Abstract--Final Proposal

I'm writing this paper in order to address the different effects that result after a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.  My purpose for writing this is to inform others on the many ways that breast cancer can affect not only the patient but also the relatives that are close to the patient.  I will be looking at different sources that talk about the various ways that breast cancer affects the patient and the close relatives.  Some of these sources were based off of studies that were done to prove that certain effects are present in breast cancer patients and their families.  In order to make this more of a narrative, I'm going to interview my grandma.  My grandma is a breast cancer survivor so I'm going to use the research that I found in order to show that breast cancer does truly affect all aspects of a person's life.  By comparing my grandma's life as a result of breast cancer to the various sources and research that I found, I'm going to find that my grandma is very similar to the different studies that were done to show the many effects that breast cancer has on the patient and their family.  While I find that she relates to many of the sources that I found, she might also differ from them in that she hasn't been affected by breast cancer in all of the ways that the studies have shown.  I'm going to end my paper by talking about how the effects of breast cancer cause other problems for the patient and their family, which causes a domino effect that will end up affecting almost every aspect of their lives.

Research Paper RD Proposal

I'm going to write my research paper on breast cancer and the different ways that it affects the patient as well as the patient's family.  Since my grandma had breast cancer, I was thinking of interviewing her in order to find out her take on the way that it affected her as a cancer patient.  I was also thinking of interviewing another person whose mom has breast cancer, but she is currently working through treatments at the moment so I think it might be too hard for her to talk about the subject.  I would approach this as both a narrative and a cause and effect paper.  I would talk about people's experiences with coping through the hardships that come with cancer in order to make this partly narrative.  In order to make it a cause and effect paper, I would talk about the different effects that occur as a result of a person getting breast cancer.   I would talk about the physical, emotional, and social effects that occur as a result of having cancer.  I would not only talk about the ways that breast cancer affects the patient, but I would also talk about the ways that it affects the family as well.  I would tie all of the different effects caused by breast cancer together in the end to show that a person being diagnosed with breast cancer causes a chain reaction in which it affects the patient and the family as well and it affects almost all of the aspect's in each person's life. 

Research Paper Idea

For my research paper, I was thinking about writing it on breast cancer.  I think I would do a cause and effect type of essay in order to state and explain different effects that are caused by developing breast cancer.  It would also be partly narrative because my grandma used to have breast cancer and I know a few others who have or have had it.  I don't really know what questions I would ask or how I would answer them.  I was thinking that I could maybe ask the question of "In what ways does breast cancer affect all aspect's of the patients life along with the lives of family members who are supporting them?".  I could then answer the question by explaining different effects that are caused by breast cancer, such as physical, emotional, and social effects.  This would then lead into the conclusion in which I would answer it more thoroughly by connecting all of the body paragraphs together.  To answer the question, I could go on to say how these effects cause other things.  I could talk about how it causes a chain reaction to the point in which it eventually effects almost everything in the patient and the family's lives.  This was just a thought that I had and if you have any other ideas about possible questions that I could use, just let me know!  

Heart of Darkness Essay Idea

For my Heart of Darkness essay, I was thinking of answering the question of how the text portrays the people in the story as ignorant based on the fact that they look up to Mr. Kurtz.  My thesis would be something such as what purpose is served by Conrad when he presents the people in Heart of Darkness as looking up to Mr. Kurtz?  One quote that I could use is "They had talked all night, or more probably Kurtz had talked" (Conrad, 134).  Another supporting detail that I would use would be "It was curious to see his mingled eagerness and reluctance to speak of Kurtz" (Conrad, 135).  I would also use the quote "You can't judge Mr. Kurtz as you would of an ordinary man" (Conrad, 135).  I also might put another quote in my essay to show that Marlow is the only character in the story who doesn't speak as highly of Marlow as the rest of the characters and it states "I suppose it did not occur to him that Mr. Kurtz was no ideal of mine" (Conrad, 139).  I think that I would answer my question by saying that Conrad shows the people in the story as looking up to Kurtz in order to show their ignorance.  They think that Kurtz is a powerful man, almost like royalty, but in reality, he's dying because he is so sick.  This shows that he is actually weak and makes the people that look up to him seem ignorant and naive.

Heart of Darkness

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Conrad portrays the blacks as being very weak and inferior to the rest of society through the use of imagery.  In one specific part of the book, Conrad is describing the scene that he saw at one time during his adventure:  "Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth..." (Conrad, 83).  Through this quote, Conrad is using imagery in order to describe the black's deteriorating health.  He describes them as "clinging to the earth" and this doesn't mean that they are actually holding onto the earth, rather they are clinging to survival.  This quote shows that the blacks are slowly dying and they are fighting to survive.  Since they are barely surviving, the blacks are shown to be very weak.  Their physical weakness can cause them to be weak socially also.  Conrad also describes the blacks as "black shapes".  By referring to them as black shapes rather than actual people, he is creating the idea that these people are pointless in society.  Classifying them as shapes makes it seem like they have no purpose in life and they are just objects, rather than human beings.  This quote causes them to be shown as both pyhsically and socially weak.  Being socially weak means that they are inferior to the rest of the society.  Conrad shows that the blacks are weak and inferior to the rest of society based on this quote which uses imagery to state this idea.  He shows them as being weak in order to illustrate the way that they were treated during the time that the book is taking place in.

Rufus at the Door Comparison Essay

In order to compare three different stories from Rufus at the Door, I think I am going to use the gender lens in order to answer the question of "How does the author portray the roles of power throughout his short stories?".  My thesis would be something such as, "Throughout Jon Hassler's short stories in Rufus at the Door, Hassler tends to portray typically feminine characters as being in power over masculine characters".  I would use the short stories of Agatha McGee and the St. Isidore Seven, Nancy Clancy's Nephew, and the Life and Death of Delano Klein to show that there was this idea of a feminine character holding power over one or more masculine characters being portrayed in these stories.  I would make a conclusion about how the feminine characters having power over the masculine characters creates the idea that they become masculine as a result of having power.

Anniversary

In Anniversary by Jon Hassler, Hassler shows readers that the man in the text is part of the middle class based on his power and authority over his students through the use of symbolism.  Hassler shows this idea through the symbol of the red ink in the quote “In my ten years of teaching I have learned to understand the power of red ink” (Hassler, 37).  In this quote, the symbol is the red ink.  The color red symbolizes power and strength.  Hassler uses the symbol of red ink in order to demonstrate the amount of power that the man in the text holds.  The man is a teacher and this symbol clearly shows that he has a lot of power and control over his students because he has the power to give them any grade that he feels is the best to suit the piece of writing that they constructed.  He gave one of his students named Becky a higher grade than she deserved because she had wrote about her father not doing well and it was a very sentimental and emotional piece of writing.  Being able to give a student any grade demonstrates the amount of power that he has over his students.  By having power and control over his students, it points out that the students are weak and inferior to the teacher.  This demonstrates that the man is part of the middle class because although he has power over his students, he wouldn't be considered extremely powerful in society based on his occupation of teacher.  Therefore, throughout the text, the man shows that he is part of the middle class through the use of the symbol of red ink that Hassler uses in order to show the man’s power and authority over his students.
In order to fix this composition, I first changed the wording on my thesis so instead of saying that Hassler showed the man as being part of the upper class, I said that he was part of the middle class.  I changed it to middle class because he does have power over his students, but he is not very powerful in the rest of society.  I also added an example into my composition about the fact that he gave a student a higher grade than she deserved because her writing was sentimental and emotional.  I used this example in order to help analyze my thesis and help prove the point that I was making.

The Third Man

In The Third Man, the character Baron is supposedly a person of high power based on his royalty.  The word “baron” literally means someone with power or influence.  Although he is supposedly powerful, the Baron shows that he is not as powerful as his name says because of some of the feminine traits that he shows.  In one scene of the film, Baron is holding a little dog.  In this particular scene, Baron is being shot head-on using a medium close-up, which shows that he is powerful, but its also being contradicted by him holding a little dog.  Holding a dog like Baron was in this particular scene, it shows that he has a feminine trait.  Having a little dog is more of a feminine thing, such as when a woman is seen walking down the street holding her small dog in her arms.  While having a little dog is more feminine, having a large dog is more of a masculine thing.  Typically men will be seen walking and owning large dogs instead of carrying little dogs in their arms.  Since Baron was carrying a small dog in his arms, it shows that he is more of a feminine character in this scene since he is going against the male stereotype of having a larger dog rather than having a small dog.  Baron showing that he has some feminine traits through this scene shows that he is not as powerful as he should be, based on his name.  He is not as powerful because he is acting as a feminine character in this scene, which demonstrates the stereotype that feminine characters are less powerful than masculine characters.  Through this scene, Baron shows that he has feminine traits, which then illustrates that he does not necessarily live up to his name that is supposed to symbolize his great amount of power.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I noticed that Snow White was portrayed as a fairly lower class woman.  One cinematic element that showed her as being in the lower class was the use of camera positions.  When Snow White was in the shots, the camera position that I noticed was the angle that was used to shoot her.  Snow White tended to be filmed using high angle shots.  These shots occur when the camera is positioned to film the character or object from above.  Using a high angle shot creates the sense that the character or object is weak.  By using high angles shots to shoot Snow White, the director is showing that she is a weak and holds little or no power compared to her evil stepmother, for example.  These high angle shots make me feel like I am literally looking down upon Snow White as a character.  Looking down on a character tends to make it seem like that character has no power and is very weak.  High angle shots also make the character seem to appear smaller than normal.  This tends to create the idea that the character is not very important because of how small the character appears to be.  Looking down on a character, like Snow White, who is shown to have little or no power tends to make me believe that the character is part of the lower class.  Looking down on her also makes me feel like she is less important in the world of the film because of how small the high angle shot makes her out to be.  Since the director makes me feel like I am literally looking down upon Snow White, I get the idea that she is a very weak character who isn't significant in the world of the film, which shows that she is part of the lower class.

Anna's TED Talk

I thought that Anna's TED Talk topic was very interesting. I like that she was trying to explain to us that creativity is a very important thing and schools shouldn't take creativity out of the school day. I like how she then went on to explain alternatives to showing creativity since schools are taking it out. I like that she used 4H as an example of how people can use their creativity outside of school since some of the creativity areas in 4H are not offered during the school day. Since many of us don't know much about 4H because we haven't been a part of it like Anna has, I think that it would've been interesting if she would've based her point of using creativity outside of school all on the example of 4H. She could've went more in depth with the many different areas that allow for creativity in 4H such as photography, arts and crafts, and fashion design. I also think that at times, she maybe felt that her points weren't strong enough and she wasn't as confident in herself, which made her voice quieter. Therefore, if she stayed confident in the points that she was making, it would've improved her speech.

TED Talk Rough Thesis/Outline

For my TED talk, I'm going to speak about gymnastics.  I'm going to talk about how the experiences and skills that I have learned in gymnastics have helped me prepare for the future and how it has shaped the person I am today.  My thesis will be something like, "Throughout all of the 14 years that I have been in gymnastics, through the good days and the rough days, this sport has shaped the person I am today".
My TED talk is going to be a narrative based around my own experiences in the sport.  Since it's going to be a narrative, I don't think that I will be using much research although I might research and find other girls who have been in gymnastics and who have similarities to me with the many experiences that I have had.
One of the main reasons why I want to talk about how it has shaped me as a person is because I used to be super shy.  I may still be shy but not as shy as I used to be.  When I first started in gymnastics, I would cry everyday when I would have to go to gymnastics practice.  I think that gymnastics has made me more outgoing because I have grown up with all of my teammates and we are all comfortable with each other.  I think being on the same team with the same girls for most of my life has made me more talkative because I know that I can be myself around them and this has caused me to talk more at school also.
Gymnastics has also caused me to be more confident in life.  I have became more confident through gymnastics because at a competition, you have to go out there and perform in front of many people and you have to be confident in yourself in order to perform up to your standards. 
This could also be a cause and effect speech too, since being in gymnastics has caused me to be more talkative, more confident, etc.  In my conclusion, I will tie in all of my examples of how gymnastics has shaped me and show that it has shaped the person I am today for the better and has made me more of an outgoing, optimistic person.

Irony in "The Wife-Beater"

In "The Wife-Beater", the author, Gayle Rosenwald Smith, illustrates irony within the opinions of women based on their attraction to the shirts:  "Some articles quote women who felt the shirts looked great, especially on guys with great bodies (529)".  This quote shows that women like wife beaters in general, but they like them even better on guys with great bodies.  This means that they like them enough to wear wife beaters themselves.  This is an example of irony in this essay because before Smith states this quote, she also states:  "The undershirts also attained popularity at wet T-shirt contests, in which the wet, ribbed tees accentuated contestants' breasts (529)".  This second quote is stating the fact that these shirts are almost degrading towards women.  The tone of the writer's voice through this quote makes it seem like this statement should be very comical, such that people get a laugh out of women wearing these and the audience being able to see through their shirt.  This is degrading towards women because they are almost naive to it in a sense that they don't realize how much it diminishes their quality of a strong woman.  There is a hint of irony between these two quotes.  Connecting these two quotes shows that there is irony present since the first quote explains woman's liking of wife beaters and how they think they are an attractive piece of clothing, while the second quote shows this sense of degrading women by explaining that wife beaters are popular at wet T-shirt contests in which everyone can see through them.  This irony shows that women are foolish for liking wife beaters since they are degrading towards women, based on the example of their popularity at wet T-shirt contests.  Therefore, Smith uses opinions from women in her essay in order to demonstrate irony between the women's opinions and the fact that wife beaters are degrading towards women.    

Partner Response Using "The Wife-Beater"

Not only does Gayle Rosenwald Smith use an extended definition of a wife beater, like Olivia said, in "The Wife-Beater" by defining them as "manly", but she also uses fallacies in the quote:  "One woman stated that it even made guys look "manly".  So "manly" equals "violent"? (529)".  This quote clearly shows that she is defining a wife beater as manly based on an opinion from one woman.  Although she defines them as manly, her tone exhibits the fact that she doesn't agree with the woman who stated that she thought that men looked manly in wife beaters.  Along with being an extended definition of a wife beater, this quote could also be considered fallacy, since she only uses an opinion from one woman.  This type of fallacy is called a Hasty or Sweeping Generalization.  This is a fallacy because Smith is jumping to the conclusion that everyone thinks that wife beaters look manly.  She is jumping to this conclusion by only providing an opinion from one woman, rather than asking other woman what they thought about men wearing wife beaters and how the shirt looked on them.  It is as if she is swaying the audience to agree with her on the fact that she doesn't like the negative connotation to the word "wife beater".  Not only is she jumping to a conclusion in this quote, but she is also using another type of fallacy.  This fallacy is called Personal Attack (Argument Ad Hominem).  This quote can be considered Personal Attack because she is almost attacking the character based on the character's opinion of a wife beater.  She is attacking the character rather than focusing on the important facts of the argument that she is trying to justify with her main focus on the woman's opinion.  Therefore, Smith does not avoid fallacies in her essay while she is trying to define a wife beater. 

TED Talk Topics

One topic that I would maybe like to talk about for my TED Talk is gymnastics.  I have been in gymnastics for 14 years so it would be a very enjoyable topic for me and very sentimental as it is my last year of it this year.  This may be a bit too broad, so I'd have to make it a little more specific.  The purpose for this topic would be to define how much hard work truly goes into this sport.

Another topic that I thought about was cell phones and social media affecting the relationships made within family.  In today's world, almost everyone has a cell phone and this would be a very good topic to relate to my life, as I talk to my family through text quite often.  For this topic, I would either argue for or against whether cell phones or social media have made families closer or not.

Another topic that I could talk about is dogs.  I have a dog who has been in our family for 10 years, so this would be another easy topic for me to talk about.  For this topic, I could define how a dog is more of a family member than an actual pet.

The topic of whether social media and texting have improved the lives of teenagers also interests me.  Like I said, cell phones and technology are very important in this day in age, especially to us teenagers.  I could argue for or against whether they have improved our lives.  As a visual, I might be able to find a graph or data that shows time spent on social media sites or texting versus test scores or grades in school.

One more topic that might be interesting is school uniforms.  I could argue whether school uniforms increase success in school or not.  Some of my research could include looking at standardized test scores of schools where students wear school uniforms versus schools where students do not wear school uniforms.

Fallacies in "The Wife-Beater"

One fallacy in the essay "The Wife-Beater" is "Everybody wears them (528)".  This fallacy is the type of fallacy called hasty or sweeping generalization.  This fallacy affects the validity of the argument over the negative connotation of the term of the shirt by jumping to the conclusion that everyone wears wife-beaters.  She makes too broad of a statement, especially for the first sentence of an essay by using the word "everyone".  By making this broad statement at the beginning of the essay and using no evidence, this fallacy diminishes the validity.
Another fallacy demonstrated in this essay is "More than 4 million women are victims of severe assaults by boyfriends and husbands each year (529)".  This is the type of fallacy called red herring.  This fallacy affects the validity of the argument by shifting the audience's attention off the topic that is trying to be argued.  Although violence and assault are associated with the term "wife-beater", that is not the main argument the writer is attempting to focus on.
The quote "One woman stated that it even made guys look "manly".  So manly equals violent?  Not by me, and I hope not by anyone on any side of age 25 (529)" exhibits another type of fallacy.  This type of fallacy is called personal attack, or argument ad hominem.  This fallacy affects the validity of the argument by attacking the character and her motives, which then causes the audience to avert their attention to the character rather than focusing on the argument.  The writer turns her audience's attention toward the opinion of a character, rather than concentrating on the negative connotation of the term "wife-beater".