Cover Letter
During Phase Two, I learned several things regarding rhetorical analysis and appeal; why writers write how they write and how it affects their audience. The audience chosen for my essay is mainly my peers and educators, as I wanted the composition and understanding level of the writing structure to meet conjunctly with my readers. I made sure to include what the authors did, how they did it, and why they chose to do so.
Through the process, I gained new knowledge about language and literacy as a whole. I understood that rhetorical appeals matter to the audience; how someone crafts their writing can affect the message they want to put out. Before learning this, throughout my academic career, I never viewed rhetorical analysis and appeal as important. I always saw it as simply a means to unnecessarily analyze literature. But after learning more about it and writing an essay on two influential literary works, I gained a new perspective; I see now that it is important to know where the author is coming from and what they are implying.
The concept that impacted my learning and writing practices the most were purpose and audience. I believe purpose is one of the most important aspects of writing; if there is no purpose, there is no point to be made. Purpose gives literature emotion, meaning, and importance. Without purpose, the audience has no need to read and understand what the writer is saying. Which then brings me to my next point: audience connects with purpose. Who the writer is writing for is extremely important for the text to have a purpose. The audience’s viewpoint should be tailored into each paragraph.
In Phase 2, this assignment has helped me “develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.” and gain strength in my writing. During peer review, I noticed that not only did I get better at revising and editing others’ work, I also became better at looking at my own work through a critical lense. I was able to help others and help myself at the same time, which I think is one of the most valuable things I can gain in this course. Peer review helped change my perspective on how I view writing, and in the end, I become a better writer each time. For example, after reviewing my classmate’s work, I looked at my own essay and noticed where I could change small errors, such as introductory appeals and the conclusion.
Overall, this phase has truly helped me recognize how and why rhetorical analysis and appeal affects text and audience. The message can only be conveyed properly if the messenger is adequate. I enjoyed analyzing the two essays chosen and I learned new things during the process, which to me, is an important goal in this course.
Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Tan and Cunningham
It is always the immigrant speaker that consistently stands out in the American crowd, as his/her incorrect grammar catches the eye of every spectator watching. In Amy Tan’s article “Mother Tongue,” she shows how different people speak the same language in different ways. Tan’s own mother was discriminated against because she speaks a dialect of English that differs from the norm. She employs rhetorical appeals such as pathos, ethos, and logos to inform the English-speaking community about the variations between different languages. Foreigners and immigrants who do not speak perfect English, according to Tan’s “Mother Tongue,” are treated differently. The main purpose of Tan’s essay is to inform readers about the struggles of an immigrant speaker and connect to an audience who grew up as the children of immigrants. She intends to emphasize that there is more to language than just accents and grammar; there is passion, purpose, and emotion involved in each incorrect sentence formed.
In the essay African American language Is Not Good English, Dr. Jennifer M. Cunningham makes an excellent point on the nature of the African American language. Cunningham, similar to Tan, describes how, as a result of social stigmatization, uncommon language has an inferiority mentality. She believes that Standard American English and African American language are on an equal footing. Both authors, Tan and Cunningham, establish credibility, invoke emotional appeals, and offer logical facts to persuade the literary experts.
Tan claims that a person’s IQ is not determined by their ability to speak English fluently. She tells accounts of her and her mother’s experiences with discrimination, using vivid language. Tan’s essay is written in a conversational and anecdotal style; she writes in the first person and she incorporates many personal experiences, mostly to strengthen her argument and to demonstrate that the topic is highly significant to her. Her tone is reflective due to the moments she often reflects on. Tan quotes her mother’s comments as she narrates a story about her mother having difficulties with the hospital due to lingual barriers, “‘Why he don’t send me check?… So mad he lie to me, losing me money.’ And then I said in perfect English…”. Tan entices the listener to her point of view with appealing pathos; she reflects on how the situation unfolded and demonstrates how her mother’s English influenced the outcome of the problem. The writer believes that using adjectives like “broken” to talk about her mother’s English limits societal ideas of her mother, and she goes a step further to introduce her own English as “perfect”.
Tan’s essay is also agitated and angry at times, which makes it relevant and showcases her enthusiasm about equality. This is evident not only in her mother’s account about her problems at the hospital, but also in her descriptions of her teachers. She speculates that teachers may play a role in encouraging Asian-American students to choose careers in engineering rather than writing, which displays her use of logos. She provides statistics indicating that a substantial proportion of Chinese students choose careers in engineering instead of writing or literature.
The writer then uses ethos when she mentions her credibility in the matter, “But it wasn’t until 1985 that I finally began to write fiction… I wrote using what I thought to be wittily crafted sentences, sentences that would finally prove I had mastery over the English language.” (Tan). The writer indicates her professional experience is expert enough for her to be passionate and driven in her topic. Tan’s introspective, passionate, and conversational tones indicate she is writing the essay not just for herself, but as well as the educated society she is trying to persuade into the path of equal respect. She writes the essay from her own experiences of being an immigrant child without any other biases, because her tale is the story of many other immigrant children who grew up like her.
Dr. Jennifer M. Cunningham also tells a similar story with similar values. Due to the proposed matter that African American language is technically not English, Cunningham feels that it is neither good nor bad English. She claims that African American English is simply another language that certain people have learnt; the removal of some verbs, as well as the sound of words, are what distinguishes it. Cunningham states that “… teachers, in particular, are more likely to correct errors related to African American Language, which is why teachers, professionals”, demonstrating how quickly teachers disregard things they are unfamiliar with. She also connects to her audience by displaying a tactical use of pathos; Cunningham states her own opinions of the topic and relates with personal thinking; rather than dismissing the AAE dialect, people should learn and take the time to understand how AAL differs from Standard American English and is not a subset of it. She also exemplifies cultural attitudes toward African American languages by demonstrating that teachers regard English as the “standard” for education, instead of other languages. Cunningham illustrates how society wrongly views a different methodology towards the speech of English.
Both writers, Tan and Cunningham, delve into the restrictions society bounds on what language is defined as; never does it lift the restrictions and let people feel language. Tan showcases her own mother’s struggle to her audience to obtain the goal of publicly stating the injustices foreign speakers face, whilst Cunning, similarly, separates English and African-American English to their own different respects so each language is viewed at the same level of intelligence. To persuade the literary experts, both authors, Tan and Cunningham, establish credibility, evoke emotional appeals, and give logical facts. They want to underline that language is much more than just accents and syntax; each erroneous sentence contains passion, meaning, and emotion. Each human is valued with the same perspective and respect as any other being; language should never be a barrier, rather, it should be a unifier.
Works Cited
Cunningham, Jennifer M. “2.7: African American Language Is Not Good English.” Humanities LibreTexts, Libretexts, 7 Aug. 2020, https://human.libretexts.org/Courses/Solano_Community_College/Bad_Ideas_About_Writing/02%3A_Bad_Ideas_About_Who_Good_Writers_are_…/2.07%3A_African_American_Language_is_not_Good_English.
Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” Dreams and Inward Journeys: A Rhetoric and Reader for Writers, edited by Marjorie Ford and Jon Ford, 7th ed., Pearson, 2010, pp.
