In Du Boise’s the Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois uses logos to bring out his points. He also though, lacks detail within his story. Although this does make the text a tough read, it does show logically Du Boise’s thoughts and points that he was trying to make.
Du Bois logically brings out within his story his argument that the black folk, is one to be recognized just as equally as all the other races. He says this in the manner of: “After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son.” The way he puts his thoughts together on the page is as to get an explanation of what he was thinking. This does take some extra meditation on what is being said, but once the reader grasps the concept, it makes sense. He uses long sentences which also make a challenge to the reader to be able to comprehend, but they help to drive his point further. He talks about how the “training of the Negroes,” or the blacks receiving their education would be vital to the black race becoming like the others. He doesn’t place much emphasis on this fact, but he does slip it in towards the end of the passage.
The tone of this passage is like that of a wakeup call. Du Bois was trying to show his fellows what was happening around them. He was trying to show them what was to come, and how he felt about what he believed was to come. This type of tone adds to the feel of the story. Since it is logical in manner, a serious tone would be needed in order to meet the logic that is presented within the story.
One thing that one sees while reading Du Boise’s work, is that he lacks in detail. Detail would make this an easier read for his audience. It would help his audience to pay more attention and be able to grasp what is being presented to them. Yet the lack of detail here in Du Boise’s story is what makes it hard to read, or hard to pay attention to. If it had more detail, it would likely be easier for his audience to grasp what he was saying, and his views on the Negro people.
In the Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois uses logos, or logic, to bring out his points. His serious tone to his subject further enforces the logic put forth by it. Although his lack of detail does make it a harder read for his audience, if one reads and meditates on what he is reading, Du Boise’s logic begins to make more sense.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Booker T. Washington's Signs of Progress Among The Negores Lit. Response
Booker T. Washington’s, Signs of Progress among the Negroes, mainly uses two rhetoric devices. His pathos establishes an emotional connection with his audience. He uses logos in his explanations of his beliefs. These devices help better the audience’s understanding of the text, and make it a reading the audience can take to heart so to speak.
Washington’s main purpose for this passage is to show the progress among the Negroes, especially in the matter of education. He tells a story within this text which better establishes the sense of pathos. Washington talks about a young black boy who lived and worked on a plantation. The plantation owner, feeling sorry for the boy, would toss nickels and dimes at him every time he would ride by. Eventually, after the boy saved up the money he was receiving from Mr. S----, the plantation owner, he used it to go to school and get himself an education. This story brings Washington’s view into perspective for his audience. It establishes an emotional connection with the audience, because very likely Washington’s readers felt for the boy who wanted to get himself an education, even though in the south, it was illegal to teach black slaves. Even when this law was outlawed, those who were involved in the teaching of black people were greatly mistreated. This is what leads one to believe why Washington does not use the plantation owner’s full name, Mr. S----. He does this to protect his identity, likely because of how much teaching blacks was hated. This gets the reader involved, because now the reader thinks in his own mind, what he would have done in this situation. As we see later within the passage, Mr. S--- had forgotten about the boy after he left for school. When the boy wrote to him in a letter he just threw the letters away. But when the boy showed up and paid Mr. S---- his money back with interest, Mr. S---- was impressed. He was impressed to the point that he opened a school on his plantation so his blacks could get an education and turn out just like the boy that went to school. Now the readers more involved emotionally with the story. They likely want the school to succeed, to teach more blacks living and working on the plantation. And they were likely joyful once they learned that the school eventually did get its success and did teach many Negroes.
Washington further discusses how far the Negroes have come, and how far they can go. One great point which he brings this out is where he says: “Perhaps the most that we have accomplished in the last thirty years is to show the North and the South how the fourteen slaves landed a few hundred years ago at Jamestown, Virginia, now nearly eight millions of freemen in the South Alone are to be made a safe and useful part of our democratic and Christian institutions.” Washington obviously sees something here, and his logos, or his logic, helps convey his thoughts to his audience. He sees where the blacks have come from, as he brings out the fourteen slaves that landed in Jamestown, and now the eight million freemen in the south. And he now sees that they can go somewhere greater, through the use of education. “So long as the whites in the south are surrounded by a race that is, in a large measure, in ignorance and poverty, so long will this ignorance and poverty of the Negro in a score of ways prevents the highest development of the white man.” So as long as the Negroes remain uneducated, they will stay in their current state, but when they become educated, like the young boy in his earlier illustration, they can and will take themselves to bigger and better places. It’s this logic that helps the audience to understand Washington’s point.
In this passage Washington uses both pathos and logos to convey his ideas. His pathos helps establish an emotional connection with his audience, as in his illustration with the young black boy who sought his education, and his logos shows his logic in how he is thinking, which better helps the audience to understand his points and ideas. It is these two aspects of his writing that brings the reader to a greater knowledge and understanding of what Booker T. Washington was trying to express.
Washington’s main purpose for this passage is to show the progress among the Negroes, especially in the matter of education. He tells a story within this text which better establishes the sense of pathos. Washington talks about a young black boy who lived and worked on a plantation. The plantation owner, feeling sorry for the boy, would toss nickels and dimes at him every time he would ride by. Eventually, after the boy saved up the money he was receiving from Mr. S----, the plantation owner, he used it to go to school and get himself an education. This story brings Washington’s view into perspective for his audience. It establishes an emotional connection with the audience, because very likely Washington’s readers felt for the boy who wanted to get himself an education, even though in the south, it was illegal to teach black slaves. Even when this law was outlawed, those who were involved in the teaching of black people were greatly mistreated. This is what leads one to believe why Washington does not use the plantation owner’s full name, Mr. S----. He does this to protect his identity, likely because of how much teaching blacks was hated. This gets the reader involved, because now the reader thinks in his own mind, what he would have done in this situation. As we see later within the passage, Mr. S--- had forgotten about the boy after he left for school. When the boy wrote to him in a letter he just threw the letters away. But when the boy showed up and paid Mr. S---- his money back with interest, Mr. S---- was impressed. He was impressed to the point that he opened a school on his plantation so his blacks could get an education and turn out just like the boy that went to school. Now the readers more involved emotionally with the story. They likely want the school to succeed, to teach more blacks living and working on the plantation. And they were likely joyful once they learned that the school eventually did get its success and did teach many Negroes.
Washington further discusses how far the Negroes have come, and how far they can go. One great point which he brings this out is where he says: “Perhaps the most that we have accomplished in the last thirty years is to show the North and the South how the fourteen slaves landed a few hundred years ago at Jamestown, Virginia, now nearly eight millions of freemen in the South Alone are to be made a safe and useful part of our democratic and Christian institutions.” Washington obviously sees something here, and his logos, or his logic, helps convey his thoughts to his audience. He sees where the blacks have come from, as he brings out the fourteen slaves that landed in Jamestown, and now the eight million freemen in the south. And he now sees that they can go somewhere greater, through the use of education. “So long as the whites in the south are surrounded by a race that is, in a large measure, in ignorance and poverty, so long will this ignorance and poverty of the Negro in a score of ways prevents the highest development of the white man.” So as long as the Negroes remain uneducated, they will stay in their current state, but when they become educated, like the young boy in his earlier illustration, they can and will take themselves to bigger and better places. It’s this logic that helps the audience to understand Washington’s point.
In this passage Washington uses both pathos and logos to convey his ideas. His pathos helps establish an emotional connection with his audience, as in his illustration with the young black boy who sought his education, and his logos shows his logic in how he is thinking, which better helps the audience to understand his points and ideas. It is these two aspects of his writing that brings the reader to a greater knowledge and understanding of what Booker T. Washington was trying to express.
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