"GOP, be a champion for workplace equality" by Donna Brazile
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/opinion/brazile-enda-discrimination/index.html?hpt=op_t1
After the latest government shutdown, public opinion of the Republican Party has decreased. Writer Donna Brazile urges the GOP to avoid further disaster by not blocking the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which she says is part of civil progress that has been set in motion since the creation of the Declaration of Independence. She employs multiple literary techniques to illustrate her point.
One of the literary techniques alluded to earlier was her use of detail. Brazile picks multiple quotes, ranging from Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Senator Mark Kirk. The range of time that she relies on her evidence itself supports her assertion that equality "ha[s] always been awkward and challenging" as the quotes span from the creation of this nation to the present battle over gay and lesbian rights. Brazile then uses this span of time set up by her quotations to illustrate the multiple and inevitable changes to promote equality, such as the 13th Amendment and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. In the background of these details of civil right successes Brazile slips in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act as another, relatively "simple bill" to promote progress.
The diction that Brazile uses is critical of Republican actions to delay widening "the circle of liberty" to those not currently included. Scathing vocabulary describes the Republican Party, such as having "a narrow and incomplete view" on equality, based on "phony" arguments which Brazile instantly refutes. The description of the Republican Party as "narrow" also ties in with diction describing another opponent of progress, Stephan Douglas, who was described as interpreting the Declaration of Independence to only apply to himself and "select" others. Through this connection in diction, Brazile subtly implies that the Republican Party, like Douglas, is obstructing obvious reform and would lead to loss.
Brazile also uses syntax in her article in highlighting the flaws of the Republican opposition to the Act. By listing the three three main arguments and starting each one of these sentences with "he's" or "his" and immediately rebutting each, Brazile is not only short and forceful, but also persuasive in her counter arguments, which sound more reasoned than the Republican argument. Furthermore, the parallel structure of which these three sentences where constructed not only builds on this, but also echo back the Declaration of Independence, drawing a parallel between the Republican Party and the King of England, who was the recipient of the document claiming "all men are created equal". This further emphasizes that the GOP should not impede the recent bill, but rather support it.
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteYour claims of how the author used details, diction, and syntax to illustrate her opinion of the GOP party are clear. However, you do not use nearly enough examples to prove your point. In your case for diction, you could discuss if the diction was elevated or not, the effects of using other words besides the ones the author used ("phony") etc. But nice job on your analysis on the word "narrow" and how that connected to Stephen Douglas. Your syntax paragraph has only one example of repetition and parallelism that the author used to create a forceful effect. I'm sure you could find more than three sentences in which the author employed methods of syntax to get her point across. Your strongest paragraph is your details paragraph. Your argument on how the author used detail on the history of equality was very insightful. Next time around try to find more examples to expand your claims. Great job, otherwise, though.
Andrew,
ReplyDeleteYou chose a hard article to close read so I give you a lot of credit for that. This was a good post but there were a few things I struggled with. The thesis in your opening paragraph was difficult to pick out (it didn’t scream thesis) and then didn’t highlight what techniques Brazile used. In general I would have like more examples throughout the post, especially in the syntax paragraph. There were some really good things in this post too. Your entire detail paragraph, for example, was very good and contained examples. I liked how you drew a connection between the three men she chose to quote by saying “Brazile then uses this span of time set up by her quotations to illustrate the multiple and inevitable changes to promote equality”. Your use of the Stephan Douglas and the word narrow was also really good and was a perfect example for diction and how it was used in this article. Overall you did a good job Andrew.
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ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with the comments above. The only thing I found difficult about this essay was its format, in that there is little spacing where I feel there should be some to make it easier on the eyes. Other than that, I really enjoyed this post. And I think the examples you had were sufficient in proving your point. I don't think that one needs many quotes to make a point. Quality overrules quantity, I think, and in this post you certainly have quality. Your approaches, insight and conclusions are unique and well-thought out. The only thing I could ask for is a conclusion paragraph. The essay seems rather abrupt after writing about syntax. Another thing that I really love about this essay is how clear and concise it is. I easily understand what each paragraph was trying to show about the article and you did that very well. I also really like what you wrote about in your detail paragraph about how the author writes about a large range of GOP members through time. Well done!
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