Rhetorical Analysis Reflection

 

       To be honest I walked into this project oblivious. I'm certain I have written a rhetorical analysis paper once before , but that was during my freshman year in high school.  So, I had to re-educate myself on rhetorical writing before I could even get to writing. As soon as I studied the slides, I started to get familiar with how a rhetoric analysis is developed. However, I'm disappointed that I forgot about the elements of argument: Logos, Pathos, Ethos. Those were the basics of persuasive writing back in the day.

 

    In a different course, to answer questions on an assignment I was instructed to read a PDF encompassing how our names could potentially affect our development in life. One question asked, “What makes a good name?” In my head I was thinking, well any name is a good name no matter if it’s hard or easy to pronounce, uncommon, unique, long, short, etc. However, as I read through the passage, I was encountering names that I would have never believed to be real.  To demonstrate, there was this one lady who - in all seriousness- was named “Sh*t-head”. If I were to ever encounter someone with that title, I would be uncomfortable to call them by their name because I’d feel as if I was referring to them as a bad word. What’s more, I would have never foresaw it was pronounced "Shuh-teed". Similarly, there was another young girl with a very uncommon name: “temptress”. She would later go on to serve in Juvie at 15 years old for ungovernable behavior. It was described the teenager would sneak guys into the house while the mother was at work.

I then pondered why these parents would want to refer their children to such names. Did they ever think of how that would affect their daughter’s social life or even mental health? But later it was discovered that the two young ladies were both raised by a single mother with a very low-education background. In addition, it was explained that the mother had made a spelling error on the birth certificate. She was oblivious to what “temptress” meant, and therefore never redacted it. So, although it’s unfortunate for both daughters, it isn’t fair of me to question their mothers when our circumstances are totally different. Especially since I grew up with many privileges; I have two parents, access to an education in a great city, guaranteed meals every day, and lived in a house. Hence, I shouldn’t be judgmental or quick to make assumptions.

(Here is a link of the PDF if anyone is interested, it's a fascinating piece.)

• https://bb.cod.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-7443947-dt-content-rid-40068444_2/courses/257888/Freakanomics-%20correct.pdf