Establishing Ethos in Writing An author can write with spectacular diction and elegant flow, but without establishing good ethos, that can dilute the rest of the message. In Sherman Alexie’s What You Pawn I Will Redeem, Lame Deer’s Talking to the Owls and Butterflies, and Benjamin Franklin’s Way to Wealth, their writings are focused on this exact idea. Whether it is through telling a story of a drunken Indian, attacking whites for what they have done to the world, or even giving advice on work ethic and gratuity, they all let their intelligence shine, make the reader feel sympathetic, and add some humor to lighten the mood. Each of the three authors portrays their intelligence in unique manner. At the end of Franklin’s essay he states, “I am, as ever, thine to
Ashlynn Burks Professor Fisher Psychology 170 30 August 2014 Misuses of Theory First off, the definition of theory from a dictionary is a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction. I think that people misuse the word theory because they think that theory and hypothesis go hand-in-hand which is totally not the case. The first example of how people misuse theory is in the film “Mean Girls”. The lead actor Cady Heron said that she had a “theory” that if Regina George cut off all her hair she would look like a british man. It is very clever, don’t get me wrong but she used it way out of context.
I sat next to her once in the bus from Agerstowb and we sort of struct up a conversation. I liked her. She had a big nose and her nails were all bitten down and bleedy-looking and she had on those damn falsies that point all over the place.” (3) Holden frequently describes the good traits of someone but soon talks about their faults. Donny shows cruelty to Cherity Chen, but in the end of the film, he shows kindness towards her “I promise that one day everything's going to be better for you.” Both boys use isolation as a type of self protection. They are completely separated from other people even with their parents, with the exception that both characters have a major female role in their lives, Donnie’s being Gretchen and Holden’s being his little sister, Phoebe.
Feed, a dystopian novel written by M.T. Anderson is based on information technology and data mining in a failing futuristic society. The novel describes Titus and his friends living their lives by suggestions, such as advertisements, from the feed, as well as the knowledge that the feed not only provides them with information instantly, but manipulates their decision making. The dialogue in this novel is distinguished because Anderson has the ability to draw in readers with quick dialogue, unique slang, curse words and grammatically incorrect language. However, this reflects the way the feed has degraded the vocabulary and intelligence of those who have it.
Vidal states, “Commies will stop us from making everyone free, and we shall end up a race of zombies” (884). Vidal purposely uses “zombie” as satirical of his observation to spark an image of eerie, insecure and death to audiences. In addition, he combines “race” along with “zombies” to create more dramatic scene, as if the whole generation can turn viral with insipid addiction drug. For example, marijuana and other addictive drugs are artificial; similarly, non-natural foods from McDonald’s also attract to many consumers. Despite the unhealthy, some addicts will careless and continue to do what they want; comparably, some people still go to McDonald’s.
While many learned professors have abandoned hope of ever discovering the truth behind Faggots, I for one feel that it is still a worthy cause for examination. I really, really like Faggots. Cited by many as the single most important influence on post modern micro eco compartmentalism, there are just not enough blues songs written about Faggots. The juxtapositioning of Faggots with fundamental economic, social and political strategic conflict draws criticism from those most reliant on technology, who form the last great hope for our civilzation. Relax, sit back and gasp as I display the rich tapestries of Faggots.
Holden has proven to hint at the idea that he has been a bit too much influenced by movies, which would most likely be a reason why Allie’s death was such a big deal. The movies have had a role in Holden’s life because they made him to believe that the protagonist or the “good” guy always miraculously survives dire situations, which made him believe that Allie would survive somehow through the leukemia. This idea was hinted towards when Holden was talking about how he felt after Maurice had punched him in the gut, Holden said that he was picturing himself going to the elevator, shooting Maurice, smoking a cigarette, and call up Janet to bandage him up. The idea of the “good” guy winning the battle is a very typical movie type of ending, which points to how influenced Holden is by the movies. The very same type of ending was seen when Holden recalled the movie he watched about the Englishman who had lost his memory and his response to it.
Abstract John Humphrys’ article “I h8 txt msgs; How Texting is wrecking our language” is a cynical piece about how texting is bad for the English language. He believes that English will deteriorate into acronyms and a mnemonic system. He starts off with explaining his love for the dictionary. Each use of a dictionary leads to enlightenment, according to Humphrys. The newest edition of oxford English dictionary came out; to humphrys’ humor, the new edition “has removed the hyphen from no fewer than 16,000 words.” The fact the hyphen has been removes isn’t what gets to Humphrys, but what he believes to be the reasoning is what shocks him.
Stafford notices that they do not socialize with people around them. Her description of texting “zombies” is an effective way to grab the reader’s attention. She is well aware that texting is a “quick and easy way to keep up with friends” (115), however, she argues that students are pushing the boundaries, making texting “detrimental” to their academic performance and job success. Stafford then continues to list all of the negative effects that repetitive use of cell phones has on students. Her main claim, “text messaging additionally deteriorates literacy,” is also presented in this list (118).
“[According to Jacques Ellul] physical freedom - that is, increased leisure time - is bought at the price of spiritual zombieism. The masses, it is said, are offered various forms of easy, false pleasure as a way of keeping them unaware of their own desperate vacuity.... For the Frankfurt School, in fact, mass culture effected a major transformation in the nature of ideology from Marx’s time: once ‘socially necessary illusion,’ it has now become ‘manipulative contrivance,’ and its power is such that, in the sinister view of T. W. Adorno, “conformity has replaced consciousness”.... Lionel Trilling speculated that high art had dedicated itself to an attack on pleasure in part because pleasure was the province of mass art: “we are repelled by the idea of an art that is consumer-oriented and comfortable, let alone luxurious”.... [According to J-F Lyotard] “the postmodern is that which denies itself the solace of good forms, the consensus of a taste which would make it possible to share collectively the nostalgia for the unattainable”.... [Pleasure] remains the enemy for the postmodern thinker because it is judged to be the means by which the consumer is reconciled to the prevailing cultural policy, or the ‘dominant ideology’.... [Many horror] films are engaged in an unprecedented assault on all that bourgeois culture is supposed to cherish – like the ideological apparatus of the family and the school.... [Roland Barthes maintains that the text is an anagram for the body, but] the contemporary text of horror could aptly be considered an anagram for the schizophrenic’s body.... It is a ruptured body, lacking the kind of integrity that is commonly attributed to popular narrative cinema.... Contemporary film theorists insist that pleasure is ‘ego-reinforcing’ and that narrative is the primary means by which mass culture supplies and regulates this pleasure. [Horror films