TOW #7: Banksy Graffiti (Visual Text)

     Banksy is known throughout the world as an anonymous British graffiti artist who frequently paints thought-provoking—and sometimes controversial—images on the sides of buildings in popular urban areas like New York City and London. The interesting thing about Banksy is that he establishes credibility with his secretive persona; he can be anyone, and his graffiti therefore represents the mind of anyone. One recent image that has been painted in New York City is a depiction of a man scrubbing the phrase "What we do in life echoes in Eternity" off of the wall. The irony created by this picture helps Banksy achieve his purpose of illustrating the minds of the common man.
     The phrase "What we do in life echoes in Eternity" represents the American dream: to achieve such great things that the world will remember your name forever. The phrase is written in loose, curly, pink writing, as if goals are easily and readily accomplished. This perfect idea of a dream has been repeated throughout history, yet the man in the picture is ironically scrubbing it away with a sponge. The man represents the present-day portrayal of the American dream: goals cannot simply be managed with ease, but with hard work and patience, everything pays off. If "What we do in life echoes in Eternity" was written in big, thick, black block letters, it would not be as easy to remove as the pink, curly message. Since Banksy's pictures are broadcasted on the streets of crowded cities, his audience is made up of anyone with opinions—working men and women, children, teenagers in the city, and many others. His thoughts connect with the thoughts of his audience because, just like them, he is a regular person with his own perspective on life.

Everlasting Remembrance

Banksy's depiction of a man scrubbing an inspirational phrase off of a building properly portrays the past and present ideas of the American dream

(Picture source: http://www.banksyny.com/)

TOW #6: "Getting In" by Malcom Gladwell

     Author Malcom Gladwell, growing up in Ontario, Canada, never fully understood the elite and exclusive natures commonly paired with American Ivy League schools. Back in Canada, all it took to get into the school you wanted was to rank the schools in your province based on order of preference and then to fill out a two-page form consisting of your activities and interests. There were no SAT scores, recommendations, or college essays to worry about. Gladwell juxtaposes the college admissions in his homeland with those in the United States, highlighting how everything is much more competitive and selective in particularly American Ivy League schools. He focuses primarily on Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, which are some of the most revered and renowned schools in the world. Gladwell tackles this topic with a scientific approach, just like in his books Outliers, Blink, and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.
     This scientific approach facilitated the use of data and statistics to support Gladwell's argument. He starts off his essay writing about the history of Harvard's admissions expectations, stating that in 1905, Harvard would accept virtually any academically gifted high school senior who could afford the school. However, things changed in 1922, when the school's Jewish population made up over 20 percent of the entire freshman class. Harvard's admissions history showed that a high concentration of a certain group in the school meant for a more selective means of choosing what students were accepted and what were not. Gladwell's purpose in writing this essay was to bring attention to the "high class" air to Ivy Leagues and analyze the social sciences behind it. Although this essay is meant for anyone, it could particularly appeal to an audience of high school students because it exploits the false ritz and glamor the world puts on upscale, highly selective schools.

TOW #5: "A Cupboard of My Own" by Catherine O'Flynn

     Catherine O'Flynn's short story, "A Cupboard of My Own" is about a young girl who had always felt as if she was on the other side of everything. In the middle of the story, the narrator even muses, "...Some children grow up feeling themselves to be the center of the universe, but...even in my own house, I was a very tiny, late-arriving drop in the vast ocean of other people’s lives and their shoes. She starts out the story by saying she was an accidental sixth child, and by the time she was 9 years old all of her older siblings lived elsewhere, leaving their childhood memories in the form of toys and stuffed animals behind. The girl is then excited to find a cupboard of her own—somewhere where she can preserve all of the memories she will one day leave behind, the most popular being a rag doll that was given the name "Marsha." To her surprise, she comes home one day to see that her cupboard and all that it held is gone. Catherine O'Flynn wrote this story in order to epitomize the innocence and fragility of childhood.
     O'Flynn establishes credibility in this story because she wrote it about her own childhood, so she can properly identify and illustrate the thoughts that were going through the young girl's head. The nostalgic tone she uses throughout the story supports her purpose; it points out the sense of defeat the narrator had when she realized all of her treasured items were gone. O'Flynn also emphasizes how valuable the toys were to the little girl, who acted like the toys were people: "In years to come I'd sit on my stool in the corner, eat my fish fingers and try to lose myself in Cheeky Weekly, but my thoughts would often turn to Marsha and the others entombed just a few inches behind me. I imagined them lying in the dark, hearing muffled voices from the other side." Anyone who reads The New York Times would be able to come across this story, but O'Flynn's intended audience is any adult who understands and misses the true essence of childhood.

A Doll's Sanctuary

(Picture source/article: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/a-cupboard-of-my-own/?ref=opinion)

TOW #4: "The Key to Smarter Kids: Talk to Them" by Annie Murphy Paul

     Annie Murphy Paul, a journalist, author, and speaker, wrote the editorial "The Key to Smarter Kids" in order to inform her audience about something she is an expert on: how we best learn things, and how we can get others to best learn things. Published in Time Magazine, this article touches on the subject of young kids and how their parents influence not only their social behaviors, but also their mental abilities. Paul's writing seems to target parents of young children because throughout the article, she frequently restates her argument that parent involvement is crucial in a child's educational life.
     When less-affluent parents have children, they tend to focus their conversations with their kids less on schoolwork. Paul supports this fact with information given to her by many psychologists and researchers on the topic. In addition to ethos and logos, Paul also appeals to pathos by writing about kids, since the educational values of children is a concern that many parents have. In addition, she states that parents do not need to buy expensive instructional tools for their children to succeed. In fact, all they need is communication. This opens doors to an even wider audience; it shows that parents who are not willing to spend a lot of money can help their children thrive, too. Paul does achieve her purpose of arguing that parent involvement is crucial in a child's educational life because she supports her argument with lots of information based off of her research. In addition, she is clearly skilled in that area of research because she has written many books on the topic of education in youths, so her writing immediately pulls in her audience.

Communication is a Virtue

(Picture source/article: http://ideas.time.com/2013/10/01/the-key-to-smarter-kids-talk-to-them/)