Assignment 6: Choices

One of Susan Orleans first writerly choices was going into depth about taxidermy. I think she chose to do this because she wanted to give insight to her readers to what she was talking about. She wanted us to know the history of taxidermy so we can see that it is something that people actually take serious.

A second writerly choice that Susan Orlean chooses to portray is quoting a lot of taxidermist conversations at the taxidermy convention. A woman in the whitetail division told Susan Orlean that she loved deer and that they are her “babies”. This weirded me out. I feel that Orlean wanted the reader to feel this way though. She wanted her reader to feel a certain way about taxidermy and the people who partake in this hobby without verbally incorporating her feelings.

A third choice that Susan Orlean chooses to incorporate was her tone. She had a very neutral tone. Orlean was more of an informer in this piece. She gave background information on the topic and informed her readers on what all happens with taxidermy and at the conventions. She didn’t give her own opinion about how she felt on taxidermy. This would have made the article less appealing to the reader because it would have been bias. We would have automatically sided with her if she went on and on about how gross taxidermy was.  Instead, she keeps the reader interested.

Assignment 6

It seems that Susan Orlean has a neutral tone. Her tone is more of informing her reader on taxidermy rather than giving her opinions on it. I notice this throughout the text. I feel as if she is a reliable artist because she's not being bias. She's just stating facts.

I feel as if Susan Orlean wants her readers to broaden their horizons. A lot of people think taxidermy is nasty and weird. She runs a lot of facts about this "art" and lets the reader know that this is a big deal. She might want to change the way her readers judge things before they get to know about it with this reading.

I think Susan Orlean wrote this in an article form because it would be more interesting to the reader and would catch their opinion. 

Standing By CP

I feel David Sedaris’ purpose of this text was to make people think and reflect upon how judgmental and hateful we can be. He showed this by using examples of the things people were saying at the airport because he wanted to show how people in our society view, judge and ridicule each other without knowing each other.

Design Example

Texts with visual arrangement make reading it more interesting. I chose a short piece by Christopher Reed. In this poem, different words had different font sizes. The size of the font the author chooses to use can effect the way you read their work.It can make you pay attention to certain words or phrases more than others. Also, the effects like bold and italics can shape the way you read their work. Some of the bold and italicized words in this term made me put certain emphasis on words..

Reflecting on Revision

What was interesting to me in other people's writing is the writerly choices they chose to focus on in their papers. What surprised me is that a lot of us have the same ideas, we just went about explaining them differently.

One thing I wish I noticed in my work is that my controlling purpose was not that clear to find. I think other people probably were able to notice this because I already know what my paper was about and they didn't.

In my essay, I went about writing in the way things happened, from beginning to the end. I focused more on the points and ideas David Sedaris was getting at. When I revise my paper I will make a lot of changes to it. For example, my controlling purpose and the writerly choices I choose to focus on.

Assignment 11

Why does this purpose matter at this time and in this place?
I believe that Steins's purpose for writing about the "1984" Macintosh Ad during the time she wrote and published it was to probably show how IBM was like the Big Brother then. IBM was like a monopoly and now it's as if the tables have turned and Apple is in the same position IBM was in in 1984. I think Stein is trying to enlighten her audience that technology is brainwashing society by constantly ''improving" itself. "The right technology- in this case the Macintosh- will provide salvation. The solution to the problems of technology is always a better technology." (Stein 299).

What events at the time of the text's production are likely to shape an audience's expectations about the topic?
Seeing that this text was published around 2002, there were a lot of things going on that could have shaped the audience's expectations about the topic. Apple was starting to gain control of the technology world with the first iPod coming out. Just like in 1984 with the "1984" advertisement, a lot of people felt as if they needed what ever new technology was coming out in order to remain relevant. Therefore, her audience could relate and find themselves in this text.

How does the composition end? How will the end affect how the audience looks back on the rest of the composition?
This composition ends with Stein sort of giving her opinion on technology and what it has/is doing to our society. The ending of this composition will affect the way the audience looks back on the composition because the audience will now see how she relates all her references to her purpose and why.

All of Stein's writerly choices work and flow together. She writes and publishes this essay at a certain period because her audience will feel and relate to it more because it was during Apple's rise to the top. She talks about a purpose that matters around this time and uses pathos to appeal to her audience's emotions. Stein uses a lot of references to prove her point and to back up her purpose. She concludes with giving her opinion and tone so the reader and her audience can get a feel at what she thinks of this topic.

[Group Work] Reflection

My group members and I were working together finely. We worked together nicely because we sort of had the same views. The only thing that may be difficult about working with others' ideas is that they may vary from yours and you may not agree. On the other hand, other people's ideas may help your essay because if you don't agree with them you can still incorporate them into your essay so that you are not being bias and so you can have different points of view in your essay.

What intrigued me about the group that focused on the theoretical framework is their drawing and how they related it to what Stein was saying and getting it. How everyone was the same back then with the IBM computers and in the "1984" ad, but everyone is still sort of the same when it comes to Apple products. To answer their question, I believe that Stein is trying to get across how consumers are subject to brainwashing. She stated that the answer to technology's problem is new technology.

To answer the question of the group that did the analysis, I believe Stein incorporated so many references to prove her point and to get her ideas across to man different people in her audience. I see this groups ideas working with my group because we did the introduction which states what the essay will be about and they did the analysis which goes into depth.