Needless to say writing is a crucial part to our everyday lives. Writing takes part in many of our daily activities from reading the news on our phones as we order our morning coffee, to the book you read before you nod off for the evening, from the e-mails and facebook messages you send to co-workers friends and family, to the essays you write for classes you are in. The numerous different devices you can use to portray yourself are endless and allow for seamless opportunities to segue in and out of your thoughts and opinions. However; while writing may seem a simple task at times it can be mentally strenuous, forcing you to think two steps ahead just so you may make one, and unfortunately not all essays meet the expectations of others. One essay that does an exceptionally well job of weaving its words together well and using numerous devices to help get its argument across is “Child Soldiers: A Worldwide Scourge” by Jo Becker.
Becker starts off her essay by bringing light to the justice brought to Thomas Lubanga, a Congolese warlord who was found guilty of the capturing and militarization of children that is causing turmoil in certain parts of the world (Becker 430). By stating these facts Becker appeals to our Pathos, or our emotions and personal values. Child Militarization is widely viewed as a negative ideation, so by stating those facts Becker has already gained our attention because we feel justice has been served. At this point we are reeled in and curious as to where the rest of this essay goes because of our satisfaction of the results from Lubanga’s trial. She then goes on to refer to “Kony 2012”, a viral video that due to the millions of hits it had received put Joseph Kony, another commander of a rebel army who abdu...
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... does not waste anytime introducing the topic which assures that the reader will not have to endure a painfully long intro statement that makes you feel as if you are wasting your time. In fact the entire essay can be read in a total of one to two minutes. The straightforward nature of the essay makes it seem less of a persuasive essay rather than just stating the facts.
Given her use of all the devices in the proper manner I would, without a doubt, consider this essay a high level essay. The way she weaves her arguments together is fluid and produces results. I feel more compelled to do something after her essay and even more so after analyzing her essay to see the structure and effort she put in to convey her thoughts.
Works Cited
Becker, Jo. “Child Soldiers: A Worldwide Scourge” Global Issues. Ed. June Johnson. 3rd Ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. 430-431. Print.
In our modern society, we have forgotten the art of writing. When we write, we think to ourselves, the longer the sentence, the more intelligent I will sound. Many may say it is by writing long sentences. But is it all that true? In this piece of writing I would like to focus on an essay written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing. In this essay he explains how and why when we write, we should keep our sentences short. he also explains why students should be assigned essays that are not determinate on other sources as evidence. I will also be comparing this to a piece written by Sarah Manguso, Ongoingness. I will be comparing these two pieces on their writing style, and their essayistic ideas. My belief is that we need
...be seen as an entity that promotes vile results. However, it is imperative to understand that globalization is multilayered and difficult to fully understand. In the case of child soldiers, globalization has played a pertinent role in unifying international organizations in hopes of finding a solution to this “phenomenon”. On the other hand, although certain international organizations such as United Nations have had a prominent role in advocating against child soldiery, for the following reasons, its attempts are insufficient: it lacks the ability to enforce sanctions established within the international community and it does not do enough to recognize the political, social and economic inequalities that are prevalent in most of these fragile states. Therefore, child soldiery, cannot be eradicated until these issues are dealt with on a collective global scale.
In order to understand the effects that come with being a child soldier, one must first understand how a child ends up in such a position. To three teenage boys living in a small Indian village, the hope of a better life for themselves and their families as well as the affirmation of employment seemed promising. So pr...
These conditions, caused by structural violence and weakened social systems, had severe consequences for all, but more so for children the children of Sierra Leone. Children make up the mass majority of the population of Sierra Leone. Because of the war, children had even less access to standardized education, they suffered immensely because of the unemploy¬ment of their parents, and thousands of children resorted to the struggle of surviving on the street (Zack-Williams, 2001). Children were preyed on by “thugs”. Soon children were unknowingly recruited as “child soldiers.” (It must be known that the term child soldier ...
While analyzing this essay call “The Enduring Appeal of Agatha Christie”, I can see that it effectively follows basic essay structure. This is based on the facts that in the introduction it goes from a general ideas starting off with a broad question, which also helps introduces the topic too. As we proceed through the introduction, the general ideas starts to narrows down, focusing on what is important. Once we reach the ending sentences of the introduction, the thesis shows up with its three supports evidence there too. For this essay, the thesis is Agatha Christie is the best crime fiction writer ever. This theses is good because it’s an opinion of the writer and can be argued by other people who have the same mentally or vice versa. Lastly,
The civil war of Sierra Leone lasted from 1991 to 2002. In this civil war approximately fifteen thousand kids were forced to become soldiers. Either by being kidnapped or by having their lives threatened. The situation was an extremely sad one. They had no choice weather they wanted to be soldiers or not. Like Ishmael said in A Long Way Gone, “It was either kill or be killed.” This situation is one where most people would not even be able to imagine themselves in. Ishmael Beah was a boy who suffered, because of the civil war. His family was killed and he was forced to become a soldier for the military. He eventually was rescued by UNICEF and eventually moved to the United States. For a decade, there has been a war between Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican government. There have been an unacceptable number of kids that have been used as soldiers in this war. Approximately, thirty thousand youngsters have been forced into becoming soldiers. In contrast to Sierra Leone, the soldiers here are only for the drug cartels, but in Sierra Leone even the government made the children become soldiers too. Just like the children of Sierra Leone, the children of Mexico are also kidnapped or threatened into becoming soldiers. Once captured, they are transformed into belligerent
Mark, Monica. "Joseph Kony Child Soldier Returns to Terrorised Boyhood Village." Guardian News and Media, 23 July 2013. Web. 20 May 2014. .
“Use of Children as Soldiers.” Foreign Policy in Focus. 01 Nov. 2001: 1. eLibrary. Web. 10
Angucia, M. (2009, September 1). Children and war in Africa: the crisis continues in northern Uganda.(Report). International Journal on World Peace , 26, 95.
The essay was very easy to read and it could make someone feel as if there were there in the school with her. The essay begins giving a very miserable feeling but by the end, there is a sense of acceptance. The vocabulary
Child soldier is a worldwide issue, but it became most critical in the Africa. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by some rebel groups and used as fighters, cooks, messengers, human shields and suicide bombers, some of them even under the aged 10 when they are forced to serve. Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically make obedient soldiers. Most of them are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children feel that rebel groups become their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed by the war. Sometimes they even forced to commit atrocities against their own family (britjob p 4 ). The horrible and tragic fate of many unfortunate children is set on path of war murders and suffering, more nations should help to prevent these tragedies and to help stop the suffering of these poor, unfortunate an innocent children.
My form and structure are not always the best. In one of our more challenging essays, the Rhetorical Analysis Essay my form and structure weren’t as strong as they should be. As stated before, I made the mistake of not staying focused on the rhetorical elements of my topic and venturing my own personal opinion in the essay, which crowded and weakened my form and structure. Continuing with Murray’s path, the development of my essays is based on the rubric. I always seek to include information that the rubric is essentially telling me to include, but sometimes I fall short of developing my thoughts enough. The dimension of my essays also has inconsistencies. I tend to have a problem of expanding into great detail on one point of my essay leaving another point barely expanded upon leaving my essay disproportionate. Finally, the last thing writer’s look for in their essay is their own voice. Thomas Osborne in Late Nights, Last Rites, and the Rain-Slick Road to Self Destruction states “I strive for a good grade, and will work as hard as possible to achieve one, but there is a voice in the back of my head that is effectively scoffing at the ridiculousness of some assignments and expectations that I have had to complete and live up to.” My voice sometimes gets lost in assigned essays when I try to fulfill certain standards that are put upon me. Thomas and I both struggle with writing what we need to write in order to achieve the grade
Taylor, Rupert. “The Plight of Child Soldiers.” Suite 101. Media Inc., 11 May 2009. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. .
Capturing children and turning them into child soldiers is an increasing epidemic in Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah, author of the memoir A Long Way Gone, speaks of his time as a child soldier. Beah was born in Sierra Leone and at only thirteen years old he was captured by the national army and turned into a “vicious soldier.” (Beah, Bio Ref Bank) During the time of Beah’s childhood, a civil war had erupted between a rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front and the corrupt Sierra Leone government. It was during this time when the recruitment of child soldiers began in the war. Ishmael Beah recalls that when he was only twelve years old his parents and two brothers were killed by the rebel group and he fled his village. While he and his friends were on a journey for a period of months, Beah was captured by the Sierra Leonean Army. The army brainwashed him, as well as other children, with “various drugs that included amphetamines, marijuana, and brown brown.” (Beah, Bio Ref Bank) The child soldiers were taught to fight viciously and the effects of the drugs forced them to carry out kill orders. Beah was released from the army after three years of fighting and dozens of murders. Ishmael Beah’s memoir of his time as a child soldier expresses the deep struggle between his survival and any gleam of hope for the future.
Wells, Karen C.. "Children and youth at war." Childhood in a global perspective. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009. 152. Print.