Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments: Article Analysis

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.

Introduction: Examine different kinds of advertisements and the problem at hand with how they perpetuate stereotypes, such as; gender, race, and religion.

Staples speaks of his experiences being a six foot tall, young, African American male in a city filled with poverty and crime. He had never truly been exposed to the stereotypes and discrimination in his younger days, of course he knew of it, but he never truly experienced it. When he was twenty-two years old, he was out walking at night due to a bad case of insomnia. Apparently, he was following a little too uncomfortably close to a white woman and she felt endangered. She began to run from him in a defense mechanism, opening his eyes to the discrimination he was born into. As he grew up, he experienced many more experiences such as the one he had that night in Chicago. Staples defends himself to the reader, telling them of how harmless he truly is. Although, Staples can understand why these women could be intimidated, especially in such a high poverty neighborhood. Staples looks past the discrimination, until it comes to the point where he becomes frightful. Staples is terrified of the gun violence and worried that if he makes a wrong move his life could be over.

In Brent Staples’ short story “Black Men and Public Space”, he paints a picture for the readers of the early years of black men in an urban environment. He identified that people often stereotype one another because of their skin color, their race, their gender, their culture or their appearance. Furthermore, it is expressed to us, the reader, that he, the author, pays close attention to the space between himself and others in public settings, for example; women on the sidewalk. Some people may disagree that women distance themselves a certain amount when walking by a black man on the sidewalk. This often distracts from larger issues in our culture,

While some believe not all assumptions and stereotypes are bad, but they force people of the group to fit in a generalized description stripping individuals of their uniqueness.

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 his essay, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space”, Brent Staples uses the rhetorical strategies of anecdote and diction in order to convey his message that due to racial discrimination black people (mainly men) have to change the way they naturally conduct themselves in public for they run the risk of something terrible happening to them.

Racism isn't born, it is taught! This essay "Just walk on by Brent Staples" is written in the mid 70's when racism was at its peak. Racism is not only common today it's been a part of American history. Staples works as a journalist in a predominantly white society. This essay deals with racism, stereotypes, and prejudice. In this essay, he demonstrates to the reader using his own experiences, how stereotypes based on sex and skin color can change the mind of one person and how it can influence many other people. Staples fears about how his appearance and his color make people think of him as a harmful person. a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket- he also mentions that he possesses an indulgent

The IAT Harvard survey consisted of multiple topics regarding race, genders, thoughts on sexuality and so on. One topic was if one prefers European Americans over African Americans. Surprisingly, the results were that most people strongly prefer European Americans over the other. Why is that? Maybe it’s because many people place stereotypes and other ideals towards another individual, whether they have a different skin tone, whether they are male or female, as well as other characteristics one may notice. Author and editorial writer, Brent Staples acknowledges this issue as well as experience many situations in which people distinguish him from others. Brent Staples message in his essay titled “Just Walk On By” is conveyed to the audience through many rhetorical devices in which he suggests that stereotypes of race and gender can impact someone 's life in the easiest ways.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality… I believe that the unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” - Martin Luther King Jr. Grace Hsiang in “FOBs” vs. “Twinkies” demonstrates the interracial issues happening in the Asian culture. Hsiang displays the interracial matter with the Asian culture and its complexity to embrace all sides of the community. She chooses diction in her writing such as discriminated, marginalized, pressure, and dichotomy to project the tone of her writing. While the article Black Men in Public Places illustrates the stereotypes and intraracial issues within the black men community. In both of these articles, the authors show similarities of discrimination however the articles highlight differences using diction, anecdotes, and tone throughout their writing with the soul purpose to account for racism. The authors write and project towards a certain audience to acknowledged the racial issues the people are still facing.

An important part of an exemplification essay is using correct essay structure and examples. The examples may be used to help the writer explain, clarify, and support their arguments or points (Kirszner 207). Examples could also be used to add interesting topics in the authors paper, making the paper enjoyable (Kirszner 208). Using correct writing structure in the exemplification essay is also important (Kirszner 211-212). Both Brent Staples’s memoir “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” and Maia Szalavitz’s article “Ten Ways We Get the Odds Wrong” use exemplification with similarities and differences in the way they use their examples as a way to explain their main points, the way it affects how interesting

The essays of "Just Walk on By" written by Brent Staples, and "Polyphemus Moth" written by Annie Dillard suggest that they are very contrasting in their attention to what specific problems that each author addresses, but in actuality when you look much deeper into what each essay purposes, they are not so different. This is an essay of how and why they share the same goal in expressing their intention toward society's problems. We will look at how it affects our writers and how society is blind to our differences that aren't our own.. Both essays give us the preconception that life is chaotic in nature and has little to do with any influence of our own.

In the story “Walk on By,” author Brent Staples, writes about how being a black man, could elicit fear in people. Staples gives many examples of his own encounters with people fearing him because of the color of his skin. One example that Staples gives helps the readers connect to Staples the most; and aids the readers in understanding what he is trying to say. The example also helps the readers know the full extent of Staples’ hardships.

Today, we are living in a very complex social environment. In today’s society, people are stereotyped in many different ways depending which category an individual is located in. Haven’t you been stereotyped at some point in your life? Or you may have stereotyped someone without even noticing it. Stereotyping is actually more serious than we thought and it is becoming a major problem in our society today. But what is stereotyping? According to the dictionary, stereotype is defined as “a simplified and standardised conception or image invested with special meaning and help in common by members of a group.” Moreover, it is considered as a form of prejudice, as people are putting labels about how a person should act or live according to their gender, nationality, religion, personality or appearance. This creates pre judgment, including misconceptions, which can develop further, leading to bigger problems and complications.

According to Lippmann, “stereotypes are ‘pictures in our heads’ that we use to apprehend the world around us” (16). Stereotypes can be formed due to effects of media, as Wood describes media as pervasive, powerful and influential (31). Hence, stereotypes can be defined as inaccurate perceptions towards a group of people or community that is strongly influenced by the media. Whether positive or negative, stereotypes are usually false as they are formed based on personal judgments, which are biased or exaggerated.