Group Work Questions for Ch. 6 — Example
Posted on October 20th, 2009 by Mr. Eldridge
Please post your answers as comments to this post:
Brent Staples, “Black Men and Public Space”
- Define public space.
- How does he use anecdotes to make his case?
- What are his examples? Evaluate their effectiveness.
- What does it mean to inhabit public space?
Scott Russell Sanders
- What is his thesis?
- What examples does he employ to illustrate his thesis?
- Why 2nd person narrative?
- Explain Sanders’ syntax in paragraph 1. How does he use rhythm to create emphasis?
Filed under: Class Discussions and tagged Brent Staples, Example, Scott Russell Sanders
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8. Sanders uses short sentences and rhetorical devices such as omitting the “and” in sentences like “Watch any bare wall or lamppost, and before long it will blossom with signs, posters, the initials of lovers” to emphasis how quickly the space is filled with the writing. The repetition of “we” unites the author and his audience to show that everyone is involved in putting their mark on the Earth.
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6. Sanders uses several examples of different signs to emphasize his thesis, for example, “get right with God” or if one doesn’t believe so, they can simply but “don’t” in front of the word; thus, changing the whole meaning to it- Don’t “Trust Jesus.” Signs also express emotion, such as “Jack Loves Jill”, or removing he ’s’ from “shell. Another example Sanders mentions is that alley walls become symbols of love and hate, fear and worship, hunt and feel hunted by. It is the power of naming one’s grief. Also signs show private space, in this case “Beware of Dog” and culture clashes like “sex is death, kill art, and etc.” According to Sanders, signs are used for many references, particularly to emotions, space, and jokes.
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Brent Staples’ “Black Men and Public Space” Question #3
a. “My first victim was a woman – white, well dressed, probably in her late twenties… She cast back a worried glance… To her, the youngish black man… seemed menacingly close. After a few more quick glimpses, whe picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest.” (1)
b. Presented in the opening of the story, this example displays what the rest of the piece will contain. “My first victim” implies that there are many people who seem to have fallen “victim” of just the man’s presence. Simply because he is Black and large he is stereotyped and then cautioned by much of the public. This passage is effective because it is an example of how people become scared and nervous just because of his apperance.
a. “I entered a jewlery store on the city’s affluent Near North Side. The proprieter excused herself and returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash.” (9)
b. This example is especially effective because of the jewler’s extreme behavior. Threatening the man with a viscious dog based purely on stereotypical opinions, shows how uncomfortable people become when they are in the man’s presence. The jeweler felt that he would be robbed or mugged only because of the way the man looked. This example shows its effectiveness by providing an extreme scenario of how the man’s apperance causes problems among the public.
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7. “Signs” by Sanders
The second-person narrative is a narrative mode in which the protagonist or another main character is referred to by employment of second-person personal pronouns and other kinds of addressing forms, for example the English second-person pronoun “you”.
Sanders employs second person in his example essay to involve the reader in his example. The thesis of “Signs” is that every human is compelled to leave his/her mark on the world; this is done through writing on writing surroundings. Writing the essay in second person excludes no one; therefore emphasizing his thesis that everyone feels the need to mark their surroundings.
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1. “Signs” by Sanders
Sanders’s thesis in his essay was that humans have a natural inclination to express themselves and their opinions by marking the physical world. He explicitly states his thesis in his first sentence, “We seem compelled to scrawl our words on the mute, impervious world.”
He also provides examples to support his thesis, like graffiti on the wall that say phrases like “Can’t wait to be extinct!” and “Fred loves Nancy.”
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4. Staples, “Public Space”
Public space is defined as the physical space and atmosphere influenced by people’s attitudes and/or behaviors.
When one inhabits public space, there is a factor of choice and an element of coercion: meaning, laws of free speech do not apply.
Staples’ experience of a white woman fleeing from him (the black color of his skin carried too many implications) proves that the coercive formula, or conformity, encompasses the fear of tall, black males. Therefore, inhabiting public space means to take responsibility The white woman increased the space between her and Staples due to the accepted beliefs of conformity – a tall, black man equals a rapist, felon, or robber.
In a nutshell, Inhabiting public space means one immediately falls into a coercive environment and abide by the rules of conformity.
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