TOW #24- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (IRB post 2)

Laura Hillenbrand supports her story well in the book Unbroken with primary source quotes and research. By doing this, Hillenbrand is able to appeal to ethos well and make the story more believable, as well as familiarize readers on the details of war with which they might not be familiar (assuming they are not World War II historians). This helps the reader better understand the story, and Hillenbrand is able to accomplish her purpose. Hillenbrand’s purpose is to inform the reader of the miraculous life events of Louis Zamperini, from his incredible Olympic journal to his ability to beat all the odds in surviving the war, from surviving a plane crash to surviving a prisoner of war camp. Since Hillenbrand’s book is based on a true story, she must provide this extensive research for her audience to help solidify the validity of her writing. For example, when explaining the troubles faced by B-24 planes landing on small islands, Hillenbrand writes, “For loaded B-24s, which needed well over four thousand feet for takeoff, the cropped island runways, often abutted by towering palm trees, were a challenge, ‘The takeoff proved exciting,’ wrote Sergeant Frank Rosynek of one overloaded departure” (82). In this quote, Hillenbrand is able to give background information to the reader about some of the difficulties faced by planes liked Zamperini’s as well as provide a primary source quotation to help give the reader a more well-rounded opinion of the time period. Also, in addition to simply citing facts of the time period, Hillenbrand is able to use primary source quotations to help set the tone and provide the emotions of the soldiers for the readers. For example, Hillenbrand writes, “‘There was a SWOOSH and pieces of palm fronds suddenly appeared jammed in the cracks, on both sides!...Only the laundry knew how scared I was’”(82). The story is more believable and intriguing with Hillenbrand’s provided primary sources, which helps her complete her purpose well and write a thoroughly interesting and informative book.

TOW #23- How to speak so that people want to listen by Julian Treasure (written text)

Julian Treasure studies sound and then advises people on how to use it. He is the chair of the Sound Agency, which advises businesses on how to use sound. This background in studying sound provides Treasure with the automatic ethos he needs in order to make an effective speech about sound. Although Treasure has made a total of five TED Talk speeches on different aspects of sound, this TED Talk, “How to speak so that people want to listen,” focuses on the production of sound from the individual, while other speeches of his focus more on listening, etc. Treasure has an effective introduction in this speech, connecting with his audience before explaining to them how to speak well. He begins by stating a fact that connects everyone to him (saying that the human voice is an instrument we all play) while using the first person pronoun of “we” to show that what he is saying applies to him as well, which helps his appeal to ethos. He then immediately provides examples of using the voice that also connect to the audience while proving his point that the voice is a powerful tool (such as when he explains using the voice to say “I love you”). The organization of Treasure’s speech is also very effective. He begins by listing all of the mistakes people make when speaking and then he goes on to correct these mistakes by explaining how to talk correctly. He uses verbal numbered lists that also appear sequentially on his power point to help with the organization of his ideas. Since his purpose is to explain how to speak well, following this structure allows him to explain this in a clear, direct way that allows for easy visualization since this was intended to be an oral speech. Using all of these strategies, Treasure’s purpose of explaining how to speak well is accomplished.

https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_how_to_speak_so_that_people_want_to_listen/transcript?language=en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI

TOW #22- #DearMe by YouTube (visual text)

YouTube’s #DearMe campaign seeks to inspire young girls to not be afraid of being themselves. In an attempt to accomplish this, YouTube must gear the advertisement towards the audience of the young girls. YouTube does this by compiling the videos of many different girls from different ages, races, personalities, etc. This provides the advertisement with automatic ethos since the young girls are bound to listen to at least one of the girls who connects to them the most. Additionally, since the advertisement is compiled of real life videos that average people (not paid actors, etc.) made in honor of the campaign, the young girls are more likely to listen to and believe the older girls. Finally, since the advertisement is created by YouTube, a well-known, popular Internet site, the advertisement has automatic ethos since it is sponsored by such a reputable source. While most of the girls have relatively serious things to say, a couple of the girls make humorous remarks, which helps appeal to the pathos of the ad. By doing this, the advertisement makes an appeal to the emotions of the young girls, which helps them believe the advertisement more (which is the purpose of it). Additionally, the music in the background helps set the inspirational tone. The organization of the advertisement begins by the older girls saying “Dear [specific name].” This makes these girls seem more real and helps the younger girls connect to them more easily. The girls in the advertisement then go on to discuss some of the things that they felt insecure about when they were younger, which helps the younger girls who might be experiencing similar things connect to these older girls and want to listen to the advice the older girls are giving towards the end. The advertisement also creates one letter by picking and choosing certain phrases from many girls’ letters, which helps portray the universal message, as well as make the advertisement exciting as opposed to one person just giving a speech. By doing all of these things, the advertisement seems to be successful in attempting to accomplish young girls to not be insecure about themselves. 

https://www.youtube.com/user/YouTube?feature=inp-gh-ydr-us 

TOW #21- A Modest Proposal to Convert Shopping Malls into Prisons by Dan Geddes (written text)

The article, “A Modest Proposal to Convert Shopping Malls into Prisons” by Dan Geddes, is a satirical article from The Satirist. The explicit purpose is to argue that shopping malls should be turned into prisons. However, the implicit purpose is to comment on the behaviors of society, such as the tendencies to work hard to buy cheaply made goods or to eat oneself to death by eating over-priced, unhealthy foods. The title of the article is an allusion to “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift. By doing this, Geddes is able to demonstrate that his article will follow a similar style to Swift’s: heavily satirical, but still making a valid statement about something that needs to be fixed (in Swift’s case, it is about the Irish famine, while in Geddes’ case, it is about the negative tendencies of society). Geddes also uses many of the elements in Swift’s essay in his own as well. For example, both authors go through the math of why their proposals are the best solution to the given problem, which helps appeal to the logos of the argument, making it more believable. Additionally, Geddes article uses humor in an attempt to appeal to pathos. For example, Geddes comments on the traffic light situation of shopping malls, how the lights seem to be always green on the way into the mall, but seem to be always red on the way out. While he comments on this situation in the context of preventing inmates from escaping, this is humorous to the audience who may have experienced a similar occurrence with the traffic lights when just completing “normal” shopping (as opposed to being in mall prison). The intended audience is the members of society who are guilty of committing the things to which Geddes refers. For example, Geddes talks about people being glued to their couches when watching TV or using the Internet, as well as the negative eating and shopping habits of people. Geddes is attempting to open their eyes to the negative effects of their ways but using what they do on a daily basis as parts of his prison. He is able to negatively comment on their actions without offending them too much since it is written in a satirical way and Geddes is not directly criticizing people for doing these things, rather, he suggests making them part of a prison. Geddes ends with a clincher, saying, “And from that, we all benefit” (27). By saying this, Geddes uses irony, since it is ironic that the things done on a regular basis by the general population would be enough of a punishment to prisoners to benefit society on a whole.

http://www.thesatirist.com/satires/PoliticalSatire/mall_prisons.html