Rhetorical Analysis Of American Pie

In the article “The Coddling of the American Mind,” writers Greg Lukianoff and Jonathon Haidt address today’s college campus culture of oversensitivity and how targeting microaggressions by shielding sensitive topics from students may be modeling cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortion is a way our mind twists words to convince us of something that isn’t true to reinforce negative thinking. Since college administrators changed ways to try and block out microaggressions on campus it is actually teaching students to think in distorted ways. As a result, students are learning lessons that are bad for themselves and their mental health. However, Lukianoff and Haidt believe that cognitive behavioral therapy is the next big thing to teach good

Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto is an eye-opening analysis of the American food industry and the fear driven relationship many of us have with food. He talks in depth about all the little scientific studies, misconceptions and confusions that have gathered over the past fifty years. In the end provide us with a piece of advice that should be obvious but somehow is not, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He follows the history of nutritionism and the industrialization of food, in hopes to answer one question….. how and when "mom" ceded control of our food choices to nutritionists, food marketers and the government.

In the autobiographical narrative “The Pie” by Gary Soto, the author recreates the experience of his guilty six-year-old self as he describes his first experience with stealing. He effectively portrays his worst sin through his use of contrast, repetition, and imagery. While contrast describes the existence of both the Holy ways and temptation of human desires that Soto faces, repetition emphasizes the guilt that he is feeling, and imagery aids the reader in imagining the guilt and satisfaction that Soto is feeling through the eyes of a six-year-old.

The music of “American Pie” harkens back to a time of rock-n-roll, pianos, and acoustic guitars. A time when the music was upbeat and peppy, causing you to want to jump up and dance. However, the music during the time of its creation lacks the calming effect that is acquainted with the music of previous eras. “American Pie” embodies many qualities of the music during the 1950s, including the simplicity of the chord structures overall, the clear vocals, and well-known and used instruments. With the use of simple but repetitive chords, Don McLean is able to shift the attention from the musical facet of the song back to the lyrics and the individual person listening to it.

"American Pie" starts out addressing McLean love for music in the 50's. During the 50's, music was a tool for getting people off their feet and on to the dance floors. "And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance, and maybe they'd be happy for a while" (McLean). This verse symbolizes why he loves to create and perform for his fans. McLean then goes on to mention his mentor Buddy Holly. "But February made me shiver. With every paper, I'd deliver. Shocking news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step. I can't remember if I cried. When I read about his widowed bride. But something touched me deep inside. The day the music died" (McLean). Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959, in a plane crash. There are two theories on why the song was called "American Pie." It was rumored, "American Pie" was the name of the plane that took Buddy Holly life. Also, someone refers it to a symbol of the beauty queen Miss America (Morgan). Mclean remembered the paper boy delivering the morning paper and there on the front page, was the story of the death of Buddy Holly. At the time Holly's wife was pregnant and soon had a miscarriage afterward. McLean, he says he can't remember if he cried in the moment or not. All this was in the first few verses in "American Pie." McLean incorporated these lines of imagery to help the listener picture his past emotional experiences. I believe McLean wanted to paint a picture for his audience could relate to. During these times it was tough for McLean. Not only did Buddy Holly die but also rock star legends Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper. For McLean music died for him and the rest of the world.

Many businesses and organization use the method of advertisement to sell their products. Ads enhance products and encourage the audience to buy its products. There are many strategies in which influence how successful an ad can sell its product. In this essay, I will be conducting a rhetoric analysis on a chip advertisement created by Popchips. This essay should identify the audience the ad is trying to reach; the message the ad delivers; and the three modes of persuasion (ethos, logos, and pathos) that are used in this ad. For reference, this ad can be found at the end of this essay.

The time to accept the faults of men is now. Nationally syndicated columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Dave Barry, in his essay “Turkeys in the Kitchen”, affirms that there is truth in gender stereotypes surrounding men and their place in the kitchen, which, ironically, is not in it at all. Barry’s purpose is to confirm to his audience that men typically do not have the skills or knowledge to operate successfully in the kitchen. Moreover, in order to convince his audience, Barry adopts a humorous tone to mock his own impairment when it comes to the kitchen and to relate his impairment to that of the typical male population. Through the use of figurative language, relatability, and anecdotal stories, Barry convinces his audience of the truth behind stereotypical gender roles.

The President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, presented his speech “What Is An American” while attending an I Am an American Day gathering in Central Park, New York City. At that time Germany completed multiple invasions throughout the European countries and was furiously attacking Britain. The American people were overall branched with the involvement of the U.S. in the war. One side believed in passivity, though others presumed even if Great Britain was conquered by Germany, the United States would remain in desolation. Harold’s Speech was directed to the Americans doubting involving the U.S. with the war against the Germans. His goal was to show that Americans are fighters and have always helped their

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" this is an old phrase used to inspire hopefulness and an encouraging, positive can-do attitude in the wake of hardship or disaster. Lemons symbolize the inevitable sourness or difficulties in life, while lemonade is the sweet drink that is the product of the lemons. Often life offers trivial disappointments with almost no explanation and sometimes it seems almost impossible to break the misfortunate spell. However, for some people, each mishap in their lives leave them not only perplexed but eager to see the glass half full rather than empty. Beyoncé is a prime example of making the best out of a bitter situation. On April 23, 2016, Beyonce released her groundbreaking fully visual album “Lemonade”. Lemonade debuted as number one album on the billboard charts and allowed Beyoncé to have the biggest first-week sales count. Nevertheless, with greatness comes a few flaws and “Lemonade” was no stranger to faults. To some, “Lemonade” was the cultural awakening that they needed but for many it was the conversation starter that would strike both emotionally and politically which is why it is such a powerful album but an even more important conversational piece.

There stood thirteen men and women, each with a rope around their arms and legs

In the short play A Raisin in the sun conflict’s both internal and external occure for in three of the main characters regarding their dreams. When the opportunity came for them to accomplish their dreams through using the insurance money they’ve come across from the loss of a family member, one of the main characters, Walter, wishes to be successful in life; but he needs the insurance money to do so. He wants to use the insurance money to open up a liquor store because he believes this would change his life. A exceptional quote that shows his determination to be successful in life is when he speaks to Ruth “You tired, ain’t you? Tired of everything. Me, the boy. The way we live-this beat up hole-everything”(

Writing rhetorically is often a hard task for writers to do, it’s also one of the best ways for the people reading your work to understand visually the message you are trying to describe to them. When writing in general the best thing you can do for the readers of your work is to describe the visual elements for them in a fun and intuitive matter. And Gustavo Arellano the author of “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Became More American Than Apple Pie” did exactly that. His use of different visual elements throughout the story was very well done and added a lot of great qualities to the text itself.

The song American Pie is a representation of loss during the transition into the 1970s. It was written in 1971 by Don McLean and filled with his views on the state of society, political changes, and cultural changes. The cultural changes and the loss of everything society knew produced the lost generation that McLean was apart of. He demonstrated his disapproval of the direction of the country by using music, faith, and war as examples of the changes and loss his generation faced.

In, “The American Scholar,” Ralph Waldo Emerson talk about his displeasure about how societal curriculum replicated person after another, in order to clarify that there are more efficient way to become a successful scholar. In this essay, Emerson has made distinctions between the 'old world thinking' of Europe and America. Emerson also thinks the American way should be new and different from old word thinking. Along with this main point, Emerson believes an American Scholar should be "Man Thinking,” which means being more independent, and students should get knowledge by their first hand experience through things such as nature, action, and books. In the speech at Harvard University, Emerson’s audience were a group of students from Harvard

As Pi has to fight through adversity when he is stranded in a the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he has to adjust his eating habits. When one is in a situation where there is not much to eat, any little thing must be consumed. As a very famous proverb says, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” This was Pi’s most difficult challenge when he was on the boat. As a child, Pi grew up to be a vegetarian. The idea of killing and then consuming an animal really freaked out Pi. He remembered from his childhood, “To think that when I was a child I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal's neck” (197). Even when Pi was eating something like a banana that is not related at all to an animal, he