For the rhetorical analysis of a profile of a community, I have chosen “One Nation, Divisible”. This article was written by Michael M. Phillips, a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal, in December of 2017. I want to start by addressing the fact that this article was written about a woman, Caity Cronkhite, who readily left the place where she grew up but now, through reflection, has a softer heart towards the people of her hometown.. In order to understand her perspective, the author includes many descriptions and analysis about the community itself which is what I will be focusing on. The main frame of this article is a person: Caity Cronkhite. She grew up in Kingman, Indiana – a town of about 500 people. Another obvious frame is place: Fountain County (where Kingman lies). The last frame, which is the least apparent, is interactions: a rural community struggling to their accept fate as an afterthought. Cronkhite felt like she wasn’t supported by Fountain County so she left as soon as she graduated high school (which she did a year early). She now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and has been exposed to what coastal Americans think of her hometown. One of the specific moments this divide is shown is through a restaurant, Cracker Barrel. “Friends at work one day called her over to ask about Cracker Barrel. ‘It’s just like a chain restaurant we go to treat ourselves,’ Ms. Cronkhite said. A co-worker jumped in: ‘It’s this really white-trash restaurant that overweight Midwesterners go to.’” The next frame, place, is shown in overarching descriptions and comparison graphs between Fountain County and San Francisco. As a member of this community, I was surprised to see how the author described Cronkhite’s hometown. He focused a lot on the negatives like drug and alcohol problems, as well as a suffering economy. This was used to support Cronkhite’s reasons to leave and make her the protagonist in this article.
The last frame, interactions, is shown in the descriptions of reactions she got for her decisions. When she decided to graduate a year early, her teachers and administrators tried to dissuade her and put certain restrictions on the types of awards she could graduate with. After she posted an article about some of her feelings, her mother responded with, “Oh goodness. What is this going to stir up?” Although Fountain County was thousands of miles away, everyone knew what she wrote. Former teachers and classmates responded with mixed reviews; some felt a sense of good riddance while others appreciated her honesty. This all came from online - mostly through Facebook, which is the most popular platform for the people living there. The overall argument that the author and Cronkhite make about this community is that this part of America is being overlooked and stereotyped to a point where divisions between the coasts and “the middle” are increasingly apparent. There are two purposes for this argument: one, to support Cronkhite’s internal conflict and two, to bring these feelings to a national conversation. The easiest way to see this divide is in the graphs, images, and quotes the author provides to show the contrast between America’s coast and the center of the country. The country's divisions exist because there is a lack of dialogue between American's living in those places. Cronkhite wants her story to help readers personify the issue and encourage the conversation.
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3/5/2018 3 Comments RAB III chose to analyze the Wikipedia page for the National Parks Service.
Wikipedia can be edited by virtually anyone and is often regarded as an unreliable and inferior source of information. This, often times, is not the case. Wikipedia does not claim to be the one and only source of information for all topics throughout the history of the world; it’s main purpose is to be a starting point – a springboard into further research. Every aspect of a Wikipedia page is designed to connect a reader to a certain subject and then engage them with graphics, lists, and images. I will explore some of the conventions by the example of the National Park Service Wikipedia page. I chose this page because I’ve visited the it prior to this analysis and it helped me go further in my quest for knowledge about the National Parks. The first piece of information you see when searching with Wikipedia is the concise introduction of the topic. This short summary is usually a paragraph (maybe even just a sentence) and is a quick way to find a general concept of the subject. This paragraph usually answers the following questions (if applicable): what, who, when, where, and how. It answers those questions typically in that order for the sake of moving from general to specific. People who have very general questions about the NPS shouldn’t have to look very far to find their answer. For example, in the first paragraph of the NPS page you can find the answers to all the questions mentioned, line by line. What is the NPS? When was it created? Who works for the NPS? How do they function? While answering these questions, Wikipedia authors link to other Wikipedia sites for more information on those related topics. This allows readers to explore the other sides of a topic freely without having to sit down and think of all the different ways they can approach it. This exploration helps build the credibility of a page because readers can cross-check information from related topics and mistakes become apparent when everything is well-connected. Wikipedia, as a host, also does a lot of work to ensure the credibility of its pages. Under the National Park System sub-topic, there are two warnings: the section is missing information about governance and policy decisions and the section does not cite any sources. These warnings allow readers (and potential authors) to have a broader perspective of the page’s credibility before they take in the information. Overall, this article is credible because it is about a United States government agency so the information is accessible and easy to check. There are many format conventions of this text. One is the outline of the page under the Contents heading which gives a reader a chance to jump to a certain part of the article that they find interesting or could potentially answer their questions. Another is the sources and references sections at the bottom. This page uses 109 references which is an indication that it was researched thoroughly – and further enhances the credibility of the text. The writer appeals to logos in a few different ways: broad content, organized sub-topics, and well-designed graphics. Just from looking at the Contents box, a reader can see that this page is going to cover a lot of information about the NPS. Not only is there plentiful information, but it is also very logically organized. It starts with basic operations like management and budgets and goes down in importance/relevance to bookstores and special divisions. Basically, the more prevalent information is at the top and only seriously invested readers would make it to some of the lower sub-topics. There are many graphics in the form of lists, tables, bar graphs, and images. This adds to the page’s logos because I know that I tend to gravitate towards visually-displayed information. This information gives me a better handle on all the different things I’m trying to process. One table that was especially helpful was under the heading Nomenclature. Since there are a lot of numbers included, it makes sense that the author wanted to display this in a table. The appeal that is the most implicit is pathos. I believe that anyone who would take the time to author this page is passionate about the national parks. I inferred this from the breadth of the article and the use of many pictures. The pictures used are very inviting – especially the first one of the Grand Canyon, one of America’s most recognizable parks. The pictures appeal to a reader’s adventurous side and pull on those emotions. This page was well-written and it follows the Wikipedia standard of a neutral point-of-view, but it does subtly nudge at the importance of maintaining and supporting our national parks. Overall, this page is very well-rounded and encompasses many different iconic features of a typical Wikipedia page. 2/5/2018 3 Comments RAB 1I chose to analyze the Instagram page of Tortus Copenhagen, an American potter living in Denmark.
The first thing you see when you pull up an Instagram profile is the avatar and biography. His profile picture is of him, looking down and smiling. This shows his amiable personality while also looking professional. His biography is simple and concise; he first states his name, Eric Landon, then his profession and where his studio is located. Since he travels to do workshops, he also puts where he is currently traveling. The last component of his biography is a link to see him present at a university in Australia. He wants his followers to know what he’s doing and how they can connect with him personally. When you look at his timeline as a whole, there is a good mix of pottery wheel videos and pictures of him, landscapes, and appreciation posts. He posts 1-2 times a day so he is very active on this platform. While he posts some personal pictures, most of his content is focused on pottery and how he is adapting modern and traditional pottery. The hosts at the University of South Australia summarize his purpose well, “[He is] dedicated to the modern adaptation of traditional and time-tested making methods with the goal of creating vessels of a timeless quality and beauty.” You don’t even have to know much about ceramics or the wheel to see that this purpose is evident on his page by the pictures he posts of his work. As you continue to look at it as a whole piece, he uses the same filters so everything looks light and colorful. This shows his style and it’s consistent with the ceramic products he produces. One way you can see his purpose to bring attention to the art of the wheel is in his appreciation posts of other potters. These are among some of my favorite pictures he posts because he captures the natural beauty of people and shares their story. In this post, he showcases Chela Edmunds, who owns a studio in Australia. She only has around 32k followers but because of his post, I found her site and loved what she made. I probably never would have seen her work if it weren’t for him. In my opinion, he made a wise choice using Instagram as his main platform. His videos of the wheel are so enticing for clickbait because he has mastered his abilities and this shows in his beautiful videos. I found his page while scrolling through the explore section and when I see any cool and satisfying videos of art, I always click. And I know I’m not alone in this; his videos consistently get over a million views while he only has 776k followers. While you can post videos on Twitter and Facebook, it is much easier for non-followers to see your posts on Instagram (with the explore page and recommended for you). This ties into his purpose and personal story. He found his love for pottery at the age of 16 and Instagram is a demographic of young people. It is evident that he wants others to fall in love with this beautiful art so that they can learn the many skills it has to offer. Also on Instagram, it is very easy to comment on pictures and reply to those comments, which he does. You don’t see that very often with popular pages. He really cares about his followers and the community he has built. Overall, his consistency and dedication are very admirable and inspiring. I hope that this analysis does his page the justice it deserves. |
Clare McGradyI'm a sophomore at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Archives
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