Free Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

In:

Submitted By jessicaschmittt9
Words 1775
Pages 8
Jessica Schmitt
English 111
Professor Kate Comer
September 14, 2014

The Struggle as a Part-time Student and a Full-time Worker “In 2012, 46.5 million people were living in poverty in the United States—the largest number in the 54 years the Census has measured poverty. The poverty rate also remained at high levels: 15% for all Americans and 21.8% for children under age 18.”(ncleji) The poverty the children are born into effects them terribly, by turning them into adults at a young age. They have to begin working just to help their families provide shelter and food to live. While helping to provide for your family as a young adult your priority is working, and it isn’t necessarily completing assignments and hanging out with their friends. We live in a generation where education is usually a major key to a successful lifestyle. This has became a huge controversial issue these last few years because of fear that the youth will not be able to rise into elders foot steps causing poverty to rise and the gap between the poor and rich to grow immensely. The Public Service Announcement shows a young girl working at the register of a fast food place, and she is looking down at the register. There is another teenage girl working in the back preparing food.Written in the middle of the photo starting from the left in white is “Heather, 10th grade” directly underneath that “Worked 20 minutes on math problems.” and again “worked 45 minutes on term paper.”. After that with white background and clear writing “worked a 9 hour shift.” At the bottom of the page you can see a tray with fries, a soft drink and a hot. Blocking the fries a little they have in larger white writing “boostup.org” then the photo cuts off and is all white. Written in small black writing to the right of the page states “let’s give you students at risk of dropping out the boost they need to make it through high school. Because over 30% of students in the U.S. aren’t graduating. And they’ve got a lot more to tackle than just their school work.” When you take your first glimpse of the photo you interpret it’s design is aimed towards parents or adults. Immediately you notice the workers are wearing bright red color shirts and hats kinda like McDonalds. The bright color compared to the other dark colors included in the PSA help to reinforce the focus the advertisement has on bright futures for the youth. The bright color can be interpreted as a future ahead which is being blocked by the darkness reinforced by the fast food companies that they are working so hard for. The designer wants the audience to help the youth who are struggling with school work because of the challenge to be able to put food on the table. This issue can be alleviated if the organization was able to help the students cut back their work hours to focus more on their education because of the lack of income the parents have provided. If the parents were lent the same type of help when they were younger so they could of had a better education level then their children wouldn’t be facing the same problems: the domino effect. If someone ever had to be employed at Mcdonalds who would want to stay working there their whole life? The rest of the picture doesn’t include many other bright colors which sets the mood for the work place. The dark appearance of the photo brings out a somewhat unhappy feeling or setting for the work environment. If one were to work in a dark environment they wouldn’t feel their worth or value their work. Due to the lack of joy in their work environment it causes a lack of importance or potential in ones self. It helps appeal to adults who started out in the same place they were, one could imagine the different impact of the design if she (being the young lady in the ad) was working at a 5 star restaurant on a beach, the feeling wouldn’t be that one feels bad for her, more like they would want to go visit her restaurant. They want the audience to help push these teens to get out of the lower level jobs, get a good education so they can be able to have a better life for their children and generations to come. The young lady in the PSA is tired and worn out from working; as a parent you understand just how she is feeling which connects with the audience emotionally. Her facial expression is also very focused on the register which symbolizes her focus on the task at hand. The organization understands that this is a known problem across the United States that many suffer with this problem daily. “Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That’s a student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day.” (dosomething.org) This number is highly significant due to the poverty, many parents have money issues or are alcoholics, etc and their children have to learn how to be adults before ever experiencing what its like to be a child. If the children had an opportunity to learn from their parents mistake and grow up they would value different things and understand what is more important in life. In the photo one of the girls is African American and the other is Caucasian which is pushing to extend the multiracial struggle. It is not that everyone automatically thinks about this, but this is connecting with all races who interact with this advertisement which makes a lot of people want to actually help the teenagers out. Due to the controversial thought that only minority races are suffering, this ad makes the assumption that every race goes through rough times and poverty isn’t black and white. If everyone in this advertisement was one ethnicity you could predict this is geared only towards that race or in other ways maybe racist. Of course anyone could understand that each race has rich and poor so everyone struggles some times but help is never unwanted. As a viewer it makes you appeal to the picture more with the multi-racial idea. Now lets focus on the fonts, The first thing you read is “Heather, 10th grade.” Which right away one think what a young hard working girl. Next comes “Worked 20 minutes on math problems.” and “Worked 45 minutes on term paper.” Which if one consider it, it’s not much time at all for either of those to be done with a well thought out understanding and being correct. Then “Worked 9 hours on night shift.” This text changes to clear font and white background to jump out at you. This just emphasizes what the young woman is feeling because she is working instead of getting her education fully. How could she sleep if she works longer hours than normals business hours (9-5) and attends school? The dark colors presented are to try to help you understand the hard work and exhausting hours she is sick of doing. Also the uniform is bright colored which brings out her importance in the picture is her job. When the PSA gets its job done and leads people to their website their is much more information as to what they could do to join or help these teenagers in need. Like most PSA’s they are aiming towards the emotions of a viewer and also providing helpful statistics. The message being brought upon in the image stands out immediately once you stare at the picture. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never worked in a fast food industry or you’ve never had to be in her position. The fact of you being an everyday american living in this society you feel for others and understanding this makes you want to lend a hand to help.

Works Cited
Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. <https://www.dosomething.org/facts/ 11-facts-about-high-school-dropout-rates>. 1
Miller, Tony. "Partnering for Education Reform." U.S. Department of Education. Accessed February 26, 2014, https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/partnering-education-reform.

2
Silver, David, Marisa Saunders, and Estela Zarate. "What Factors Predict High School Graduation in the Los Angeles Unified School District ." Attendance Counts. Accessed February 26, 2014, http://www.attendancecounts.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/LAUSD-Study-2008.pdf.

3
BANCHERO,
STEPHANIE. "High-School Graduation Rate Inches Up." The Wall Street Journal. Accessed February 27, 2014, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323301104578256142504828724.

4
U.S.
Department of Education. "Fast Facts: Dropout Rates." Institute of Education Sciences. Accessed February 26, 2014, https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16.

5
Resmovits,
Joy. "Graduation Rate Hits Record High For High School Students: Government Report." The Huffington Post. Accessed February 26, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/22/graduation-rate-record-high-school-students_n_2522128.html.

6
Cheeseman
Day, Jennifer, and Eric C. Newburger. "The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings." United States Census Bureau. Accessed February 26, 2014, https://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p23-210.pdf.

7
Layton, Lyndsey. "National public high school graduation rate at a four-decade high." Washington Post. Accessed February 26, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/national-high-school-graduation-rates-at-a-four-decade-high/2013/01/21/012cd7da-63e7-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html.

8
Balfanz,
Robert, and Nettie Legters. "LOCATING THE DROPOUT CRISIS ." Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University's School of Education. Accessed February 26 26,2014, http://www.csos.jhu.edu/crespar/techReports/Report70.pdf.

9
Sparks, Sarah D.. "Study Points to Fewer 'Dropout Factory' Schools." City Year. Accessed February 26, 2014, http://www.cityyear.org/CityYear/6_About_City_Year/In_the_News_Articles/Study_Points_to_Fewer__Dropout_Factory__Schools.aspx

10
Balfanz,
Robert, and Nettie Legters. "LOCATING THE DROPOUT CRISIS ." Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University's School of Education. Accessed February 26, 2014, http://www.csos.jhu.edu/crespar/techReports/Report70.pdf.

11
Smiley, Travis. "Fact Sheet: Is the Dropout Problem Real?." Travis Smiley Reports. Accessed February 26, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/education-under-arrest/fact-sheet-drop-out-rates-of-african-american-boys/.
National Center for Law and Economic Justice Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. <http://www.nclej.org/poverty-in-the-us.php>. Data from U. S. Census Bureau and other published reports.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Julius Caesar Rhetorical Analysis Essay

...set the stage for the revolutionary action to take place; the murder of the emperor, Julius Caesar. The scheming Cassius, praising Decius, and dedicated Antony all use a labyrinthine combination of rhetorical devices and modes of persuasion to coerce their victims into their desires of either the death of Caesar or the condemnation of the conspirators....

Words: 987 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Speech To The Virginia Convention Rhetorical Analysis

...In the “Speech to the Virginia Convention”(1775), Patrick Henry convinced colonist to start a war against Britain by using rhetorical devices. Henry used imagery to help him persuade and show the colonist that they were shutting their eyes to what the British were doing. He used allusion to emphasize that the colonist were being blinded by comparing them to other people in a famous story they knew. Henry used parallelism to emphasize his point by repeating what he said. He also used rhetorical questions so that he could give the colonist a question they would know the answer to and also so they could think about it. Henry used many rhetorical devices and in the end they helped him convince the colonist to go to war against Britain. Patrick...

Words: 925 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Rhetorical Analysis No matter what fields you are in, we as academic writers will be familiar with rhetorical choices. Rhetorical choices play an important role in writing. They’re the “key ingredients” in a paper in order to capture readers’ attention and achieve writers’ purposes. When I was in Human Resource Organization Behaviors 101 class, professor Thomas Shirley assigned an ethics case for each group. I joined a group of five people and we got together for several group meetings. Finally, I was assigned to compose the “Ethical Analysis” section. Toward to the paper deadline, we produced the paper called “Starbucks: Friend or Foe.” The purpose of the assignment was to argue that whether the company’s decision was ethical when Starbucks fired employees for supporting unions and applied the four-component model of ethical decision making to this case. Discourse community is an essential factor when composing a paper. According to “Students Writing Handbook”, discourse community is a unique communication tool which people use to communicate with their readers within their fields (30). Since the paper was written for a required upper division major core course, the discourse community is all business majors. The genre was a general business paper with three sections: case summary, ethical analysis, and recommendations. We are college students are trained to become more professional in our careers. As a result, my group paper’s intended audiences were only Professor Thomas Shirley...

Words: 1410 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...ended up taking the class. Throughout the semester I learned how too successfully write documents that are used in the world of business, these documents include; sales report, a memo, an executive summary, a resume, a proposal, and many more. I had three assignments that were assigned. The three assignments included; a resume, a rhetorical analysis of a popular business article, and a positive and negative business letter. The first assignment that was assigned was to find an available job position and create a resume that would fit to the opening. I felt like I met the goals for the assignment because I followed the rubric and created a resume based on a summer internship position offered by Uline. This assignment taught me how to create a strong resume with the correct format that employers are looking for. At first the assignment was difficult because I wasn’t sure what type of resume to write, but after a little help it slowly started to come together. Peer review helped me with my resume because it...

Words: 621 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Jason Francis Herbert Pimlott Rhetorical Analysis November 13, 2012 This essay argues that the Globe and Mail (G&M) article, ‘Don’t Teach Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes’ (18 August 2012), is persuasive with its primary target audience of G&M readers. Clifford Orwin, the author of this article, is a professor of political science at the University of Toronto. Furthermore, the main focus of this article deals with the fact that: “Real education requires real teachers and students, not disembodied electronic wraiths.” Through the rhetorical analysis of this editorial, this paper will demonstrate that its persuasiveness can be attributed to four key aspects: through an emphasis on the use of deliberative stasis; its use of ethos and logos; and through its effective use of rhetorical imagery. Before the case can be made for understanding how and why this article is persuasive, we need to begin with setting the context of the issue or exigence to which the article was responding and whether that response was timely and appropriate. To understand the exigence of this article, the interpretation of Orwin’s implied audience is necessary to grasp how the two concepts within exigence, kairos and phronesis, both link text, context and audience together. Through an extensive analysis of the assumptions made by Orwin, the implied audience consists predominantly of instructors. Moreover, Orwin’s motto: “Don’t teach until you see the whites of their eyes.” Also used as...

Words: 2331 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Rhetorical situations are constantly occurring in our lives. But how do we recognize them? A rhetorical situation can happen in anything from an argument with a friend to something on a much larger scale like a presidential campaign speech. We see small rhetorical situations in commercials and even magazine and billboard adds. Rhetorical situations can be complicated so it is important for us to know how to properly analyze an argument but first we need to know what they are. Keith Grant-Davie defines a rhetorical situation as “a situation where a speaker or writer sees a need to change reality and sees that the change may be effected through rhetorical discourse.” (105). This definition is a little tricky but he later goes on to explain that within a rhetorical situation he finds four constituents: exigence, rhetors, audiences, and constraints (106). The Winter Park Florida advertisement book written by the WP Chamber of Commerce, is a great example to see how the four constituents can be used in an advertisement to create a well-made argument that attracts an audience. The first constituent, exigence, isn’t too difficult to determine in this piece. In the essay, “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents, Keith Grant-Davie defined exigence as “some kind of need or problem that can be addressed and solved through rhetorical discourse” (105). In otherwords it is the issue or challenge in an argument. The goal. In this brochure the exigence is quite clear, to get people...

Words: 919 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...This approach mostly focuses on the rhetorical contexts within which genres are applied rather than analyzing texts to find out about the organizational features. The analysis seeks to identify the relationship between text and context and the way they are shaped by taking reciprocal effects from one another. This means that texts are not random choices of words rather an integration of one’s identity, social beliefs and relationships and many more factors that shape people being. The new rhetoric approach motivated by speech act theory emphasizes on the contextual framework of the society rather than the content and the structure of a text. This school of genre (Bazarman, 1988) and Freedman & Medway (1994), as cited in Naderi (2012) emphasizes on the socio-contextual aspects to provide students and novice writers with the social actions and functions and the ways they are manipulated within a context. 2.4.2 English for Specific Purposes...

Words: 704 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Rhetorical Analysis Revised Name Institute Professor EN1320: Composition I_V2.0 Rhetorical Analysis Feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). This definition is a good description of Crystal Eastman’s view- points. She was a socialist feminist in the 1920’s. Eastman was a pioneer in her day, pushing for the equal rights of women in the United States. The end of World War l, the unequal treatment towards women, including the lack of voting rights, were a couple of driving forces for Eastman’s speech “Now We Can Begin: What’s Next?”. But maybe there was another, more personal reason Eastman believed women were equal and deserved to be treated as such. In 1889, Eastman’s mother was one of the first women to be ordained as a minister. Eastman recalled, "when my mother preached we hated to miss it. There was never a moment of anxiety or concern; she had that secret of perfect platform ease which takes all strain out of the audience. Her voice was music; she spoke simply, without effort, almost without gestures, standing very still. And what she said seemed to come straight from her heart to yours. Her sermons grew out of her own moral and spiritual struggles. For she had a stormy, troubled soul, capable of black cruelty and then again of the deepest generosities. She was humble, honest, striving, always beginning again to try to be good." (Eastman, 1889) With her mother paving the way...

Words: 1061 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Rhetorical Analysis Scott Schmidt ENG 112 1/31/15 Robert Zacny Rhetorical Analysis Just picture that you are flipping through your favorite magazine, and all of a sudden an advertisement catches your eye. In the ad, a family stand together, smiling, Christmas tree in the background, each one holding their very own Winchester rifle; well everyone, of course, except mom. Could you imagine the lawsuits that would ensue, (no pun intended)? This particular ad was used in a Sears Catalogue book. My personal interest in guns, coupled with the absolute absurdity of this advertisement, is why I chose this particular ad to study. The following is a rhetorical analysis of this 1937 advertisement placed in a Sears Catalogue. How this ad appeals to the logos, ethos, and pathos are topics this analysis will further examine. This ad was printed in 1937, which was a very dark and dangerous time for America. The nation was facing a great depression, American icon Amelia Earhart disappeared, and the Hindenburg is blown up while docking, killing dozens and completely destroying American’s faith in passenger carrying airships, thus; successfully destroying the airship era. People were desperate, afraid, and for many, their futures were, at best, utterly uncertain. In the ad, a husband, his wife, and their three sons are standing in a group together depicting a red wall behind them. Part of a Christmas tree can be seen peeking on the lower right corner of the frame, while the dad holds...

Words: 1397 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...lays out her opinion by including one central tone, excellent word choice, and examples to explain her insight on the American culture and society. Throughout her entire essay, Price is informing her audience that she believes the entirety of the 1950s American culture and society was fake and “plastic”. Price displayed a very strikingly obvious sardonic tone, mocking everything about the1950s. Her use of “but no matter”, was an enormous indicator of her derisive comments and examples of the American culture. Another example Price used in her essay while analyzing the trendy pink flamingos was, “but no wonder”. With that being said, she was implying the pink of the fake flamingo was even brighter than that of a real one, after asking a rhetorical question pointing out the absurdity of the overly excessive bright pink. Price incorporated numerous analogies and examples to beat around the bush. She for example said, ‘The plastic pink flamingo is a hotter pink than a real flamingo’, trying to engage the reader to think deeper and have them correlate the ‘ hotter pink than the real flamingo’, to the fake and plastic society she believes in. Through these examples, she is forcing the reader to realize, American society is hiding behind this fake identity, just like those famous hot pink flamingos. Reading prices essay, it eventually turned into a critical view of American pop culture. Her essay was written to a more mature audience, who she thought were knowledgeable of previous...

Words: 395 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Rhetorical Analysis of Geoffrey Miller’s The Smartphone Psychology Manifesto Rhetorical Analysis of Geoffrey Miller’s “The Smartphone Psychology Manifesto” Geoffrey Miller (2012), a psychology professor at the University of New Mexico, has conducted many psychological studies over the years, however, he claims the emergence of the smartphone has forever changed how current and future studies will be conducted. In the article “The Smartphone Psychology Manifesto”, Miller’s credibility and presentation of facts clearly portray a pro smartphone perspective to his audience. He argues that the smartphones are “powerful computers” (p. 223, para. 7) that will continue to develop for decades. One of Miller’s main points in this article conveys how smartphones can present real-world behavioral analysis that would “revolutionize all fields of psychology and other behavioral sciences” (p. 221, para. 1). In the article, Miller successfully uses his experience with psychology, facts pertaining to the advancement of smartphone technology, and persuasive appeals directed at his readers’ curiosity about this technology to convince them that smartphones are ultimately becoming the best research method for quickly collecting enormous amounts of precise real-world data during psychological research. Miller (2012) focuses on persuading his audience initially through his abstract, appealing to reason, or logos. He does so by stating that “although smartphones were not designed for psychological...

Words: 1089 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...12 December 2013 Rhetorical Analysis American Psychiatric Association spoke about ADHD and the steps and processes for caring for the disorder. CDC explained how ADHD had increased every year and the average age for a child to diagnose is seven years old. Boys are more affected with ADHD than girls are. Medical treatment for ADHD also increases due to medication and seeing specialist. Social relationship for a child with ADHD has it downfalls. CDC said “Parents report that children with a history of ADHD are almost 10 times as likely to have difficulties that interfere with friendships” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Also children with ADHD show more injuries and hospital visits than a child without ADHD. Lastly the cost of being diagnosed with ADHD can cost over millions of dollars that will included medication, health care, and treatment. From the high percentage of ADHD being diagnosed in children parents’ income have decreases because of the cost of disorder. ADHD has increased since 2003 till 2011. It states that children between the ages of 4-17 have been diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD has increased numerous times throughout the years. Due to the increase of ADHD study have shown that children are having problems with social skills, parents keeping up with medical bills, the cost of ADHD and how dangerous it can be being diagnosed with ADHD. Social skills average that 7% of children are diagnosed with ADHD. Having mental illnesses and functional impairments...

Words: 647 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Amanuel Abebe ENGL 102 Prof. LeBlanc 02/07/15 Rhetorical Analysis Outline I. Introduction A. In his new York times essay “where sweatshops are dream” writer Nicholas D. Kristof makes a number of points regarding what he sees as an adverse effect of labor standards compliance on the economic development of low-income countries that we feel require some clarification and comment. B. Purpose of argument: His purpose in this essay is to let people know that sweatshops can help people. C. Audience: Kristof assumes his readers are Americans that are repulsed by the idea of importing products made by barely paid barely legal workers in dangerous factories. II. Thesis: By establishing his credibility, building his case slowly, and appealing to both logic and emotions, Kristof succeeds in writing effective argument . III. Body paragraph 1: pathos A. He appeals to pathos by using words or images designed to move readers and appeal to the readers emotion. B. List examples you might use: “The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn.” “Many families actually live in shacks on this smoking garbage.” C. Explanation: why or how is the example you provided effective or not Throughout this short essay, Kristof uses emotionally loaded language and his arguments include vivid descriptions or striking examples intended to appeal to reader’s emotion. IV. Body paragraph 2: ethos A. Topic sentence As a columnist...

Words: 578 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Rhetorical Analysis This speech was given by President Roosevelt on Monday, December 8th, 1941, before the congress to ask them to declare war against the Empire of Japan. Japan had just launched the attack against Pearl Harbor killing hundreds of Americans. President Roosevelt went in front of Congress and the House of Representatives to ask then to declare war on the Empire of Japan for the attack on Pearl Harbor, the day before. He said “that day was to be a day which will live in infamy.” Only hours before the Japanese attacked, the American government and the Japanese government were in talks about having a continued peace in the pacific. One hour after the bombs started falling the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered a response to a recent American message ”stating that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations. The message contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.” (Roosevelt – 1941) The distance from Japan to Hawaii makes it apparent that the Japanese Ambassador knew about the impending attack for quite some time. Yet the attack was a complete surprise for Hawaii. The president goes on to tell of all of the other places that Japan launched surprise attacks that day and the amount of life lost. He says that this will never happen again to the American people and no matter what we will win against this enemy. And that our people and our territories are under the threat of destruction...

Words: 375 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

...Students Name Instructors Name Course Date Rhetorical Analysis on Marjane Satrapi's “The complete Persepolis” “The Complete Persepolis” is a memoir and story based on Marjane Satrapi, who is also the author of the memoir. This is a rhetorical analysis on Marjane Satrapi’s story and we’ll see how the writer attempts to change the perception people have on the middle-east countries. The writer tries to prove that those countries are not as bad as depicted and there is still hope for the people living in those countries. She believes that people in the middle-east countries have the power to revolutionize their culture and fight for what they believe in. The writer is able to express the struggles and sufferings of the victims in the middle-east. Marjane Satrapi is shaped by the events in her life to become a rebel and through this, she is able to make the audience understand why people start and join revolutions in the middle-east. The writer is of the opinion that their culture is deeply flawed and in the beginning of the story, she is displeased that she has to wear a veil to school as it is mandatory for girls to wear veils, “Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school” (Satrapi, page 4), and the fact that boys and girls are still separated in school and can’t learn together. The writer mentions about her French school which was shut down because it was non-religious. The writer seeks to display the extent of cultural inequity and the social injustices...

Words: 1733 - Pages: 7