Analyzing Stylistic Choices
Analyzing Stylistic Choices
Because writing is an act of communication, writers make choices to affect readers in a variety of ways—from presenting themselves as particular kinds of people who can be readily believed to evoking particular emotions from their readers to incline those readers to consider their arguments. Engaging in this kind of analysis helps students see that the traditional rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos are not so much techniques but consequences of techniques. Writers’ choices of words, presentation of different perspectives, and citing of a variety of authorities may lead readers to believe they are well informed or well educated. Writers’ uses of particular images or language may incline particular readers to sympathize with particular groups described. Each of these effects then serves the writer’s purpose—to move the reader to act in a particular way or consider a new idea.
Activity 16: Analyzing Stylistics Choices
Technique
Effect
Purpose
What patterns do you notice across Chira’s and Brooks’s articles? What kinds of word choices do they make (name the kinds and list examples)? What images do they use? How do they describe the perspectives they describe?
Call each of these patterns a “technique,” and come up with a name for it, whether it is a name you already know or one you make up.
For each of the techniques you list, describe what effect that technique is likely to have on Chira and Brooks’s audience (both are writing for readers of The New York Times). Will it make them seem like particular kinds of people? Will it evoke particular emotions (which ones)?
What is each author’s overall purpose? For each of the effects that you describe, explain how that effect will serve the author’s purpose.
Susan Chira
Ex: Chira uses rhetorical questions in the second paragraph of her article.
The questions engage readers in the conversation that Chira is beginning. By asking “what if” questions, she invites readers to consider the possibilities she is noting.
By having readers consider those possibilities, Chira encourages an openness to the arguments she is presenting.
David Brooks
Ex: Extended example from Henry V, by Shakespeare
Brooks’s example may encourage readers to see him as a well-educated person because he can (apparently knowledgeably) refer to Shakespeare. The way that Brooks describes Henry V’s experience dramatizes the situation he is describing, encouraging audience members to feel sympathy for poor Henry and anger at modern schools that would treat him badly. It also may inspire readers to question the validity of the apparent assumptions of the schools.
By encouraging readers to see him as educated, Brooks makes his argument more convincing, as does any sympathy he can inspire for boys who might turn out to be great, like Henry V, if they aren’t beaten down by the school system.
Questioning the Text
Thinking Critically – Reading Against the Grain
Experienced readers often read critically while they are reading to understand. Because less experienced readers may short-circuit the process either by reacting to particular aspects of a text without carefully attending to the full argument or accepting wholesale the arguments that authors make, it is worth practicing each of those steps separately.
Both Susan Chira and David Brooks identify a problem in their articles. By taking apart those articles and considering different elements separately, students can practice their critical thinking mindfully.
Activity 17: Thinking Critically – Reading Against the Grain
Chira and Brooks each establish a problem early in their articles and focus the article on that problem. Complete the following table below to connect to the problem and evaluate it from your own experience.
What is the problem?
What examples from your own experience (or that of people you know) support or contradict the problem as the author defines it)?
Chira
Ex: The harassment of women at work may arise partly because they are in jobs traditionally seen as “male” jobs.
Various
Brooks
Ex: Boys struggle in school more than girls because schools are set up for girl behavior, not boy behavior.
Various
Critical Thinking: What evidence does each author provide that the problem exists?
For each author, describe the kinds of evidence the author uses. Does she/he provide statistics, quote experts, describe experiences, or provide some other kind of support? What words does the author use to set up the evidence to make it believable?
Chira
Ex: Chira cites experts who have done research on the topic.
Brooks
Ex: Brooks uses an extended metaphor based on Shakespeare and then cites some experts.
My current overall opinion on this (which can be qualified!):
Text 4 – Young, “Prelude: The Barbershop”; Text 5 – Lorde, “Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”
Preparing to Read
Understanding Key Vocabulary – Synonym Chart for Young and Lorde
Each of the five texts in this module includes some words with which students may be unfamiliar. This activity enables students to complete the Synonym Chart they began in Activity 6 for the remaining two articles, following the same procedure.
Activity 18: Understanding Key Vocabulary – Synonym Chart for Young and Lorde
Using the key vocabulary and synonym table below, review the list of vocabulary words for each author, checking off any words and/or their synonyms you know (meaning you would recognize and understand these words if you saw them in another context). Then, working individually or in pairs, brainstorm an additional 15 synonyms in the far right column for any of the key vocabulary words that you find particularly intriguing or useful. You can find synonyms using a number of resources: ask a classmate, use your cell phone to find definitions, use electronic or print dictionaries, or search on a classroom computer for acceptable synonyms. As you generate synonyms, discuss what new predictions these vocabulary words lead you to make about the articles.
Author
Vocabulary Word or Phrase
Synonym or a Similar Phrase
Another Synonym or a Similar Phrase
Vershawn Ashanti Young
prelude
vicarious
demeanor
ambivalence
cachet
innuendo
patronize
anomaly
introduction
experienced through another person
manner, conduct
conflict or uncertainty
status
implication
be condescending
irregularity
Audre Lorde
elucidate
omission
censure
mortality
tyranny
scrutinize
pertinence
explain
something left out or excluded
criticism
humanity
oppression
examine carefully
relevance
Reading Purposefully
Annotating and Questioning the Text – Understanding Young
Although the Young chapter is dense and academic, it is also compellingly personal. Encourage students to read through and try to get a whole sense of the chapter, marking rather than skipping points in the text that confuse them.
Activity 19: Annotating and Questioning the Text – Understanding Young
Read Young’s “Prelude: The Barbershop,” and Lorde, “Transformation of Silence into Language and Action” annotating as you read. Make notes in the margin marking points you find especially moving or important, sections you need to revisit to resolve confusions, questions that arose for you, and sections you disagree with or want to discuss further. Once you have finished your reading and annotation, turn to a neighbor and discuss your reactions, questions, and confusions.
Provide a brief summary for both articles:
Read Young’s “Prelude: The Barbershop
Lorde, “Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”
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