TOW #7 - 3 Most Important Things in Life - Harlan Ellison (Written)

Harlan Ellison was, at the time of the anecdote he references in this essay, a "Nice quiet Jewish kid from Ohio... a published author... well into terminal destitution. Poverty would have been, for me, a sharp jump into a higher-income bracket." He introduces himself as such to give the impression that he's been in many walks of life, and that he's experienced many things. This is a good way of establishing ethos bit by bit throughout the entirety of the essay. Most of the essay, however, is focused around getting to readers' emotions through the use of humor and vivid descriptions of the environment, both physically and emotionally. This focus on pathos seems appropriate for the topic of the essay, being the importance of Sex in one's life, with sex being a thing of emotion, not logic. The essay was originally published in a porn magazine, which matches the lack of true philosophical depth in the essay - though the title claims to speak on the subject of the importance of sex in one's life, the true purpose is to simply tell a story. Ellison does so with stark clarity, using descriptive but simple diction to get the events that he's relating across with style and grace. He also makes great use of humor throughout the essay in order to keep his readers interested. He uses surprising events and descriptions to evoke humor, such as the end of the essay, whereupon tying his date to the ground, naked, in the kinkiest of positions, instead of furthering his conquest, he leaves. Another funny bit of surprise is when his date suddenly asks him to hit her. These humorous moments, coupled with vivid descriptions that truly put you in Ellsion's shoes, come together to help Ellison achieve his true goal of narrating an entertaining anecdote quite well.

TOW #6 - She's a W.O.W. - Visual

The following image, called She's a W.O.W., was illustrated by a man named Adolph Triedler. He was a fairly well-known artist from the beginning of the 20th century through 1981, when he died. He illustrated in several different "genres" - he did a large number of magazine covers and commissioned advertisements in his time. She's a W.O.W. is one of these commissioned pieces. The poster was created in 1942 to attempt to get more women to help in the war effort for WWII by becoming Woman Ordnance Workers, or WOWs, or in simpler terms, weapon makers. The image evokes emotions of guilt and then confidence in order to persuade women to join the war effort. The image was produced in 1942, in the midst of WWII, one of the most brutal wars that the world had seen to date. Many men had gone off to war and left their families behind, and people were feeling as if they weren't doing enough to help their country. The poster plays on this by referencing "The girl he left behind", targeting in specific the wives and girlfriends of the men who went off to war. Calling them "The girl he left behind" is a way to make it seem like the women are staying at home and not doing their part. However, after this guilt, the image offers up a solution - a way to give the "women who were left behind" a chance to help out and be useful. The use of the phrase "Still behind him" acknowledges the fact that the women working will not be at the forefront, but still helping. They show an empowered-looking woman, standing tall, shoulders square, looking upwards and onwards, saying "you can be this empowered, if you become a WOW". Overall, it's failry effective given the gender roles that were present and accepted at the time, it showed something that women could do to feel powerful, and used that want to be useful to get workers for the war effort.

TOW #5 - Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangster (written)

Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangster is a song by the 90's rap group The Geto Boyz. Like many others of the time, The Geto Boyz worked in a genre called gangster rap. Songs within the genre often tackled two general topics: the definition of and the degree of being a gangster that the authors of the song have achieved, and modern politics. Both of these topics are heavily delved into throughout the text. The first topic is adressed at the very start of the song, with the lyrics "Damn it feels good to be a gangster." Spoken by Scarface. Right out of the gate, defining himself as a gangster, saying it as if everyone knew it to exude an air of confidence in his being  gangster. Shortly thereafter, he defines being a gangster as being a relaxed, non-confronttional, unbragging, philosophical person. All of these points are made with direct statements, delivered in a didactic tone so as to convince people that these things are the definition of a gangster without any real, direct proof. In a later verse, Scarface goes on to say that gangsters are decisive and "pull the trigger" without talking about it much, and that real gangsters don't run away from their problems. He uses the sme rhetorical devices from the first verse to this one. The last verse, spit by J. Prince, is one that adresses the topic of modern politics. At the time of release, George W. Bush was the president of the United States of America. J. Prince takes a negative stance towards Bush's presidency, and makes many accusations that are mainly supported by ethos. He calls Bush a gangster, something that one wouldn't want their president to be. He then accuses Bush of "Lettin' a big drug shipment through (and sending it) to the poor community so we can bust you know who." This accusation of purposefully letting drugs into the poor community on purpose in order to keep them down and catch drug dealers is a very strong statement, and is guaranteed to raise strong emotions of support in the audience, which was mostly intended to be consumers of gangster rap, who tended to be anti-Bush. This appeal to ethos in people who are already in support of J. Prince's ideas is guaranteed to get Prince's desired effect. Overall, Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangster is a successful rhetorical text in its goals to define a gangster and criticize George W. Bush, but mostly in its intended audience of gangster rap consumers. To anyone outside of that consumer base, the first point may be even more successful in that the audience is solely basing their opinion on what a gangster is on what Scarface is saying. The second point may be far less convincing, however, because of the baselessness of the claims made towards Bush's behavior.