Mind, Heart, and Guts: The Three Vital Necessities of Life

Aristotle was the brilliant mind who came up with rhetoric (the ancient art of arguing/argument). Rhetoric is made up of three categories: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos.  These three categories represent the important organs of the body that one must metaphorically use and manipulate in order to win an argument.

Logos: argument by logic
Pathos: argument by emotion --> manipulating to get what you want
Ethos: argument by character --> persuader's personality, reputation, and ability to look trustworthy

Frederick Douglass uses these three elements in his memoir Narrative Of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. The reader can see these three things being used by the masters with their slaves and the slaves with the audience. For example, logos is seen in the third chapter by Frederick Douglass with his masters and fellow slaves.  He wrote:

"I have been frequently asked, when a slave, if I had a kind master, and do not remember ever to have given a negative answer; nor did I, in pursuing this course, consider myself as uttering what was absolutely false; for I always measured the kindness of my master by the standard of kindness set up among slaveholders around us." (page 32)

Douglass uses logos here because he wins the argument by using his brain. The argument in this situation is his life and whether or not he should be punished for telling the truth to other slaves or even to his master.  By using his brain, he realizes that he should always say positive things about his masters and overseers.  By doing this, he avoids receiving all of the punishments possible for talking bad about his masters.  If a slave ever badmouths his master he receives a lashing or is sold to another slave holder.  It does not matter whether the slave is being honest or not.  This happened in the third chapter on page 31 to one of Colonel Lloyd's slaves.

Frederick Douglass also uses pathos with his audience.  It is the probably the most important element in this memoir.  He uses it every time he tells the audience of the unfairness and cruelty all the slaves must go through due to their cruel overseers.  This element has been used various times throughout the first four chapters.  One example is when Douglass writes about the cruel form by which slaves have been murdered by their overseers and slaveholders.

" He had given Demby but few stripes, when, to get rid of scourging, he ran and plunged himself into a creek, and stood there at the depth of his shoulders, refusing to come out. Mr. Gore told him that he would give him three calls, and that if he did not come out at the third call, he would shoot him. The first call was given. Demby made no response, but stood his ground. The second and third calls were given with the same result. Mr. Gore then, without consultation or deliberation with any one, not even giving Demby an additional call, raised his musket to his face, taking a deadly aim at his standing victim,  and in an instant poor Demby was no more." (page 36)

Similar unjustness happens to two more slaves in this chapter. These courses of action affect the reader emotionally and create questions like: why would someone be so cruel and unjust? This is exactly what Douglass wants the reaction to be.  The argument here is about who is right in terms of their actions, the slaves or the slave holders and overseers. Douglass manipulates the reader's emotions and conscience in order to have them side with him.  Slave holders and overseers are cruel and the slaves must suffer for absolutely no reason.

In chapter three Colonel Lloyd uses ethos with one of his slaves. Since he is the master, he is allowed to sell slaves for whatever reason.  In this case, it was because one of his slaves answered his questions truthfully.

"It is reported of him, that, while riding along the road one day, he met a colored man, and addressed him in the usual manner of speaking to colored people on the public highways of the south: "Well, boy, whom do you belong to?" "To Colonel Lloyd," replied the slave. "Well, does the colonel treat you well?" "No, sir," was the ready reply. "What, does he work you too hard?" "Yes, sir." "Well, don't he give you enough to eat?" "Yes, sir, he gives me enough, such as it is." The colonel, after ascertaining where the slave belonged, rode on; the man also went on his business, not dreaming that he had been conversing with his master. He though, said, and heard nothing more of the matter, until two or three weeks afterwards. The poor man was then informed by his overseer that, for having found fault with his master, he was now to be sold to a Georgia trader." (page 31)

In this situation Colonel Lloyd used his status to sell the slave to a Georgia trader.  He did not give a good reason fore selling the slave.  He simply didn't like what the slave had to say about him, so he sold him.  Additionally, he used his ability to look trustworthy in order to get the slave to tell him the truth.  He used two important factors of ethos and won his argument.  The argument in this case was whether or not the slaves found his treatment fair.

The Truth Is Never Pretty, but Would We Act Any Differently?

"To those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of dehumanizing character of slavery. I can never get rid of that conception. These songs still follow me, to deepen my hatred of slavery, and quicken my sympathies for my brethren in bonds." (page 28)

Humans are barbaric. That is the first thought that came to my mind once I finished reading the first two chapters of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. How can these overseers be so inhumane? I cannot even say they treat the african american slaves like animals because animals are treated way better. The savages in this memoir are the overseers, not the slaves. How can people who are supposedly catholic be so cruel? It doesn't make since.

All those questions and ideas popped into my mind once I sat down to write about the first two chapters.  However, I did not stop and think of how I would have reacted had I been living during that time.  Would I have treated people the same way? It's easy to judge when you're not living the actual story.  As an audience member to the story, it's easy to see who is right and who is wrong.  However, we all go along with society no matter what happens to be going on.  The same situation happened in The Holocaust.  Regardless, how can these people see slavery as normal? Doesn't the cracking of the whips onto the slaves' backs hurt them on the inside? These are questions that can never be answered because the only people who know the answers are dead. How unfortunate.

These first two chapters and my observations reminded me of Suzanne Collins' novel Mocking Jay. It is the third novel in the series The Hunger Games. Each district is forced to fight to the death and the people in the capital find it entertaining.  Only the people of the districts realize how wrong it is! Eventually, they realize that they should do something about it. Isn't this exactly what is going on in the memoir? The only difference is that Mocking Jay is fictional while Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave is not. The reader tends to side with the correct side.  This side would be the one receiving the pain and trying to change it. However, the reader usually never thinks of how the other side must be feeling.  We do not know what is going on in their heads.  Additionally, that's how the other side was probably raised.  They don't know any better.  That is what frightens me the most.  Humans are so barbaric and self-centered that we do not realize what is right from wrong. We go along with what is normal to us as well as what society dictates.  THAT IS THE PROBLEM! The truth is never pretty which is why we usually cringe and hide from it.  So, I think we should all reflect on one question. Before judging the white men, would we act any differently had we been raised in that society?

The Joy Of Going To the Office For A Late Pass

This is a paper I wrote in Mr. Tangen's class for PAP English 10.

The Joy of Going to the Office For a Late Pass

Going to the office for a late pass is something students always look forward to.   Getting out of the car and walking across the street to the foot of the mountain is the puzzling moment when all students think: “What is my excuse going to be for Majo this time? Will Mr. Guenther be in the office? Do I have enough lates to get an after school detention?”  The students spend several moments pondering these questions trying to find a believable answer to the late excuse.  By the time they finally cross through the gate and stop at the foot of the mountain they have crossed off the traffic excuse, accident excuse, and pretty much every other excuse known to the citizens of Bogota who deal with the bumper-to-bumper traffic daily.

After finally reaching the top of the mountain gasping for air, can we go to our classroom? Of course not! We must walk all the way to office to make a pit stop for a late pass. Taking a deep breath before walking in, the student prepares him or herself for the “tardy again” look from Majo and any other teacher that happens to be in the office.  On the count of three the student pushes open the door and yells, “Hello Majo! How are you today? Can you please write me a late pass?” Glancing around the room to make sure Ms. Kaun or Mr. Guenther is not present the student normally tries to rush Majo or Andrea into writing a late pass.  Since Majo is the type of person who loves conversation, she decides to ask questions like: Why are you so late? Why don’t you leave the house earlier?  What would the principal have to say? When she finally finishes writing the pass the student yanks it from her hand and runs to his or her classroom. 

As if climbing the mountain all alone, running to the office for a late pass, hiding from Mr. Guenther, and having a nice conversation about being late with Majo aren’t enough reminders that we are late, the teachers decide to make a comment.  With Ms. Pascale you can expect the, “Late again. Do you have a bunch of photo copies of these late passes in your room or something?” With Mr. Tangen you will most likely get the, “Hello just throw your pass in the garbage,” with the singsong tone he always uses with Lina Merizalde.  Hearing a comment from your teacher is completely natural for any student across the globe. The stressful thing is having to go all the way to the office for a late pass when the teacher clearly knows that you are already late. 

This procedure does not only occur if you are late in the beginning of the day. It is for every single class that you arrive at least one minute late.  As soon as the classroom doors are closed you may as well just start your walk to the office.  At this time of the day it is different because you can’t use your sister, driver, or traffic as an excuse.  The excuse you come up with this time has to make sense and it can’t be the typical excuse everyone gives.  The counselor? Dumb excuse and dumb idea because eventually they will ask the counselor if your whereabouts had anything to do with them.  Talking to a teacher? Bad idea. Mr. Guenther is most likely a friend of the teacher and if not then you can definitely assume that Majo will contact the teacher sooner or later.  The only excuses left are: my friend was crying, I was crying, I was picking something up all the way down by the gate, or the truth.  Not many students will decide to tell the truth because then that will definitely gain them the “shame on you” look at the office.

 At no point can a student sigh with relief and think: “I’m safe for now.” Not before any of his or her classes at least.  The only time you can sigh that sigh is at the end of the day when you can no longer be late.  At some point a student finally realizes that the best route is to leave a little bit earlier, walk to class a little bit faster, or speed up the conversation with his or her friends so that he or she can arrive to class on time.  By accomplishing these tasks you can avoid the long walk to the office and the painful process of thinking up a good excuse.  

Common Sense, The Least Common of All Senses

Blog and blog post, the difference between both is enormous, and yet many people mistake them to be the same thing. It is a common stupid error! A blog is a website on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis.  A blog post is a written entry on a blog about anything the author would like to share.

People refer to their blog posts as a blog. What could they possibly be thinking? It is obvious that the author doesn't have an entire blog on one specific topic. It is a silly mistake that should be fixed.  Putting a title to your blog post such as: A Blog On Anorexia will definitely confuse the reader.  Instead of thinking that the blog POST will be about anorexia, they will think that the entire blog is on it.  THe key to specifying between your blog and blog posts is creating an appropriate title for each.