Rhetorical Analysis Of Virginia Heffernan's 'Against Headset'

The excerpt from Mary Oliver’s “Building the House” serves as a way to describe what happens during the poetry writing process. Although Mary Oliver believes that writing poetry is hard work, she uses extended metaphor, juxtaposition, and point of view to describe the writing process in comparison of building a house, which shows that Oliver sees poetry as something that involves mental labor which is a different challenge than physical labor .

In the essay, “Blasting Music to Drown Out Reality”, by Sydney J. Harris, the author is determined that people use music as a way to, “keep reality at arm's length”. “It is not in order to hear the music, but in order that the vacuum in their minds may be soothed by the sound, so that silence does not force them into thinking about themselves or experiencing the real world of perception and sensation.” This shows how music has be used as earplugs to block away people's connection to the world around them, to silence their troubles if only for a moment. This thesis is explicit to make sure the readers can easily identify what the author's argument is going to be when they are examining

In America, there used to be unfair laws and regulations regarding labor. Children are put to work in harsh conditions, conditions often deemed difficult even for adults, and are forced to work ridiculous hours. Florence Kelley gave a speech at the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905. In her speech, Kelley uses repetition, pathos, imagery, logos, and carefully placed diction to express how child labor is morally wrong and inhumane.

In Barbara Ehrenreich's bold and honest book she tackles the issue of poverty in America head on, by becoming a low wage worker herself. Ehrenreich delves into the often unheard of issues relating to poverty and low wage work, providing her readers with a new perspective on America's working poor and manages to give her audience a stark emotional, yet logical and factual, look into the working class' poverty epidemic. She uses her own anecdotal evidence and supports it with statistics and facts, appeals to ethos by challenging the ethics of corporate America and it costs, finally she hits an emotional chord with readers by reminding them of what low wage workers must endure so that we can live in our America.

Leonard Pitts’ piece was effective from the start even though his piece was written in a ranting manner. This is because the author pours opinionated pathos into the piece and it happened to be the feeling of everyone in the country at the moment. The author also dismisses his ethos as a paid column writer to say what the normal American with average communication skills would say. Most paid column writers would probably not use the words, ¨you monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard¨ (Pitts). However, even though he is dismissing his credibility this works for him because it makes him a relatable speaker and makes the reader want to continue reading.

In an essay described about Ellen Terry, the author depicts this widely talented individual by using metaphors, juxtaposition, and rhetorical questions. This author portrays Ellen Terry in a positive light as a writer, author, and actress. Ellen is not only praised for her natural talent, she is also most widely recognized as one of the first to be completely original in her endeavors. The author compares her to famous actors and writers, such as Shakespeare, to help sway her intended audience to grasp the vast range of talent that Ellen embodies. She mentions that Ellen’s talent is so great that she often surpasses the works of these well-known writers due to her ability to set herself apart from all others.

Louv uses Logos, the strategy of using logic or reason, in this excerpt to provide logical reasoning on his stance. Richard claims that it's now getting easier to gain access to these detrimental pieces of technology, and producers are making the devices more intriguing to consumers. "Sales are brisk; the prices are falling. Some systems include wireless, infrared-connected headsets." (Louv Paragraph 2). Louv is trying to explain that companies are making certain items more interesting for the consumers, so they're more wanting to purchase them. Also, Richard mentions a fact about American standards regarding technology and children. “Why do so many Americans say they want their children to watch less TV, yet continue to expand

This article was published in The New York Times in October of 2011. The article illustrates the daily challenges faced by multiracial families. Based on where the article was published, Saulny’s intended audience was the 18-49 year-old demographic as this makes up 64% of The New York Times readers (Mahapatra, 13). Roughly 80% of readers of the The New York Times have had some post-secondary education or graduated from college, indicating a highly educated audience (Mahapatra, 13). Readers also tend to lean more liberal; meaning, readers likely hold the basic liberal ideologies of equality for all and social justice as their core values (Mahapatra, 13). All of these demographics come together to create and audience that is full of young and middle age families in the middle class. Saulny’s goal for this article is to convey the social challenges multi-racial families face on a daily basis and evoke an emotional response. Saulny effectively evokes an emotional response in her audience to help garner more acceptance for multi-racial families by including anecdotes of the families’ experiences. These anecdotes help move the audience emotionally because they show the challenges multi-racial families experience, which doesn’t sit well with a majority of the liberal-leaning readers. However, with all the challenges highlighted in this article, a reader may start to assume that it is un-wise

Chapter 10 is called “The Leech and His Patient.” This title is a perfect symbol for what happens in the chapter. Roger Chillingsworth continues to work on his patient, Dimmesdale, to try to figure out what is wrong with him. At the same time though Chillingsworth, the leech, is growing obsessed with his patient. Chillingworth has connected Dimmesdale's spiritual sickness to his physical sickness. At the end of the chapter, he finds something on Dimmesdale’s chest while he is sleeping, which he is overjoyed by. This mark is a permanent mark, Dimmesdale’s own scarlet letter, except it is part of his skin, not a detachable letter. While leech can be used to represent physicians as physicians commonly used leeches, the idea of the leech

D. Watkins is a writer whose work has become famous across the world. He’s published in several big magazines and has had several interviews on TV. He writes his stories to try and bring more awareness about uneducated low income African Americans. He is a professor at Coppin State University and teaches English. His goal is to help educate his students as well as others through reading. In his article (my neighborhood revolution, one letter at a time) he stated “I am going to do everything in my power to make reading cool and destroy that Dub mentality, which is so common in Baltimore and many other low-income areas across America”

A century has passed since the creation of headphones, yet they have only recently come under fire. Headphones provide a way for people to listen to music, audiobooks, and podcasts privately without disrupting others around them. However, all of this private listening may soon fall on deaf ears. In Virginia Heffernan’s article “Against Headphones”, she presents an argument stating that although headphones are useful in some professions, they cause substantial hearing loss, especially in young people. The formulated argument is effective and valid, and incorporates ethos, logos, and opposing viewpoints with rebuttals.

The Kite Runner focuses on the journey of Amir as he struggles both mentally and physically to make up for a horrible wrong that he committed in his past that continues to haunt him to this day. He encounters many difficulty, fear, and happiness. Hosseini teaches his readers that it is necessary to channel one’s guilt into a means of redemption because although forgiveness may not be granted right away, as long as moral actions are taken, atonement will eventually ensue.

Dawn Huebner, discusses a topic in her TED talk that everyone is familiar with; anxiety. She starts out reminding us that a little bit of anxiety is okay, but when it becomes debilitating, it is then concerning. She also adds a third member to the acute stress response; freeze, explaining that when addressed with a stressful situation a person can fight, flight or freeze. This talk was very informative and I was really glad my husband was present while I was listening to it. He has been struggling with social anxiety more than usual lately, and I have been encouraging him to seek help for it. He was interested in the bribing technique used by Mrs. Huebner, and suggested a very expensive video game for as reinforcement for attending my upcoming

Both the article, “Why I just asked my students to put their laptops away” by Clay Shirky, and the article, “The collective conscience of reality television” by Serena Elavia have their differences, but mostly similarities. The article by Clay Shirky talks about how electronics affect students while in school. Many teachers had been letting students use their phones and other electronics during a class but later teachers began to tell their students to put their devices away. The other article from Serena Elavia talks about television and how the producers don’t always show the truth behind the television screen and they are only making the viewers upset. The net Media was described on both of the articles, and how it’s also been affecting us today. Although there are many other differences between the two articles, some similarities include social media, distractions caused, and people’s desire over the topics, both articles agree with the topic.

Headphones are a necessity for many people in today’s society. Headphones allow a person to listen to music without disturbing others; therefore people are listening to music all day while they eat, sleep, or work. In Derek Thompson’s essay, “How Headphones Changed the World”, Thompson addresses the problem of why workers use headphones even if studies have shown that it interferes with their productivity levels. Thompson effectively uses precise language and organizes his essay in a way that shows a breakdown of his thoughts on this topic. These two elements make the essay easy to understand, which enhances the audience’s reading experience.