Response to paralysis

Wright's mother has two separate strokes which makes her paralyzed. Wright realizes that with his mother's disability, she could no longer be there for him. He is sad that she isn't going to be there for him anymore and he has a hard time coming to terms with it. Even though she doesn't seem like the world's best mom, she was his mother and he loved her very much. Realizing he is by himself he called his granny to take control of the situation. After the second stroke Wright begins to realize he has to take responsiblity for himself. He wouldn't even let the neighbors give him food, because he didn't want it would make him feel incapable of providing for himself. This is something his mother taught him in the beginning of the book, when she wouldn't let him take the nickel from his father for food. This shows that he learned from his mother and he has to become a man and provide for himself.

Wright's 'cultural heritage'

Wright talks about his cultural heritage was to dislike Jews. In our society people like to have people to blame for their problems and it's easier to take out anger on different people. I believe that blacks felt that they were discriminated by whites and the couldn't fight back, but with Jews they can make fun of them and it's ok. Wright was taught by his surroundings that it's ok to dislike Jews and make fun of them. He didn't believe this due to his own beliefs and experiences.

The idea of 'cultural heritage' is present in all people. We grow up not knowing what is right or wrong for ourselves, but what our parents and surroundings teach us. Wright's experiences are due to white peoples 'cultural heritage.' During this time in America, Whites were brought up to believe that blacks aren't equal. Wright was doing the same thing to the Jews as Whites have done to him his whole life.

Wright's Hunger

In chapter one Wright tells many memories he's had. Wright seems like he was a wierd kid from the things he did. He burned a house down, hung a cat, and got drunk when he was still little. He also tells of the hunger he began to feel during his childhood. Wrights father leaves the family, and then Wright starts to get this feeling of hunger. He is hungry for actual food at first. Without his father they don't have enough money to eat healthily so he becomes hungry. He doesn't realize he is also "hungry" for his father until his mother tells him why his father left the family. Wright is making a connection with hunger and loneliness. Hunger is our feeling of wanting food. Wright wants his father and I believe is lonely without him. I think wright uses hunger because it is an unpleasant and sometimes painful feeling, which helps describe the feeling he had for his father.

Do we really need school?

I agree that school is not necessary to a certain extent. I feel that for an some people they can succeed without schooling. Not many people would be motivated enough to further their learning themselves. I know I'm not a person who is very motivated, so outside of school i wouldn't want to do more learning. I think for some things we need school. For those of us who are unmotivated, and to give us an overview of many subjects so we can find out what we will want to pursue in the future. In todays society there's so many things that can distract us from wanting to learn. We have tv, movies, videogames, malls, theaters, etc. all of these things would be a distraction from school. School gives us a mandatory time of day where we can learn and expand our minds. Without school, the work of our ancestors that makes english, math, science, the world in general easier to understand, would be for naught. We may not need school and its boredom and menial work, but we do need the best way to get an education, and when it comes to our society I don't believe letting people discover for themselves is safe way to ensure we grow as a society.

Nonacademic schooling....

I do value the nonacademic education I am receiving. I learn many things at school academic and nonacademic. We may not need to go to school, but i'm glad we're forced to. I feel that school does hold some people back from their potential. In the readings we've read there have been examples of people who were successful without school like George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin, etc... but those are only a few people out of the thousands that didn't have an education. They probably weren't as intelligent as those men. Franklin was a scientist, Washington was a general, Lincoln was a senator. They all were in situations to learn and become more intellingent. Many people don't have the luck to be in those situations to learn so many things like those men. They are huge exeptions for a generation. I highly value the fact i have people to teach me in school everyday. I've learned what those have done before me and get an understanding of why it's important. I know and i think everyone knows that i'm not the most motivated person. Without school I don't know what i'd do. My nonacademic education gives me a chance to further myself, we can still excel if we want to put more effort into it outside of school.

Class presentations 2

I found the axe commercial in Iyesha’s project very entertaining. The commercial was very funny and it was memorable. I believe that the commercial was trying to show that if you used axe shower gel women will do want you want. I may be wrong but that’s the interpretation I get when a naked man falls into a dance studio full of attractive women, and they don’t scream or run away they just do exactly what he starts to do, which symbolizes the control over the women he had because he used axe shower gel. I don’t think many people would think about that commercial the same way I do, but I think it’s because of the humor in the commercial. The commercial was rightfully banned from television. Even though I enjoyed the ad, I believe it is inappropriate for television. I’m not surprised axe “went there” in the commercial because all of there commercial are over dramatizations of the effect axe has on women. In the commercials I’ve seen the men who use axe has women throwing themselves at him with reckless abandon. The thing I find most interesting is that I feel these axe commercials are sometimes funny, but also are degrading to women. The appeal of sex and control of women is used to sell cologne and shower gels. I feel that commercials like this for men or women shouldn’t be used as advertisements. Some people may say that they’re just commercials or they’re just funny, but there is an apparent theme to these commercials that with the help of a certain product on can be in control of the opposite sex, which I feel I demoralizing to both men and women.

Class presentations 1

One of the most interesting photos was the Victoria’s Secret photo in Mallary’s project. I found the before and after photos of Victoria’s Secret to be very interesting. I found the change in appearance of the store very drastic. The before picture made the store have a younger cute appeal. The entrance in the “before” picture was bright pink with appropriately dressed manikins. The entrance appealed to a younger less sexually active audience. The current entrance is black with manikins dressed in lingerie. The new entrance markets the sexual appeal of Victoria’s Secret. This is interesting to me because the rhetoric devices used for the entrances are complete opposites. I believe the reason for changing the entrance was to appeal to a broader audience. The people that shop at Victoria’s Secret are teenagers to adults. The cute approach would attract females, but not males. But the sexy approach appeals to both men and women. Men see these attractive women on the posters and the store entrance that screams sex, and they can’t help but to be drawn to it. Men want sex so they’re drawn to Victoria’s Secret to buy items that would suggest sex to their partners. Women also want to feel sexy and attractive. When they see these beautiful models in the store window wearing items from the store they think if they wore those clothes that they too would be attractive to men. Overall I believe it was a good marketing strategy for Victoria’s Secret. I do believe in the phrase “sex sells.”

Super ads...

The super bowl commercials were very funny. All the commercials I saw were focusing on pathos. All of the commercials were funny, and really didn't try to use ethos or logos for their product. The Bud Light commercial was a prime example of this. The setting was a prehistoric era where there were cavemen. One cavemen comes up to the others and says "i've invented the wheel to move the beer easier to the party." The other cavemen seemed excited. Then the scene cuts to them using the wheel horizantally as tray with the beer on top, not to mention the wheel is a couple feet in diameter and 6 inches thick made of stone. The camera gets a close up of one caveman saying "wheel suck!" Then at the party a cavemen smashes a bottle of beer with a huge rock. The bottle gets smashed and the beer is spilled everywhere then the caveman said "bottle opener suck!" I could not find anything but humor in that commercial. I feel that the super bowl is a time when the commercials are supposed to be at their most memorable so the use of humor is often, so tomorrow after the game everyone will be laughing and talking about the funny commercials. To me its a very effective use of pathos.

Dunkin donuts

I watched ESPN for 30 minutes and while watching it the commercial that impacted me the most was a Dunkin' Donuts commercial. The commercial begins with people walking through a town doing everyday things, i.e. mailman, painters, joggers, kids, policemen, etc. All of the people are singing in unison "doing things is what I like to do" then they all shout "YES." This commercial made no sense to me the first time because I didn't know what the commercial was for. At the end of the commercial the Dunkin' Donuts logo pops up and then a voice says "Dunkin' Donuts, helping people do everyday things moderately better than usual." The tool of rhetoric used in this commercial was pathos. The emotion the commercial was trying to provoke was happiness through comedy. The commercial was funny and the song was catchy. The happy feeling associated with the commercial connects itself to the feeling you'll get with Dunkin Donuts. Not only that but the commercial is modest saying "making you do things moderately better than usual," which adds to the humor. With the commercials humor you remember it longer making you think about dunkin donuts longer.