Bruce Springsteen's Model Of Moral Development Essay

In Brent Staples article “Just Walk on By”, Staples shares his thoughts on the way marginalized groups interact. He uses his own experiences as a young African American man to shed light on how people can have implied biases that affect the way they treat other people. Staples does this to demonstrate how society develops preconceived notions in the minds of individuals about marginalized groups, primarily African American men, which are often a flawed representation of the people within these groups. The rhetoric he uses is key to developing an understanding persona and an emotional appeal that exposes the implied biases of people without alienating or offending the audience, to whom-- among others-- he attributes these biases.

In the past, racial profiling has been used numerous times by police officers and people who thought races other than white were the cause of every case and problem. They thought they were better because they were white and blamed people of other races for committing crimes by judging everyone based off ethnicity. In the play, Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez, Henry and the 38th Street Gang were accused of crimes they have not committed because they were Mexican- American. Today this is still seen society. The play’s messages was that people who were discriminated because they were not white, which is still relevant today. People of different races have been accused of stealing and assaults.

“And you have seen men in uniform drive-by and murder Tamir Rice, a twelve-year-old whom they were oath-bound to protect.”(Coates 9). This sentence puts the meaning of innocence into the eye of many people. A majority of the people are afraid to face the reality of what was occurring those times. Innocent people gunned down every day by their supposed protectors. Talk about a double edged sword. Through the eyes of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s younger self, he describes the tragic murders of innocent people at the hands of people who don't even consider them equal. He depicts how people just glaze over them as if they had done something to deserve it.

The play Antigone by Sophocles, is about a girl who faces a family conflict over her deceased brother. The protagonist is Antigone and she stays the same morally throughout the play. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development helps people understand the stages individuals morally move through as they mature more. Because of Antigone’s decisions and ideas at the beginning and the end of the play, she is a morally static character through the story.

What is the American Dream? Different people have different interpretations of the American Dream. Take a look at Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and “Promised Land” by Bruce Springsteen, both songs about the American dream. Although both of these musicians had similar themes, they had different attitudes towards the American dream. While Guthrie’s attitude toward the American dream is that it should be shared by all people in America, Springsteen believed that every individual has to work in order to achieve the American dream.

The song I chose to analyze is “Letters to the President” by Hawk Nelson. It is a song that has a strong resonance in today 's society and inspires me. It is in the genre of “Pop-Punk” , which has had many songs released in the same vein of attempting to make a political statement. The artist attempts to convey that it is important that as a society the two main components of a song are the lyrics and instrumentals. While the instrumentation lends to the lyrics of the song, but it is not the most prominent thing in the song. The lyrics are definitely the stronger component of this particular song. The instrumentals for the majority of the song are fast paced attempting to awaken a sense of urgency within the listener, while also attempting to

His usages of logical, ethical, and emotional appeal combined with the ironic chorus simply are not heard due to one great constraint. Springsteen’s audience is made up of mainly white Americans, a group that very rarely criticizes America. Criticizing America is very rare in this audience’s culture because they love America. Springsteen used the resource that most Americans know at least one suffering veteran. This resource was not strong enough because of the audience’s overwhelming patriotism. In the end, the audience’s strong love for America contributed to Springsteen’s failed

Not sure what it is that is giving him that feeling, he decides it’s a sign that he needs to get a head start on his New Year resolutions: being a better son to his mother, who’s birthday just so happens to fall on New Year’s Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend and mother of his child Sophina, who hasn’t been completely honest lately, and being a better father to Tatiana, his beautiful four – year old daughter. Crossing paths with friends, family, and strangers, his day starts out well. As the day goes on, he realizes that change really isn’t going to come easy for him. His resolution, however, takes a tragic turn when BART officers shoot him in cold blood at the Fruitvale subway stop on New Years Day. Oscar’s life and tragic death would shake the bay area – and the entire nation – to the very core. Since he was shot by a white police officer, this is considered an act of racism. But why is there still a gap in races, even today, in 2016. Discriminating among one race because you are another is not right. It has never been right, and it will never be right. Some people need to get their heads out of their butts and realize that the color of someone’s skin should have no effect on how they are treated. There are white thugs just as commonly as there are black.

Society in today’s world is very alike to society years ago, with different social classes and stereotypes. In “Just walk on by” by Brent staples, a variety of rhetorical devices are used in order to convey the message of how a black man is trying to show society that he is so much more than the color of his skin. The author explains how the character was characterized as violent and dangerous because he was black. Staples continues on a sort of journey with the character to show how he overcomes that stereotype, by whistling classical music to give the idea that he is mature and less threatening. Throughout the piece, Staples uses devices that will help the reader better understand the struggles that the character has to face on a daily basis.

In the novel, All American Boys, the authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, tell a story of police brutality though the eyes of the victim, African American teenager, Rashad Butler, and the classmate who saw the tragedy unfold Quinn Collins. The novel serves through the eyes as a realistic interpretation of the injustices that are happening today ranging from radical inequalities, to police brutality, which have been on display via various social media outlets.

In conclusion, as cliche as the message of this song may be, it’s a tremendously important message. The spread of peace and social equality are issues in today’s society that we see everyday. African-Americans are getting killed in the streets by police officers for misdemeanor crimes. It’s sad because it’s been fifty to sixty years since the civil rights movements and we have yet to see change in people. When does the hate

The method of approach that I chose for this artifact is Cluster Criticism. As stated in Rhetorical Criticism:Exploration and Practice, Cluster Criticism is “the meanings that key symbols have for a rhetor are discovered by charting the symbols that cluster around those key symbolism an artifact.” A cluster analysis provides a survey or blueprint of the rhetor’s mind in which results in giving us insights into the meanings of key terms and thus a worldview of the rhetor, even the rhetor may not know.

Being black in America has become a curse and a blessing for those who identify within the black community. Most mainstream artists that are successful are black, there is biracial president who identifies himself black, and black culture has become the popular culture. Ironically, there in lies the problem with black culture becoming the dominating culture. Everyone wants to be black until police brutality, racism, and a historical prejudice are brought into the mix. In my group our topic was the title of my paper, “Shades of Grey”: Narratives of Black Experience. We covered the topics of the view of African-Americans in society, media coverage and stereotypes, and black cultural appropriation. My portion of the group assignment was to cover black cultural appropriation.

In everyone's life, at some point in time, there exists a certain, natural craving for something. The longing can only be described as the desire for something more, or perhaps the desire for an adventure. Bruce Springsteen undoubtedly was either at a point like this in his life, or at least had this in mind, when he wrote the song Thunder Road. This is a song that first reads like a scenario playing out between him and a young woman named Mary. Upon listening and analyzing further, however, one will find that this song has a hidden meaning to which everyone can relate.

In the essay “Just Walk on By” written by Brent Staples, the author uses a mixture of exaggeration, quoting, and word choice to grasp the attention of his readers and further his point that racial profiling is an unfortunate circumstance that impacts African American men in negative ways.