Power, Protest, and Change focused on a period when racism and unequal treatment towards blacks were at the forefront of people’s minds. These stories are based on the authors’ writing style, their vocabulary, and the problem and solution. With their choice of vocabulary, the authors showed author’s choices. The writing style effectively demonstrated the author’s preference. By using problem and resolution, authors demonstrated text structure. After reading the following texts: “Black Boy”, What to the Slave is the Fourth of June”, “Ain’t I a Woman”, Brown v. Board of Education”, “Was Brown v. Board a Failure”, the authors demonstrate the text structure by using vocabulary, the style of the writer and solving the problem.
The authors’ vocabulary choice was a good way to demonstrate their authorship. Frederick Douglass’s ideas are clearly expressed. “You can rejoice, but I must weep” (Frederick Douglass 291). Frederick Douglass has a way of expressing his thoughts that is clear. To make sure that the audience understands what he’s saying. Earl Warren’s words can convey a tone. Earl Warren’s use of inconclusive reveals a confused tone. The reader will get a sense of what the author is trying to convey. It is important to remember that vocabulary plays a major role in the story.
The second thing is that the writing style effectively shows author’s preference. Richard Wright’s writing style was descriptive. Richard Wright 4). “One day, my mom invited the tall-black preacher to dinner with fried chicken. Richard Wright describes the preacher as well as the mother’s purpose in communicating with him. Sarah Garland’s writing style was expository. This style of writing allows the reader vivid images to be created. Sarah Garland says that Brown v. Board has been a failure. Frederick Douglass, in his speech “What’s the Fourth of the July to a Slave?” begins by asking rhetorical queries. He asks, for example, what is the relationship between blacks and whites in terms of independence? And if whites rights are extended to Africans. It is effective, because it is meant to make the listeners think. Frederick wants to influence the audience’s perception of the Fourth of the July. They showed that certain writing styles are effective for helping readers understand.
Thirdly they showed text structures through the problem and its solution. Richard Wright has a problem to solve. “I never thought that without him, there wouldn’t be food. “I don’t understand, I replied. My mother asked, “Who brings food in the house?” “Papa,” said I. He was always bringing food. She answered, “I’m not sure.” She said, “You’ll just have to wait for me to get a job so I can buy food.” Richard Wright had to deal with a situation where he was out of food. His mother needed to find a job to solve the problem. Sojourner spoke about her experience of being treated unfairly by men in “Ain’t I a Woman”. She used analogies to describe the solution. This format is very effective, as it allows the reader to easily follow the story flow.
While some will dispute the effectiveness or choice of text structure, it is clear that an author’s writing style may confuse the reader. Wright’s use of imagery in a lyrical manner can cause the reader to be confused and draw conclusions which are neither present nor eluded. Truth’s parallelism can be mistaken as being too wordy or “on her soapbox” by many critics. They claim she makes a lot of generalizations without providing enough specific information. Douglass uses rhetorical techniques that are misleading. The reader will be led down a path of nothingness by his questions, which is a complete waste. The selections for these units are at best biased, with many examples of the rants, ravings, and other ramblings from speakers. They may be notable but they could benefit from more clarity and evidence to support their usefulness and purpose.
In general, Earl Warren, Frederick Douglass and Richard Wright all used author’s selection and text structure in their writings. Sarah Garland and Sojourner Truth also did. They were able to demonstrate author’s selection through their extensive vocabulary. The writers’ styles of writing successfully demonstrated author’s choices. These writers demonstrated how to use problem and solution in a way that supported the main idea. These authors showed that author’s choices and text structures could contribute powerfully to the overall meaning.
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