TOW #14 - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (IRB pt. 2)

I enjoyed reading the second part of this book. It was interesting to continue seeing Angelou's development as a child, and the experiences she had that shaped her childhood. The second half of the book was primarily ages 10-16. As the book progresses, you can see the things she learns and the ways her experiences changed her, either for better or worse. It was nice to see her thoughts as these things happened. The most important thing to learn from this half of the book was that if you really want something, you can get it if you try. She was the first African American to get a job working on the streetcars, because she knew that was what she wanted and she was willing to do anything in order to get it. She talked to people she knew, she insisted to everyone running the streetcars, all to the job that she really wanted, even if it wasn't necessarily the best job available. The result of her determination and hard work led to her achieving what she had set out to do, and that's an important thing for people to know, that just because a limit exists doesn't mean it can't be broken if you really work for it. I also liked the message at the end that the people who love you the most will support you through anything and their opinion of you won't change if something happens. I thought the Graduation chapter was really good, because it was a good demonstration of the general sentiments of African American people at the time, that they were not given equal rights and they were limited by their skin color. Angelou herself wonders why the famous black people were all athletes while white children could become anyone from a scientist to anyone they wanted to be. She almost seems to feel like trying for anything like being an Einstein or Madame Curie (some of the examples she cites) would be useless. But then later, she refutes that when she pursues her dream and becomes the first black streetcar operator, which I thought was nice because it contributed to the theme I mentioned earlier.

TOW #13 - Justice Cartoon (visual)

This was an interesting cartoon I found, and I thought it was relevant to what's going on in the world today, such as the cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The cartoon itself has an interesting method because justice is not supposed to discriminate among people, yet we still have police officers who can commit crimes against African American men without getting any sort of consequence for their actions. I think the choice of using two young black children in the cartoon is interesting because children are impressionable and they'll be thinking that they are not worth as much as white people, that the justice system is corrupted by ideas of racism and prejudice. I think this was an effective way to do this, because justice is supposed to be "blind", with ideals of being innocent until proven guilty, and the idea that all people are equal under the law. I think it was using this particular icon was a good idea, because it demonstrates the principles the justice system is supposed to abide by. But one of the children is saying "but she can still make out colors" which is an effective and simple way to show some of the things that are wrong with the justice system today, that it discriminates. And by simply saying that it can make out colors, the cartoonist is suggesting that this isn't limited to just African Americans, it can apply to people of other cultures, basically anyone who isn't white. The cartoon appeals primarily to pathos and logos. It appeals to pathos through the use of children in the cartoon and in light of the recent events, with the trend "Black Lives Matter", in order to show that there is a major problem in our society with the treatment of people of color. It also appeals to logos by making the argument that if justice is supposed to be blind, why it seems that African Americans are not being treated equally to whites, and police officers who kill young children and unarmed teenagers should be walking free.

TOW #12 Ferguson Was the Spark (Written)

http://time.com/3617369/eric-garner-grand-jury-protests/

For a long time now, posts about Ferguson and the death of Eric Garner have filled up my tumblr dashboard, and the more I see, the more angry it makes me. This was an interesting article as it connected this two relevant events. The first thing I noticed however, is a few inaccuracies in the description of the Ferguson events, particularly in describing the encounter between Michael Brown and Officer Wilson. The article was mainly about the racism problems that are still present in our country, resulting in the deaths of unarmed people. The article itself was interesting because it provided evidence to support the claim it made in the title, that Ferguson was the "spark" and Garner is "the fire". It talks about how the details in Ferguson are questionable, but that it's still inspired people to take action, and that with this newest development, people have taken to protesting for basic human rights. He did make a good point that even if the circumstances were questionable, it still can't justify Brown's death (which evidence suggests was not due to theft, but to jaywalking). It does question however, what the movement is trying to achieve, as attempting to get rid of racism entirely is impossible. The article appealed to logos in order to support the author's positive opinion of the movements, how it's a good thing that people are standing up for their beliefs and protesting injustice, but raises objections to the way the movement is progressing. I disagree with some of the things the author said in the article however, that Ferguson is getting more attention than Garner, and I disagree, because from what I've seen, it's getting a lot of attention, especially on my social media stream. I agree with the fact that these officers were not even indicted, received no punishment (and Wilson got a load of money from supporters, which I personally find sickening), and essentially got away with killing. There was one sentence that I thought summed up the article pretty well, "Ferguson was the spark, but Garner was 'it.'". Ferguson was an important but with the resolution of the Garner case, it has created even more uproar among the people and makes people inclined to take action at the brutality of the event and the people responsible, possibly leading to future steps combating racism.


Another interesting link: http://raggedyhour.tumblr.com/post/104454252877/nodamncatnodamncradle-odinsblog-racial-bias

TOW #11- I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - IRB

I think this book has been really interesting so far. In the first half of the book, Angelou has described her childhood in Stamps and the different experiences she had that shaped her life such as her visit to her mother. It is an interesting memoir and I like it so far, at least partially because it is so different from my own experiences. I like hearing stories, and especially stories that have a purpose. Her story is not just of a country childhood but of an African American girl as she grows up in a segregated south. Almost everything I know about segregation is from history books and it was interesting to see a real life perspective. It was a story of growing up and accepting your past experiences like what happened with Mr Freedman. She also automatically had ethos because it was a story about her life, and there wasn't much of an obvious argument being made. She is trying to tell the audience however, that this is what her life was like and what the world was like. Some of the strategies she used would include imagery and colloquialism. I really enjoyed her descriptions, of people, places, and events. She also spoke the way you would expect someone from the south to speak, which was an interesting effect and I think it wad effective because it makes the story seem more authentic, since she's using the language she would have used at the time. I enjoyed the narration style, it seemed to have a proposed rather than just retelling events. We learn what it was like to grow up in such a places and the hardships that people suffered, liked the cotton gamers who were tired and dirty after long days of work and still went to church. The purpose was hope. That even in the darkest time, there is hope that things will get better and that nothing bad has to last forever.

TOW #10 - "Why gendercide is the real 'war on women'" - Written

Link to Article

I know a talk a lot about feminism and other social justice issues here, but I found this article and I thought it was really interesting. It's about "gendercide", or the killing of young girls either through abortion or murdering the child after birth. The author is Reggie Littlejohn, president and founder of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, an international organization that opposes forced abortion and sexual slavery, as well as advocating for women's rights in general. This establishes her ethos on the topic. The article was attempting to convince people to help stop "gendercide", as well as promoting the organization towards the end. The article used statistics in order to support the argument that was being made, including the statistics about China and India, how in China 118 boys are born for every 100 girls, due to sex-selective abortions. In China, sons are preferred to daughters and this has led to the abortion of female fetuses and the high human trafficking in China. The article also describes similar problems in India, such as the "sterilization camps", where many women end up dying, showing that the problem is deadly not only to young girls, but to adult women as well. The statistics used definitely enhance the argument, supporting it and providing evidence for the true existence of a problem. It also appeals to pathos, which is an important part of the argument and will make readers much more likely to take action, or at least learn more about the problem, which is not clearly visible to many people, especially the primarily American audience who is reading the article. The topic is highly emotional, preventing the deaths of young girls, and it obviously benefits the author to appeal to this, especially if promoting her organization. Appeals to pathos can be found throughout the article, including "We are stopping gendercide, one baby girl at a time", which appeals to pathos because everyone loves babies, and arguing that change is possible, and they are making strides to create the change that is needed.

IRB Intro #2

I chose the book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. I chose this book because I've read poetry by Maya Angelou before, and really enjoyed it, so I want to see if I enjoy her prose. Also I don't usually read autobiography/memoir type books, and I thought I would give it a try.

TOW #9 Arms (Visual)

I thought this was an interesting visual text, and it attracted my attention as I was looking for one. It was an interesting juxtaposition of human arms and the firearms. It sends an interesting message about the artist's opinions on guns. I think this ad was targeted towards people who are against more strict gun control laws, primarily parents, because they would tend to like children. The author's purpose was to tell people that by allowing uncontrolled firearm use, we are perpetuating violence against other people. It was interesting that the image brought up children, because people know that children are very important to our future, and we don't want to be teaching our children the wrongs things, because they will be future leaders of society. It is saying that children don't naturally seek violence, that people are inherently peaceful, but they are taught violence by things like the presence of guns. The juxtaposition is interesting because the arms and the guns are in similar positions, and it makes the image more effective because it is visually interesting. The background color makes the image more noticeable to people. The overall color scheme is very jarring, and attracts the reader's eye immediately. The image is very obvious and clear, and the simplicity of the design makes it very effective. The font choice is interesting as well, it is not a very smooth or pretty font, and it draws attention to the idea that this is an ugly issue. This choice of font is very good for the purpose of this image. The image also appeals to pathos, because the creator knows that no one wants to do damage to children. It is also interesting for the creator to associate guns with children, which are not usually things that are associated together. This causes the reader to think about the message. Also, the simplicity of the design is good because it makes the message more clear and doesn't have an excess information or clutter to distract from the purpose of the image.

TOW #8 - How to Be Alone (IRB Part 2)

As I continued to read this book, I didn't particularly feel much changed. The rest of the essays were continuing the same themes as the first half of the book, although there was a larger variety of topics, including the prison system, and his favorite authors. They all served to define what being alone means, and whether being alone is a good thing or something that causes harm. Although the essays themselves were interesting, I think overall the author seemed to be a little bit pretentious, because he wrote a lot about things he's done, and saying that people who read serious fiction or fiction that is difficult to read are somehow "better" than people who don't do that, or that people who don't own modern technology are "better" than people who do, because they are caught up in what is popular or new. Much of the language he used was elevated as well, which could make the audience less able to understand the points he is trying to make, as well as alienating readers who aren't interested in trying to decipher the language. He also seemed to flaunt his accomplishments frequently, such as reading The Recognitions. Overall, I do think the essays provided interesting perspective on what being alone actually is, and whether you actually want to be alone. He definitely developed his ethos throughout the book, he made sure people knew he was credible to speak about the topics, some of which were about his personal life. Also, much of what he said was based on personal experience. At some points though, it was a bit difficult to understand what his point actually was, because he would jump from one topic to another without explanation or warning. His version of alone was not necessarily being isolated from others physically (such as in the prison described in the Control Units essay), but often mentally as well, such as his father having Alzheimer's or not embracing technology. Some of them didn't even focus on the individual, but rather on a unit, such as the city of Chicago on why they were an outlier in mail delivery. I don't think it was how to be alone exactly, but rather how being "alone" affects us.

TOW #7 - Graven Images (Written)

This essay was written by Saul Bellow, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976. He has won three National Book Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for his writing. The essay was written 1997, which is a fairly modern perspective. The essay was about photography and the modern media, and how that has influenced the behavior of people and the way the media can shape the public idea of someone. This is becoming especially relevant since our culture and society is becoming more public, with the Internet and smartphones and a lot of other modern technology. Throughout the essay, he frequently mentions "amour propre", which means "self love" and was created by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It is a "self love" derived from the approval of others, and is something that people today often seek. He opens the essay by talking about President Truman, and how the photographers held a large amount of power, as they could create or destroy his public image, something that is still true for many public figures. He also does a good job of establishing ethos throughout the essay, by using his own past experiences as examples, like the TIME article with the terrible picture of him. But beyond talking about how photography has changed our ideas of self-consciousness and the idea of exposure that was mentioned many times, he talks about why people are so involved in maintaining a good image and may even create a public persona, the way he says he has, the way there are some things he doesn't reveal to the media. He says, "it is the (not always conscious) premise of the photographer that his is the art of penetrating your private defenses" as well as the belief that "your 'privacy' is to them a cover for the lies and manipulations of your amour propre". He is telling the reader that the job of the media and photographers is to reveal your inner life and the "layers of the story".

TOW #6 - "Two Ways of Belonging in America" (Written)

The author of this essay was Bharati Mukherjee, an Indian-born author. She is currently a professor at Berkeley. The essay describes her experiences as an immigrant and contrasts it with that of her sister. She explains the main differences between her and her sister as they lived in the United States, like how her sister chose not to become an American citizen. She talks about how her sister wanted to keep up the old traditions, while she almost seemed to reject them, not having an arranged marriage, as well as marrying someone who was not Indian. She goes on and describes her sister's stance on immigration and how legal immigrants are not treated as well as they should be. She talks about how this happened, and what the differences were that led to this happening. She also addresses immigration itself, from the view Americans have of immigrants, how they're believed to work in stereotypical immigrant jobs. She talks about her own similar experience in Canada, and how she understands her sister's sentiment about being an immigrant.  She is trying to tell the reader, who probably doesn't share these experiences, that North American countries need to rethink the way they treat immigrants, as they should not be treated as second class citizens and do not deserve the stereotypes they are given. She also describes how immigrants choose to approach living in a new culture, you can embrace it the way she did or you can try to cling on to your past, the way her sister did, and both of those things are perfectly fine. She achieves her purpose by appealing primarily to logos and ethos. She appeals to logos by making a logical argument about why her she and her sister share different immigration experiences. She builds her ethos almost immediately as an immigrant, and she is clearly credible to speak about the topic, since she talks about her own experiences as an immigrant as well as her sister's.

TOW #5 - WWF Ad (Visual)

This is an ad by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) about the tsunami that occurred in Japan in 2011 and the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. It makes an interesting comparison between the two and shows the twin towers with many planes heading towards them, rather than the two that actually hit the buildings in the attack. In the top right corner, the ad says that the tsunami killed 100 times more people than the 9/11 attack. I think the ad is pretty effective because it definitely attracts the viewer's attention with all the planes headed towards the towers, and it makes the viewer want to know what's going on, so they'll read the caption on the right, which explains the purpose of the ad and also the organization that created it. The ad is telling the viewer that they need to preserve the environment, and from this ad, because of its power. But while I do think the ad grabs the viewer's attention, it might be going a little too far, because I don't think comparing the tsunami to terrorist attacks is entirely necessary or appropriate, and definitely is not necessary for the purpose of promoting wildlife and preservation of nature. The ad attempts to appeal to the audience's pathos with the reference to the attacks and all the people who died. Some people might find this ad offensive, because it could be considered almost disrespectful to those who died in the attack, especially when it has more planes pointing towards the towers, as if the actual attack was not bad enough. The tsunami and the attacks were both tragedies, and there is no purpose in juxtaposing them together in this way. The ad could also be considered as appealing to logos with the statistic that was used in order to emphasize the power of nature, and that the natural world must be protected. It does seem slightly counterintuitive however, seeing as if natural phenomena like tsunamis can cause this much damage, it doesn't necessarily seem like nature is something that needs to be defended.

TOW #4 - "How to Be Alone" - IRB

The book I chose as my IRB for the first marking period is called How to be Alone, by Jonathan Franzen, who is an American novelist and essayist. He has won a National Book Award and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The book is a collection of essays from a variety of different magazines and other publications the author has written for. The essays and the connection between them is interesting, because on first glance the essays might not seem very correlated at all, exploring various topics such as Alzheimer's disease, the American ideal of privacy, and serious fiction. However, I do believe they have something in common. They explore different aspects of being alone, and what it truly means to be alone. In the first essay, we can see as the author's father became more "alone" as he lost his memories and regressed as was mentioned many times as if he was becoming a child again. The next essay explores the topic of privacy, which is important to many Americans, and questioning the very definition of privacy itself. Privacy is often associated with being alone, and the author argues that we are more private now than ever, contrary to the popular belief that we are losing our privacy. Throughout the essay, the author establishes ethos in a few different places, primarily in the Harper's essay, where he frequently mentions how he enjoys serious fictions and talks about the novels he's written. He also attempts to appeal to logos in all of the essays in order to support whatever point he is making in that essay. I did, however, disagree with him on a few points where a claim he made was a bit unjustified, such as when he said that the "one genuine tragedy" to befall the United States was slavery, which I don't believe to be entirely true, seeing as there have been many struggles in our country's past, and to say there was only one main flaw is quite insensitive.

TOW #3 - "Is Doctor Who Sexist? (Visual)

I know you're probably tired of my ranting about feminism by now, but I saw this infographic on tumblr and thought it was interesting and relevant. This infographic is the result of a lot of people (myself included) believing that the newest seasons of Doctor Who (seasons 5-8 of the revived series) are sexist and have experienced a drastic drop in quality after Steven Moffat took over the show. I personally believe that female characters he created such as Amy and River had no life outside of the Doctor, and no complex personality (like Rose or Donna had) that makes the viewer relate to them. Instead, Moffat relies on traits like "flirtiness" and "sassiness" to make the audience like his female characters, which also applies to Clara, who is not listed on the graphic because she is the most recent companion and has not yet concluded her run on the show. The author was a university student who did this study (the article itself can be read here). The infographic uses a logical argument (logos) by presenting facts and statistics about the topic. The author also uses ethos in the beginning when she describes how she watched all the episodes in order to collect this data, and in the article she begins by describing her credentials. The purpose was to show readers data about companions from both eras and data that supports the idea that Moffat's episodes are more sexist than older episodes. It doesn't present any opinions on the topic, rather just presenting the facts, which I thought was more appropriate for this situation, as it allows the viewer to form their own interpretation of the data. I think it achieves this purpose, seeing as it presents data such as Bechdel test pass rates (the Bechdel test is passed if a female character talks to another female character about something other than a man). It presents data that would lead most people to the conclusion that indeed, Moffat era is indeed more sexist than previous seasons. I personally like this graphic because it presents the information is an easily understandable and visually appealing format, and including a lot of information without looking too cluttered or unorganized.

IRB #1 Intro

My first IRB selection is "How to Be Alone" by Jonathan Franzen. The book is a collection of essays on a wide variety of topics. I chose this book because I think it will be interesting to able to read about a lot of different things, and because I don't usually read essays it will be good to get some experience with that.

TOW #2 - "Total Eclipse" (Written)

The essay was from about the author's experience seeing a total solar eclipse, and her thoughts before and after the event. The author was Annie Dillard, who is an author best known for her narrative prose. She has written poetry, prose, literary criticism, and a variety of other different forms of literature. She won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, for "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek". Her description of the eclipse didn't seem to be for any particular audience, maybe those who have seen a solar eclipse before, as she frequently seemed to say that the way people describe it or photographs of it really can't compare to the actual thing. However, even to those who don't share this experience, she does an excellent job portraying her emotions as the eclipse occurred, and how she felt afterwards. She tried to describe the eclipse to everyone, as not just the eclipse but as a holistic experience. She starts with the hotel room and a detailed description of that, as well as the restaurant she visited after the eclipse. She not only described the eclipse, but it seems like she is showing the reader that nature is something to be appreciated and amazed by, because it can produce amazing events like this eclipse. I think she definitely achieved a sense of something bigger, as if it's more than just the sun being blocked out, it's the incredible magnitude of space and nature itself. Throughout the essay, she uses short anecdotes about things such as the clown painting in her hotel. However, I think some of the random information, such as the detailed description of the hotel, were not entirely necessary for the purpose of the essay. It was interesting in describing the entire experience, but may have detracted a bit from the main focus of the essay, which was the actual eclipse itself and the impact it had on her for long afterwards, which was shown in her thoughts at the restaurant.

TOW #1

The essay was to help students write better and more interesting essays, primarily 500 word compositions. The author was Paul Roberts, who was an English teacher and also wrote multiple books on linguistics and writing. The audience would be primarily college students who may not be very adept at writing, explaining the hypothetical "D" essay that was presented very early on in the essay. It is clearly presented for a college audience, with the mentions of professors and roommates. However, much of what was said throughout the essay is relevant to many more audiences. The context is a writing guide for college students who are interested in improving their writing skills and getting better grades on their school writing assignments. Throughout the essay, Roberts establishes ethos by presenting himself not only as someone who is knowledgable about the topic but also understands what it's like to struggle with writing essays. The entire introduction of the essay was a scenario that almost any student understands, and the way the essay was shown as being written is much like the writing process for many other people. The author uses humor throughout the essay, which further establishes trust, rather than if the essay was written as just a professor who is presenting writing advice. The student would have no connection, no interest, would not find the author relatable.

The purpose would be to provide advice for writing better essays for college. I think the author achieved their purpose very well, as he provided interesting and useful advice for writing essays not just for college but also for high school or in general. Much of the advice is also useful not just for writing essays but for any kind of writing, including fiction. For example, his descriptions of the "coloful" and "colored" words, and removing unnecessary padding. The content of the essay was all useful and relevant, and it was presented in a way that keeps the reader's attention, from writing an essay about beetles to professors "brought to the brink of lunacy". He also provided concrete examples of what he was saying, the different literary terms and all the topics that were addressed.

Life with Daughters: Watching the Miss America Pageant

The essay explored various aspects of black culture through the Miss America competition, primarily black women and society's ideas on black women. The author explores racial pride, the politics of the competition itself, and racism. The author, Gerald Early, is an essayist and American culture critic. He has written on many different topics, African American culture such as in this essay is just one of those topics. The essay is written in a fairly modern context, having been written in 1990, it is one of the most recent of the essays, and the issues explored in the essay are still relevant to this day, as black women and the black community overall struggles to find their identity, similar to the way women were discussed in the previous essay I read. The purpose of the essay was to explore modern society and the way black people are treated in our society, and describe the struggle for African Americans that persists to this day. He uses many anecdotes throughout the essay, primarily about his daughters and his experiences raising them. The primary audience would probably be other black people, probably young black women, seeing as they are the main subject of the essay, as well as who it seems he is addressing. He definitely achieves his purpose, exploring many different issues throughout the essay and making sure they all relate to the main topic. He uses the example of how his older daughter once wanted long blonde hair, or the story he ended up with, when his daughters were playing dolls, and Rosalind said to him, "We're not racial. That's old-fashioned. Don't you think so, Daddy? Aren't you tired of all that racial stuff?" I think this was definitely something interesting to include in the essay, and how he ended the essay describing his "stiffness and inflexibility", which is interesting because it means that the older generations are stiff and inflexible and the race issues are still relevant to them, but in the children it is made obvious by the story that they are not nearly as concerned with these issues, and would be content to ignore race altogether, rather than perpetuating racism, which is still continuing to this day, as if made evident by the very recent Ferguson riots over the death of an unarmed black teenager.

Vanessa Williams, the first African American Miss America was mentioned many times throughout the essay.

Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying

The essay was about women, how they lie, and the reasons for this lying. She starts with talking about the old ideas of honor, and how this problem of women lying may have begun. She continues to talk about ways women lie, and how the way they talk to each other and to men is different, and why lying in relationships affects people so much, and how women have only recently begun to discover themselves after so long being under the control of the patriarchy. The author, Adrienne Rich, was a poet, essayist, and feminist, all of which makes sense when reading this essay. She is well known for declining the National Medal of Arts because the House of Representatives ended funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. One of the main strategies I noticed was anaphora and other repetition, such as when she begins three paragraphs with "women have". She also repeats many other phrases throughout the essay, and I think this does help achieve the purpose. The purpose of the essay is to speak to other women in an attempt to describe and explain the phenomenon of female lying. I think she definitely does achieve this purpose, and does it quite well. As the title says, they are "notes" on lying, and how this results from the idea of honor, and how female honor was different from male honor, which resulted in the lying, that "honesty in women has not been considered important. We have been depicted as generically whimsical, deceitful, subtle, vacillating. And we have been rewarded for lying." She explains how this image has led to women lying, and why this doesn't occur in men. It results from being considered inferior to men, expected to be obedient and faithful. We lie in relationships "with people who do not have power over us" because we are so used to doing it in other relationships. She also discusses lesbian women, and how they have been erased throughout history, saying that women who are lesbians are "criminals", or "sick". And finally, she describes how the liar is afraid and lonely, and why lying in relationships is makes us "feel slightly crazy".

The comic below shows some of the ways people lie to each other, many of which were addressed throughout the essay.

The Marginal World

The essay was about the author's experiences at the beach, at the shoreline where the water and land meet. She describes the tide pools and the shoreline, and the almost surreal nature of these places. Rachel Carson was a marine biologist and writer, who was involved in environmental conservation, including the use of chemical pesticides. She wrote a book called Silent Spring, which brought environmental concerns to the minds of the people. This led to a change in pesticide policies, ultimately resulting in the ban of chemicals like DDT. The essay describes a few different locations, such as a cave that is only revealed at the lowest tides, a shoreline at night, and a southern coast. The author's purpose in writing this essay would be to describe these different locations and the emotions she was experiencing as she visited these places. She might also have been attempting to show that places like this are worth saving, to show that the environment is important because there are beautiful places like this. Her audience would be everyone, because everyone shares this experience, but probably primarily young adults because she uses high-level vocabulary and also because this group has more power to cause environmental change than anyone else. She uses analogies when describing things, such as calling the tide a "rhythm" or the "continuing flow" of time. She also uses allusion, when she says "Lilliputan beings swimming through dark pools". I think she achieved her purpose quite well, I really liked the way she described everything. She portrayed the emotions she experienced at these different locations well, and it was really easy to form a mental image of the places and things she was describing, from the tides to the different types of animal life. She uses a lot of descriptive language, such as "for the delicate, destructible, yet incredibly vital force that somehow holds its place amid the harsh realities of the inorganic world". Throughout the essay, she does an excellent job not only describing the things she saw, she also describes the emotions she felt as she was encountering these things, and I think this was an important part of her purpose as well. And if I'm correct in saying that she was looking for people be concerned about the environment, then I think she also achieved this because she described everything in such a way that makes the reader think that places like this are precious and need to preserved.

A location similar to those described throughout the essay.