1984 Rhetorical Analysis

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Many writers living in the aftermath of World War II expressed a great deal of contempt toward totalitarian systems of government in their works. George Orwell wrote the dystopian novel 1984 to force his readers to question the integrity of their governments. The article “Backpacks and Briefcases” urges us to ask what the rhetor may be responding to as a means of discovering the exigence of the rhetorical situation (Bolin 48). The publication of the novel coincides with the aftermath of World War II and the rise of more totalitarian forms of government, such as Stalinism in Russia. Orwell’s response to these events also plays to the mindset of his audience, who is living in the same period and thus has the same fearful perspective on totalitarianism.

"Big Brother Is Watching You" (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) by thefoxling

“Big Brother Is Watching You” (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) by thefoxling

Orwell’s primary protagonist, Winston Smith, works for The Party by editing history, already leading the audience to believe that this fictional government can not be trusted. He spends his days modifying dates and production predictions in the national newspaper so the rest of Oceania can live under the impression that their economy is improving, rather than plummeting (Orwell 39). This parallels the ways in which totalitarian systems sought to brainwash and hide the truth from their citizens through propaganda. The propaganda present throughout the novel is reminiscent of those of Nazi Germany, depicting “monstrous figure[s] of Eurasian soldier[s]” that drive even the least patriotic proles to support the war effort (Orwell 149). Orwell is aware that his audience will have a strong reaction to these images, having only recently been subject to bombardments of similar messages during the wartime.

Knowing the context in which the novel was composed, as well as the background of the author can allow us to draw what his purpose is. Bolin encourages readers to ask what it is the rhetor wants them to do with their message (52). I would interpret all of Orwell’s appeals to the authority of government as a message to his readers to question the societies that they live in. While there is no direct message of uprising or warfare against totalitarian systems, at the very least Orwell wishes for others to call into question the extent to which their governments run their lives. To some extent, the rhetorical purpose of the novel is to convince the readers to become active consumers of the political rhetoric that surrounds them.

Inherent in all sides of the rhetorical triangle and all facets of the rhetorical situation are the three artistic appeals proposed by Aristotle, but Orwell plays primarily to pathos (Bolin 52). The love story between Winston and Julia allows the reader to form a personal connection with the characters, and thus sympathize with them to a greater extent when the government interferes in their affair, resulting in their torture (Orwell 222). A potentially dry message about governments stripping individuals of their autonomy presented in narrative form makes all the difference to a reader.

It is critical to not only be fully aware of the rhetoric presented to us in academic settings and in novels, but also that which is presented to us in our daily lives. This can make all the difference in how we choose to perceive the world we live in.

Works Cited

Bolin, Laura Carroll. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Ed. Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. Vol. 1. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor P, 2010. 45-58. Writing Spaces. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.

Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1961. Print.

Spring 2016 Begins…

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At the end of January 2016, my capstone has evolved into an examination of relationships between solar radiation levels and land topography. The scientific research into this relationship has been explored more and more in recent years, as the nature of solar radiation levels and impacts on climate shifts and changes to vegetation and hydrology become ever more critical. Among many research papers to be published on the subject, a few notable examples include:

Impact of 3-D topography on surface radiation budget over the Tibetan Plateau; Wei-Liang Lee, et al.; Theoretical & Applied Climatology, July 2013.

GIS-based modelling of topography-induced solar radiation variability in complex terrain for data sparse region; Min Liu, et al.; International Journal of Geographical Information Science; July 2012.

A comparative analysis of DEM-based models to estimate solar radiation in mountainous terrain; J.A. Ruiz-Arias, et al.; International Journal of Geographical Information Science; Aug. 2009.

The land surrounding the Cal State CI campus possesses a wide range of topographical features, from steep canyons to vast flat farmland to stretches of sandy beaches. Using the combined data from solar radiation level collection at specific points along with levels obtained from satellite imagery, a picture can be formed using GIS applications to in essence “map” the solar radiation levels and variability for the area. This work has the potential to be of great use to many fields of science as well as land planning and management.

 

 

Spring 2016 semester begins

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Over the break I spent 11 days on SRI on this trip I GPS waypointed 1600 tress and still have many more to go. The project is moving foward and the GIS work is starting to move foward.

Update (2/1/2016)

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Last semester, I placed five cameras on Santa Rosa Island to detect non native rodents. I have been unable to check the cameras since late October, but the batteries in each camera will last up to six months.

Last time I was able to check, much of the local wildlife had been captured. Thankfully, no non native rodents were detected. Some native mice were captured though, along with plenty of foxes, and a few spotted skunks. Below is one of the many foxes spotted in Lobo CanyonIMG_0212

Finishing up the data processing

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As of today I have sample populations of Sand crabs from 16 beaches processed and will be sharing this data at the Surfrider meeting Tuesday evening. I have been lucky to find 6 undergraduate students that are interested in working on the different aspects of my project! This will rocket forward the processing of the 50 plus sand samples I have in the lab and allow me the time to finish processing the 26 other sample populations of sand crabs I have.

So far 14 of the 16 sample populations have had sand crabs with particles or fibers ingested. I know that every single sand sample processed has had fibers and/or particles in it so I am interested to find out what the remaining crab samples look like.

Winter Break Update

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Over the break I went to five locations: Santa Clara River (two locations), San Francisquito Canyon, Bouquet Creek, and Soledad Canyon. I not only looked for fish, I also took pictures of the location sites so I can asses the changes before and after El Niño. The only place I found fish was under Bouquet Canyon Bridge in the Santa Clara where the Valencia Wastewater Treatment Plant releases its water. There were several species of fish in the small pond but most were too big in size to be considered stickleback. Due to scheduling conflicts and unavailability of the lab I was not able to complete water quality probe training which I was not happy about considering we have already had a few big rains. My next steps are to collect water and sand samples for evaluation through Dorothy’s microplastic project, and to follow up on some tips as to other locations the UTS may be present.

Winter Break Wrap-Up

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Winter break has come and gone, and it is now time to get back into the swing of things to finish out my year-long capstone project. I feel like I had a successful winter break in terms of my project, as I was able to accomplish many tasks. With the help of my advisor from the National Park Service, we were able to make some final tweaks to my study design, which allowed us to hit the ground running and implement a robust study. Also with the help of the National Park Service, we were able to put together, and broadcast, a native seed mix in my study plots. Thankfully we were able to broadcast this seed before a major rain event, and when I completed a field assessment two weeks ago, I already had some seed germination. Fingers crossed successful germination will continue across all my plots! I’m hoping to go out to Santa Cruz Island in the next week to do another field assessment to check germination progress.

Breaking Down Political Media (the rhetoric point of view)

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Just recently I came across various articles in which the media promoted every Presidential candidate and explained the actions they took to win over certain states. After carefully analyzing each article I came to the realization that most everyone comes to, none of the candidates are perfect, but one is definitely better than the rest. I began to analyse the campaign, the articles, and the media displaying each of these individual candidates. One of these stood out more to me than the others ” Donald Trump Delivers a Flurry of Flattery to Iowans to Try to Seal the Deal”. This article portrays rhetoric qualities in about everything that  that was written. Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing.This article just like the rest of of them gives us this framed idea that Donald Trump is favored in Iowa for the things that he has promised them. that also interests me because Donald Trump himself may possibly be displaying and reaching out to his audience in the same way the author of the article is reaching out to his. Rhetoric is important when reaching out to a specific group of people. Rhetoric is, for lack of a better word, “playing” the game correctly in favor of your audience.

The rhetorical situation in this case, is the public appearance and speech that Donald Trump has given to the residents of Iowa. Whether or not this presidential candidate truly means and holds the promises that he makes, his promises must be relevant to the issues in Iowa. For example, Donald trump has promised to get Medicare to negotiate the prices in prescription drugs. That being a large issue in Iowa earns Trump points in the eyes of the audience. The issues that he decides to address is what one would call an exigence. The exigence is the demands or issues that allowed the author to address them in the first place. For example, there are many nativists in Iowa who are overwhelmed and are concerned with the immigration issues in the country. The exigence is the immigration issue, and Donald Trump directly addresses the issue with a solution. Within rhetorical situations, there are constraints as well. A constraint is a limitation that does not allow the author from going any farther than needed or any farther than allowed. In this case with my first example “Over the last few days,  Donald J. Trump has proposed having Medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices…”(Kaplan) there is a minor constraint. He can not promise lower prices, so he therefore makes his choice of words very carefully and uses “negotiation”. Therefore if it does not follow through he is not to blame because lower prices was never promised. It is a very smart way of gaining the trust of your audience, but not failing them either.

A large component of rhetoric is the rhetorical triangle. This triangle is made up of the three Grecian components, logos pathos and ethos. Logos is the form in addressing something through principles, reason and judgement. The things you believe are morally correct depending on your knowledge of it. Ethos is the form of patterns such as, your beliefs, like religion and traditions. Pathos is an emotional aspect, the way you get to those people who are “suckers” for the things that can make them cry. Pathos is used through pity and guilt. You must once again play to your intended audience. For example, in the article the author writes ” Like the salesman he is, he finds ways to flatter potential customers.”(Kaplan). This is true, Donald Trump is a smart an when it comes to reaching out his intended audience. He is a business man who uses rhetoric to win the hearts of his audience. Just like the author who displays through his work that he seems indifferent to Donald Trump’s success but is also leaning towards seeing his strategies to fool us. He writes in a way to reach out to his readers to take a second look at Donald Trump and then make up your minds about him. This is true about all candidates, they will use rhetoric to win the hearts of the public. The truth is because everyone is so good at playing the game, we will never truly know who means it the most. It is just the fact of who plays it better.

Damon winter/ The New York Times

This is another example of rhetoric. In order to win over his audience, Donald trump presents himself in a way he knows his audience will approve and trust in him more. he is well dressed and presentable. Who wouldnt trust a man who takes the time to present himself nicely and neatly. You wouldnt trust a man who looks like he just got out of bed and rushed over to give a speech. Another aspect, he is accompanied by his wife. She must fit in the same type of framing that he displays, the clean sophisticated look. He also takes the time to care for his fans and the people he speaks to. If you dont take the time to get to know your intended audience you have already lost them because you have to understand them to gain their trust.

Rhetoric is a part of the everyday American consumer culture. It is what allows authors to directly affect their intended audience in a way that will real them in and make them believe what the author is portraying. The next time you see a commercial, article, or picture promoting something, try breaking it down and looking at it through a rhetors eyes. It will change your mind.

 

 

 

Haberman, Maggie, and Thomas Kaplan. “Donald Trump Delivers a Flurry of                                                                                                          Flattery to Iowans to Try to Seal the Deal.” The New York Times. The New York                                                                                        Times, 31 Jan. 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

Virtual Field Trips with VoiceThread Mobile

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Confession: My name is Jaime and I am a regular VoiceThread user. I have been using VoiceThread for the last few years after being introduced to it by Jill Leafsteadt and Michelle Pacansky-Brock. I have integrated VoiceThread in a variety of ways into my courses, from asynchronous discussions about ethical issues in nursing to integrating […]

About the project

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One thing that I just realized is that I haven’t explained what my capstone project is. I am sure that I gave out a link or two so those people will know what I am posting about but what about people stumble on this by accident. So here is the run down on my project. The school that I go to CSU Channel Islands was given money via a grant called B-Wet. This allowed college students to work with high school and middle school students that are underrepresented and to lend them a helping hand in learning about the environment. This portion of the grant is called crossing the channel; this is more of the general of college students helping with high school and middle school aged students. The part that I am helping with specially is the educational portion of the grant. Myself and another capstone student are working with Channel Islands High School and R. J. Frank Academy of Marine Science and Engineering. During the time of the two semesters or the whole school year using a curriculum created by NOAA called LiMPETS, this time was spent teaching the students about the amazing channel that is in their backyard. The people were during this was our advisor Chris, a graduated student (MJ) a fellow CI student named Dulce, fellow capstone student Erika and myself. Erika and Dulce are working with the middle school students; MJ and myself are working with the high school students, lastly Chris goes between both schools and helps us all along. The first lesson we taught was that we split the classes into groups where they needed to do research into a group and animal that both use the channel for different reasons. The groups needed to then present their findings to the class and place a representation of animal where they could be found. After that lesson, Erika and I taught a lesson to the classes about how limited the resources are on our planet. Then Chris, Erika and I taught the classes about how watersheds work and how much pollution can get into the watershed system. This was all done during the past semester.

 

During this semester Erika and I will be teaching an entire until ourselves. This is where the LiMPETS program comes in. This program was made to get students out of the classroom and out into the field to do some citizen science. The science that the students will be participating in will be looking at intertidal zone and sandy beach. In the intertidal area they are going to be identifying a number of invertebrates and algae’s. They will also be counting and measuring the sizes of Owl Limpets. These are going to be counted and measured because over the course of time people have gotten into the habit of taking these creatures off and eating them. To see how big the limpets get without being taken off and eaten. They also count and Ochre Sea Stars, they are counting these because the sea stars are keystone species because they keep the sea mussel downs. That is what the students will be doing in the intertidal area. Then there the sandy beach stuff. The students are going to try to get sand crabs and measure them, and record all of the measurements of the shells. The students then put the sand crabs back into the sand. That is what the students will do. This will all be done at Carpentaria State Beach on February 18th and 19th.

 

Do get everything all ready for this all to happen. Erika and I have been working really hard in getting together packets for the students to work on so that they can all hopefully retain the information that we have been giving them. We have been working on lessons and PowerPoint’s for us to give to the students. We have been making plenty of meetings with our advisor Chris and with him giving us plenty of advice on how to continue. So over all everything is going well for me, just got to get through it all.