Writing Assignment

Writing Assignment - 2

The three works that I read, "Crazy Courage" by Alma Luz Villanueva, "Superman and Me" by Sherman Alexie and "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes epitomized the often quoted "knowledge is power" that was drilled into me by my parents. All three works seem to speak to the notion that power to do or to become what one desires is derived from knowledge of self. In "Crazy Courage," an implied claim of knowledge and individual power was displayed by the very fact that Michael had the courage to express both sides of himself--his femininity and his masculinity--without regard to what others may have thought of him. His presence at the poetry class dressed as a woman in a miniskirt, tights and high boots and not merely as a man wearing feminized clothing is evidence of the courage that he had to stand with dignity in the knowledge of who he was. The essence of Pathos is the primary quality exhibited in this poem as it allows the reader to imagine him dressed as a man and dressed as a woman and the writer allows the readers to feel the emotion of the crowd when Michael appeared as a woman and stood with dignity presenting "his living, red rose to the perceptive, the blind, to the amused, to the impressed, to those who would kill him and to those who would love him."(Villanueva Lines 26-29)

Sherman Alexie's implied claim in "Superman and Me" on the subject of knowledge and individual power was that with enough persistence and belief in self, one can achieve what he or she desires. In describing his background and early childhood as an Indian boy living on a reservation, he provides to his reader a sense of the motive behind his drive to succeed which is to overcome the discrimination that surrounds his life. He was determined to not live up to the expectation of failure that the non-Indian world had of him. A love of books and reading proved to be the key that unlocked the door that gave him the freedom to experience the power that sprang from his knowledge. This work is written in a way that it appeals to pathos, logos and ethos. Logos is exemplified through the paragraph describing his fight to surpass the expectations of his non-Indian teacher and the ridicule of Indians. He was determined to succeed as is evidenced in his statements that he "refused to fail" and that he was trying to save his life. Pathos and ethos seem to be intertwined when he reflects on the fact that when he was a student he was "never taught how to write poetry, short stories or novels...and certainly never taught that Indians wrote poetry, short stories and novels. Writing was something beyond Indians." (Alexie Par. 8) He is still using pathos and ethos as he describes his visits to schools with classrooms crowded with Indian students who are writing their own works, reading his books and others--trying