2nd Reading

        Hello everyone! Now that we know what Aronson's main argument is I think we can move on to other things, more specifically his style, something I lack- at least fashion-wise. However, we are going to be discussing a different type of style: rhetorical style.

        Throughout both the first reading and second reading Aronson uses current events, at the beginning of almost all of the chapters, to relate events of the given topic of the chapter to an event that happens today. One of the examples that helped me understand what was in the chapter to come is the excerpt at the beginning of Chapter 11:

        "Jamal's father is a manager for a company with branches all over the country. Every two years or so the family moves from one nice neighborhood in a suburb near a big city to another. Jamal knows he has to watch it. Each school has its own style, its own slang. If he comes in the first day of high school flashing the most popular brands from his last school, he could be announcing to the whole class that he is an outsider, a loser. He knows that each school has codes that cannot be questioned, but that end at the edge of its district: new school, new code" (141, Aronson).

Without this, it would have been a little more difficult for me to understand the concept of this chapter: no matter where you went there was always race discrimination just at different degrees with different people. So, as you went from place to place you had to adjust your views on people to fit the "norm" of the location you were. His style to use a real-life scenario to help the reader understand the concept of the chapter was both helpful and pleasant. It not only helped me understand the chapter but opened my eyes to some events that I forgot still happened in today's society.
     
        Along with using real-life examples at the beginning of many chapters, Aronson constantly appeals to logos by referring to an image he later (or previously) placed in the chapter. For example, in Chapter 11, Aronson has an image of the Wedgewood cameo that was used to help spread the fight against slavery. Aronson first displays the image at the beginning of the chapter and then later refers to and explains the image more, explaining who created it and how it became a symbol of the resistance against slavery. Aside from using images and figures, Aronson appeals most strongly to logos as most of what he writes about is history. Whether it is the history of a religion or the history of how a race was treated, it is all factual information. Aronson appeals to almost no pathos, at least from what I can remember, and aside from the notes and bibliography in the back of the book appeals to little ethos throughout the text. In a way, Aronson appeals to ethos by using historical evidence to support his argument, but aside from that, he does not appeal much to ethos. Using the real-life stories helps appeal to ethos though, whether they are fictional or not, they show credibility to the fact that the world is still similar to how it was before.

        One of my favorite stylistic choices Aronson uses is including political cartoons about the issue he is regarding. On page 148 Aronson shows a cartoon, which I assume is from a newspaper, to show that people thought of African American slaves as equal to the Irish who were Catholic. The image itself is able to depict the hatred English Protestants felt towards Irish Catholics better than mere words could explain. The authenticity of the political cartoon also appeals to logos and ethos. Even though African Americans were slaves, somehow people still considered the Irish Catholics in just as low of a social class as slaves.

       However, overall the most interesting stylistic choice between pages 92-172 was the use of scientific graphs and images. On pages 116-119 and 124-125, Aronson uses many scientific images that support the beliefs of the scientists in the past. Now, at first you may think: so what? Well, these images helped explain why people of different races had different skulls or why certain nosed people were a lower or higher class in Egyptian society or just how each race (other than Whites) came to be from animals. The images showed how superior the White Americans felt over the African Americans and Native Americans. The usage of these images really made you think about how people explained race earlier in time.

        It makes you wonder what your views would be on your neighbor if we did not live in 2019 and rather the 1800s. Would the relationships you have changed as you know it? Or would the shift in your life be very little? It helps make you consider the diversity in your life and how much of an impact race actually makes, whether it is now or then.