This Woman I Love is My Worst Nightmare

Have you ever been betrayed by someone you love? In life there are choices we have to make regardless of our morals and I am about to make that choice. My wife and I recently went on a honeymoon to Hawaii and spent a wonderful amount of time with the one I truly love. In order to start a new family, we decided to reside to the neighborhood of Kinsville. We bought a two-story house, which also came with a large, beautiful backyard. The open backyard was the most appealing aspect to this house because my wife is into gardening and landscaping. Everything was a dream come true. Until one day, the neighborhood was unusually peaceful.

            As I was making breakfast this morning, I heard one of my neighbors, Sarah, weeping and screaming in sorrow. I hurried and ran outside wondering what all the commotion was. She told me that her son, Ted, has been missing for days and has not come home. Sarah is one of my closest neighbors. She frequently comes over to have coffee with my wife, Mrs. Davis. She would also talk endlessly about gardening and her life. She was always cheerful and warm- hearted. Sarah reached out, grabbed my hands desperately, and called out to me, “Cooper! Cooper! Please find my son!”  I felt the need to help the poor woman.

Returning from work, Sarah was always on my mind. I decided to sit my wife down and talk about Ted being missing.  She simply disregarded the fact that he could have been gone. “I condole with Sarah but I am pretty sure Ted is just doing fine,” said Mrs. Davis. Maybe I was over thinking about Sarah’s situation. Mrs. Davis said calmly, “I think you are honey.” I decided to visit Sarah’s house to check up on her. She looked even worse. When I stared into her eyes, I felt emptiness and solitude. I tried my best to comfort her and to reassure that her son is doing fine. However, this aggravated the situation leaving Sarah even more depressed. I apologized and left her house.

After I came back from Sarah’s house, I see my wife gardening as usual. I told her about Sarah’s current condition and she told me that she was going give her a call. As I was passing by the bedroom, I overheard my wife’s conversation with Sarah. “Sarah, I am sorry that this is happening to you. I’m like a gardener that weeds out unwanted plants and I did just that,” said Mrs. Davis. Her conversation with Sarah left me baffled. Why did she refer to the gardener weeding out unwanted plants? I was confused and wanted an answer. I asked my wife what she meant. She told me that she weeded out all the negative thoughts from Sarah’s mind and comforted her. While she was explaining, I felt a nervous tone throughout her explanation. As wrong as it sounds, I became suspicious towards my wife. 

In order to find answers to my suspicions, I observed my wife carefully. She was acting a bit strange after i confessed to her about overhearing her conversation. She was quiet and cautious. Her change in behavior made me question her even more. Since she was my wife, I doubted she would have done something insane. I trust my wife to be faithful and trustworthy but something inside me kept suspicions towards her.

One night I was waken up from a loud thunderstorm and the rain beating against my window. I shuffle around my bed only to find out that my wife was not present next to me. i told myself that she probably went to go use the bathroom or went downstairs to get a drink. An hour passed by, and at this point i was concerned where she was. i got up from my bed and headed downstairs. The living room was unusually cold. As I observed around the living room, I saw my backyard door fully open. As I was walking towards the door to close it, I was able to see a dark silhouette on my backyard. With fear and adrenaline rushing through my body, I ran outside shouting “WHO ARE YOU!” The dark figure turned around and I was able to visualize a ditch big enough to fit a man. It was hard to see the face of the dark figure. Then I heard a familiar voice saying, “Honey, you’re next.”

Civil Disobedience

Muhammad Gandhi first brought up civil disobedience. He was the leader of the vast independent movement against Great Britain. During the era of civil disobedience, Great Britain was one of the most powerful countries to dominate weaker nations. Under British control, India was home to many natural resources. Indians interrupted the ambitions of Britain with a revolution. Previously in history, violence was the main component to achievement. The United States is symbolized as violence according to Howard Zinn. Howard Zinn included the views and events described opposingly to the school’s textbooks. Gandhi proved to the world that something can be achieved through nonviolent resistance.

   Gandhi realized that violence would only anger the dominate power. Coming to a compromise wouldn’t have to be forced. Unlike the United States, Gandhi used a nonviolent tactic to gain independence for India. He rallied large amounts of protestors to persuade them to practice civil disobedience. It required the people to disobey laws that were unlawful. They would be beaten without resisting. They didn’t fight back or say profound things. They accepted blows from nighsticks and punches. Surprisingly, there were less casualties than if they were to use violence. Not only did Britain decide to give independence, millions of lives were saved. Gandhi’s way of approaching disputes has prevented hatred from being spread. 

Civil disobedience is an effective method to reform the government to benefit the citizens. Civil disobedience would work in our society. The government is restricted from using violence against its people. If we were to peacefully demonstrate against an unlawful action or behavior, it would influence others, creating a widespread of movement. And if the government were to cause harm to the peaceful demonstrators, an uproar and hatred against the government will rise, the government would then be pressured to cooperate with the people.

  Violence should not be a method to rely on to make progress. Violence would erupt more hatred and dispute among society. The government would weaken and probably collapse. Innocent lives would be taken away. If we were to rely on peaceful civil disobedience, we would be able to rely on peaceful civil disobedience, we would be able to achieve far more than with violence and do not have to sacrifice lives. 

Celebrities In Advertisements

            Sue Jozui argues about the style of advertisement. Her purpose of this essay is to admonish the usage of celebrity to promote everyday products. She believes that advertisements should be limited with legislate rules and guidelines. I disagree with her statement because advertisements should be limitless and would not be as interesting with limitations and guidelines.

            There are not only advertisements with celebrities. Many countries include anonymous participants to participate in their advertisements. However, when celebrities appear on screen, we are most likely to pay attention. We familiarize ourselves to those we know or have grown up watching. This is a common strategy used in the advertising fields. Their goal is to promote products by grabbing our attention with something favorable and admirable. Advertising companies should have the rights to use celebrities as long as they are fairly paid.

Celebrities are a huge motivation for people. They have fans that support and follow them. For example, I am a fan if the Dodgers’ pitcher Ryu Hyun Jin. He has taken many advertisements for a ramen. I was persuaded to try the same ramen that he truly enjoyed. I had a feeling of support and felt like him when I ate the ramen. Seeing a celebrity use or consume certain products that we use daily, helps us to bond closer, which makes us feel like a celebrity.  

When celebrities act or behave out of the norm in advertisements, it appears more interesting than if replaced by another person. Celebrities have an image of perfection and flawlessness. As a society living with advanced technology, updates in celebrities are all over the media. Therefore, when celebrities are acting abnormally it is interesting to see how they defy their image. Advertisements are more appealing when celebrities are used.

Sue Jozi states, “this kind of marketing is misleading and insults the intelligence of the audience.” I disagree that it misleads the audience. Mot all advertisements have negative effect on the viewers. Celebrities might promote products or events that can help benefit an organization. Recently the ice bucket water challenge became a trend; it raised awareness of a disease called ALS. The ALS foundation received more money than ever before. Audience are not mislead by advertisements on media but instead led to the right way with a sense of comfort.

Florence Kelly (Question 2)

Florence Kelly, a social worker and reformer, writes on her speech addressing the working conditions for underage children. She implies to the readers that children are working extensive hours to benefit only the consumers. Companies use child labor because children were cheaper and fit for the job. They are able to accomplish jobs efficiently. Repeating key concepts, introducing numerous examples of working conditions, and addressing state policies, Kelly establishes a persuasive argument that engages the audience to join her revolt against child labor.   
            Kelly begins her speech by introducing a brief background of the ages of the children working across America to appeal to logos. Children vary in age from “six and seven years,” working in cotton mills of Georgia. “Eight, nine and ten years” worked in coal – breakers of Pennsylvania. Children, “fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen,” works in other “enlightened” states. By including the stats of ages, Kelly tries to inform her audience how young the children are to work in harsh, filthy factories.  

 Throughout her speech, Kelly maintains a didactic tone by including the contributions of children for the consumers’ benefits. Kelly creates a possible scenario stating, “tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills.” Children would be working while majority will be resting comfortably. Kelly also includes laws in different states to inform the audience about the perspective of child labor. Alabama has a respectful approach for child labor. Its law states “child under sixteen years of age shall not work in a cotton mill at night longer than eight hours.” Kelly compares Alabama’s laws with other states. She emphasizes that “in Georgia there is no restriction whatever!”

In the body of her speech, Kelly uses parallel structure to begin each paragraph, emphasizing the analogous injustice of laws ‘in Georgia,” “in Alabama,” and “in Pennsylvania.” The unfairness is furthered by her dictions when she continuously praise United States as a “great industrial” country while condemning many state laws as a “great evil.” In addition, Kelly uses the oxymoron of “pitiful privilege” that children receive during their birthday. Kelly transitions from narration to firm assertion in order to demand change in working conditions and to prevent abusive usage of child labor.  Kelly affirms that both the audience and she agree together on the issue when she believes that “they do not wish this.”

Kelly uses narrative anecdote to appeal to pathos. She addresses to the audience about a little girl that had to work the whole day on her birthday. This is ironic because birthday is widely known to be a day of celebration with laughter and presents.   She then refers to the children in New Jersey, how “boys and girls, after their 14th birthday, enjoy the pitiful privilege of working all night long.” Kelly, in her anecdotes, utilizes concerned diction to portray her sympathy towards the children.

Florence Kelly efficiently utilizes all aspects of rhetoric devices to convey her proposal toward child labor. She leaves an impactful comment saying that people are powerless unless if they are “citizens who enjoys the rights of petition.”