Issue 2 Blog Post

Issue 2



The second issue (chapter) of the understanding rhetoric textbook is about strategic reading. The first thing the book dives into is "critical reading", which is very important when reading important things. The book continues to explain it with a little history lesson about Frederick Douglas. He was an escaped slave. After all that it goes on to the importance of comprehensive critical reading. this shows that you have to analyze the reading and break it down into different parts. they show this with a illustration all the elements found in blood. Writers may also try to separate themselves from what th/ey are writing. emotional distance is one example, they use words like "saying" or "supposing". another example is the writer might include implicit messages is their writing. for example it showed how Douglas was an observer of slavery and not a victim thus you can trust him. Then there is explication, which means to unfold or get the bigger picture. This can reveal and uncover ideas not directly suggested in the text. Jonathan and Liz then mention logos, pathos, and ethos again. Pathos showed Douglas's fear and pity, and his overall emotions. For Logos Douglas says that america is logically not a great and safe place to live. For Ethos it showed how he had authority but he was ethical. The book then talks about once you have everything together you can start to put stuff together so it makes more sense. This process is called synthesis. The book then goes on to analyze a picture of him. Books in the 19th Century often had a picture of the author on the front of the book. The book then says with each assertive version of the book was a better picture of the author. Sometimes people might doubt a books authenticity because there are multiple versions of the book. The book then talks about how Fredrick Douglas's can be read as another book because you can apply ideas and philosophy from one text to another. Sometimes you read texts side by side this is called compare and contrast.When you compare and contrast texts you start to make lists on how the texts are similar and different from one and other.With application questions you can start to apply the texts to new situations.There is another type of critical reading. this involves thinking about ideal writers when screaming texts.Fredrick Douglas used this method by trying to feel what his ideal reader would feel.  smart readers highlight and use symbols to better understand the information written in the books. Experts who analyze books do this to a greater extend.  In the last part of this issue of the book it switches to "Reframe with luis & Cindy. In this part it talks about the terrorist attack 9/11. It just talks about all that happened during  the event. it then shows a bunch of characters standing on a comic with pictures of the event. which shows 4 parallel timelines. and then it explains that the black comic keeps the reader focused.