TOW #19 "O Captain! My Captain!"

     Reading goal: Read something different than you have before (I choose a poem. I have never analysed a poem for a TOW before, and often find poetry challenging to understand and analyze.)
    Writing goal: Connect each point back to the thesis.

        Literally only days after the end of the civil came to a close, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater. It was truly a tragedy, for in the aftermath of the war, the country was in physical, social, and political shambles and desperately needed Lincoln's strong leadership to keep the union united. Walt Whitman, a prominent poet of the era, recognized the full extent of this tragedy. In his poem "O Captain! My Captain!", Whitman uses an extended metaphor and repetition to illustrate the enormity of the loss of Abraham Lincoln.

            Throughout the poem Whitman does not directly mention Lincoln or the assassination, but instead uses an extended metaphor to describe the tragedy. He describes a boat, that having weathered many storms, finally emerged victorious, only to find the Captain dead on the deck (lines 2-10). Whitman is alluding to Lincoln and the war, equating Lincoln to the Captain, and the ship to the Union. He demonstrates that just as a ship is lost without her captain, the United States will be lost without Lincoln.  By using this metaphor, Whitman relays just how crucial Lincoln is to the country and helps the audience comprehend the true extent of Lincoln's loss.

            Whitman reiterates this loss through the use of repetition. Though he discusses the American people celebrating the war's end, he abruptly reminds them of the loss by ending each stanza by describing Lincoln's death with the line "fallen cold and dead." The simple syntax of the phrase illustrates that there is no way to sugarcoat such a horrible event. The line is repeated three times throughout the poem, making the vivid imagery of Lincoln "fallen cold and dead" stick in the mind of the reader, most likely intended to generate an emotional response in the people. The repetition of this gruesome line reminds the reader that Lincoln's death was a monumental loss that will not easily be forgotten.

            President Abraham Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated, and his murder shocked and appalled many Americans, especially Northern Republicans. Whitman was among them, and described the profound loss of the President in his poem through the use of metaphor and repetition. On the other hand, many Democratic Southerners rejoiced at the death of Republican Lincoln, for they did not have the hindsight that Whitman had in recognizing that the country would struggle in the absence of Lincoln's leadership. As weak-leader VP Johnson and anti-South Congress took over Reconstruction the South would come to recognize the true tragedy in the absence of Abraham Lincoln that Whitman describes in "O Captain! My Captain!".

The Poem:

1 O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!	5
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;	10
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,	15
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;	20
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

TOW #18 Pedigree Ad

      Dog is said to be man's best friend. For many people, their dog is just that, and it part of the family. Thus, people of course want the best for their beloved pets, and value what it is that they feed them. One dog food brand, Pedigree, advertises their dog food as one that makes dogs stronger. Through the use of hyperbole they promote their product, convincing dog owners to purchase it.
      The ad uses hyperbole by featuring a do digging a hole in asphalt to bury its bone. The act of digging the hole is not in itself an exaggeration, for this is normal behavior for dogs, but the idea that a dog could dig a hole in an asphalt road is quite ridiculous, for it would not be nearly strong enough. The caption above the dog reads "For strong dogs", implying that this dog is strong enough to dig through asphalt because it was fed Pedigree dog food, which is of course is a wild exaggeration. The hyperbole takes a quality that Pedigree wishes to highlight, that it makes dogs stronger, and emphasizes it. So, even through the reader knows that it cannot make their dog strong enough to dig a hole in asphalt, the image of the super strong dog will stick in their mind, and they will associate Pedigree with strength. This association will make them more likely to purchase the food, because they want their dog to be strong.
     The ad uses hyperbole in a humorous way to exaggerate the best qualities of the product. This then appeals to the pathos of loving dog owners, who want Fido to be the best dog that he can be. At the very least, the ridiculousness will make the ad memorable for the audience, who then will be more likely to recall the ad and purchase Pedigree dog food when strolling the dog food aisle at the grocery store.

IRB Intro #3

This marking period I will be reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Since I already read two memoirs, I wanted to mix it up with something more scientific. I also love biology, and will hope this will relate to some of the things I am learning in AP Bio. This book presents Dawkins theories on social evolution, which I think sounds fascinating. It discusses how those with tendencies to be more selfish tend to survive more, and thus are favored by natural selection. Yet, altruism still exists in nature, so why is that? As I read I hope to find out!

TOW #17 Mark Bitman NY Times article

People often think that becoming a vegetarian means adopting a bland, monotonous diet that exclusively grains and vegetables. However Mark Bittman, New York Times Food journalist and author of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, constantly contradicts this line of thought by producing articles and recipes that highlight the clear benefits of vegetarianism, as well as its exciting palate. In the intro of his book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Bittman uses exemplification and non-judgemental tone to introduce vegetarianism to his readers as beneficial and painless practice that they should incorporate into their lives.

Many people incorporate becoming a vegetarian with a lack of variety and options, but Bittman contradicts this with exemplification. He writes that his book "contains everything you need to know to cook every vegetable, fruit, grain, legume, and dairy product you can readily find," as well as "everything from plain rice, to things you may have never heard of, like seitan." By including several examples, Bittman displays that being a vegetarian does not mean your diet is revered for vegetables, and can include a variety of delicious and exotic foods. Bittman also uses exemplification to explain the benefits of vegetarianism. He explains that not only is it healthier, but leads to better treatment of animals and a reduced environmental impact. Bittman exemplifies the variety, as well of the benefits of vegetarianism, making the practice appeal more to his readers.

Despite all of the political and environmental issues surrounding vegetarianism, Bittman has a reserved and nonjudgemental tone. Assumedly most of his readers are mothers, who may feel like switching to vegetarian may be a hassle in their already busy lives. He writes that he is not trying to convince them to become a full fledged vegetarianism, but that they can incorporate meals with less meat into their lives. This approach is likely to resonate with mothers, instead of one that accuses them of feeding unhealthy, meatfilled meals to their children, an approached used by many vegan and vegetarian advocates.