"Browken": Rhetorical Analysis and Style
Blog Post #4, Rhetorical Analysis and Style
Hello again, readers!
For this week's assignment, my group read chapters 7 and 8, bringing us to page 215. And for this week's blog post, I'm choosing to write about Kozol's style.
So, onwards.
Kozol has had a very distinct voice and style from the beginning of the book. In my other posts, I've highlighted how he plays into pathos through his storytelling. Now, these are stories that highlight race in American schooling systems. I personally find these stories extremely insightful because these students are more than a statistic.
When talking about such a heavy subject, such as race, you need these stories. Statistics aren't going to tell the story of how young students sometimes aren't able to eat their lunch because of how over-crowded the lunchrooms are, how long the lines are, and how little time there is. (176).
That's what makes Kozol's writing so effective. His use of story-telling invokes emotion within readers. I will likely not remember the exact numbers he highlights in this book, but I will remember the stories that he chose to tell.
Everybody knows that statistics can be skewed any way you want. So, Kozol limiting his use of numbers while still highlighting that this is an issue is what makes his writing so effective.
For example, Kozol tells how he has observed this issue happening in different places. New York, San Fransisco, and Oklahoma City are the ones that come to mind from this most recent assignment. And although he does use statistics, his minimal use of them makes his writing powerful.
Statistics are important to look at, but Kozol's primary rhetorical devices being ethos and pathos makes a larger impact than overusing statistics.
Personally, I like the stories more than the statistics. I feel as if they are more powerful. I have had discussions with certain classmates where I found out they prefer the statistical route. But once again I feel like when it comes to the topic of race, statistics aren't going to cut it. People's lives are more than a number.
So, that's why I find Kozol's style and rhetorical choices so effective. He does use some logos, but his primary argument is structured around ethos and pathos, which provides the right amount of anecdotal evidence into his findings on race in America.
So, that concludes this week's blog post! Next week is our final assignment so stay tuned for more!
See you next Thursday!
Works Cited
Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. New York, Three Rivers Press, 2005.
Hi Paige,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you that the overuse of statistics when writing about a subject like race can be detrimental to the message of the work. When educational pieces are written with a heavy emphasis on statistics, I find it harder to connect with the ideas and arguments. Like you said, people's lives are more than numbers, and it's hard to interpret a large quantity of statistics if you can't translate that to a real-world understanding of the issue. I can imagine with your book in particular, the stories are effective because they detail the suffering of school-age children. In the book I'm reading, Race, a similar tactic is used. Marc Aronson wrote anecdote-style introductions to each major time period in the history of race that make the ideas applicable on a personal level, and his use of statistics is extremely minimal.
Paige, one of the problems of anecdotal evidence such as personal stories is that it can be cherry-picked, such as choosing one story to represent a problem when maybe that's the only incident of that issue happening. How does Kozol make it clear that this isn't what he is doing?
ReplyDeleteHi Ms. LaClair,
DeleteI would like to give Kozol the benefit of the doubt, however, this issue needs to be acknowledged.
I believe Kozol's use of multiple stories in combination with some statistics make it clear this is a very big issue. Not every teacher is going to connect with every student, so I believe he is telling the stories of the ones he's connected with.
Thanks!
-Paige
I thought that your blog post was very good. I agree that the balance that he archives between his use of stories and statistics is a good one. I also liked how you pointed out how he uses stories from all the places he has been. Do you think however that the use of stories gives the look that he filtered out all the stories that didn't go with his narrative and hence skewing the reader?
ReplyDeleteI like your point that "People's lives are more than a number." Despite being more of a statistical person, I still see Kozol's anecdotes as a valuable form of evidence. Like you said, readers won't necessarily remember the exact statistics, but they will remember the stories. Overall, I think that statistics are more valuable than anecdotes though. If an argument was predicated solely upon stories as opposed to statistics, I wouldn't trust it nearly as much. What do you think?
ReplyDelete