TOW #23

The TOW I chose this week is an article in The New York Times concerning obesity called "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food" by Michael Moss. This article is about how the big brand food companies that most people would consider "junk" such as Nestle, Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, Coca-Cola and ect. are concerned with the amount of obesity that has been going on lately so they have decided to figure out what actually leads people of eating so much. These companies also felt guilty with the amount of people that are eating their products and it is the main reason why they're getting so heavy or overweight. The author of this article is named Michael Moss and he is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2010 and he was an extra professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. The audience that this text was composed for are elder people since they are normally the ones who read The New York Times. The occasion of this article is during a meeting with all these brands deciding what they can do to help the obesity rates decrease in america. An important rhetorical device that the author uses to try to achieve his purpose in this article is logos since he states many statistics about obesity and how its increased over time. The author's purpose in writing this text was very vague to me because I didn't know what he was trying to come across. He wrote so much about the companies statistics and history of them but he didn't write about what they would really do to help end obesity. He also wrote in the beginning of the article that these brands were curious as to what leads people to eat so much so there we're many topics of this article that I couldn't find the purpose in it.

TOW #22

Have you ever noticed a change in weight with every generation throughout these past years? If you view the picture I displayed below, you'll really start to question this world. The TOW I chose this week is a visual text by an anonymous illustrator. If you analyze this visual text closely, you'll notice that the overall message of this photo is that our society is paying more attention to new technology than people, themselves or that the people are worrying more about technology than themselves. As you can see, on the first image, the time period is 1980, and the man sitting on the computer is very thin but the computer is very large, almost bigger than himself. On the right image, the time period is around todays time or 2013 and the same man is on a computer, relatively smaller, and he is completely overweight and struggling to even sit on the desk without his fat rolling all over the place. It sends the message that we worry more about our technology than our own being. This all leads to superficiality and materialism. The audience for this text is towards the upcoming generation or just simply to everyone. We all need to realize that this is a current issue that is going on today and we need to make action. We should care more about our own health than worrying about technology. The occasion of this visual text would we today at this time being. I would say that an important rhetoric device that the illustrator uses is hyperbole to exaggerate the fat in the person and maybe the comparison in sizes with the person and the computer, but I feel like that could actually happen. The authors purpose of making this visual text is to try and change others perspectives to show what's wrong with the image and change. I think the author did a well job because when I viewed the image, I could identify it's purpose immediately. 

TOW #21

The Disposable Rocket is what I am writing about this week. It is an essay by John Updike, an American novelist, poet, a literary critic and a short story writer. These traits make him credible knowing that he has written many stories, especially some being published in The New Yorker. This essay is about what the author thinks about human males and how they treat their bodies as being disposable to gain the physiologic purpose of reproduction. He compare's men and women's bodies and the physical changes that they go through, such as gaining more weight when you're older, and how they take their bodies for granted while they are young. The context of this essay is that men take their bodies for granted and they don't think ahead and they don't realize that it will affect them later on and they'll end up regretting it. The audience of this essay is towards everyone but mainly towards males. We all need to hear someone telling us what we're doing wrong and how we can fix it but Updike specifically uses males as examples throughout his essay. A rhetoric device Updike uses is tone. His tone is humorous and he also uses metaphors. An example of a metaphor that he uses is that he compares a mans body to having a bank account. The author's purpose of writing this essay tell the audience about their body and try to explain that when you're older, our 15- year old body is not the same as our 30 year old body or how we eat so much and think it won't affect us but we'll start to see change later on. I think that Updike did a good job with accomplishing his purpose because the way he uses metaphors describing the human body (male) it helps the reader understand his purpose more and he also uses his own life example, proving his point.

TOW #20

The TOW I chose for this week is a non-fiction essay called "This Is The Life" by Annie Dillard. This essay is about how humans nowadays take their lives for granted and they don't realize that not everyone in the world can have such an easy life. The author, Annie Dillard, was born in 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and she is an american author who is best known for narrating non- fiction and fiction pieces. The audience of this overall piece is for everyone, considering that this text is about life and how you shouldn't take it for granted. I would also say that this text could be more towards those who are more mature because of the strong diction she uses. The context of this text is for people to appreciate their life more and for them to challenge them selves to look at the world more differently. An important rhetoric device that this author uses tone. In this text, Dillard uses a generous tone and she switches between a mocking tone and an annoyed tone to show that humans nowadays really do take their lives for granted as I said before and do not realize how others have it. She also describes how humans lived in the past and present and she was bringing up scenarios describing the “easy life” during a certain time. She also tries to get the reader to actually appreciate what they have in life and tries to open our mind more and look at the world a different way. The purpose for Dillard to write this text is simply just to show everyone that they have an easy life compared to other people around the world. The author did accomplish her purpose by using anecdotes of peoples lives to relate more to the reader. The author also draws the reader in during the beginning of the text by saying, "You enjoy work and will love your grandchildren, and somewhere in there you die."