Rhetorical Analysis

In Myriam Marquez’s article, “Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public” (p.754 in Lunsford et al 2009), she described how bilingual people tend to speak to one another in their native language in public. In America, some people may view that as rude behavior while others are okay with it. Marquez made a point by clarifying that the United States of America does not have an official language and derived pieces of American history to reveal how unkind society has been to bilingual people.

She also wrote about etiquette when it comes to speaking a different language in public. For instance, if two people are speaking in their native tongue (other than English) to each other, normally people around the couple would be concerned and raise suspicions that the non-English speaking people are talking about them. Marquez argued that illogical thinking. However if a group is talking in a different language but is leaving out a member of the bunch, Marquez disapproved of this action.

This article made me think about myself and my family. I was never encouraged to use my voice in public. I was raised to express myself freely through American Sign Language in public or not. I’ve never once thought if people around me thought I was talking about them. But honestly? I don’t think they have the right to think that way because I am protected by the First Amendment: free to speak what I want in the language I want.

I think Marquez did a great job convincing her readers to be more open-minded when it comes to speaking a foreign language in public. She gave examples and all that but I just felt she did not give enough emotional appeal to it. She didn’t say anything about how the native speakers felt or what society felt. It seems that she wrote this article not feeling the need to elaborate society’s norms when it comes to speaking in different languages in public. I also felt that she needed to include more personal experiences since it’s very obvious English isn’t her first language. As a bilingual person, I think she should have been more “connected” to her topic.

When you write something, you always have to give the full explanation. You cannot always assume your readers “will use their common sense.” This article was not thoroughly convincing. In my opinion, her article is very weak because it lacked ethos, pathos, and logos.

List of This I believe

• eternal happiness
• karma
• passion
• something bigger than the universe
• living a life with no regrets
• a world without racism, stereotypes, and hate.
• peace and unity
• art
• exploring the unknown
• myself

Nafisi in Lunsford

I thought that Azar Nafisi wrote a powerful piece about empathy. Empathy is “the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another” (www.dictionary.com). The author used a vital comparison to Huckleberry Finn as an argument, along with several others as arguments. The key concept or moral of this short piece is simple. Are you willing to stray away from society’s beliefs to do what you think is right?

Visualize being a little boy, being told that if you were to free slaves you would go to “everlasting fire.” Imagine the twists and knots in the little boy’s stomach. He is having little spurts of good memories filled with happiness and laughter with his friend. His black friend. A slave. Huckleberry Finn decides to screw it and he’ll go to hell. He was following what he thought was right. Not everyone can do that, it’s quite tough to go against everyone else’s beliefs and do as you please. Azar Nafisi used Huckleberry Finn’s story as an example of an argument with emotions. She was smart to use him because of the child innocence shown in Huckleberry Finn’s persona .

Azar Nafisi also wrote of a very personal experience that divulged empathy of others. She recalled a time when she taught at the University of Tehran in an extremely radical period in Iran. She, among others, were expelled. Two students who she regularly has heated arguments about their differences stood up for her. The two students were actively involved at the University’s Muslim Students’ Association, but despite their obvious differences, the two students did what they thought was right in their hearts. And that was to support her in a time of need. One of the students said, “Remember your own lectures on Huck Finn? Let’s just say, he is not the only one who can risk going to hell!” (Lunsford, p. 910) This is an example of an argument based on character and moral values.

When it comes to empathy, I do not think there should be arguments based on reason and facts because sometimes reason and facts just do not have much of a role and not nearly as important as emotions, character and values. Who can be as brave and courageous as Huckleberry Finn, a stubborn ten-year old boy? Would you be willing to burn in everlasting fire? Spend eternity in hell?

Intellectual Standards

Why do we go beyond thinking? How do we explore past thinking? Is everyone always on the same page with their thoughts? No? How can we make sure that other people can understand you?

"To be effective thinkers, we must go beyond taking thinking apart." This is where standards come into picture in the complicated abstraction of thinking. We have to carefully construct our thoughts to be explicit. Nine factors assembles the perfect, sublime thought: clarity accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, and finally, fairness.

It's so true, isn't it? I feel so much more confident breaking a thought of mine down and just decipher each part to make it more clear. I now know what to do to relay my thought to another: ensure my wording is on the same level as the other person, the importance of my thought is enough to keep the other person interested or focused, and so on.

I must mention this one quote from the purple book that I just love; "Only when we construct and use intellectual standards can we effectively assess thinking."

"Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan

Amy Tan writes of her struggles of having a mother who does not speak perfect English growing up. She provides examples of when her mother was thought to be inferior by society. Originally embarrassed of her mother's poor English-speaking skills, Amy later becomes angry at how rarely her mother was taken seriously.

The author catches herself in a conflicting paradox. She is standing in front of an audience, speaking in a language she never speaks to any of her loved ones. After taking in that realization, she starts to analyze the way she speaks to her mother and to her husband. After deciding to evaluate her mother's dialogue more thoroughly. She comes to a conclusion that even though her mother's grammar may be imperfect, the quality and depth were still there. No one ever bothered to look past the grammatical structure. She developed a new feeling or connection to her mother. She cultivated a pathos from this.

Her mother often feels an obligation to use her own daughter to impersonate her to get the same treatment as any other American citizen. Amy writes of an ethos example of her willingness to take a stand for her mother to retrieve crucial health information regarding her mother's brain tumor. Situations as serious as health concerns to as little to money issues. Amy has shown her strength and courage to ensure her mother is AN American citizen.

Amy decides to review the times she was not encouraged to take her writing, or even the English language, seriously. She starts to recall her test scores in different subjects in school. Math and Science were always higher than English. Knowing that her native language isn't English, how fair is it to be ridiculed of dreaming a life profession with use of the English language? She starts to use that as a comparison to her mother. Though the grammars between the two may be different, the context, quality, and meanings will always remain similar. Logos is used here through this technique.

The five-page short story has utterly convinced me that her latent argument has a significance and purpose.

Response to #2

Everything in life revolves around communication. And communication comes in many different forms. Using a language is typically the most common way to communicate. Not always, but most of the time. People use language to inform, to convince, to explore, to make decisions, and to mediate or pray.

When informing someone about something, it is extremely critical to be transparent in the message. We rely on devices, even people to inform us to do the simplest tasks such as waking up in the morning by a vibrator and a flashing light when someone is calling on the videophone. In a school project, say a research paper...your teacher lets you choose the topic and you have to present to the class and you hope your classmates will agree with what you've written. You use researched facts to inform your peers to get them side with you. I've done this plenty of time in the past and it's always worked pretty well. For informing, I would say it's more of an act of persuasion rather than argument.

To convince is not a quality that most people have. Convincing is a real skill that often takes time to develop. People in the business industries have to master this skill to secure their job position. Say if we went through life watching television with weak convincing commercials and driving on freeways with meaningless billboards. No products will be sold and the supply and demand will greatly contrast. In business meetings or court rooms, convincing can be perceived as an argument. It's all depends how the person uses facts and/or evidence. Being the baby in my family, I've always had a sly way of putting the blame on my siblings. I could easily convince my father that my siblings ganged up on me. After all, how can you not believe the sobbing tears of the youngest child of the bunch? ;-) I would say to convince is an act of both argument and persuasion because you can only convince others to side with you or oppose you.

Exploring is a natural curiosity for almost everyone! I absolutely love asking people about their pasts, their desires, their goals, and their dreams. I recall a memory of myself (a toddler that time) asking a man if he's ever been to India. He laughed and was dumbfounded that this little girl even knew what India was! To my surprise, he said he did and he continued to explain his journey to India. I remember thinking India must be the coolest place ever! Since then, my desire to explore grew. After high school, I traveled to nearly 20 countries and made a vow to go out of the country to explore a new location every year. I think to explore is an act of persuasion because new information, facts, places lure you to find out more... that's persuasion in itself.

Decisions are what makes and breaks a person's life. Making decisions are often the hardest part of life. You decide when to wake up, what to wear, and when to do your homework. And sadly peers often influence your decisions. For instance, I decided to go to Gallaudet University because I wanted to see if this would be the right place for me. I decided that I would give it a year or two before making the final decision to stay or to transfer to another university. I know this decision can make a huge impact in my life. Although many factors other than my academics are considered such as my friends, my extracurricular activities, and my motivation. Ultimately, making decisions is an act of both argument and persuasion.

Mediating or praying is a state of mind where one really finds oneself and to completely let go. All of the worries gone, burdens disappear and a utopia creates. I think people tend to pray for selfish reasons...often for their own benefits. While I do not practice religious praying to form a 'connection' to a god, I believe the mind is the most powerful thing in the world and is capable of conquering anything. I don't think you can argue against a god or supreme being. You can only persuade him/her/it to give you what you want.

Introduction

Well, here we are! Gallaudet University, at last! Most of us are starting a new chapter in our lives! I know I am!

While writing isn't my favorite thing to do (let alone blogging, especially when I am not exactly tech-savvy), I suppose I could at least try to like it and perhaps my "way with words" will improve? You could say writing blogs is not high on my to-do-before-I-die list.

Anyhoo, I suppose I shall start off mentioning a little bit about myself. Let's start off with the basics: I love music, movies, filling up the remaining, empty pages in my passport (and it's been filling up quite nicely!), learning odd tidbits about places, and meeting interesting people and learning about their struggles in their everyday lives. I feel as if I don't read as much as I would love to. I'm working hard to change that, though. On a personal note, I grew up in the same home in a very opulent suburban town in the last almost-two decades so you could say that I am awfully family-oriented.

I try not to regret anything I do in life. I often like to look things at the bright side but that does not mean I am naive!

Interesting tidbit: According to www.urbandictionary.com, a part of my name means that I am a zipper-lover and I typically wear my heart on my sleeve.

I am really looking forward to see how things unfold throughout the year for everyone.

Happy writing!