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.