TOW #6

“The Figure a Poem Makes” by Robert Frost

            Robert Frost was an American poet who won four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and the Congressional Gold medal for his works. When he wrote “The Figure a Poem Makes” in 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt was still president of the United States, and John Steinbeck had just published The Grapes of Wrath. This text focuses on Frost’s definition of a poem, and how he believes both the author and the reader should think and feel whilst reading a poem. He thinks that poems should be spontaneous, original, thought-provoking, and long-lasting. Throughout the passage, he describes how and why poems can be produced to reach all of his expectations, and how this connects to his political views. Frost’s audience is directly stated at the end of the text: Americans, but especially the youth of America. He urges the people of the United States to be unique, and to relax, write a poem, and eternally bask in the glory of its meaning. Additionally, he wants to show the country that poems are important. Frost is able to achieve this purpose of encouraging young Americans through personification. Throughout the passage, the author gives poems a new meaning by providing them with human-like qualities. This makes the reader prioritize poems and see the importance in them that Frost is trying to display because of their seemingly human characteristics. In addition, Frost repeats the same phrase “The figure is the same as for love” multiple times in the essay. He hopes to further convey the importance of poetry through this repetition by applying it to the matter of love. Love is a feeling that all humans have, and that all humans can relate to. Comparing poetry to love appeals to his target audience and others as well because love is a universal topic that people spend a lot of time thinking about or acting upon. Frost wants the youth of America to put as much time into their writing as they do in affinity. These rhetorical devices were successful in helping Frost achieve his purpose because they appealed to his specific audience.   

TOW #5- Tasteless

“Tasteless” by David Sedaris via The New Yorker

David Sedaris is an author whose works have frequently been published on popular, credible sources such as National Public Radio and The New Yorker. “Tasteless”, is a reflection on one piece of Sedaris’s life and childhood: his taste buds. Ever since he was younger, Sedaris would only eat in order to fill his stomach. Living in a large family, the author was always worried about not having enough to eat; therefore, he would inhale food rather than slow down to critique the taste. This memoir was published in 2007, and touched on ideas about obesity in America, which has been presently prevalent due to fast food chains and the large portions that many restaurants offer. However, the main purpose of the article would be to allow other people who are also part of a big family to connect to him and his experiences, or to show members of small families what it is like to have a lot of siblings. This is shown through the article’s numerous anecdotes, which provide the audience with examples of what the life of a child in a big family. The reader, most likely used to sharing as well, is able to connect this text to their own lives through these anecdotes, and consider whether or not they agree with the information Sedaris gives in the article. In addition, the text supplies readers who do not know what it is like to have a large family with accurate and descriptive depictions of what it is like to have the constant fear of not having enough food to eat. The anecdotes successfully prove Sedaris’s purpose because they help other people with multiple siblings relate to him and see that they are not alone, but also appeal to people with few or no siblings in order to display what such a life is like. 

TOW #4- Outliers

IRB- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell was written in 2008, which was the same year that Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. In addition to writing five books that were all on The New York Times Best Seller list, Gladwell attended the University of Toronto, and has been working for The New Yorker since 1996. Since not all readers of his books are aware of Gladwell’s credentials, throughout Outliers he uses many different and popular studies and scientists in order to prove his point and gain the trust of his audience. One example of Gladwell’s appeals to ethos is when he cites “a study done in the early 1990s by the psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music” (Gladwell 38). This statement is relevant to the topic of that section (how famous musicians such as Mozart did not master orchestrating overnight), and also shows that Gladwell’s argument has been proven by other credible scientists. In the first part of Outliers, Gladwell describes strange patterns in the birthdays of ice hockey players, and how the amount of time a person invests in a hobby affects their success in said hobby. Thus said, as Gladwell is attempting to demonstrate that the mastery of a subject takes time, his frequent appeals to ethos ensure that readers understand and believe what Gladwell is writing. It is obvious that the intended audience of Outliers is the general public because, while Gladwell uses many studies and statistics in his book, the vocabulary is not outstandingly difficult. Here and there, a reader might stumble upon a word they have never seen before; however, for the most part, the book is easy to understand and stay engaged in. I believe that the appeals to ethos in this book were successful because it made Gladwell’s argument more believable, and I was able to truly become invested in his purpose while reading.