to describe how my life went on with this belief, not trying in school, not attempting to do it even for my family, using chronological order to explain this belief. I spoke of how my resulting failures from this downward spiral belief were only limited enough to let me get to the 6th grade, this helped me build up a certain tension through recollecting the events to my eventual perspective-altering moment. Then I introduced the class and teacher in which I had the realization. My use of dialogue and emotional statements of course helped portray my feelings just before the change but also perfectly set up how I was to talk about the assignment she gave me. Firstly I made the assignment seem insignificant to highlight again my old thought process, then flowered upon an epiphany that I had when I had been completing that assignment. I described the connection I discovered between Newton and me which led me to gain this sense of free will in life again. I believe having chosen this life epiphany is what made the essay the most improved after the imagery, because of its logical alignment. Finally, what truly topped the essay was the use of the witty Apple connection at the end of the paper, this is so great as it not only connects precisely to Isaac Newton’s iconic story but because it symbolizes sudden and momentous realization. The critical parts of Unit one used to enhance this essay included imagery, metaphors, pathos, and logos. The pathos is used to convey an emotional transformation to the reader, and the logos to make the reader logically sympathize with my younger self’s ideals.

Statements on Course Learning Objective Displaying Work

Unit 1 “ This I No Longer Believe” Essay statement:

In this essay, I used many rhetorical devices I learned in class to complete the objective of displaying detail and emotion and demonstrating how and why one of my core beliefs changed at some point in my life. At first, I used imagery to describe my initial sorrow, and went on to use witty metaphors and used a climax arc to make my story as well-structured as possible. I also made great use of a hook, in the beginning, to keep the reader interested in continuing through the essay. Then when writing the further parts in which I elaborated on my epiphany I made sure to use more figurative language to make the comparisons that logically connected me to make the switch in my belief from being hopeless that my future could change to being sure that  I had a chance at greatness. Secondly, in class, I collaborated with class members to help improve each other’s essays, received constructive criticism about my essay, and gave it back. This accomplished the learning objectives of using rhetorical devices we learned about as well as of collaborating over the writing process and revising as such.

 

Unit 2 Rhetorical Device Essay: 

For this essay, we had been simultaneously learning about numerous rhetorical devices as well as all the different methods that could be described as rhetoric. Primarily, we focused on social movements across America, especially in American colleges and universities. Outrageous methods of rhetoric even included the burning down of ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) offices in colleges across America in response to the Vietnam war. For my specific essay, I focused on the Civil Rights movement, for the rhetorical example from that movement that I focused on was Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in which he uses beautiful examples of parallelism and metaphors to appeal to the American people’s pathos. I went into detail about how this example of rhetoric stands unmatched in achieving this cause. Then I talked about a political cartoon in which the author tries to instigate a feeling of shame in those who did not participate in riots after contemporary police brutality. This evidence showed a clear attempt at the rhetoric that I had learned to identify and describe. I also learned to cite my sources for this paper and made sure to do this for the MLK speech and the political cartoon and author.

 

Unit 3 Inquiry Question Essay: 

This being the longest and final essay required a sum of all of what we had learned all semester and included the completion of the largest amount of course learning objectives of all of them. In this essay, I inquired about the origins, immediate effects/intentions, and long-term economic effects of modern-day Islamic terrorism and the war on terror. In this essay, we had the requirements of clear formatting and structuring our essay to a specific academic style, using rhetorical devices from the new ones we had learned, making and supporting our arguments with evidence that is properly cited, and finally repeatedly participating in the group critic and revision process. I did as accurately as possible to my knowledge using Procatalepsis, parallelism, antithesis, and more. I also included a citation page that was according to all the evidence I used and it included the precise links titles and dates on which those sources were cited.

 

Rhetorical Device Assignment: 

This assignment is precisely lined with our rhetorical device course learning objective and summed up the main part of our learning in this class, it was to deeply focus on all the ways that writers can convey their ideas in writing. Here the devices were Procatalepsis and Distinctio, both of which I made quite good use of within my papers for this class. Procatalepsis is to give an opposing argument and then answer it, and distintio is to further specify something that you speak about in the pursuit of making a point.

 

Course Learning Objective Displaying Work

Works I would like to focus on from this semester are:

Unit 1 “This I No Longer Believe” Essay

 

Newton’s apple

 

Once twelve years ago, as I entered the mellow, dimly-lit bedroom of my family’s apartment, I discovered my mother sitting on the floor, somberly sifting through a photo album. I curiously peered down at the photos and watched her slowly go from the far more rustic images to the more recent photos; she seemed so quietly reminiscent when looking at the pictures of my father and her, especially at the few photos of him and me. When she found a photo of me seated on my father’s lap during my birthday party, all dressed up in my baby tuxedo: she let out a soft chuckle as if she momentarily escaped those powerful feelings from seconds before. Then she turned the page. Suddenly the pages were empty, without a single photo on any of the later pages. Slowly she lifted her head and locked eyes with me; two glistening streams appeared running down from her eyes. Instantly the painful realization she just had, hit me and destroyed the levees that had been briefly barring my emotions. Immediately, I fell into my mother’s arms and sobbed like never before. I was only three when he passed, and that last photo of him and I had only been four years old.

 

I understood far too early what it meant to grow up after my father’s passing, with those few treasured memories as a recurring reminder that he was gone. The initial sorrow turned to despair because no matter what I did, I would never really know him; I would never experience those moments with my father as everyone did. Additionally, my mother and I weren’t particularly well off, especially in the years following his death. Consequently, I had concluded the belief that I was one of the few people who ended up with a bad enough hand that it was meaningless, and pursuing that academic success my mother pushed for was irrelevant. I’d be damned before I’d carry on.

 

That was the mindset I went through elementary school with, and I only would do the work for the subjects I found interesting. Even when it came to the annual state tests that I knew could make or break me, I wouldn’t bat an eye and would leave each page effortlessly blank. When it came to behavior,  I was written up nearly every day for not listening, not finishing my work, or fighting with other kids. My teachers sent me to the principal’s office so often that I grew capable of traversing the large school to the grey, gloomy chamber, the same old lair I’d visited a hundred times before. When she would speak of how she would call my mother, I would remain unhesitant and think of it as a trivial part of the process. Unfortunately, I began to see that my mother couldn’t understand why I was like this, and she soon became disappointed.

 

Eventually, I made it to sixth grade with nearly failing grades in English and social studies because of my careless demeanor with writing, but with relatively proficient scores in math and science. My English and social studies teacher was a kind, ecstatic woman who constantly joked with students in class and did her best to hold our interest. Although I appreciated her approach and was respectful of her kindness, I remained steadfast in my leisurely work ethic. Assignment after assignment, I would scribble up meaningless summaries for essays to stick to my stubborn belief that I couldn’t make anything further of myself anyway. One day she held me after class to discuss my latest assignment, an essay in which I hadn’t met the word threshold nor proofread for mistakes. She sat across me from me at the small wooden table I was assigned to sit at in class in the faintly window-lit room, and she looked up at me from my paper and gave me a kind chuckle.

 

     “Did you procrastinate and finish the assignment just before the class it was due?” She comedically asked. “Don’t worry, be honest. I won’t penalize you.”

 

     “No, I did it three days before the deadline,” I mumbled, avoiding her concerned eyes.

 

     Her face shifted to a more disappointed look. “Why didn’t you take your time then, honey? I know you could’ve done better.”

 

     “What does it matter anyway; this school thing won’t get me anything anyway!” I exclaimed with a slightly irritated expression. “My Mom won’t expect any different, and it’s not like my Dad’s alive for me to make him proud.” I painfully whimpered the last part of the sentence.

 

     I could see a sad shimmer overtake her eyes, and softly she said, “I’m so sorry… I know your dad couldn’t be more proud. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

 

     The next day she kept me after class, and she proposed a deal to me: she told me to research and write a page about Isaac Newton, specifically his early life and interests, and if I did well, she would increase my marking period grade by 15 points. When I looked into his earlier life, I found out that, similarly to me, he was deeply interested in math and the sciences. Most significant to me was that he also lost his father; before he was even born. This time I made a far greater effort than ever before; this assignment meant everything to me then because I knew why she gave me this project, and I began to appreciate the interpretation she expected I would make. To see that a household name came from someone that wasn’t much different growing up, someone who understood what it meant to grow up without a father, made me feel hopeful, and I realized I was wrong. The belief I set in my mind all those years ago that I was living a life that would only end up being a fruitless pursuit of happiness couldn’t be farther from the truth. Besides, I took for granted that I still had my mother to make proud of, and I felt ashamed for not having put in the effort for her and what she had gone through with me.

 

     The day I handed in this assignment, my teacher gave me a warm smile that I couldn’t help but return. During the time designated for our group work, I kept glancing over at her to see if she was reading and grading my paper. To my surprise, she was hyper-focused with an impressed-looking grin. I was the last to exit the class that day, and on the way out, she stopped me to hand me the graded paper; there was a big blue smiley-face in the top right corner, stars adorning each corner of the page and a grade of a hundred near that smiley face.

 

     “I knew you had it in you. I don’t think I could’ve written it better myself!” She called out, smiling ear to ear.

 

     “Thank you!” I said with a look of glee. “Oh, was that story about how he came up with gravity true?”

 

     She nodded and said. “Uh-huh, all it took was an apple for Newton to show the world.”

      From then on, I put as much effort as possible into English and social studies and even became interested in them to a similar degree as I had been in math and science. History stood to teach me stories of heroes like Sir Isaac Newton, who accomplished far greater things than I had while overcoming hurdles far greater than I’d ever imagined or been through. English developed into a way for me to express the newfound hope I had received. As a result, my grade increased to the point that I became an honor roll student in those subjects, and I brought my same mindset to the state test exams, which I would end up placing in the top five students in my school. Year after year, I was able to write poetry that made my teachers emotional and stories that made grading for my teachers far more interesting. 

 

     Then I graduated from middle school and entered high school. I ironically faced opposition to my efforts from careless teachers, but like Newton, if I had overcome such exceptional hurdles before, what could stop me now? I demonstrated to each of my teachers my enthusiasm to think and apply my philosophical views to our assigned texts. As a result, I had assignments that I had written hung up on my high school’s English honor roll board for all to see. Ultimately, my senior year was the decider of what I would do with all the passion I had been holding onto for the last six years, and I channeled it into the best college essay I could write. It must have worked because now I’m here telling the story of when the apple fell on my head.

 

Unit 2 Rhetorical Essay

 

Strides for Civil Rights

 

     One prevalent social movement of the 20th century was the Civil rights movement, which revolved around achieving equal rights for African Americans. After the end of slavery resulting from the Civil War and the unsuccessful results of reconstruction, the African American population of the United States remained under a continuous strain of oppression. The objective of the movement in the 50s and 60s was against the segregation that occurred in schools, voting, and all aspects of ordinary American life; this period was already a volatile period of American history with the Vietnam War and the peak of the Cold War, which only made the struggle for racial justice and equality all that more difficult. Momentous leaders of this movement who stood as the pillars of rhetorical action who fought for this very purpose are Martin Luther King Jr., who chose the peaceful route, and Malcolm X, who chose the violent one. Throughout this movement, countless examples of rhetoric were demonstrated, such as the infamous speeches, the documents associated with the event, and the many signs upheld at peaceful and nonpeaceful protests. These examples of rhetoric are deeply intriguing because they often compounded on each other and concretely supported each other.

 

     The first example of rhetoric of this movement is Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, a speech that is abundant with rhetorical devices and appeals. It was given on August 28th, 1963, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, which delivered Reverend MLK Jr’s message to not only the mainly African American gathering that attended the speech but to America as a whole. The message was that the United States had defaulted upon its promise of equal freedom and justice for all: yet through peaceful protest and steadfast commitment, America remained capable of honoring this pledge. Portions of the speech speak to Junior’s magnificent dream that “one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” (“I Have A Dream”; MLK Jr.). Or his dream that “one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” (“I Have A Dream”; MLK Jr.). Both of these examples develop a potent appeal to ethos by MLK as he first refers to the nation’s creed found in the Declaration of Independence, thus appealing to the ethically based connotation of such a phrase. Then in the second, above-mentioned line, he speaks about how when all the metaphorical wrongs are corrected, they will reveal the Lord’s glory, which especially appeals to ethos as MLK is a reverend and highly acclaimed member of the clergy, and his words about God greatly appeal to people’s ethical sense. 

 

     MLK also said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.” (“I Have A Dream”; MLK Jr.). MLK’s somber use of repetition coupled with his optimistic mention of children severely appeals to pathos because it targets people’s emotional perception of their children and their futures. These lines also worked in MLK’s favor in unifying the audience, which consisted of both mentioned races. When observing the speech from the perspective of Cicero’s canons of literature we see that the way MLK took the arrangement canon of rhetoric, he placed more logical and introductory information of the dilemma at the start, yet a more heartfelt and emotional rhetorical canon of style to strengthen his rhetorical canon of delivery. MLK achieved that goal perfectly. Every rhetorical choice within the speech demonstrates how it is a flawless attempt at portraying the message it intended to and helped thrust forward the Civil Rights movement.

 

     Another example of rhetoric in this movement is a poster called, “Only You Can Prevent Ghetto Fires by Ron Cobb in 1967, (https://posterhouse.org/blog/a-century-of-posters-protesting-violence-against-black-americans/

5th image). This poster was created during a group of riots and was intended to rile up moderate African Americans who weren’t as vocal about police brutality. The speaker here is a prominent American-Australian political cartoonist who is strongly aligned with the movement, and his main message for his audience of moderate African Americans is that they are submitting to a system that cares little for them and that they need to speak up. This poster speaks to ethos and pathos, ethos is demonstrated by how Smokey the Bear is replaced by Uncle Tom who is known to be an African American character who just submits to his white slave owners, and this includes Pathos with how it instigates feelings of anger within viewers as it seems to accuse moderates of submitting to the same system forcing to face the hardships of the ghettos. The use of the Smokey the Bear format is effective because it acts as a metaphor for the urgency of hardship, and the use of Uncle Tom is extremely crucial as it brings up an infamously insulting term for those found to accepting of inequality. Thus, both of those rhetorical choices most definitely support each other to strengthen the point that the speaker is trying to make.

 

Unit 3 Inquiry Question Essay

 

Tony Christopher

Professor Olivia Wood

Freshman Comp

12/10/2022

The Aftermath of Terror 

  1. Introduction

A new global issue has begun to plague the international community, a problem with a hefty cost to national economies, individual and governmental property, and human life. This issue is terrorism, specifically terrorism that originates in the Middle East and remains characterized by Islamic radicalism. Within this region, the countries where this problem appears most commonly are Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, all of which are Muslim-dominant countries and have different histories of war and conflict that characterize their relationship with the rest of the world. The end goal of terrorist organizations and their leaders is to achieve a higher level of political and economic influence through the use of extremist means. Of course, these means are a plethora of acts of violence, ranging from bombings and hijackings to mass shootings and individual executions. Due to the grim consequences terror has imposed on the world for the past half-century, the western world has sparked into action against this common threat with the war on terror. The war on terror peaked after the September eleventh, 2001 attacks on the twin towers and has mainly consisted of fighting against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and numerous smaller militant groups all over the Middle East, including ISIS and HAMAS. All of this has had a tremendous effect on all nations involved and the future of international safety and democracy.

 

A couple of crucial questions to inquire come to mind when exploring the topic of Middle-Eastern-based terrorism. The first is: what are the origins of radical Islamic terrorist groups, in the Middle East, and what has caused their militancy toward the foreign world? Secondly, Were the most infamous terrorist attacks successful in terms of the goal behind them, or were they counterproductive? Thirdly, what has been the lasting effect of both the terror and war on terror on the Middle East, America, and Western nations involved? From what I know, the origins of radical Islamic terrorism and the reasoning behind its militancy are that very conservative and nationalistic leaders have used religion and the belief in Jihad to deceive people into doing their bidding so that they may gain a greater level of influence. To answer the second question with my current knowledge, the terrorist attacks have accomplished the goal of striking fear into the United States, but they have come at the cost of antagonizing America against these specific Islamic groups. To my knowledge, both terror and the war on terror have decimated certain countries, reduced their human rights, and fully setback their economies.

 

  1. First Inquiry Question Research

The origins of radical Islamic terrorist groups in the Middle East were to combat the invasions brought upon by the Cold War. Their militancy was intended to expel foreign influence and enforce Islamic authority. I mentioned earlier that I believed the origin of these groups was solely to deceive people so that leaders acquire influence, but the reality was that these groups originally stood as resistance forces to a foreign invasion from the Soviet Union (Procatalepsis). This can be proven through evidence found in an exterior document which says, 

‘Al Qaeda”’(“The Base”) was developed by Usama Bin Laden and others in the early 1980s to support the war effort in Afghanistan against the Soviets. The resulting “victory” in Afghanistan gave rise to the overall “Jihad” (Holy War) movement. Trained Mujahedin fighters from Afghanistan began returning to such countries as Egypt, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia, with extensive “jihad” experience and the desire to continue the “jihad”. This antagonism began to be refocused against the U.S. and its allies. 

(JT Caruso)

 This demonstrates how a primary terrorist group, Al Qaeda, was originally formed to defeat the Soviets and avoid Soviet control of Afghanistan, therefore, reinstating the claim. Additionally, this information elaborates on the idea of the jihad movement, the “holy war” movement, in which Mujahedin fighters began to desire this holy war idea and became suddenly opposed to the United States. One may ask why the jihad movement led to aggression toward the United States, and the reason is that the jihad movement for radicalized jihad antagonized Western nations by labeling them as “infidel nations” within Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries (Hypophora). As a result, their aggression did not only apply to the Soviet Union, which had attempted to invade Afghanistan, but to any foreign nation that had any sort of influence in the nation. With the United States having gained influence in Afghanistan through its aid in foiling the Soviet invasion, Al Qaeda’s leaders were quickly opposed to the idea of dependence on, or influence from a foreign entity and redirected the Mujahedin fighters against America. 

Another piece of external evidence that elaborates upon this says, 

Al Qaeda aims to coordinate a transnational mujahideen network; stated goal is to “reestablish the Muslim State” throughout the world via the overthrow of corrupt regimes in the Islamic world and the removal of foreign presence – primarily American and Israeli – from the Middle East. UBL has issued three anti-U.S. fatwas encouraging Muslims to take up arms against Washington’s “imperialism.” Al Qaeda provides financial, manpower, transportation, and training support to extremists worldwide. In February 1998 bin Ladin issued a statement under the banner of  ” The World Islamic Front for Jihad Against The Jews and Crusaders,” saying it was the duty of all Muslims to kill U.S. citizens, civilian or military, and their allies.

(John Moore)

 This exhibits the reasoning behind the militancy of Al Qaeda and its leaders, with them having become hateful of differing, “corrupt” regimes in the Islamic world and Western presence. Moreover, the level of militancy is elaborated upon with the head of Al Qaeda at the time, Osama Bin Laden, having exclaimed the ideas of arming against America’s supposed imperialism, supporting Islamic extremism, and the idea that Muslims were to kill any US citizens and their allies.

  

  1. Second Inquiry Question Research 

           The most infamous terrorist attacks, most notably the 9/11 attacks have been counterproductive to the goals of Al Qaeda and terrorist groups because it has caused western nations to actively engage in war with the apparent threat. Due to the historically known 9/11 attacks and its great catastrophe of losses and aftermath, it certainly left its mark. It invoked western nations of the Soviet Union’s radar to the max. It is cited from a previous document that although some may believe  9/11 was the peak of Al Qaeda and terrorist groups it was very much the decline since the original organization’s names and reputation were now in the prominence of the public eye and tarnished. As a result, governments from the Philippines to Germany had been increasing in targeting, detecting, and arresting suspected terrorists and terrorist activity (Daniel L. Byman,). This illustrates Al Qaeda’s misfortune with the attacks taking place on 9/11 foreseeing how detrimental the consequence was of its identity deteriorating and having to bear out delays and mishaps for a 10-year gap of avoiding arrest and capture to the US embassy accusing Al Qaeda since it made all western leaders and military,  globally aware and cautious of the terrorist group. It is reasonable to wonder how have western nations dealt with and responded to the terrorist group due to its underlying downfall of collapsing from its initial status, it invoked the idea of the U.S embassy and FBI to implement its first Counterterrorism Division responsible for supervising and investigating with FBI terrorism-related matters which was officially established in 1999 (Hypophora). Western nations started to expand their horizon on how to approach many anti-terrorism efforts to avoid the escalation of history repeating itself. As it is mentioned in a preceding document investigators revealed another terrorist plan to bomb multiple sites in the landmarks of new york, as a new era started to emerge Al Qaeda didn’t resist its old habitual patterns, and this led to some disasters for the terrorist group as a whole being exposed of its scheme to bomb the airport of Los Angeles and a dozen of international flights within the U.S. (FBI Historical page). This indicates how western nations’ reactions from 9/11 helped bring about the climax of all of the terrorist group’s attempts to be found unsuccessful, which resorts in Al Qaeda being actively shut down continuously by the U.S. embassy. Al Qaeda, setting in motion their extremist accomplishments causing the calamity of casualties undergone by 911, became the center of attention to the U.S. embassy and posed themselves as a threat to a greater distance even more so to the bombings of 1993, encountered by the World Trade Center (Allusion). Which illuminates the proposition that the mass attacks also being publicized called attention to have hindered the objective of Al Qaeda, and many other terrorist organizations.  

 

  1. Third Inquiry Question Research 

    The lasting effects of both terror and the war on terror on the Middle East, America, and Western nations involved have been a gradual financial decline in the Middle East and certain western countries, as well as a large loss of life within the Middle Eastern countries. Across the board, there has been an accumulated rate of estimated costs rooted in the repercussions of attacking Western nations revolving primarily around the terrorist attacks that took place on 2001, September 11, otherwise known popularly as 9/11. As well as the synchronized attacks carried out by the self-made Islamic extremist group officially known as Al Qaeda, of hijacking 4 commercial airliners scheduled to attack the World Trade Center which resulted in its abrupt collapse, then after the Twin Towers were struck so was the pentagon and the other crashing into Pennsylvania. In this period the economic status of the U.S. was already declining incessantly struggling with a moderate recession which led to struggling business communities in great despair. This all suggests that these costs are significantly high, to a large degree relative to GDP. This is revealed in a document of a study of the long terms costs-that are prominent within the effects of terrorism as it’s statistically shown in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) study discovered the direct costs of the September 11 attacks cost $21.4 billion (including direct insurance costs) which was 0.25 percent of GDP (Jim Saxton). This unveils how the mass destruction of the World Trade Center and  Capital with the mess left of buildings, airplanes, and property of both the public and also private obliterated resulting GDD (The tool used to value goods and services carried and produced, within an approximate period) to the height of its decline given that when GDP starts falling, our economy will be shrinking, as it fell two quarters in a row starting its recession. Additionally, it is also shown that employment growth proceeded to drop all the while the unemployment rate increased, as well as broad measures of inflation indicating no real reconstruction forward. Directing an indication of the increased amount of terror, the decreased rate of unemployment: the farther we are to employment growth, the nearer we are to terror (Antithesis). On the contrary, a similar document illustrates the number of facilities struck by international attacks, resulting from 1998-2003 affecting businesses, companies, corporations, diplomats, governments,  and militaries beginning from 1998 the peak of these attacks was 2001, by 400 businesses. The immediate cost followed by these terrorist attacks estimated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and development was $27.7 billion (14 billion for the private sector, 1.5 billion for the state and local government enterprises, 0.7 billion for the U.S. government, and 11 billion for rescue and clean-up operations), Which represented ¼ of the U.S. yearly GDP (R. Barry Johnson, Oana M. Nedelescu).  This displays how it is manifested throughout the years that financial markets endured a tremendous amount of inefficiencies stemming from terrorist attacks, and last-minute resorts resulting in uncalled abnormal drops within global capital markets widely affecting the U.S economy with losing billions of dollars, with the subsequent repercussions of inflation advancing.

 

  1. Conclusion

   Ultimately, the origins of radical Islamic terrorist groups within the Middle East were to resist, oppose and take up arms against the invasions brought upon within the period of the Cold War. Above all, Al Qaeda intended to use militancy as a tool to spread, impose and constrain Islamic authority and dismiss any type of foreign influence. It is a vital point to capture that the Jihad movement led by Al Qaeda antagonized several Western nations and brought about their ambushes of such western nations in Afghanistan, including the Soviet Union, with the goal in mind of “re-establishing the Muslim State”. Given these points with all attributes considered, the most commonly known attacks carried out such as 9/11, have been counterproductive and foiled with the goals of the self-created extremist group (Al Qaeda), consequently following with Western nations retaliating actively in war with suspected terrorists and terrorist activity. It is essential to realize that the U.S. embassy and FBI, scoping out different outlooks on how to draw closer to shut down pre-meditated finally, or well-thought-out terrorist attacks from appearing in the long run, especially in untimely situations. Not only for the sake of the appalling and calamitous disasters that can and have occurred but even so for the negative and grievous byproduct of the thousands of deaths. The ceaseless myriad of effects of both terror and the war on terror being displayed throughout the Middle East, the United States, and primarily almost all Western nations which have been involved have led to a huge gap within the U.S. GDP, and a massive recession within global markets and capitals. It is key to grasp and consider how severely the U.S. suffered economically. Businesses struggled the most out of all at its peak of 2001, September 11, when multiple attacks took place from the terrorist group Al Qaeda resulting in damage costing $21.4 billion. Linking with the associative collateral damage of the U.S. GDP has lost 1/4 of its yearly annual demands of goods and services becoming weaker, with the rate leading to one of the all-time lowest financial declines in U.S. history.

 

Works Cited

Caruso, JT. “Al Qaeda International”. FBI. December 08, 2001

https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/testimony/al-qaeda-international.

Accessed December 10, 2022

Moore, John. “The Evolution of Islamic Terrorism: An Overview”. PBS 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html.

Accessed December 10, 2022

Byman, Daniel L. “The history of Al Qaeda”. Brookings. September 1, 2011

https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-history-of-al-qaeda/.

Accessed December 10, 2022

History Page. Osama Bin Laden. FBI. 

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/osama-bin-laden.

Accessed December 10, 2022

Saxton, Jim. “Then Economic Costs of Terrorism”. JEC Senate. May 2002

https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/79137416-2853-440b-9bbe-e1e75d40a79d/the-economic-costs-of-terrorism—may-2002.pdf.

Accessed December 10, 2022

  1. Barry Johnson, Oana M. Nedelescu. “The Impact of Terrorism on Financial Markets”. IMF. 

March 2005

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2005/wp0560.pdf.

Accessed December 10, 2022

 

Rhetorical Notes:

In device one, I used Procatalepsis to object to the point I had made earlier without prior knowledge of the research material and thus I believe it strengthened my argument.

In device two, I used hypophora to help me elaborate and transition to the question of Jihadi aggression.

In device three, I used hypophora once more to focus on and transition to what the western response to mass acts of terror was.

In device four, I used allusion to not only inform the reader of the previous attempt on the World Trade Center but to also compare its effects to that previous event.

In device five, I used Antithesis to compare the heightened sense that acts of terror will occur with their economic impacts to further my point.

Overall I mainly focused on Logos to solidify my point as this was more of a thought-invoking essay on all aspects of what we consider to be modern-day Islamic terrorism.

 

Procatalepsis and Distinctio Rhetorical devices assignment

 

Procatalepis:

Exercise 1 – https://apnews.com/article/st-louis-missouri-kansas-nebraska-education-9b73de3404719e08a3910ed58e8481c7

One may doubt Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan’s importance, but students and graduates around America know it’s crucial. This is because a college degree seems a common necessity in the modern world’s competitive job market. A bill that would now forgive the debts brought upon by the increasing prices of these much-needed college degrees would be a release from an overwhelming plight. As a result of the politicized nature of common welfare and debt relief plans, the eighth circuit court of appeals has decided to put a hold on this plan due to GOP opposition. People may ask what the significance of the court making such a decision is; the significance would be the fact that a large region of the US would not be able to benefit from this program and that this being a federal court, they have great power and say over what happens next. Republicans may say this is a step in the right direction, but I along with many other students across America know that is an unfair denial of relief from the same schools only intending to siphon funds from the public.

Exercise 2 –

1 – You may think that I am enjoying doing my homework right now, but I find nothing as unequivocally boring as my homework.

2 – People think that giving speeches is easy, but nothing can give me as much of an anxious feeling as standing up there.

3 – People live each day thinking that they can hold off on what they want to do until tomorrow, but little do they know that life will pass by quickly, and often we miss the opportunities it gives us.

4 – People say that money doesn’t buy happiness, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth

5 – You say I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but you were copying off of my test.

Exercise 3 –

1a, opp – Nuclear bombs are a great asset for defending a nation from ill-intentioned enemies.

1a, reb – The very danger between spiteful nations is nuclear weapons

1b, opp – Nuclear weapons make large countries stay at a peaceful standstill in fear of the nukes.

1b, reb – Nuclear weapons far amplify the consequences of once insignificant squabbles between nations.

2a, opp – Banning religion from schools causes kids to not be able to express who they really are.

2a, reb – Allowing religion into schools could introduce conflict into schools between students, or the institution may come to favor religion over another and cause a unification between religion and state.

2b, opp – Religion being accepted in schools may allow kids to feel more relaxed in their setting.

2b, reb – Religion being accepted could impede school time and cause kids to become too relaxed to focus on school material.

Distincto:

– The forest was very colorful, full of greens, reds, and yellows

– Our relationship was very deep, nothing could ever get through it

– You work very hard, all the effort must have made you very tired

– You must wear the standard uniform, the same as everyone else

– The light is so bright, it lit up the other room

– The man was completely crazy, he killed all those people without any remorse

– He’s so smart, he could memorize the whole book just by flipping through it once

– Green is a pretty common color to see in nature, it’s literally everywhere you look

– The destination is on your right, it is quite simple to find what direction you are headed

Exercise 2 –

Effective example – The house is very far away from here, around three hundred miles away from here

Explanation – This example is defective because it is very specific about the far distance, and how much the distance is exactly.

Effective example – The boy is incredibly smart, They measured his IQ to be about 160

Explanation – This further elaborates on the boy’s smarts and gives a metric for it

Ineffective example – The drank the drink in the cup, the solo cup not the glass cup, and it was the best thing I had all morning

Explanation – The type of cup doesn’t matter here

Ineffective example – She was tired from shoveling the snow all morning, the snow was in the backyard not the front, so she couldn’t do her homework.

Explantation – Differentiating what snow she shoveled does nothing here.