Close Reading #1

Don’t Blame Mitt for the GOP’s Problems

By Michael Tomasky

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/23/michael-tomasky-don-t-blame-mitt-for-the-gop-s-problems.html

In “Don’t Blame Mitt for the GOP’s Problems,” Michael Tomasky explains that Mitt Romney shouldn't necessarily be blamed for his recent campaign woes. Instead, him and and his campaign are being controlled by powerful GOP factions. Yet, Tomasky doesn't totally absolve the Republican candidate. Using strong diction with pejorative connotations, Tomasky puts Romney in a very demeaning light. Also, Tomasky uses powerful metaphorical language and syntax to further criticize both Romney and the GOP factions that control him.

Though titled “Don’t Blame Mitt for the GOP’s Problems,” the article's pejorative diction is clearly intended to demean Romney. Tomasky talks about “every idiotic thing Romney has done.” He talks about how Romney “tried absurdly to defend...” He refers to Romney as “the former Massachusetts governor who seems squishy.” Tomasky is attacking him with these words. Yet, Tomasky doesn't stop there. He uses strong diction also to attack the GOP factions that control Romney. When Tomaksy talks about GOP supporters “who invented this fable about Obama,” he accuses them of being ridiculous liars. When he talks about “the rabble-rousers—Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin,” he accuses Limbaugh and Malkin of stirring up anger for no good reason.

Tomasky also uses vivid figurative language that ties the GOP to some strong negative images. For example, Tomasky says GOP factions are “holding guns to Romney’s temple.” He calls Romney a “big overeager floppy-eared dog, galumphing across the lawn anxious to please their masters.” With this, Tomasky creates a strong image of Romney that stays in the reader’s mind. Had he instead chosen to say “GOP groups are making strong demands of Romney,” Tomasky’s message would be much weaker. To the reader, Romney looks a lot weaker when Tomasky calls him a big dog with a gun pointed at its head. Tomasky’s strong figurative language makes his entire message clearer.

Even syntax plays a key role in the Tomasky’s article. Tomasky uses repetition and imperatives to sharply emphasize key points in his article. For example, in each of his first three sentences, Tomasky starts with “Yes, …”, making the statements seem obvious as if we, the reader, had suggested them and he’s merely nodding in agreement. In doing so, Tomasky sets the tone for the rest of the article by opening up with blunt criticism of Romney’s campaign and briefly providing a context for the rest of the article. Repitition is also used for emphasis when Tomasky says, “These groups permit no room… whatsoever. None. Not an inch.”  Tomasky’s message even becomes harsh and snappy when he uses imperatives. In the last sentence, he says, “Face it, Republicans: he was and is your best candidate.” This last sentence seems like an appropriate end to a piece filled with repeated, blunt criticism of Romney.

Tomasky’s article looks for the reason for Mitt Romney’s campaign woes and takes a critical angle on Romney and the GOP. Using unmistakably pejorative diction, it criticizes both Romney’s actions and the GOP factions that caused them. In vivid figurative language, it compares Romney to an obedient dog that acts only to please its owner, the GOP. The article also utilizes deliberate syntax techniques to put blunt emphasis on certain key points. Whether or not the reader shares Tomasky's views, it's important to understand and recognize the powerful techniques he uses to make his message stronger.

Open Prompt Response #1

2006, Form B. In many works of literature, a physical journey – the literal movement from one place to another – plays a central role. Choose a novel, play, or epic poem in which a physical journey is an important element and discuss how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

            In literature, characters are often wiser and more sensible at the end of a journey. The journey takes them through trials and tribulations that force them to adapt their way of thinking. Yet, this is not the case in William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying. The novel involves the Bundren family’s journey across the Mississippi countryside to find a place to bury their dead mother. The journey itself is poorly planned, unpleasant, and fraught with disasters. Many of the tragedies and disasters that happen during the journey give insight to the Bundrens’ lack of family unity and inability to learn from their mistakes.

            After losing a mother, family members will often become aware of the fragility of their own lives. The Bundrens’ disastrous river crossing is a clear sign of both the tenuousness of the Bundrens’ lives and their lack of caring towards one another. When the family tries to ford the river, a stray log knocks over their wagon. After the resulting chaos, Cash’s leg is broken and the wagon-pulling mules are all dead. The whole event gives insight into the Bundren family. The fact that a floating log can cause the Bundrens’ to lose so much emphasizes their precarious situation. Yet, this doesn’t necessarily awaken them to their fragile predicaments. As the disaster is unfolding, the father, Anse, doesn’t try to help recover the mules or make sure Cash is fine. Even after the crossing, Jewel still insists on spending time with his horse rather than with his family.

            At the end of the journey, when the Bundrens’ have finally reached their destination and have laid their mother to peace, it would seem most appropriate that the family become wiser as a result of all the troubles they’ve been through.  Yet, Anse and Dewey Dell’s behavior go against this. Just hours after burying his wife, Anse marries another woman. Anse also shows no shame in taking his daughter’s saved money to buy a set of false teeth for himself. In her own display of recklessness, Dewey Dell gives herself up to a pharmacy clerk who lies to her by promising to give her abortion medicine. The juxtaposition of Addie’s burial with the family’s reckless behavior serves to highlight the Bundrens’ lack of respect and reflection over their mother’s death.

            In As I Lay Dying, the Bundren family’s journey doesn’t serve to make the characters wiser. Rather, it serves to highlight the family members’ inability to learn and grow from past tragedies and mistakes. By involving a disastrous and tragic journey, Faulkner gives the reader the expectation that the family will emerge with new wisdom. However, in numerous instances, it’s clear the family isn’t capable of doing so.

Response to Course Material #1

For years, teachers have taught me to pay attention to my rhetorical situation when I communicate. They’ve told me that each unique rhetorical situation calls for a unique approach towards delivering a message. Because of this, I’ve always viewed essays, poems, news articles, TV, and movies as separate and exclusive modes of communication that have little overlap with other each other. Film directors follow the “film-making rules” while authors follow the “literature rules.” But this year, I’ve realized that these different modes often share many concepts and techniques with one another. Often, a good example of juxtaposition can be found anywhere from novels to documentaries.

When working on my presentation on Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I was surprised at how often Foster’s literature concepts kept appearing in movies, TV shows, songs, and even commercials. While Foster focused on identifying his patterns and meanings in literature, my presentation helped me find those same patterns and meanings in pop culture. It showed me that having different rhetorical situations doesn't necessarily entail using entirely different rules and techniques for communication. After seeing how a low-brow comedy film like Pineapple Express utilized the same concept of communion that the Bible does, I finally understood that.

One example in particular really helped me understand this. In The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, Michael Harvey says writers use punch lines, a “technique a comedian uses to make people laugh” (45), to organize sentences and deliver their messages more clearly in an essay. To me, this was like a craftsman from one profession borrowing a tool from a different craftsman's in a different profession. Even though an essay-writer and a comedian may have different rhetorical situations, there’s no reason they can’t use common techniques to deliver their messages.

Analysis of David Sedaris' "Me Talk Pretty One Day"

In his essay, “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” David Sedaris effectively uses many of the ideas set forth in Michael Harvey’s book, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, to keep his writing clear, concise, and fluent. When necessary, he uses passive voice and linking verbs to achieve clarity and concision. He avoids using the unnecessarily long and redundant language that typifies what Harvey calls the “pompous style” (3).

Throughout his essay, Sedaris follows all of Harvey’s rules to write clearly and concisely. For clarity, he writes without using nominalized verbs, which are known as “actions expressed as noun(s) rather than verb(s)” (Harvey 29). For example, instead of writing something like “the teacher asked them for a presentation on themselves,” Sedaris writes “the teacher instructed them to present themselves” (12). In this example, Sedaris uses the verb “present” rather than its nominalized form “presentation.” Though small, this difference in word choice helps present the message more clearly and directly. Also, Sedaris uses short, powerful verbs like in “I scrambled to think of an answer” (14) to write concisely. If instead, he used a longer verb phrase like in “I tried as hard as I could to think of an answer,” not only would he lose concision, but he’d also lose the sharper description from his original verb.

However, Sedaris also utilizes passive voice and linking verbs to achieve the same clarity and concision that active voice and active verbs often do. For example, he writes a passive voice with “After paying my tuition, I was issued a student ID” (11). As Harvey explains, writers should use a passive voice when trying “to emphasize an action or recipient and (not) the agent” (17). In Sedaris’ case, there’s no need to mention the agent of the action. Also, Sedaris uses a linking verb when he writes “Her temperament was not based on a series of good and bad days” (13). Harvey explains “It’s natural to use linking verbs when… describing things” (32). In Sedaris’ case, a linking verb was the most natural and clear option.

Sedaris makes his writing flow very well using consistent characters and frequent pronouns to make the subject of each sentence clear to the reader. In the following example, he utilizes both techniques.

The first Anna hailed from an industrial town outside of Warsaw and had front teeth the size of tombstones. She worked as a seamstress, enjoyed quiet times with friends, and hated the mosquito.

“Oh, really,” the teacher said. “How very interesting. I thought that everyone loved the mosquito, but here, in front of all the world, you claim to detest him. How is it that we’ve been blessed with someone as unique and original as you? Tell us, please.”

The seamstress did not understand what was being said but knew that this was an occasion for shame. Her rabbit mouth huffed for breath, and she stared down at her lap as though the appropriate comeback were stitched somewhere alongside the zipper of her slacks. (12)

Sedaris makes it clear Anna is the subject of the sentences in the first and third paragraphs, while the teacher is the speaker in the second paragraph. First, he begins each sentence with the subject to tell the reader who the subject is. If Sedaris didn’t do this, the reader would have to look through each sentence a second time to find the subject. In addition, Sedaris also uses pronouns frequently to make it clear that the “rabbit mouth” and “slacks” belong to Anna the seamstress, not the teacher.

In “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” Sedaris constructs a well-written essay using many of Harvey’s techniques for clear, concise, and fluent writing. Though there are instances where Sedaris uses passive voice and linking verbs, which Harvey cite as sources of unclear writing, Sedaris uses them appropriately.

Poetry Study Goals

• More easily understand a poem’s often difficult sentence syntax.
• Understand the significance, the big picture.
•  Learn more poetry terms
• Improve my general vocabulary.
• Make sure I get bogged down on detail only if I need to.

I really struggled with the poetry section. The first thing I noticed was the difficult sentence syntax that most of the poems had. As I read, my primary focus was on simply grasping the meaning of each sentence, a few words at a time. That’s why my biggest goal is getting used to the unusual poetry-style sentence syntax. And because of my narrow line-by-line focus, I had trouble recognizing the speaker’s emphasis on the paleness around him or his tendency to refer to the tombstone mournfully. Understanding the significance of these details will help me answer big picture questions. I realized the need to learn more poetry terms after seeing answer choices that included poetry terms that I weren’t familiar with, such as “masculine rhyme.” I also saw non-poetry vocab words that I didn’t know, such as “oblong” and “jetsam.” Not being able to use POI on these answer choices made it much harder to choose an answer. Finally, I realized most of the questions didn’t require as deep of an understanding of the poem as I thought. That’s why I made a goal to do a cursory read of the entire poem and look at the questions before I get bogged down on confusing sections