Joel Stein's Rhetorical Analysis Of 'The Me Me Me Generation'

Both Sherman Alexie and Francine Prose utilize various rhetorical strategies throughout their essays to captivate their audience. However, Alexie and Prose present and use these rhetorical strategies in different ways. Prose’s essay contains different components of literary devices than Alexie’s essay. For example, one of the rhetorical methods Prose uses is to take on a certain identity to build her credibility and to strengthen her argument. While Alexie also takes on an identity to fortify his argument, it is a completely different identity than Prose. The authors both appropriate a distinctive style and rhetorical devices into their essays, which in turn create strong arguments, captivate the audience, and reveal the writer’s true thoughts and feelings.

Steinbeck’s use of rhetorical strategies throughout the passage enables him to illustrate his message about free will, emphasizing the potential and significance of timshel and creativity in the essence of humanity and the threats against it. He utilizes diction, imagery, and rhetorical appeals to elucidate his message and persuade readers of their role in asserting their individuality. Steinbeck’s use of imagery in the first paragraph illustrates the extent of the potential of free will through his vivid description of the “glory [that] lights up the mind of a man” (Steinbeck 131) and its transformative qualities. This is significant as it delineates the role of free will in humanity, defining a “man’s importance in the world.” (Steinbeck

Writing a rhetorical analysis on a specific text is something that I have never had to do before in prior classes, so when I found out that I had to write an entire paper on a rhetorical analysis on a text of my choosing I was a little worried. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to give lengthy and accurate descriptions at a college level. Once I read in the textbook what a rhetorical analysis exactly was, my worry was overcome with ease to say the least. I decided to do my analysis on a speech written by one the most inspiring people in my life Gloria Steinem. Gloria Steinem is an American feminist and social political activist who wrote an article in the New York TImes “ After Black Power, Women’s Liberation” which brought her fame as

“The Politics of Muscle,” an essay written by Gloria Steinem, is successful in effectively comparing and contrasting how society's standards implies that there is a difference in strength between men and women. Through the use of different rhetorical claims such as pathos, ethos, and logos, as well as a great deal of subjective and objective claims, Steinem establishes credibility which allows her to create a well-crafted essay. Although, the essay can be perceived as biased since it does not include a great deal of information on the perception of strength on men, its intended audience is women therefore, that aspect does not affect the overall quality of Steinem’s writing. In fact, it only strengthens it considering she expects her audience to share the same opinions and feelings as her. These reasons explain why overall, Steinem does a very good job of persuading the reader to think differently about the perception of women’s strength.

In “Generation Velcro,” Dorothy Woodend discusses the lack of basic skills and knowledge that is being passed down from generation to generation, and how this could be a fundamental problem for both generation Y and the future of planet earth. Woodend, setting the tone for her article, asks the question, “[i]s this generation heading into a coming dark age with little more than the ability to update their Facebook statuses and watch YouTube, all with laces untied?” (par. 7). She contends that “[t]he inability to concentrate in a world of competing bits of information and constant multitasking have led to brains that can no longer keep up,” implying that this problem of concentration is inhibiting this newest generation’s ability to learn the skills necessary to sustain our world properly (par. 12). While Woodend has presented an intriguing and thought provoking theory, I feel that it is flawed for a number of reasons: the first of these being that her conclusions are mainly based on

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates in his book Between the World and Me discusses impactful racial issues in American history and educates his son on the past and current realities of being a black American.

Scrolling through social media, one would see a lot of posts from accounts called RelatableGifs2016, or SchoolMemes101. From the names of the accounts one can make an educated guess about they might post. Relatable pictures. When something is familiar it becomes more understandable, and people tend to empathize more with something if they can have a connection with it. In his essay, Mike Rose focuses on three personal references to allow his reader to understand the purpose of his work “Blue Collar Brilliance”.

The goal of argumentative writing implies the fact of persuading an audience that an idea is valid, or maybe more valid than somebody else’s. With the idea of making his argument successful, and depending on which topic is being established, the author uses different strategies which Aristoteles defined as “Greek Appeals”. Pathos, the first appeal, generates emotions in the reader, and it may have the power of influencing what he believes. Ethos, or ethical appeals, convince the reader by making him believe in the author’s credibility. Logos, or logical appeals, imply the use of reasoning, and, moreover, it may be the most powerful strategy in the pocket of the author as his audience is more likely to believe in facts. In the article “People Like Us”, written by David Brooks, an American author and conservative political and cultural commentator for the New York Times, justifies that the United States is a fairly more homogeneous country, rather than diverse, by providing facts and approaching to his audience emotions, even though his ethos appeals are not the best.

We are at a time where technology is widespread; it has become a part of our everyday life leading to advantages and disadvantages. Technology nowadays has become the most important topic to discuss and everyone has developed their own unique opinion. In Nicholas Carr’s article published in 2008, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” he argues that as technology progresses people’s mentality changes. Carr is effective in his argument by sharing his fears and personal experiences to have an effect on the audience utilizing pathos and ethos. Not only does he include his own experience, but he also includes other people’s point of views. He goes on to support his claim of how technology

“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver is a poem about letting things go and appreciating just how simple and beautiful life is. Oliver claims that “You do not have to be good…” and that you only have to “love what [you] love…” meaning that as human being one should enjoy life and live it how he or she sees fit. Oliver continues her poem by convincing the reader that life should not be taken too seriously. By re-using the word, “meanwhile…”Oliver let’s the reader know that not only their life is going on at a particular time, but also other’s lives are shifting through time as well.

In 1962 President John F. Kennedy held a press conference in which he informed the audience on his stance for the rising steel prices. Kennedy not only wanted to inform the audience, he wanted to get them on his side of the argument. He wanted to show the audience that the rising steel prices were going to have a negative impact on the nation. To do this Kennedy used some of the rhetoric strategies and tools. He used periodic sentences, anaphora, and diction. By using these strategies Kennedy was able to put emphasis in his speech. He effectively showed the audience Hayes viewpoint on the rising steel prices through his word choice.

Behavioral changes from one generation to the next naturally occur little by little. Nonetheless, changes in adolescent behavior from the millennial generation triumphing it have been substantial and revolutionary. Today’s teens have never witnessed a world without internet. The majority of them possess smartphones and waste several hours each week on social media. But while numerous parents may feel allayed about their teens’ seeming uninterested in drinking, driving and dating, they could perhaps be overlooking the effects that continuous internet access has on their teens’ mental well-being.

When Abraham Lincoln took t the stand for his second inaugural speech, people were surprised by the short but effective speech that was given. Abraham Lincoln talked about some of the motives each side had and their reasons. Lincoln used some rhetorical devices to not only persuade his audience, but to show them that things could get better. He uses it very efficiently to provide solutions and to see past their problems.

The initial use of logical examples, Hansen (2009) then looks to initiate the reader’s emotional view on the topic by dismissing the governments concern with the reader’s future generations. Hansen (2009) does this in around the middle of the essay by implying that the government “doesn’t give a damn about your children or grandchildren” (Hansen, 2009 p.434). This allows Hansen (2009) to strike an emotional conquest on readers, presenting that deception the government is providing. This emotional strike of not caring, promotes the readers that they need provide support for their future generations by initiating change. Hanson (2009) induction of readers families also promotes that his view is similar to the readers, as well shows that he shows

In the article “Is Google Making us Stupid?”, author Nicholas Carr expresses his idea that the internet is taking over society and our thinking process. Google is affecting our abilities to read books, longer articles, and even older writings. Carr believes that we have become so accustomed to the ways of the internet, and we are relying on Google 's ability to sort through the details for us so we don 't have to, in order to get the information we find necessary more efficiently. He finds that this process has become almost too handy, and that it is corrupting us from becoming better educated.