Rhetorical Analysis Rough Draft

An old adage writes, “You are what you eat.”

The environment in which one grows up plays an existential impact on the decisions he makes. The circumstances of one’s lifestyle, consequently, polarize an individual’s vantage point on civic responsibilities. One must consider, however, the principle of inheritance: individuals have no fundamental control on their innate landscape and are born with opportunities both attainable and inaccessable. Among the world’s inherited privileges is wealth, the finite accumulation of money. The purchasing power of the dollar bill remains constant, but the amount of it varies; the bill addresses ___. Connected to wealth is the idea that young people also inherit their appearances. The mirror ___; it responds to ___. Nonetheless, both talk about flaws. Despite addressing dissimilar exigences, the bill and the mirror coexist as mechanisms for diagnosing vices in millennials and collectively reexamine the doctrine of self-worth.

Aristotle delineates money as a good used for “the sake of something else”: money merely is an instrument of transaction that fails to integrate itself with total gratification. Indeed, money falls short in producing long-standing civic fulfillment; it consequently serves as the primary constituent of greed, or the excessive taste for wealth. Wealth is not naturally an immoral entity: money satisfies our basic human needs and provides for luxuries to enrich our standard of living. Greed, on the contrary, is foremost a sinful matter of the heart: it is not merely caring about one’s possessions, but caring too much about them (CITATION). Greed perpetuates anxiety and civic restlessness, the emotionally strenuous process of longing for fulfillment and the false assurance that upon gaining it, we will forever be content. Greed is referenced in Catholicism as “avarice,” the act of pleasing oneself with material acquisitions instead of pleasing God. The bill is more associated with wants than needs; the Catholic code of moral conduct underscores the argument that selfish, excessive desire is a violation of divine or natural law. Contrary to the notion that greed emanates from overindulgence, the infatuation of money is oftentimes a consequence of deprivation, the need for the unavailable. As this emptiness illuminates, a young person becomes fixated on seeking what he “needs”—power, food, sex, or attention—and works arduously to eradicate the feeling of not having it. Civic life then becomes a manipulative quest to acquire as much of it as possible. ***Money controls its transactor while producing feelings of temporary significance. In exceptional cases of greed, one might achieve success in obtaining what he seeks; in this moment, when the object of his desire is in his hands, he experiences truly intoxicating feelings of triumph and relief. These instances, however, are innately brief: money fails to perpetually satisfy our closest desires. the holder then becomes frustrated at the transience of such limited pleasure; the bill therefore refutes the argument that money is the end of one’s goals and ambitions. Spenders are thwarted by brief gratification in typical purchases with money, and as a detriment of greed, buyers endure shame and guilt over the damaging effects on their relationships, reputation, and financial security. The bill makes reference to the human vice of insecurity, being that the insatiable splendor of money has the power to evoke fear and uncertainty of the future. Feeling compelled to fix this imperfection, civic individuals begin the vicious cycle of earning and spending anew. A commonplace embedded within the bill is that its civic role is powerful and valuable; money is henceforth employed as a tool of enslavement and control.

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Money determines your way of life, but not your character. The bill ultimately is a reflection of one’s purchasing power, yet the financial value earned by an individual has little contribution to his spiritual well-being, social relationships, and interpersonal connections. MORE NEEDED HERE. ***Money identifies how you are perceived by your environment and by yourself. Individuals place less significance on the bill’s function as a currency and more on the social position that their income awards them. Expanding upon in one’s income, however, will not necessarily equate to a growth in social standing. On an intrapersonal scale, money is a mechanism for comparing oneself against others. The pursuit of money takes up time and the bill distracts its owner from his civic, societal, and familial duties. As a parent, earning money may mean less time as a family. The thirst for income diverts earners from giving back to their community. Having money makes people judge you unfairly. People are critical of the wealthy. Money makes its holder a target for scams and fraudulent activity. MORE NEEDED HERE.

The civic phenomenon of greed echoes the motifs of narcissism; the infatuation of one’s appearance. The Greek tale of Narcissus—who became enamored by and pined for his own reflection in a pool of water—reflects the urge for individuals to respond innately to the “lure of the mirror” (___). Mirrors are inherent instruments of vanity, the vices of conceit and egotism. We think ahead of the mirror, aspiring for more than what we see appear; mirrors provide temporary reflections that urge its user to long for the unattainable future. When narcissism becomes greed, it coalesces into “unrealistically high levels of self-esteem” that are manifested by a “system of intrapersonal self-regulation”; in other words, individuals distort their flaws into successes and disable the inner evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses. ***Mirrors therefore deceive: they capitalize on the instantaneous reflections they provide by altering appearances. Men believe that money makes them appealing and that mirrors display physical attractiveness, yet neither of these vehicles for beauty is civically accurate. Reflection is deceptive; one’s perspective determines the intensity of the deceit. The optical illusion of mirrors serves to enforce the idea that whenever one reviews himself, bias exists according to his frame of reference.

WORK IN PROGRESS. Mirrors are physical reflections, but are naturally not spiritual reflections. The rudimentary function of mirrors to reflect physical images: we make use of rear-view mirrors in our vehicles to alert us of potential hazards, while we station mirrors around buildings and hallways to see from all directions. We spend a considerable amount of time standing before personal mirrors. Mirrors reflect light and thus reflect our surroundings. Light, however, has a symbolic and otherwise spiritual attachment to illumination, awareness, and wisdom; according to spirituality, mirrors reflect truth. Psychology refutes this principle and argues that mirrors are the symbolization of the threshold between consciousness and unconsciousness. Through mirrors, we see our cognizant, social, and “better” self as well as the natural world in which we live, while glimpsing into the darker, depraved image of our subconscious and the frightening insecurities we have about our appearances (___). The morbidity of mirrors is displayed throughout several world civilizations. Many myths, legends, and superstitions are intimately associated with the mirror and the same cultures that associate it with truth. SENTENCE NEEDED. The human eye characterizes ocule mi, “my little eye.” In the pupil was the image of the one who looked into it. In Eve’s eye—colloquially termed the “mirror of love”—Adam first learned to know himself. Many ancient cultures long believed that reflections were not of your physical self, but of the soul. Certain cultures, in fact, proposed that mirror images revealed the shadow self, the dark side of your nature. In Ancient Greece, looking at one’s reflection could mean losing one’s soul. MORE NEEDED. ***WORK IN PROGRESS. Mirrors consequently reflect how you are seen by onlookers and by yourself. Because we seek long-term gratification, we depend on mirrors. Mirrors distract people from their character and focus on outward appearances. An embedded argument in mirrors is that exteriors supersede interiors. While there is a measure of vanity in gazing at one’s own reflection, we often look to become more oriented with the elements of our countenance (___). We look to see the physical matter of our face and body and thereby assess how we appear to the world, confirming that our form and distribution of features are as we believe them to be in our subconscious. We look for signs of our hidden carnal nature and to see if the wicked secrets and sin desires we harbor have emerged from our unobservable moral surface (___). We look for the assurance of our continuity and existence (___). MORE NEEDED HERE.

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Conclusion

Who your audience is? Where does it fit (Collegian, New Yorker, The Atlantic)?

The Role and Impact of Conflicts

Addario writes conflictingly of her decision to step away from photographing America’s War on Terror. At the beginning of Chapter, 7, Addario’s desire to “branch out beyond the daily demands of breaking-news photography” juxtaposes her passion to capture real-time moments of human remorse and emotion. Nonetheless, she mitigates this conflict by explaining that her opportunities as an Iraqi photographer were becoming limited in scope due to “violent, restrictive” conditions in the Middle East. She feels fettered and shackled by the political circumstances of the War on Terror, and as a result, she longs for a photographic atmosphere that unleashes her intimate creativity.

Addario makes her dilemma comparable to her audience’s experiences by declaring that she needed to “move on”: a phrase that so closely encompasses the feelings of growing up and transitioning from childhood to adulthood. As a result, Addario’s intents for moving her career to Africa resonates with her dynamic and perhaps youthful audience. She yearns for an environment that captures human emotions profusely; in Africa, she feels that she can “lose herself” into the sensational appeals that will surround her as she photographs the people of Darfur. Whereas her War on Terror photography was tremored by pain and suffering, she aims to add a much stronger humanitarian angle to her work in Africa. Addario’s utilization of kairos is effective in emphasizing her heart’s desire for a new, engaging experience: she feels that now is the “perfect opportunity” to begin to transition into mature work—a feeling relatable among teens who want to pursue sophisticated opportunities but are unsure of the exact moment (or chronos) of their departure from childhood.

Darfur refugees.

While writing my passion blog, I hope to juxtapose my love for technology with my career as a freelance musician. Like Addario, I boldly understand the need to “move on”: although I enjoy playing the saxophone, I long for something that implements my skills as a writer, a critical thinker, and a mathematician. Oftentimes, I feel that I’m unsatisfied by my work as a musician; this is possibly due to the fact that I consider music a hobby, and not a profession.

I have considered including this personal conflict of mine in order to emphasize the uncertainty that lies ahead of many of the entrepreneurs, businessmen, and innovators discussed in my blog. Similarly, I hope to illustrate my dilemma involving my passion and my profession, employing it to help shape the complicated lives of today’s technology leaders and their decisions to turn away from their professions and pursue their passions.

Civic Artifact Speech Outline

Introduction (30 sec):

  • My favorite store growing up? Five and Below. There, I could buy anything. I was rich. I had options. I felt powerful. The dollar bill is magical in that it changes how you perceive yourself or your surroundings. In the Nineteenth Century, the bill was invented to fund the Civil War, but its intended purpose has deviated since. Civically, the bill is meant to engage its owner in creating opportunities, but if the holder declines, he becomes controlled by the bill. The bill represents the civic imbalance between doing what’s right and doing what’s wrong, and its power is unfettered. The bill can spend, send, and condescend, but our inability to be fully satisfied must prevent it from becoming the ultimate source of wealth.

Spend (1 min):

  • Main idea: Payment
  • The dollar is a means for exchange
  • It’s used to purchase tangible items
  • More implicitly, it’s used to purchase and satisfy feelings as well as produce emotions: entertain, quench hunger or thirst, make happiness
  • The irony of money: we earn it to spend it. If we could be fully satisfied, we would stop spending it. Instead, spenders are involved in a vicious, unending cycle of earning and buying
  • Some things can’t be bought. A flaw of money: the feelings it buys are temporary and felt on the surface
  • Transition/Commonplace: Money can be used to transact because we give it worth; it’s valuable.

Send (1 min):

  • Main idea: value
  • To dollar can be transferred
    • It’s mobile and meant to be shared
  • It can be stored and invested
    • These actions are logical and based on numbers and data
  • Money can create opportunities and destroy others
  • Donations provide relief to those in need
  • For a parent, earning money may mean less time as a family
  • Chasing money takes up time and chews away at “priceless” opportunities
  • Transition: Money can be inherited, but inherited money defeats the idea of money = worth. Therefore, the bill can deceive.

Condescend (1 min):

  • Main idea: Power
  • Commonplace: Money and status are directly related
  • More money = smarter, works harder, luckier
  • The bill gives credibility
  • Money is used as a means of persuasion and as an incentive
  • Because we place value on the dollar bill, it can control us
  • Some argue that money is the root cause of evil. The bill doesn’t cause evil; its value does. Consumers are to blame for this
  • Transition: How everything comes together as a civic artifact: Money is a mobile, dynamic way to pay for things because it’s powerful. Why is it powerful? We put too much value on it. We need to change the way we think.

Conclusion (30 sec):

  • We need to consider that the bill can’t buy everything, and for that to happen, we need to put less value on it. As a result, it’ll have less meaning in our lives. It’s our civic responsibility to act in accordance with our own moral codes. The bill adapts: With it, we’re controlled. Without it, we’re rich. Thank you.

On Rhetorical Strategies

Addario’s depiction of her New York arrival is an almost apocalyptic illustration of the aftermath of terrorism. Addario’s deliberate use of “mangled” and “solemn” reflect scenes of horror and dismay at the clutch of radical Islam; her morbid diction in the opening of Part II serves to juxtapose the bustling New York City ambiance that she predicts her readers would envision. The author’s subsequent use of “gasp” and “devastated” are intended to emphasize the dismal, obscene consequences of international violence—those she bravely chooses to unearth in her photography.

WTC 7 in ruins after 9/11.

Vivid imagery is employed especially in Addario’s first impressions of Peshawar, a hostile Pakistani city thwarted with terrorist factions. In this scene, Addarie utilizes figurative language to characterize Peshawar as ominous and foreboding, incorporating a metaphor to explain how the city produced an unsettling aura and explaining that “everyone [in the city] constantly looked over his shoulder” (70). Addario responds with a description of the concentrated media presence within Peshawar, employing parallelism to accentuate how quickly faces “darted, strided, [and] trailed” across the hotel lawn (70). The author unhesitantly emphasizes the emotional impact of style, one of the canons of rhetoric.

As I write about the impact of new and emerging technology, I aim to capture the reader’s imagination through anecdotal descriptions of each product’s viable role in the world. For instance, I plan to introduce my upcoming post on the iPhone X with a narrative depiction of a young Steve Jobs, as he struggles heart-achingly to solidify his dream for Apple against a manipulative executive board. Similar to Addario’s use of murky, disheartening diction in the opening of Part II, I hope to evoke an intense, emotional response from my readers by capturing Jobs’ life-changing dilemma.

Young Steve Jobs.

Subsequently, I plan to incorporate figurative language in order to compare the technology I write about to everyday objects and household items prominent in our day-to-day lives. Artificial intelligence, for one, is a technology that elicits a particular fear in most readers’ minds. The real-world technology used to program AI machines differs astronomically from popular depictions of “killer robots” in science-fiction films, and in actuality, the function of AI is more comparable to how Google can search the internet and how computers can play chess. By employing extended metaphors and complementing my use of language with parallelism, I will strike a balance between the hypothetical world of innovative ideas and the concrete reality of technology in our information-driven society.

What Stands In the Way of Passion

Addario manifests Nana’s missed chance of love to illustrate how true passion cannot be materialized. The tale’s deeper significance lies in the idea that passion is intangible and emotionally resonant, unable to be precisely defined. Through Nana’s story, Addario presents intrinsic proof that inward feelings can contribute certain worth to passion.

Whereas Nana’s love for Sal reflects an involved, captivating, and dynamic passion, her eventual love for Ernie is reticent and submissive. Addario employs Nana’s story to emphasize that passion cannot be fully unleashed until it becomes intertwined in one’s life, though this connection is painfully demanding.

Addario feels that her passion for photography will culminate when she is willing to endure its emotional and financial hardships. The consequences of Addario’s passion are an unsteady income, a general unpredictability of the future, and disconnection with her significant other, irreparably illustrated by Uxval’s decision to cheat on her. Addario is thwarted by tangible obstacles—war and death—yet she feels the emotional profit of photography exceeds these risks. Addario longs for the intangible: doing what she loves, capturing the world in times of crisis, and empowering individuals unheard.

War, the context of Addario’s story, contributes to the emotional appeal or pathos of her argument.

In my technology blog, I hope to reiterate Addario’s theme of risk-taking and defying the status quo through a musical experience in my life. I had never faced a catastrophic musical failure in my saxophone career until my sophomore year of high school, when I was harshly rejected from a prestigious program due to my carelessness.

Since I had chosen not to prepare for this audition, the arrogance I displayed jeopardized my future as a professional musician. This major setback restructured my entire work ethic. Applying the Greek idea of kairos and acting at the right opportunity, I found that failure—even in a musical context—is essential for driving true success.

Failure is a stepping stone, a destination rather than an endpoint. Like the ambitious entrepreneurs and innovative startups discussed in my blog, I’ve found that a fear of failure hinders progressive thinking. Sometimes, the greatest lessons in life are learned from its greatest challenges.

My Passions: They’re Why I Blog

My friends think I’m a daredevil.

But frankly, I’m anything but. To me, being a daredevil means you’re reckless, that you take risks without purpose or feeling. I don’t take risks because I’m unafraid; I take them because they set me apart from the crowd. They make things a bit more interesting. And it’s this exact thrill that shapes my own definition of happiness: doing something nobody’s ever done before.

…but I am afraid of heights.

Almost two years ago, I was offered a research position at a successful video game company in San Francisco, CA. When my contributions began to affect millions of players, I knew that my dream was to one day become an entrepreneur and launch my own startup. I plan to write a blog about exciting, futuristic technology that defies the status quo. My blog caters to casual tech enthusiasts and places a much-needed spotlight on virtual reality, electric cars, and other new and emerging industries. I plan to call it If Tech Could Talk (and yes, it can!).

New technology in China uses facial recognition to make purchases.

As a saxophone player and recording artist, I love to perform on stage. But while music is my trade, I’ve always been fascinated by another, more unpredictable art form: cinema. My second pitch is a Christian movie review blog that captures the importance of morals and virtues in filmography. Contrary to a typical movie review, each post criticizes a film’s theme and core values as opposed to technical elements like animation and musical scoring. Due to the blog’s very specific niche, I may also critique secular, well-known movies to expand its potential audience.

My two passions greatly contrast each other, yet I’m thrilled that I can begin exploring both with much more depth. It’s exciting to begin writing about topics that can inspire amazing change in the way we think.