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Monday, September 10, 2012
Structural Element of "The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society"
The structural element of "The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society" that jumped out most to me was the testimonies and real-life stories of illiterate people. The testimonies make the story more accessible to the reader and really give the reader a good kick in the mouth. For example in paragraph 22, the writer tells the story of "A women in detroit [who] brought home a gallon of Crisco for her children's dinner. She thought that she had bought the chicken that was pictured on the label. She had enough Crisco now to last a year- but no more money to go back and buy the food for dinner." This real-life example makes the problem of illiteracy personal to the reader. It shows that there are people behind the statistics. Besides telling the story of people, Kozol also occasionally uses there direct words as in paragraph 15 where he quotes a woman in Washington DC as saying "We signed things we didn't know what they were." These voices and stories are sprinkled throughout the passage and were the most striking and powerful thing about the writing. It is one thing to talk of statistics, it is another thing entirely to show the people whose lives are affected.
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I agree that hte examples were very helpful in adding power to the passage. I had not though of the specific purpose of them, but you're rightm it is another thing entirely to provide examples from the people whose lives have been affected.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, in response to the Crisco anecdote, a student asked incredulously, "but how would anyone actually do that?" I assure you that it is very, very possible. I came home at least a half-dozen times from Japanese markets with what I thought were hamburger buns, only to find that they were filled with bean paste or something else I didn't recognize. I'll tell you the story of the "hotate" sweets today if I have time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the testimonials provide a relatable feeling to the text. It really strengthened the message that the author was trying to convey and added something special.
ReplyDeleteEverest, I completely agree with your point about direct quotations. I did not adress the use of quotes in my essay, but now that I think about it,I probably should have.
ReplyDeleteI agree it is much more effective to list off examples and then give real life situations on where that has happened. It makes the point much more powerful. I am sure everyone(who is literate) has at least once bought something they did not mean to buy. It was good that you used specific quotes from the text, that is something I neglected to do, makes your point more valid.
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