Hi 4U1
Please be informed that I'm moving the due date for your first blog to Tuesday, Feb. 17 in consideration of the change in blogging directions (i.e., you're using this page now, not Ms. Schwartz's). Early responses are, however, always appreciated.
For the assignment, choose ONE of the following topics; remember to offer 5-8 sentences in your well crafted response:
1. Identify an essay we read in class that you think was particularly effective and convincing, and explain why you think the author made his/her case well.
2. What are the potential dangers in using satire to get an urgent point across? If you had to convince people to act on an important issue, would you take an approach similar to Swift's or would you take a more direct one?
Thanks!
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I really enjoyed the essay, “Thanks For Not Killing My Son”, which was written by Rita Schindler. I think her essay was very effective and plays on our emotion as readers. Obviously, this is an ironic and somewhat sarcastic personal essay that is seemingly cathartic. The way that she repeatedly says “thank you” makes this essay effective and allows her message to be stronger and more personal. I think Rita wrote this essay to try and reach the people who left her son to die and to make them feel guilt and regret for what they did to another human being. Because she wrote this essay in the form of a personal, poignant letter, I think that readers will try to relate and want to reach out to help and prevent this from happening to any other mother or child. I think that it would take a lot of courage to thank the people who almost beat her son to death for not killing him and to recall and relay to the public what happened.
ReplyDeleteThe essay that I thought was particularly convincing was "Thanks For Not Killing My Son" by, Rita Schindler. Rita was able to convince the readers that even though she was angry and had hatred towards the people that beat up her son, she was thanking them for not taking away his sight, voice, hearing or heart. Even though they beat him up and he should have lost everything, and the fact that they left him to die..she was thankful that he was still alive and she did not have to go on living her life without him. The way that she got her point across was from her repeated use of "Thank-you". Rita could have been trying to make those who left her son to die feel guilt; but for the most part I believe that she was trying to reach those who had ever hurt anyone in their life. To let them know how one mother felt and had to deal with this. Anyone who ever hurt anyone would feel the irony from her article, and know how mothers of those they hurt were affected. She was also trying to let the public know that something big did happen and that everyone should be aware of how it affects not only her but her son, and her community. She was doing this for her son, and in my perspective she is a very strong, caring mother.
ReplyDeleteThe essay that I thought was particularly effective and convincing would have to be "Thanks For Not Killing My Son", by Rita Schindler. She was able to express her hatred and anger towards the people who wanted to kill her son, by writing a letter thanking them for not taking away his eye sight,hearing,vocal cords,and his ability to play music one day. She was thankful that they left him alive,even though all that he had been through,and the injuries that he had suffered,he should have been dead. By using the words "Thank you" repeatedly, Rita makes this essay effective and gets her point across, and makes it stronger as well. She is making those who tried to kill her son feel guilty for what they did. Since she is writing this essay from a personal perspective, she is not only showing her feelings towards her son, and how she was affected, but she is trying to show how she feels towards the situation, and try and prevent it from happening to other mothers and children. I think that she is a very couragous and caring mother, for thanking those who tried to kill her son. It takes a lot of courage to express your feelings for the public to see and read about.
ReplyDeleteAn essay read in class, that was particularly effective and convincing was “Why We Crave Horror Movies” by Stephen King. This essay stated that people go to see horror movies to satisfy a craving, a desire for violence and gore. King states many cases why people go to watch movies. One goes to prove they are not afraid, one goes for fun, to make sure that the world we live in is normal, and one goes to deliberately appeal the worst in us to “feed the gators” so to speak. He states his cases very well through the use of prominent examples. One of his examples, links horror movies to roller coasters; his use of metaphor explains how humans love the loop-de-loop feeling of a ride. Another one of his examples would be of “sick” jokes; where our emotions demand exercise, even through the most disturbing things.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I think using satire may not get through everyone right away because they might misconstrue it as a false claim or might even agree with it. A satirical article may end up being more destructive than constructive if it is not thoroughly thought off. If I had to convince people to act on an important issue (which I believe is always correlated to human immoralities), I would take an approach similar to Swift's. Satire is meant to be corrective, but it does not mean that it will change man's ways right away. Even if change might be impossible, it still seeks to establish a proper moral response from the readers. This response can either be a correction of himself or a renewal of perspectives by despising what immorality they have been practicing.
ReplyDeleteThe one essay that I thought was effective and convincing was the essay that we read in class "Thanks For Not Killing My Son", by Rita Schindler. She made her essay strong and effective by raising her point that even though they beat her son and left him to die, she's still thankful that he has his eyesite, hearing, and his hands so that he can play his music and fullfill his dream. As she wrote her letter she thought about the way their parents would feel and how each individual who helped to beat her son would feel as well. She made her point even more strong by saying Thank you repeatidly and letting them know that no matter what you did to him, you still let him live. At the end of the essay when she said that "I hope that someday you'll have children and love them as much as I love mine - but I wouldn't wish on your child what you did to mine." I think she gets not only the reader thinking but she got the people who hurt her son thinking because she's letting them know that even though her son had to fight for his life, she wouldn't want any parent or mother to go through what she had to. To me for a mother to sit down and take the time to write this to let others out there know what she feels and what she went through is brave. She let them know that even though her son is in the hospital, he is a good person because he does not want revenge. Rita made her case strong becuase she is a very caring mother and anyone whose been through what she has, can relate to the irony that she had to go through. Therefore Rita is someone who is not afraid to show what she feels in order to get her point through.
ReplyDeleteThe essay that I felt was particularly effective was the personal essay by Rita Schindler, “Thanks For Not Killing My Son”. This essay was filled with emotion, and truly represented the writer’s feelings on the traumatizing event she had experienced. Her son being hospitalized after a severe beating had compelled the writer to post a public message directed at her son’s attackers, and all bullies in general. In her essay, Rita never blatantly expresses anger, but rather expresses gratitude “for not killing [her] son”. She does this with the repeated use of “thank you”, but this form of appreciation is not sincere- it is almost sarcastic. By using this approach, Rita conveys her message, but makes her son’s attackers (and all bullies for that matter) feel terrible for the crime they committed. She wrote of how her son did not want his friends to seek revenge, for he did not want another mother to go through the pain his mother went through. By writing this essay, she is promoting a message of anti-violence. Throughout the essay, Rita also talks of her son’s talent and abilities to show that violent people do not realize the uniqueness of the people they are attacking. Although the writing technique and style was used effectively to convince readers, I feel that the essay was more convincing because the writer’s strong personal emotions added depth to the message she was trying to convey.
ReplyDeleteI think the particularly, effective and convincing essay was the “thanks for not killing my son” by Rita Schindler.
ReplyDeleteShe made her essay strong and effective to convince readers by writing a letter that said “Thanks for not killing my son” the reason she wrote this letter was because she was thankful that they didn’t kill her son even though she is angry at the people who beaten up her son and she repeated the word thank you because she was happy that they didn’t kill her son and they might feel bad about what they did to her son and they might stop doing this bad kinds of jobs after reading this letter. She repeated the word “thank you” to get her massage across to all the people who are being bad to each other and make them think twice before doing something wrong. She wrote this letter because she doesn’t want any other kids to get injured and to see other mothers cry for what had happened to their children and maybe she didn’t give love to her son before and now she realized that how much her son meant for her and she is a strong mother to write this letter to show her feelings.
The essay that i felt was convincing was the personal essay by Rita Schindler, "Thanks For Not Killing My Son". The writter of this essay wants to reach out to the people who attacked her son for the sake of hurting someone. Rita wanted to express her gratitude "for not killing her son". She did this with the repeated use of "thank you" but this kind of form is sarcastic. The author conveys her son's attackers and all of those who are just the same as the ones who attacked Rita's son to make them feel guilty for what they have done to her son. I think this essay was more convincing because the writer's personal emotions were added to the convey message she was trying to send out,her sympathy to those parents who has last thier children.
ReplyDeleteIf the reader does not know the foundations of the piece of literature satire would not necessarily be the most effective method of sending an urgent message across. Readers might take the author seriously creating frustration and a sense of confusion. Satire should only be used to provoke or prevent a change in the reader’s mores or beliefs in a humorous tone. Swift, for instance used cannibalism as a mere means of sending a tragic message across to changing customs in England and Ireland. Personally, I would take a more direct approach, an issue as serious as preventing poverty and hunger should not be used with irony and sarcasm but rather a clearer literary genre for everyone to comprehend.
ReplyDeleteSwift’s Modest Proposal is a work of satire and as such is steeped in irony, political allegory, and humour. To tackle the issue of poverty and famine within Ireland, he proposed the selling babies as food. The reader continues through outrage to find out why this solution is the only viable means to solve this ongoing problem. Swift did this to catch the attention of the reader. To let them see what can be bred from desperation, he makes his point. But this point can be clouded when personal conjecture shadows the main argument.
ReplyDeleteTo argue a point, there are few methods more biting than satire. I could not propose something as ridiculous and get away with it as Swift has, but if it was urgent satire would be effective and extremely direct.
The essay that I found effective would be "The UFO Menace" by Woody Allen. The essay conveys humor in order to prove his point, which in my opinion is catchy and interesting. Allen makes people who think they witnessed UFOs sound ridiculous, he uses improper quotes from those people to make it sound as fake as possible; this technique in writing is convincing since most readers believe that quotes are the most powerful ways to pursue a point. Furthermore, Allen uses logical facts that convinced me (I would say will also convince others) about how ridiculousthe subject is. To conclude, Woody Allen's "The UFO Menace" is a very effective essay because he uses humour to keep the reader interested and logical facts.
ReplyDeleteThe essay that I found particularly effective and convincing was "Thanks For Not Killing My Son" by Rita Schindler. She makes her case well because she shows the pain and agony that a mother goes through when her child is beaten by another person. She thanks the person who beat her son for not beating him to the point where he died. No parent should ever have to experience the trauma that this mother went through. The potential dangers of using satire are that the reader may not take you seriously and therefore not make the effort to read on.
ReplyDeleteThe essay that I found most effective was “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift. As a student heading into the marketing field, I strongly believe to achieve what you want; you need attention, one way or another. The very strong sarcastic and satirical approach allows readers from seemingly any background to be disgusted or revolted by the entire idea of cannibalism. Once the entire reader base has been drawn in to such a controversial issue, the main idea is revealed, and attention has been brought to it, be it ethically or not. In “A Modest Proposal”, the repulsive idea is displayed as a last resort, as if the Irish community has nothing left but this; eating and selling children. Clearly the outburst and reaction shows that humanity is above this, resulting in attention, along with potential solutions, all in order to deter from cannibalism. This proved the essay to be overall convincing and very, very effective. (Question 1 Response)
ReplyDeleteIn contrast to the other appealing essays that were analyzed, I thought that the essay “Thanks for Not Killing My Son” was out of the ordinary as it has the aptitude to personally and sentimentally relate to many readers in an effective and convincing way. This essay was able to successfully pass on to the general public the sentimental concern that every mother possesses about her child. Although the essay was written towards a specific situation, it demonstrated civility and clearly represented universal human violence. The author, Rita Schindler, not only expressed a mother’s perspective on this particular situation but she wrote it as an open letter in regards to the horrifying outcomes of human violence. This seemingly cathartic essay has the ability to shame offenders of similar meticulous situations through the repetitive “Thank you’s” that were consistent in the article. Every “thank you” was written in a personal way to flood the hearts of the offenders with overflowing guilt and shame. This excessive amount of dripping irony is what made this essay unique, compelling, and tremendously effective.
ReplyDelete1. The essay that appealed to me the most was "Thanks for not killing my son" by Rita Schindler. This article was about a poor mother that thanked the clan for their vicious actions which damaged her son but enough for him to recover. She mentioned in the essay that she was thrilled that they damaged his arm, eyes, and head but not enough to end his career as a pianist. His vision and his brain were left unharmed. With her gratitude to the clan, she convinced readers to guard and treasure their beloved children. Her intention was effective in bringing awareness.
ReplyDeleteHumor is a quiet a strange emotion. One, that evokes a connection with the person subjected to it, but at the same time it usually fails to share a sense of importance and urgency. The use of satire to express an issue of with strong emotional background is a very challenging task for an author. When one uses such techniques, they are attempting to imply a certain message without clearly stating it. This can easily lead to misinterpretation or be offensive to the reader. Personally, I wouldn’t use humor to express my views on a serious issue, as Swift did. Swift is a very talented author and did an excellent job expressing his views using satire to grasp the attention of the ignorant. I believe that using humor to persuade an audience is a big risk an author can take because the results aren’t definite.
ReplyDelete“A Modest Proposal,” by Jonathon Swift, is an incredibly effective and satirical essay which is able to grasp the attention of the readers with its extreme shock value, and turn their attention to the horrendous crisis in Ireland which nobody seems to be doing anything about. Swift’s “modest” proposal, which is to sell and eat children to end the economic problems, is jam-packed with irony and humour, however, it also serves its purpose of attracting notice to the issue and getting help. While some might believe that the satirical tone of the essay makes the whole matter seem ridiculous, I feel that it only makes the point of the essay, which is that the Irish are in a terrible crisis and in desperate need of help, much more effective as it reveals the true dreadful state of the people and their desperate call for help.
ReplyDelete"A Modest Proposal," by Jonathon Swift was by far the most effective and convincing essay of those we have read thus far. Swift uses this satirical essay to make his desperate plea to England to help the starving and impoverished people of Ireland. One can tell from both the subject being proposed as well as the language used that Swift was incredibly exasperated by the situation in Ireland. He wanted to get his point across and by suggesting something as repulsive as eating children he effectively garnered attention to both his essay and the issue at hand.
ReplyDeleteFrom the essays that were analyzed in class, I particularly feel “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift was an effective essay in which he used sharp sarcasm and irony in his literature. Through the use of satire, along with sarcastic and ironic exaggerations, Swift was able to imprint his point upon the minds of his readers in which it would not be forgotten. Swift’s “modest” proposal was that in order to combat the poverty in Ireland, the children of the poor should be sold as food to the wealthy. He is able to emphasize the absurdity of his explanations by presenting cannibalism as a logical, mathematically calculated alternative to Ireland’s situation. Through his emotionless tones and clever articulation, Swift seeks to stir up the reader’s feelings of indignation and compassion and thus help remind them that people are human beings and deserve to be treated as such, and not treated as figures in mathematical equations or pieces of meat. Consequently, through the effective use of sarcasm and irony, Swift was able to create a tone of urgency and create a reader’s attention to his essay.
ReplyDeleteI felt that the most effective essay i read was " thanks for not killing my son" By Rita Schindler. I think that her essay was very effective to the reader because of the repeated phrase thanks for not killing my son. By doing this i felt that she emphasized her point well and created emotion in her writing.In the essay "A Modest Proposal" the author uses a very agressive type of satire writing. the potential dangers of writing in satire is that people might not understand your writing, or it in some cases it may be to extreme. If i had to write on a topic that i wanted people to pay attention to i would write in a different more straight up form, instead of using satire
ReplyDeleteOne essay in class we read that I think is very effective is "Thanks for Not Killing My Son" by Rita Schindler. This essay was written in an ironic (sarcastic) tone. She obviously isn't apologetic or thankful for those who have beaten up her son. This essay was effective because of how strong she was throughout the essay. The ways she dealt with the situation after such a horrible accident takes a strong heart. Her son was beaten up critically; leaving him in a very very bad state, but was yet alive. By thanking someone repeatedly over and over again in the essay shows not a thank you message, but a message of conveying the people behind this situation the feeling guilt. Sometimes being sarcastic and clam about a situation conveys the right message of guilt, which I felt she was strongly doing with her depth in words. The dangers in using satire in this essay, as used, would make readers not take the essay seriously. It would have made the readers feel it was all a joke then realizing the main point of the essay. I would have personally have taken a direct approach. But I strongly feel that this essay dealt with the main point in a really smart way, indirect but very clear.
ReplyDeleteThe essay I found most effective was Johnathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". Swift used satire and wit in order to address a real issue of his time, which was poverty in Ireland. His style of attacking the issue indirectly allowed the reader to be first drawn in by the audacity of his sarcasm, then later convinced by his strong points and arguments. Swift managed to argue a very serious and important opinion on an issue without being overly dull or uninteresting. I found Swift's essay particularly interesting because it consisted of intelligent wit and a bit of humour. This is why I found Swift's "A Modest Proposal" absolutely captivating.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion "Thanks for not killing my son" by Rita Schindler was the most effective essay we have covered so far. Even though Rita Schindler was thanking the people who attacked her son in her essay, the reader was able to connect and understand that truly she was hurt. It was this that made the reader want to go on and read further, as she was expressing her emotions and feelings in a different way then other would in this situation. So by thanking the attackers in every other sentence, she made sure that the people reading her essay would understand what she was going through, and how she truly felt.
ReplyDeleteI personally thought that the essay written by Rita Schindler: “Thanks for Not Killing My Son” was the most effective because not only did it show emotion, but it showed strength. When Rita repeatedly said thank you, it made the essay stronger and it showed that she actually meant it from the heart. Her intense sarcasm is what got her message out there and she made sure that it got to those who did try and hurt her son. Rita did not only send a message to those who tried to hurt her son but she also sent a message to all those people who have ever attacked, or will ever attack that a mother’s heart is warm, and after all the pain her son is facing, she’s just glad he’s alive.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Rita Schindler's Essay "Thanks For Not Killing my Son" was a highly effective essay. It called attention to the perpetrators of the horrible crime against her son in a powerful yet unemotional manner. This gave her essay a sharpness that sticks with the reader. The repititious use of the word Thank You, reminds the audience that the tragedy lies not in the injuries her son suffered but the fact that someone inflicted them upon him.
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