A Whisper Of Aids, By Mary Fisher

1. “It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.” In this quote the author is referring to the rose bush by the prison as being a symbol of the sweet moral lesson offered by Anne Hutchinson, a woman who preached to the Puritans without the male-dominated permission of the Puritan church. Like Hester Prynne, Anne was punished. She was sent to the prison. No matter how small an action is, the culture of a society can respond in rage, loathing disgust, even fear. It is behavior that is learned and passed on through religion and community. In colonial Puritan society people were socialized to be very strict and religious and to punish anyone who behaved in a way that was considered improper. Any kind of sin had an exaggerated evil in the Puritan’s eyes, especially ones regarding marriage and sex. Hester Prynne and Anne Hutchinson are both character representations of women who stood up for the rights of women to live their own lives in a strict society.

Mary Fisher’s speech entitled “A Whisper of Aids,” is an appeal to the emotional and political moods of the Republican National Conference on August 19, 1992. In this speech she talks about her disease, but unlike most people, who become depressed when they learn about contracting the disease, Mary Fisher stands up and fights for everyone who has AIDS as well as bringing the statics of HIV and AIDS to light. Mary Fisher’s speech can be analyzed from three different standpoints: structure, delivery, and appeal.

“Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying” Two hundred thousand Americans, two hundred thousand brothers, friends, loved ones, all fighting a war; this war is not fought in foreign countries, this war is HIV/AIDS (“American Rhetoric: Mary Fisher”). Sadly, Mary Fisher is one of the many victims that are crushed by the heartbreaking diagnostic of being HIV positive, however, this was her alarm to the severity of the virus. As a result, Fisher dedicated her life to spread awareness of HIV and AIDS. In addition to the jaw-dropping speech, Fisher, has dedicated her whole life to the awareness of AIDS, through her store, biographies, non-profitable organizations, and many more. However, “A Whisper of AIDS” is the first domino in her line of work to break the “shroud of silence” known as AIDS (“American Rhetoric: Mary Fisher”).Fisher spoke from the heart, and as well as the mind in “A Whisper of AIDS”, which effectively touched the hearts of many and did exactly what she hoped it would, turned the whisper of the word AIDS into a shout spoken from numerous to prevent fear in the hearts of many. In order to show the dire importance of awareness of HIV/AIDS, Fisher, Effectively uses heartbreaking pathos, strong logos, and persuasive ethos.

The novel is narrated by Mattie Cook in the first person. She is only able to speak for herself. The only thoughts and feelings she displays are her own and the story is set wherever she is.

inevitable that AIDS would be defined in political and cultural terms as well as medically, and

The film describing an ordinary woman Noerine Kaleeba devoting herself fighting social stigma around AIDS in Uganda is a powerful scene. Her personal account of seeing her husband dying from AIDS propelled her to fly to Geneva to meet with Jonathan Mann, the leading researcher in the global AIDS program. When she arrived at the WHO building, she was rejected to meet with Mann. However, her emotional response caught Mann’s attention and when she sat down with Mann, he told her that her husband is going to die. But Mann asked Kaleeba “there is a prejudice that is attached to this disease that we have to fight, and will you help me fight it?” Kaleeba later became the co-founder of the AIDS activism group “The AIDS Support Organization,” a group that provides care, support and counselling as well as community education for prevention in Uganda. In this scene, Jonathan Mann recognized an important social factor of the disease which is that AIDS is attached to a serious stigma and discrimination. Due to the fact that there is

In this paper, I will dispute that in Mary Fisher 's "A Whisper of AIDS" speech, the use of pathos and ethos assists in her demand to end the ignorance, prejudice and silence surrounding HIV/AIDS. I will discuss how she replaces the "face" of AIDS with her own, allowing the conservative crowd to connect with HIV/AIDS. Fisher approaches the speech as an epidemic speech; heavily relying on ethos and pathos she created compassion and connection to an audience that usually shows disinterest and silence on the topic of HIV/AIDS. This paper will also discuss the logos within Fisher 's speech, and how she cleverly surrounds the logos of her argument with pathos and ethos. Although, Fisher has approached the speech as an epidemic, she holds a strong pervasive argument within the speech.

When the AIDS and HIV virus crept its way into the human-race, it quickly, and without warning, claimed the lives of millions. Then when its destructive wake had finally been abated, it left behind several untold mysteries. Throughout the course of this class, all the new material we have been exposed to has added some unique piece to the puzzle of the AIDS epidemic. Each puzzle pieces have ranged from speculations on how the AIDS epidemic had begun, to what exactly has the epidemic done. We have also tackled the question and how it forced a change in society. Our newest piece of the puzzle is the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” by William Cran. Although this documentary did not surprise me in its content, it did, however, affirm certain types

The Pneumocystis Pneumonia Report, also known as the first report of AIDS, was reported during the early 1980s. It was unveiled that this outbreak was not a form of pneumonia and that it was prevalent in the gay community. Due to the sudden emergence of this disease Americans were left in the dark leaving minds to conjure up ideas of how this disease was spread. The outbreak of this newly found “Gay Man’s Disease” left an alteration of the outlooks of Americans by the end of the rapid fire of this disease. The Pneumocystis Pneumonia Report caused America to put a stigma on gay males as well as raise awareness in order to combat HIV/AIDS, the workforce to be diminished due to the illness of workers leaving many with the inability to provide for their households and companies scrambling to replace workers, and forced AIDs relief plans to be set forth by the government.

In 1981, America faced one of its biggest epidemics to date, AIDS, a real modern-day plague. However, when analyzing the terminology and metaphors discussed during the AIDS epidemic, many academic scholars such as Susan Sontag view the conversation around AIDS as a plague as counterproductive. This view is clear when reading Sontag’s essay, Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphor, where a reader can interpret that nations failings while handling the epidemic was caused by a negative perception of the word plague. Although, Sontag is correct in her assessments of the word plague, she fails to mention that the use of the term may serve as a “call to arms” to incite positive action from both the government and the gay community. This

A sexually transmitted disease called AIDS broke out in the 1980’s. It spread quickly through extensive cities such as San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles. People thought you could obtain the disease through any physical contact, so it was an enormous scare. Countless people thought they would contract the disease and feared death. What a greater amount of people didn’t realize

Alan was diagnosed positive for HIV, but that discovery does not stop him from achieving his ambitions. Many people are anxious to tell their loved ones about being diagnosed positive with HIV. He is an activist, a man who wants HIV to be more transparent to the world. This goal is not to alert people about safe sex, but to open their eyes to the invisible truth of HIV. According to Mayer, it is wrong for people to “lie about their status”( A17).This lie can harm many people, and people need to realize the “realities of H.I.V. transmission”(Meyer A17). Alan strives to bring attention to people of the reality of having HIV. It is very rare for people to expose their true health status because organizations such as, Gay Men’s Health Crisis do

The poem, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, dramatizes the importance of living your youth to the fullest before you become elderly. The speaker as expressed by Robert Herrick, describes getting older as horrible and sad. The poet sends a message to all virgins in their youth to get married and make use of their youth before they lose it forever. The speaker most likely is in his older years and misses his younger days and regrets not living life more when he was younger and more able. This poem dramatizes the conflict between youth and old age.

Media resources serve as a constant reminder of world issues, each day we surf the internet or casually collect the morning newspaper to catch up on the latest in fashion, entertainment and world issues. In 1980, news papers, highlighted the onset of an epidemic, one that would create fear, isolation, bias and discrimination. The HIV virus took the public by disbelief, one of the main tribulations with HIV disease was that there was no concrete evidence that determined its transmission. Many Semantic variations such as "gay mans disease" created biases and discrimination toward this population (CITE). The onset of HIV/AIDS virus also created a devastating impact on healthcare professionals and forced members to re-evaluate legal and

Angels in America, set during the 1980s Reagan Administration, tells a complex story about identity and politics. This too was a time, dictated by men with seen women as secondary. President Reagan was deeply rooted in his conservative traditional views and did not support liberal progression. He saw no need for feminist advancements in the country and frequently voiced his opinion on the matter. Reagan expected men to work in government positions, while women, including his own wife, would stay home (“Women, Ladies, Girls, Gals…”). However, society chose to progress and leave behind the close-minded president. When the AIDS epidemic broke, both males and females were targeted. The diseases exposed vulnerability and morality, proving there was no superior gender