Reading ReviewKEVIN LEDDY AND EMILY ROFF

Declaration of Rights and Sentiments

BY ELIZABETH CADY STANTON

100 GREATS PAGE 592

SOAPSTone Speaker: Elizabeth Cady Stanton Occasion: Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 Audience:crowd gathered at the convention, therefore

most people who supported women’s right to vote Purpose: To persuade and inform people of why

women should have the right to vote. Subject: Why women deserve equal rights to vote

especially in respect to the Declaration of Independence

Tone: Authoritative, Pedantic and Formal

Analysis

Stanton takes a firm stand on why women deserve the right to vote.

Stanton utilizes the structure of the Declaration of Independence to draw a parallel between her argument and the argument of the founding fathers. Stanton makes key diction changes to make the sentences more inclusive. Stanton inserts ‘women’ into the sentence ‘We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men and women are created equal. The use of the Declaration is a masterful appeal to both ethos and pathos.

Analysis

Stanton then states the government is wrong for denying women their rights, specifically the right to vote. To justify her claim, Stanton lists her grievances against the government. Stanton feels that they government has used women when they could gain and ignored women at any other time.

Stanton specifically cites double standards that women face. Stanton states that the government forces women to obey the laws and pay taxes without having a voice (vote). Stanton also states the double standards of women when it comes to morality. Women can commit any impure act provide it is in the covenant of marriage and that women are made slaves to their husband who becomes their master.

Analysis

Stanton states that women have been forced to live a subordinate life in both the Church and state. She also states that women’s self esteem has been destroyed by men.

Stanton finishes her essay by stating that women will continue to crusade for their rights until they are given what is rightfully theirs.

Quotes

We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men and women are created equal.

These quote illustrates Stanton’s argument. All men and women are created equal and should be treated equal as such. The rights of women, especially voting, are God-given and undeniable. It is against the natural laws of God and man to deny these rights.

Quotes

Such has been the patient sufferance of sufferance of women under this government

The struggle of women is not a new concept. It has existed for a long time. Women were patient and waited desperately for men to correct the situation. Since that has not come to past, women have been forced to take action on their own to correct the grievous wrongs committed against them.

Quotes

If single, and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it

These quote illustrates a specific and cruel example of the exploitation of women at the hands of men. The government does not allow women to be citizens or vote. They have no say in our democracy. Yet our democracy will force them to pay taxes which they have no influence over as they lack the ability to vote.

Logos

Because Stanton lived in a religious society, Stanton uses religious examples to prove her point. She states, “He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself”

Stanton also structures her essay in the same manner as Declaration of Independence. Through the first three paragraphs, Stanton uses the same structure as the Declaration of Independence.

Ethos

Stanton is a woman, thus she can speak on an issue of women’s rights.

Stanton proves herself capable of being educated individual by referring throughout her essay to the Declaration of Independence at many points.

Stanton creates a list of grievances to show the rationale behind her argument that women should vote.

Syntax/Tone

Stanton uses flowing syntax of long sentences. The entire first paragraph of the essay is one sentence. The second paragraph continues the long syntax which symbolizes the long struggle of women. When Stanton gets to the list of grievances, her sentences become shorter, showing a more forceful tone and the direct action needed to end women’s struggles.

The tone of the speech is slightly pedantic and didactic. Overall, the tone is very respectful. Stanton does not becomes accusatory or rude at any point but remains respectful and ends the speech on Call to Action of change rather than an accusation.

Themes:

Discovery of self: Women are discovering who they are and reaching out for greater opportunities. Women have discovered their inner strength to give speeches, be leaders, hold protests, and work outside the home.

Freedom/Government: Women were proposing and major change in government policy. Women were asking for something that had previously been unheard of, the right to vote.

History: This is a historical document that is part of the history of the 19th amendment

.

Themes

Family/Gender relations: The relationship of men and women started to shift as women become more independent and thought for themselves. The right to vote was major milestone for women become independent of men. The roles of women started to shift outside of the home which was different from the past.

Ethics/Morals: the right of women to vote went against the morals of the 1800s which had women the silent supporters of men. Women did not speak out or criticize men, especially in public

NAPS BY: Barbara Holland

Thematic Characterization: Cultural Diversity

100 Great page 289

SOAPSTone

Speaker: Barbara Holland

Occasion: Essay from Endangered Pleasures

Audience: Americans

Purpose: To persuade the American Public to accept the idea of naps into their culture

Subject: Importance of daily naps for a human’s physical and psychological health

Tone: Informative

Start with imagery on a boat in France. The scene was quiet and peaceful

“the fields lay empty of farmers. The roads lay empty of trucks.”

“France lunched, and the slept. So did Spain. So did much of the civilized world.”

Appeal to pathos with repetition of “so did”, soft diction. Implying the world was napping

Logos is heavily appealed to.

“Napping is too luxurious, too sybaritic, too unproductive, and it’s free; pleasures for which we don’t pay make us anxious.”

We do not like them because, “Fighting off natural inclinations is a major Puritan value”

Americans dislike naps because they are not accustomed to free pleasures and feel obligated to work rather than to seek pleasure

She continues by saying that those without a sense of time nap. Americans are afraid to nap, she addresses these concerns in the following paragraphs

Concerns: -It is different then bedtime sleep

-we lose a sense of time –We nap alone –Outside world continues/Nervousness about what we are missing –Nowhere to nap

With all of these concerns, Holland asks, where are the beds? In Japan they have nap rooms in work, so that workers can rest and be productive rather than their American counterparts who lose productivity and make sloppy work which must be redone the following day. She says that even CEOs have these rooms. This appeal to a successful person is meant to get the effect of, if they can do and run massive companies, I too want to be successful and it forces the reader to say perhaps I should nap.

“Oozing virtue and busyness, we flog ourselves”

By not napping we are punishing ourselves

Pathos Again with the imagery of the tired American Man. Also appeal to women where, “naps are not an option” She says that the man can take a nap and he will listen. She attempts reverse psychology say that women are always busy, non-stop creatures in hopes that they will respond by saying that they are in charge and can stop and nap whenever, and to prove it they will stop and nap. Holland hopes this nap will hook them onto her idea

CALL TO ACTION

“It’s time to rethink the nap from both the corporate and the personal viewpoint”

Solution

Naps at work and home

Store futons and cots in the office under one’s desk

Phones and fax to automated response

Naps at home to like a cat

The Cat Metaphor

We should be more the the cat, “the house may be simply pattering with uncaught mice, but no twitch of guilt quivers the whiskers of the napping cat . . . Nothing tells him he ought to be rushing about his various occupations”

Be like the cat, feel no guilt in sleeping, relax and enjoy your rest. Do not worry about work, sleep and then go back to your job well rested.

Reasons to Nap

Not only when sick

Allusions: Milton’s Paridise Lost and Whinston Churchill.

Also note Personification of Creativity as She and her

Logos

Holland uses logos to explain the benefits of napping on productivity and creativity

Pathos

Holland uses Pathos to paint images and emotionally capture her audience. She uses allusion and metaphor to seduce the reader into accepting naps into their daily life and the general culture of America.

Structure

1. Imagery and background of other cultures

2. Napping is against our culture and addresses Opposition/Concerns

3. Production quality with and without Naps(Japan Vs. US)

4. American Stereotypes and Call to Action

5. Holland’s solution

6. Concluding Imagery and Allusions with final comments

This is EmoBY CHUCK KLOSTERMAN

SOAPSTone

Speaker: Chuck Klosterman

Occasion: Essay from Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Audience: Anyone who reads his book, especially the American public

Purpose: To criticize the public image of love, to challenge the morals of modern society when it comes to love

Subject: Klosterman speaks about the devolution of love and the reality that most ideas about love exist only in fantasy. The public craves a perfect ‘fake’ idea of love.

Tone: Sarcastic and forthright.

Analysis:

Klosterman begins his essay with a bold statement to grab the audiences attention.

He then acknowledges the opposition by stating that he recognizes this statement could be used against him in the future. He acknowledges that if he does find the fake perfect love, he will deny the thoughts that he stated in his essay.

Klosterman continues to make bold statements throughout his essay, using non politically correct and coarse language to surprise and shake the reader. Klosterman explains that no one experiences the kind of mindblowing love that is portrayed in the movies because it does not exist.

Klosterman explains that we as the American public choose to idealize the love that is seen in the movies. The prefect love were no one fights and you can fall in love in 1½ hours does not exist.

Klosterman states that single women are not in love with John Cusack but the character who he played. They are in love with Lloyd Dobler who wrote the two dimension character.

Klosterman cites a personal experience when his girlfriend chose to go to a Coldplay concert rather than go the Waldorf Astoria with him. His girlfriend choose the manufactured love of Coldplay songs rather than his real and genuine love.

To acknowledge the opposition of his personal experiences, Klosterman states that he is not bitter.

Klosterman shifts his argument to society. He states the problem with modern marriage is that people expect real love to be like fake love and that real people are modelling themselves after fake people, making them no less fake.

Klosterman states that there are positives too. Woody Allen made the nerdy guy cool. (Think our class and David Tennant ;] )Thus Klosterman, the nerdy guy benefits but only in the short term.

Klosterman states how the media makes us overemphasis our feelings. We lose the beauty of simplicity. Like breakfast for an example, all Klosterman wants is companionable silence to eat his cocoa puffs in.

Klosterman also talks about the dating your best friend and how disaster that is because it was never a friendship to begin with. One person was actually in love with the other. The biggest problem is we all believe that all relationships will last forever. But they don’t. How do you pick up the pieces after a BFF romantic relationship ends?

Klosterman concludes with his own humanity, he too wants fake love.

Quotes:

“No woman will ever satisfy me”

This quote is the most basic explanation of Klosterman’s argument. We can never find love because we look for a form of perfect two dimensional love that cannot exist in our three dimensional world.

“Every straight girl I know would sell her soul to share a milkshake with that motherfucker”

Klosterman expresses his frustration at the priorities of Americans. These teenage girls would give anything and everything for a milkshake with John Cusack (insert hot guy here). This guy will probably forget them about ten minutes after the milkshake. The guy will also not live up to their expectations because they will be real and not the imagined fantasy.

“Fake love is a very powerful thing”

This sentence is almost poetic. The sentence is short and simple but explains a very profound truth. All of us are motivated by fake love. Like an alcoholic with a vintage wine, we crave and seek this fake love ruthlessly. We go crazy over it. It can make us happy enough to dance naked in the rain or make us hole up in our room with chocolate and ice cream for a weekend. Fake love controls us and we have very little control over it.

“Real people are actively trying to live like fake people, so real people are no less fake.”

This quote is extremely versatile in the argument section of the exam. Klosterman is saying that real people are fake because they try to imitate what characters, who are not real, do. This can apply to a broader range of anything that seems to control people. For example, people buying an expensive apartment to pretend to be classy. This quote is about facades.

“I want fake love. But that’s all I want, and that’s why I can’t have it.”

We can never have something that does not exist. Klosterman like most of us, desires fake love. However something that is fake by definition does not exist. If fake love does not exist, we can never have it.

Could be used for a prompt about pursuit of unattainable/obsession

Ethos/Allusions

Klosterman uses allusions to establish his ethos as an author. Klosterman’s claim is very controversial. He must prove that he is well informed on his subject in order for his argument to work. To prove he is aware of modern society which is his subject, Klosterman alludes to common pop culture like “Woody Allen”, “John Cusack”, “Coldplay” and “Ford”. Klosterman reinforces that he understands the subject he is speaking about. The audience is also able to relate because they understand and recognize his metaphors.

Ethos/Pathos

Klosterman further establishes ethos be citing a personal encounter with ‘fake love’. Klosterman has experience the effects of fake love first hand, he understands and knows the effects. Therefore, he can comment on the existence of fake love and the effects it has.

Klosterman plays to the audience’s emotions through his story. Klosterman tells a sad tale of his girlfriend picking Coldplay over him. He ends up in a lonely bed in the Waldorf (a fancy hotel) while she’s at a concert. We feel bad for Klosterman because we can all relate to rejection.

Tone/Syntax

Klosterman makes his major claims through short sentences like “Now I will be lying” (paragraph 2). These short sentences stand out and identify Klosterman’s argument and frustrations. The short sentences contrast with the slightly longer diction the way reality contrasts with fake love.

The tone is frank and colloquial. Klosterman does not ‘sugar coat’ it. He states his beliefs in a forthright manner to avoid having them misconstrued or misunderstood.

Klosterman is speaking to the public not scholars and his diction reflects this. At times, Klosterman uses coarse diction like ‘fucking milkshake’ or ‘Ford fucking Motor Company’. Klosterman is frustrated. We all curse when we are frustrated so Klosterman remains uncensored and does the same.

Themes

Morals: Klosterman is criticizing society’s morals. Klosterman is upset that real people are imitating the made up characters of movies. Klosterman believes that people need to revaluate what they value in a relationship in order to be successful in a romantic relationship.

Humour and Satire: This essay is very funny. Klosterman presents his ideas in a way to make you laugh. While the piece address a serious topic, it uses a light hearted approach to deliver the message. If the essay was not funny, the audience would probably not be receptive to Klosterman’s ideas.

Gender relations: Romance is a form of gender relation. Klosterman is commenting on the way we interact with the other sex. Klosterman feels we need to be more realistic and approach love with a view grounded in reality. Right now, we do not use reality to judge our interactions.