TOW#19: IRB "The Nazi Officer's Wife" by Edith Hahn Beer

Safe Is Not So Safe

Elie Wiesel is a famous author known for his memoir, "Night". He wrote about his life during the Holocaust; He describes the torture and the devastation he went through with his father. However, a woman named Edith Hahn Beer, who was also Jewish, went through the exact opposite of what he went through. Yet, she was just as terrified. Beer writes her story in "The Nazi Officer's Wife", and shows that life was actually still terrifying even though she was "safe" by appealing to ethos and using descriptive diction.

Beer appeals to ethos by retelling a true story about herself in order to make herself more credible to the audience. This book is a true story in her perspective about the horrible things that she had to go through during the Holocaust. Because this story is true and in her perspective, she is more credible rather than a person writing about her. If another person had written about her, the readers would think that the author changed a few details here and there to make the story more interesting. But this story is told from the primary source. The readers are, therefore, able to believe Beer and be more engaged with the story. Thus, the readers are more fascinated that all these events in the story are true. 

Beer also uses descriptive diction in order to add detail into her writing to make it sound interesting. She talks about the terrible ride to Munich by saying, “I murdered the personality I was born with and transformed myself from a butterfly back in into a caterpillar. That night I learned to seek the shadows, to prefer silence”. This shows that she was a different person now. By stating "I murdered the personality" shows that she has gotten rid of who she used to be and became a different person; But not in a good way. She also says that she "transformed myself from a butterfly back in into a caterpillar", which also shows that she is now in hiding and in the process of becoming a different person. By using descriptive diction such as "murdered", "transformed", "butterfly" and "caterpillar", she is able to imply her feelings without being banal and too straight-forward, which would not sound as intriguing. 

Beer was able to avoid the torturous Holocaust that many people went through, by meeting a non-Jewish man who promised to keep her identity a secret. However, she lived in fear everyday, fear that she might be caught. Ultimately, she managed to stay hidden for the rest of the Holocaust. Yet, she writes a book about how terrified she was despite her luckiness by appealing to ethos and using descriptive diction. 

TOW#18: A Boy Saw A Classmate Getting Horribly Bullied. It’s What Happened 4 Years Later That Made Me Cry

            Just Say "Hello"

          The hardest thing to do is the easiest thing to do. An inspiring but untrue story tells of a boy named Kyle who is bullied. He carries multiple books to and from school and a bully always knocks them down and calls him a nerd. One day, a classmate sees this and goes up to help him when no one else did. Many others may have avoided to help Kyle because they were afraid that they might look like a “loser”. Little did the classmate know that Kyle was on his way home to kill himself that night. But the classmate saved him. In this short anecdote, the author appeals to ethos and uses suspense to show that good deeds have greater outcomes than one would imagine.

            The author appeals to ethos by speaking in first-person to show his credibility towards the story and show a more emotional insight to the character. It says, “As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him.” This shows how the character felt and the reasons for him going up and helping him. By speaking in first-person, the reader is able to understand the character’s feelings better and have empathy, rather than if it said, “He felt this, so he did this.” Speaking in first-person also makes the story more believable and touching. Thus, the author's first-person perspective gives the story more of a personal feel and credible. 

            The author uses suspense in order to lure in the reader’s attention to make the story more exciting. During graduation, as it states in the story, the character, Kyle, says,  “‘I am going to tell you a story’.” By saying this, the audience can predict that he is going to talk about how he was bullied and his encounter of his first friend. But since he says “story”, the reader is able to predict that there is more to the story than the first time they met, which is true. Kyle goes on and talks about how he was on his way home to kill himself, but one person helped him from the bullies, which ultimately saved his life. This shows that by using suspense, the author is able to grab the reader’s attention and give more to the reader than they were expecting.

            This was not a true story. But then why would the author write it? Bullying has become a serious issue and many people have been ignoring this fact. Therefore the author decides to write a story with a moral, which is that good deeds have greater outcomes than one would expect. He shows this by appealing to ethos and using suspense. A simple “hello” can save someone’s life.  

Picture used for the story 

(http://avmediastudio.com/blog/a-boy-saw-a-classmate-getting-horribly-bullied-its-what-happened-10-years-later-that-made-me-cry/)

TOW#17: Teen Pregnancy Advertisement

(http://aapci.org/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/teen-pregnancy-ad.jpg)

Teen Pregnancy is Not Cool

"16 and Pregnant" and "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" are television shows that depict the possible lives of being a teenager with a child. However, these shows tend to show that being a pregnant teenager is manageable. This causes people to forget the consequences of having a child at such a young age. Also, it is not only the teenagers that suffer from the pregnancy but it is also the child who suffers as well. This advertisement (shown above) describes how children with teen parents are not likely to graduate high school. The advertisement appeals to pathos and uses bolded words in order to show that teen pregnancy is ruinous to the future of a teenager's child.

The advertisement appeals to pathos by its use of a picture of a crying baby. The crying baby brings a sad emotion to the audience. If the advertisement did not include the picture, people would most likely walk past the advertisement without even taking a glance at it. The first thing people would see as they walk past this advertisement is this crying child. This would cause them to wonder why the child is crying. Then they would read the text on the advertisement to see what it is about, allowing them to see the facts of teen-pregnancy. The crying child catches a person's eye and cause the audience to sympathize for the child. The picture of the advertisement also may influence possible teenagers who decide to make poor choices in the future. This picture on the advertisement brings out guilt, thus making the picture effective for the advertisement. 

The advertisement also uses bolded words in order to emphasize the key words in the advertisement. The bolding of the words, "not", "high school", and "teen" makes it simple for the audiences to understand the main point of this picture. If the words were not bolded, people would probably be too lazy to read the entire text. The bolded words summarize the main idea and cause others to want to read it more since the words are bolded, showing a sign of importance. The bolded words stand out; it is the first person the audience would see right after the picture of the sad baby. Also, the use of bold words are found in the bottom of the advertisement where it says, "KIDS OF TEEN MOMS ARE TWICE AS LIKELY NOT TO GRADUATE THAN KIDS WHOSE MOMS WERE OVER AGE 22." This was also to emphasize that it is teenager mothers that risk a child's chance of graduating high school, not adult mothers. This shows that being a teenage mother is very risky and immoral to the child being born. Ultimately, the bolded words emphasize the important texts of the advertisement so that the audience reads the key elements of the text. 

Was this advertisement necessary? Do people not know that teenage pregnancy is wrong? People are beginning to forget the negative outcomes of teenage pregnancy. This advertisement was a reminder and a "heads-up" about how teenage pregnancy affects more than one person. The advertisement brilliantly conveys this idea by appealing to pathos and using bolded words. 

IRB Intro: "The Nazi Officer's Wife" by Edith Hahn Beer

This is a memoir about a woman named Edith who is a Jew living during the Holocaust. She lies about her identity to keep herself from getting persecuted. She meets a man named Werner, a member in the Nazi party, who falls in love with her and promises to keep her identity hidden. Will Edith survive?

I chose this book because I wanted to read about other perspectives of the Holocaust than from Elie Wiesel. I think this book will be really interesting because this woman is not living a horrible life, since she lies about her identity. But will she be living peacefully even after that?

I hope to gain more insight into the troubling days of the Holocaust. Because of this book, I get to see a whole other side of this time period. I can't wait to read it!

TOW#16: (Article) Smoking Is Worse Than You Imagined By The Editorial Board

Smoking is Bad You Say?

Remember when smoking was "in" and you could see 12 year olds with cigarettes? That's because they didn't know how bad it was back then. However, as may people looked into what cigarettes were composed of, they became aware of the negative effects it has on people's lives. Therefore, many people began to quit cigarettes and began to refrain from them. Today, however, people haven't been as cautious as they used to be. Little did they know that cigarettes are much worse for them than they learned in elementary school. The author appeals to ethos and logos to show that smoking is much worse for one's health than one may perceive.

The author appeals to logos by using factual information from professional health researchers. These days smoking a fewer cigarettes has higher risk of cancer than smoking more cigarettes back in the 1960s. The reason for that is because the ingredients are different than they used to be. The author reports that, "... the risk of developing adenocarcinoma of the lung, the most common type of lung cancer, has increased substantially over the past several decades because of changes in the design and composition of cigarettes. These include ventilated filters that lead to more puffing of noxious materials and blended tobaccos that contain carcinogenic nitrosamines." 

The author appeals to ethos by where the author posted the article. It was posted on the New York Times. New York Times is very credible and known throughout the entire world. Because of its status and reputation, many people are going to see this article and take it seriously. The author, being aware of new trends, wanted to inform people that smoking is still bad and just because medicines have improved, it doesn't mean that the harmful effects of smoking is any less.

The author's purpose was to show that smoking is serious and people are forgetting that, since these days all the famous rappers smoke and it seems cool again. By appealing to ethos and logos, the author is able to convey his stand on the detrimental effects of smoking and that people should take caution.

What's in a cigarette?

http://www.nysmokefree.com/Subpage.aspx?P=0&P1=40

TOW#14: Text "Potato Chips: Are You Eating This All-Time Favorite "Cancer-in-a-Can" Snack?"

"Potato" Chips

Many people are familiar with potato chips, the delicious and crunchy snack that can be found in any average American home. What most people do not know is, is that these "potato" chips may not even contain a lot of "potato". Rather it is more of flakes of potato.

Dr. Mercola writes an article about how these chips are not only healthy, but also hazardous. They contain an ingredient called Acrylamide, which can cause cancer. This ingredient is not intentionally put into the chips but created when carbohydrate-rich foods are cooked at high temperatures. She wants to show these facts about these chips in order to warn people about what they are consuming and feeding to their own children by appealing to logos and ethos.

Dr. Mercola appeals to logos by quoting the Food and Drug Administration. She says, "For instance, according to the FDA's data, Ore Ida Golden Fries contained 107 ppb of acrylamide in the regular fried version and 1,098 when baked." This was to show that baked chips are not any better than fried chips. In fact, she states this fact to convey that these baked chips are much worse for a person than regular chips. She most likely refers to the baked chips because she knows that people who read this article may think that they can switch to baked chips, since they are "better" than regular chips. Dr. Mercola is aware that this is incorrect. So she explains that these chips, in general, are not good for people. 

Dr. Mercola appeals to ethos by her name "Dr.". Because she is "Dr." Mercola rather than "Mrs./Ms." Mercola, she establishes ethos. Her name shows that she has the right to criticize different types of food for health purposes. Also, because of her name, she shows that she has knowledge of this subject and that she is not stating her opinion based on other websites and combining the information into her own. 

Who knew that chips were so disgusting? Many people were familiar with the fact that these chips were unhealthy for the way they were cooked, not for what was actually in them. Dr. Mercola discusses her position on these potato chips and states that they are much worse for people's health than many may presume. She appeals to logos and ethos because of her use of facts and her status. 

Pringles- one of many types of chips

(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/07/the-shocking-true-story-of-how-pringles-are-made.aspx)

TOW#13: Text "Boy Comes Out On Facebook, Mother Writes Incredible Letter Of Support" James Nichols

Coming Out

Imagine how terrifying it is for a person to "come out of the closet". Will they accept me, or will they kick me out of the house? A boy named Zach wrote on his Facebook that he was gay. His mother happened to see the post and wrote a letter in response to it. She stated that she completely supported him and that his sexual preference did not change who he was. The mother uses humor and supportive words to show that she completely supports and loves Zach no matter what.

Zach's mother uses humor to show that there are more things important than his sexual preference. In her letter she states, "The only thing that concerns me is the number of empty soda cups and tea bottles in your room. Throw them away before ants come inside." The way she mentions the messiness of his room shows that she does not care that he is gay and that there are more important aspects of life than which gender someone prefers. She also writes this to end the situation in a funny note so that her son knows that she is okay with his sexuality, thus showing that his sexuality does not change how she feels about him.

Zach's mother also uses supportive words to show that in any case she is always on his side. In the letter she emphasizes that, "I love you unconditionally. I love you with my actions, not just my words. I’m so proud of you. You are the bravest person I know. I’ll fight for you always." Her encouraging words truly show that she loves her son regardless of his sexual preference and that what he did was very courageous. She is not only accepting of the fact that he is a homosexual, but she is supportive of the way he had the courage to come out. This way she not only showed that she still loves him whether he is heteosexual or not but she showed that no matter what he does in his life, she will love and support him always.

People like Zach's mother are the ones who give people the courage to come out of the closet. Besides the fact that she showed her love for her son regardless of his sexual preference, she showed that the type of people he likes does not define who he is and that anything he does, she will support him. Yet there are others who are not as accepting as Zach's mother. One day, will people accept everyone for who they are?

The letter written to Zach

 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/mom-beautiful-letter-gay-son_n_3867793.html)