Friday, January 13, 2017

Argumentation #2

       The general argument made by Oscar Wilde in his work is that disobedience is the only way to make progress. More specifically, Wilde argues that being rebellious promotes social progress. He quotes that disobedience is a "man's original virtue". He believes that the only way we can move forward is if we go against rules and restrictions.
       In my view, I believe that Wilde is right because being rebellious can result in changes, however sometimes it could just make things worse. But if the outcome is positive, we can overcome rules that aren't necessary. , Rosa Parks. During the Civil Rights movement, she refused to give up her seat and go to the back of the bus. If she were to move to the back of the bus, the Civil Rights movement would not have been as successful as it was. Therefore, I conclude that disobedience is a way to make progress and to grow out of laws that we have become used to.

Argumentation #1

       The general argument made by Dali Lama in his claim is that we Americans are not happy and are not satisfied with the things that we already have. Whatever we do is not good enough because we're always wanting to achieve higher than we did before or because we are constantly competing with others. He says, "No one seems satisfied with who they are, where they are, and what they have". Lama believes that Americans always want more.
       In my view, I think that Lama is right because we're always being compared to others and we're always trying to strive to be better than the next person. More specifically, I feel like it affects us teens more than than any other age group because we're expected to do more.

Assertion Analysis #10

       Cotton Mather's assertion is that there are witches and witchcraft around. His poem revolves around how people should be afraid of this. Mather uses choice of words to explain how witchcraft is indeed present. He also uses imagery to show how fearful the people are.
       For example, he frightens his audience by calling the witches "monsters" and saying how "Your Maker's praises spout." He uses the word "spout" to emphasize that he is not only talking, but he's going on and on preaching about the witches. Cotton Mather also uses imagery when he says, "wag your tails about". Dogs can either wag their tails if they're excited or frighten. In this situation, Mather try to compare that to how people are fearful of the witches in town.
       
       

Assertion Anaysis #9

       The general assertion made by John Winthorp is that he wants to be superior and successful in the town. He disowns the believers of God saying that they will "shame the faces of many of gods worthy servants". He mocks them while talking about the new land (new world). He wants his followers to start getting others to believe in their practices and gain recognition. Winthrop uses devices such as an analogy to justify his claim.
       In his analogy, he talks about being seen as "a City upon a Hill". This shows that he wants everyone to be focused on him and that people should follow him because he's superior and above all of them. If their religion doesn't work out, they'll be labeled as failures. However, if it does work out, they'll be successful and possible recruit more believers. It relates to society today because everyone's always striving to be the best and for them to be superior than the next person.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Assertion Analysis #8

      Plato's assertion is that we humans are unaware of the things we "know" and just life in general. He says that it isn't proven whether or not all of our thoughts are "dreams", or if we are really awake. What he's really trying to say is that maybe we only see the things that we want to see and we don't actually see it for what it is. He uses techniques such as a rhetorical question.
       Plato is trying to ask whether or not the things we see and do are "reality" or are we just seeing and believe what's shown to us. We are only believe the things that we have become accustomed to. When he asks this using a rhetorical question, he gets the reader to really think about how we view life. The way that we deceive things is based on how we want to see it. For example, those situations where no matter how wrong you know something is, you try to convince yourself that it's okay, because you refuse to believe the truth even if it's obvious.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Assertion Anaylsis #7

       Ta Hool Hool Shute's assertion is that he is tired of fighting. He believes that fighting gets no one anywhere. Fighting, only makes matters worse and caused tons of deaths. It has caused others to flee, and resulted in them dying because of things like starvation and extreme temperatures. He uses rhetorical devices such as pathos and parallelism to create a deeper meaning to his assertion.
       Ta Hool Hool Shute uses parallelism to create a dramatic effect on the readers. He repeats the words dead or death at the end on most sentences. For example, he says, "He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death."This affects the audience because the word makes a bigger impact when it's at the end. It's the last word you see so it sticks on to you more. Not only that, but the author tries to interact with the audiences emotions.
       Shute using a very effective technique called pathos to create a emotional reaction from the readers. He uses pathos by talking about the death about children. People tend to be more sympathetic when a child dies, rather than an adult. He states, "I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find." He talks about not being able to find his children because of the war and how he has lost so many of them because of it.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Assertion Analysis #6

      John Fire Lame Deer's assertion is that before their "white brothers" appeared, everything was fine and they lived in a peaceful environment. The white trespassers promised the Native American things that they never kept and soon broke. Fire Lame Deer uses rhetorical devices like satire to go into depth as to why the White settlers caused chaos.
      Deer starts of his satiric assertion with, "Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men..." By saying this, he mocks how the white men invaded their land thinking and promising that they would make it a better place, when in reality, they created a mess and tried to fix "things" that were not even an issue to begin with. He also mocks the fact that they came to the land valuing human beings not for themselves as a person, but by wealth. They called the Indians uncivilized because they had no laws, no prisons, and weren't political. He ends his statement with another sarcastic remark, "We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived...".