The Grayest Generation: A Rhetorical Analysis
For those who experience parenthood later in life, the chances of having a child with a developmental disorder is an all too real reality. In the Article "The Grayest Generation: Older parenthood won’t just redefine the American family. It will upend society too.”, Judith Shulevitz discusses how an increase in developmental disorders amongst children coincides with a growing trend of adults waiting to have children at an older age; while also addressing how these disorders could not only be caused by the age of the mother’s reproductive system, but also the father’s. Shulevitz uses the aforementioned points to build an argument for change in the penalties women face for reproducing. She uses writing
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Shulevitz uses various different strategies and sources throughout her article that appeal to ethos and strengthen her credibility among her audience. Firstly, she has situated ethos with her audience because she is an established writer, as well as editor, for The New Republic. Secondly, Shulevitz invents her ethos bringing attention to the fact that she herself is an older mother to a child with a birth defect. This first hand experience creates an air of credibility and good character for the audience. With her first hand experience, the audience draws a conclusion that she is writing this article to bring light to an experience she has had. Her credibility is further strengthened by her ethical appeals when she cites sources such as The Centers for Disease Control, the New England Journal of Medicine, psychiatrist Dolores Malaspina, Dr. Jay Gingrich, and Michael Davies. By citing these sources Shulevitz shows that she has done her homework on the subject, using expert opinions and statistics to support her …show more content…
She employs an appeal to pathos when she addresses the point that older parents will die earlier in their children’s live than a younger parent, “what haunts me is the actuarial risk I run of dying before my children are ready to face the world” (Shulevitz 12). With the added statistic presented in her argument that the loss of the mother at early age is connected to the decline in physical health of the mother’s child, this information evokes the emotion of sympathy among the audience; grasping at the audience’s imagination of not being able to help their own children. Judith Shulevitz also appeals to pathos when describing the process taken just to conceive a viable embryo. As Shulevitz describes being told by the doctor to wait a few months, her husband and her submitting to fertility tests, and having to inject herself with the drug Clomid five days a month, the audience is inquired to feel sympathetic. The audience is exposed to the arduous tasks faced by not only Mrs. Shulevitz family, but also many other families experiencing parenthood later in life. This shows one the complicated nature of the fertility
Jonathan Kozol revealed the early period’s situation of education in American schools in his article Savage Inequalities. It seems like during that period, the inequality existed everywhere and no one had the ability to change it; however, Kozol tried his best to turn around this situation and keep track of all he saw. In the article, he used rhetorical strategies effectively to describe what he saw in that situation, such as pathos, logos and ethos.
Throughout the course of this novel, Ishmael Beah keeps the readers on the edge of their seat by incorporating interchanging tones. At the beginning of the novel, the tone can be depicted as naïve, for Beah was unaware to what was actually occurring with the rebels. Eventually, the tone shifts to being very cynical and dark when he depicts the fighting he has endured both physically and mentally. However, the most game changing tone is towards the end of the novel in chapters nineteen and twenty. His tone can be understood as independent or prevailing. It can be portrayed as independent because Beah learns how to survive on his own and to take care of himself. At the same time, it is perceived as prevailing and uplifting because Beah was able to demonstrate that there is hope. Later in the novel, Beah travels to
In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer wrote about Christopher McCandless, a nature lover in search for independence, in a mysterious and hopeful experience. Even though Krakauer tells us McCandless was going to die from the beginning, he still gave him a chance for survival. As a reader I wanted McCandless to survive. In Into the Wild, Krakauer gave McCandless a unique perspective. He was a smart and unique person that wanted to be completely free from society. Krakauer included comments from people that said McCandless was crazy, and his death was his own mistake. However, Krakauer is able to make him seem like a brave person. The connections between other hikers and himself helped in the explanation of McCandless’s rational actions. Krakauer is able to make McCandless look like a normal person, but unique from this generation. In order for Krakauer to make Christopher McCandless not look like a crazy person, but a special person, I will analyze the persuading style that Krakauer used in Into the Wild that made us believe McCandless was a regular young adult.
“A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much” written by Catherine Rampell is an informative article about today’s millennial generation after high school. It provides the reader with a deeper look into young people’s work ethic, or what some to think to be, lack-there-of. The author does a fantastic job using research, credible resources, and statistics to support her belief that Generation Y (children born in the 1980s and 1990s) is no less productive than previous generations. I will admit that before reading this piece, I was one of those who believed that Millennials were in fact the “coddled, disrespectful and narcissistic generation” (Rampell, 2011, para 3). After reading this article, my opinion has changed. It has touched on issues
Taylor Swift is once again under fire over the allegedly racist theme of her new music video for “Wildest Dreams.”
Pollan’s article provides a solid base to the conversation, defining what to do in order to eat healthy. Holding this concept of eating healthy, Joe Pinsker in “Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods” enters into the conversation and questions the connection of difference in families’ income and how healthy children eat (129-132). He argues that how much families earn largely affect how healthy children eat — income is one of the most important factors preventing people from eating healthy (129-132). In his article, Pinsker utilizes a study done by Caitlin Daniel to illustrate that level of income does affect children’s diet (130). In Daniel’s research, among 75 Boston-area parents, those rich families value children’s healthy diet more than food wasted when children refused to accept those healthier but
Today’s economy and the environment are hurting due to the lack of nurture we have been providing. Conventional farming rules the world of agriculture, but not without a fight from organic farming. Organic farming is seen as the way of farming that might potentially nurture our nature back to health along with the added benefit of improving our own health. With her piece “Organic farming healthier, more efficient than Status Quo,” published in the Kansas State Collegian on September 3, 2013, writer Anurag Muthyam brings forth the importance behind organic farming methods. Muthyam is a senior at Kansas State University working towards a degree in Management. This piece paints the picture of how organic farming methods
In a quote by John Mill, “Does fining a criminal show want of respect for property, or imprisoning him, for personal freedom? Just as unreasonable is it to think that to take the life of a man who has taken that of another is to show want of regard for human life. We show, on the contrary, most emphatically our regard for it, by the adoption of a rule that he who violates that right in another forfeits it for himself, and that while no other crime that he can commit deprives him of his right to live, this shall.” Everyone’s life is precious, but at what price? Is it okay to let a murderer to do as they please? Reader, please take a moment and reflect on this issue. The issue will always be a conflict of beliefs and moral standards. The topic
The movie trailer “Rio 2”, shows a great deal of pathos, ethos, and logos. These rhetorical appeals are hidden throughout the movie trailer; however, they can be recognized if paying attention to the details and montage of the video. I am attracted to this type of movies due to the positive life messages and the innocent, but funny personifications from the characters; therefore, the following rhetorical analysis will give a brief explanation of the scenes, point out the characteristics of persuasive appeals and how people can be easily persuaded by using this technique, and my own interpretation of the message presented in the trailer.
The Letter from Birmingham Jail was written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of several civil rights activists who were arrested in Birmingham Alabama, after protesting against racial injustices in Alabama. Dr. King wrote this letter in response to a statement titled A Call for Unity, which was published on Good Friday by eight of his fellow clergymen from Alabama. Dr. King uses his letter to eloquently refute the article. In the letter dr. king uses many vivid logos, ethos, and pathos to get his point across. Dr. King writes things in his letter that if any other person even dared to write the people would consider them crazy.
The addition of a child into a family’s home is a happy occasion. Unfortunately, some families are unable to have a child due to unforeseen problems, and they must pursue other means than natural pregnancy. Some couples adopt and other couples follow a different path; they utilize in vitro fertilization or surrogate motherhood. The process is complicated, unreliable, but ultimately can give the parents the gift of a child they otherwise could not have had. At the same time, as the process becomes more and more advanced and scientists are able to predict the outcome of the technique, the choice of what child is born is placed in the hands of the parents. Instead of waiting to see if the child had the mother’s eyes, the father’s hair or Grandma’s heart problem, the parents and doctors can select the best eggs and the best sperm to create the perfect child. Many see the rise of in vitro fertilization as the second coming of the Eugenics movement of the 19th and early 20th century. A process that is able to bring joy to so many parents is also seen as deciding who is able to reproduce and what child is worthy of birthing.
In Children of Men, Cuarón portrays a world of imminent genetic erasure. Humankind has not seen a baby born for 18 years and at the same time, are mourning the recent death of the youngest person on Earth. According to Nanelle R. Barash and David R. Barash, dystopian science fiction share a them of "denial of biology"-a denial of human's basic needs.The prospect of genetic continuity is completely absent – a prospect that “is the motivation underlying sex, love, and indeed everything in the organic world”. Infertility, therefore, not only means the absence of children, but, worse, the absence of hope and sense of purpose. When we lose purpose, we simply give up
Surrogacy is becoming extremely popular as a way for people to build their families and women to have a source of income. Many people have various reasons for their opposition to it whether it be by comparing it to prostitution or disagreeing with how military wives take advantage of the Tricare insurance. Lorraine Ali states in her article “The Curious Lives of Surrogates” that one of the more popular reasons to oppose surrogacy is that it contradicts, “what we’ve always thought of as an unbreakable bond between mother and child.” However, a woman’s inability to conceive her own children does not determine the absence of a mother to child bond.
The two myth of motherhood that supports the information on this interview are “Motherhood is the ultimate fulfillment of a woman. It is natural and necessary experience for all women. Those who do not want to mother are psychologically disturbed and those who want to but cannot are fundamentally deprived” (Crawford, 2011, p.263). This myth supports the information on this interview because infertile couples or couples that have a hard time conceiving children fly to India from all over the world to hire women in India as surrogate mothers. Mother is the ultimate fulfillment of a woman and that is why couples
According to the cliché rhyme,“First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage.” What happens, though, if the “baby in the baby carriage” never comes to fruition? Millions of couples struggle with infertility every year. Despite relentless effort and sometimes even therapy, many relationships become strained by the curse of sterility. Both partners in a childless (yet child-wanting) couple feel the tension of the struggle to become parents. One literature-based couple that struggles with infertility is Shakespeare’s Macbeths. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth yearn for a child and react to their unsuccessful attempts at becoming parents in psychologically understandable ways.