Rhetorical AnalysisThis essay assignment from October of last year asked us to analyze a speech, commercial, or essay and examine what rhetorical proofs it makes use of (particularly the Aristotelian appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos). We were expected to analyze the use of these appeals, what made them effective, and what the audience was meant to gain from them.
For my essay, I chose to analyze a speech by journalist and author Christopher Hitchens during a debate at the Hart House at the University of Toronto in 2006. The resolution discussed was "Be It Resolved: Freedom of Speech Includes Freedom to Hate," and Hitchens spoke on the affirmative. I chose this text because it was one of the strongest pieces of rhetoric I'd yet encountered, and I agree with the approach to freedom of speech that it advocates. Hitchens is a good example of a natural speaker, one who I would attempt to emulate, so this was another way for me to try and pick up some good speaking qualities.
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Literary AnalysisIn my English 200H: Introduction to Critical Reading class, we had an essay assignment devoted to our chosen text, The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley. Also on our list of resources was Charles Mills' philosophical treatise The Racial Contract. The exact prompt was as follows: "Denial is a device that is used by the
oppressor and the oppressed in African American literature. Examine
how the device functions in Chaneysville Incident. Among your
possible references, use Charles Mills’s Racial Contract to
make a persuasive argument."
Through this essay, I examine all the various instances of denial in the book and how they influence the setting and characters. Our excellent teacher gave us this assignment so that we could start "feeling" like English majors, and I felt this did a very good job at creating that feeling. The essay was fun to write, and in the end I felt like I'd done good work at analyzing the novel.
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