Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising by Ann McClintock

This piece is very informative. It explains the different marketing strategies that people commonly use and how they are classified according to the techniques used.  In fact, this piece would be very helpful to both consumers with little knowledge on marketing and advertising, and expert marketers and advertisers. It would be of service to the consumers because they would gain background on marketing, which they could then use to make efficient and economical decisions. It would help expert marketers and advertisers, on the other hand, because they would be more familiar with other common techniques, which would then help them develop their own style in selling.

I recommend for everyone to read this piece, because it doesn’t hurt anyone to be more informed and aware. It’s better to be knowledgeable than to be “victimized” by everyday’s advertisements. 

Am I blue? by Alice Walker

Here, we can see that Alice Walker’s use of parallelism enabled the readers to recognize that human capacity of emotion can also be applicable to animals.

Walker briefly narrates her observations of a horse, which goes by the name of Blue. For a period of time, she just observes the horse in its natural habitat and she just tries to imagine what it may be feeling.  After much thought and consideration, it dawned on her the harsh reality that people sometimes disregard that animals are living creatures as well and that they have the ability to feel.

Aside from the parallelism that the author had portrayed, there is also a hint of racism involved in the story. The readers would note from the story that the whites were the superior race and that other human races other than the whites were, more or less, treated like animals. 

Two Views of Mississippi by Mark Twain

In this narrative by Mark Twain, readers would get the author’s perspective and imagery of the Mississippi River throughout time. The author is able to describe with great detail the river in both the past and present due to his work in a steamboat.

Twain described how before he conducted a steamboat, he thought of the river as something that is majestic and captivating. However, once he had the chance to see it almost every day, he got used to everything about it and he started to see the dangers that it can bring.

The use of contrast, in my opinion, greatly helped this piece stand out. It helped differentiate the reality with the author’s first impressions.

In more ways than one, the lesson that we got from this narrative can be reflected to the real world because first impressions are not always true. People have the tendency to assume at first glance, only to realize how wrong they were throughout time. 

Halloween Party by Lillian Ross

Like a lot of the readings in our class, Halloween Party by Lillian Ross is another example of how authors use exemplification and enumeration in their essays. This particular essay enumerates what a mother has gone thru in throwing a Halloween party for her beloved son. It accounts all the materials used for decorations, the son’s Dracula costume, the different candies to be given out to trick-or-treaters, etc. It even included the complete inventory of the mother, listing the total cost of all the expenses.

What I appreciate most about this piece is the last line, which goes: “Total investment of emotion and puzzlement: indeterminable.” This line ties up everything in the essay because it would make the reader rethink about everything that the author had described in her previous sentences. Also, I like this line because it verified how true a mother’s love actually is. Readers would understand that the mother in this article doesn’t really care how much the party, itself costs, the only thing that matters for her is her son’s happiness. 

Pencil Rack by John Ciardi

When I first read the title, I honestly thought that this piece would be just one of those boring descriptive essays describing the author’s pencil holder. Obviously, I was wrong about a few minor things. John Ciardi, the author, did describe the pencil rack but he put greater emphasis on its unusual contents.

Ciardi enumerated every little thing that he had placed in the said stand, and continued on to illustrate each with great detail. He described the ball-point pens, Kleenex tissues, the screwdriver, the movie tickets, etc. even mentioning the price and purchase date of each said item.

By the end of this piece, I realized that we have the tendency to sometimes take some of our things for granted. We tend to stock them up or leave them on a shelf and just take the pleasure that they are just there whenever we need them.

Like how we take advantage of our material possessions, we also have the tendency to take the people around us, more specifically our family, friends and loved ones, for granted. At some point in our lives, we are guilty of believing that people we care about will always be there for us, and will always be available that is why we put off things we want to say and do until tomorrow. This shouldn’t be the case; we should always take the time and show our affection and gratitude to the people we care about. 

What I’ve Learned from Men by Barbara Ehrenreich

Similar to the selection entitled Sexism and Language, this essay revolves mainly around the theme of gender discrimination. It speaks of all the things women should learn from men. For the most part, it explains that women should try to defy society’s usual image of women as being frail and weak. It emphasizes that women should in fact learn to get tough, and take credit when credit is due.

I, for one, agree with what the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, had said. All women should take a stand and prove once and for all to everyone that women can do whatever men can do. Sometimes, even better.

I know that this would be particularly hard for women to do, given that we have long been branded as the inferior sex, but I believe if all women see their worth and try to exert more effort then, maybe someday, society would recognize this as well.  We should continue to fight our way thru the many biases thrown at us and strive for equality always. 

Sexism and Language by Alleen Pace Nilsen

In this selection, Alleen Pace Nilsen is clear to make a relationship between two unlikely concepts: sexism and language. He introduces the readers to the idea of gender biases in the English language. He says that words have more to imply than just its meaning and that there are subtle influences it makes to our everyday lives.

We might not really notice it at first, but what Nilsen says is, in fact, true. Words used to describe men, usually signify or emphasize power, strength or courage. These words, when pondered upon, would then lead us to relate men to history. All the adventures (or misadventures), battles, fights, and violence are generally perceived to be done mostly by men. Words used to describe women, on the other hand, usually connote elegance, passiveness or frailty. This gives the society the idea that women are somewhat inferior to the male population. The author also points out that society tends to label women as objects. Men often perceive or treat women as just sex objects or possessions.

Whether it is the words that denote negative meaning or the perception of men that women are just sex objects, it is exactly these two reasons that make women embarrassed in their own skin.

I hope in the future, writers would be more conscious of the words that they are using so as to  avoid being sex-biased in the process.