We have spent the past few weeks reading and discussing Ceremony. I can honestly say I have never read anything remotely similar to this novel.  I am particularly fascinated by Native American story-telling techniques and how Leslie Marmon Silko weaves them into her book.  The idea that the blank spaces in the  novel are silence, meant to give the reader time to think gives me a whole new perspective on the story.  It also helps me to understand which parts of the novel are most important.  The most significant parts tend to have more "silence" around them, giving the reader plenty of time to think about them.  The novel also gives me insight into a culture that I really had very little previous knowledge  about.  I don't think we have ever gone that in-depth into any Native cultures in school, let alone Laguna.  Overall, I am really enjoying our time spent on this book.

"To Fix Health, Help the Poor"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/opinion/to-fix-health-care-help-the-poor.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

The authors of this article, Elizabeth Bradley and Lauren Taylor, analyze  not only health care spending, as most other studies have done, but combine these numbers with the amount America spends on things like rent subsidies and unemployment benefits, and comparing it to other countries.  The authors use diction, details and syntax to convince readers that we must spend more money on social welfare projects.

Diction: The diction in this work helps to convey a trustworthy tone.  It is important for all authors to gain their readers' trust.  This ensures the reader will be receptive to the point the author is trying to make.  Bradley and Taylor are masters of the 5 dollar word.  "encroachment", "allocating" and "disdain" are all words that make the reader subconsciously think "Wow, these women are smart.  They must know what they are talking about".  Once the readers have placed confidence in the authors as intellectuals, it is much easier to make a point.

Details: Bradley and Taylor use very specific numbers to prove just how direct the link is between social spending and life expectancy, along with other health related statistics.  When discussing the health status of a group of homeless individuals, the article mentions they totalled 18,834 trips to the emergency room.  That number is shocking, and was clearly included to jolt the reader.  Further, that many trips to the emergency room is stated to have cost 12.7 million dollars.  The reader suddenly begins to think about all the other things that money could be used for.  There must be a way to lower that amount.

Syntax: Syntax is used mainly to engage the reader in the work.  Rhetorical questions such as "Why are these other countries beating us if we spend so much more?" make the reader really think.  Instead of skimming the article, with a mind half-focused on something else, questions like this help to make the reader pay attention to the task at hand and make him want to come up with a solution.  Additionally, sentences such as "Before we spend even more money, we should consider allocating it differently." place the emphasis on the point Bradley and Taylor are trying to make.  This makes the reader understand the importance and remember it.

2009, Form B. Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or play that focuses on a political oe social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explazin how the issue contributes to the meaning of the as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

                One of the biggest issues in the American political arena is the issue of social responsibility.  In his novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck explores the question of how to deal with the country’s less fortunate through a focus on the Joad family and their struggle during the Great Depression.  Steinbeck uses imagery and diction to create theme.  Using this theme, Steinbeck makes the readers think about what they have that others might not.

                Steinbeck is incredibly skillful and concise in his writing, making it obvious that the book is about poverty in America.  His powerful diction makes it clear to the reader just how dire a situation Tom Joad and his family are in.  Strong word choice shows us that not just the Joads, but many of the people they meet as they travel and attempt to settle in California, are simply unable to survive.  As if it was not clear enough, Steinbeck then brings in imagery to further give the book an ominous feeling, a feeling that says all is not well.  Steinbeck describes the land of the Dust Bowl states with such vivid detail that one can picture the barren, dry land.  That land, fruitless and dead, relates directly to the Joads’ situation.  Imagery and diction combine to explain the situation and get the reader thinking about the poor.

                Once the reader has recognized that there is a poverty problem in America, Steinbeck must suggest how to fix it.  There are always two choices: do more or do less.  Steinbeck is very clear that we must vastly increase our support for the poverty stricken.  The Joads are repeatedly taken advantage of and exploited by giant, unregulated farms.  Workers are not protected in any way, and doing even less to regulate the exploiters logically would not help.  Therefore, Steinbeck is saying that we must do more.

                Theme, an important literary element, is created by technique.  In The Grapes of Wrath, imagery and diction cooperate to create a theme centering on poverty.  Steinbeck makes important use of that theme to call America to action.  He shows us what is wrong with the world, and begs us to do something about it.

Since the last Response to Course Material we have talked a lot about Death of a Salesman.  I found it really interesting to watch the movie as a first close reading and then read the play.  There are things that I noticed viewing the movie that I may not have if I had just read the story.  Movies help to emphasize certain aspects of a play that I wouldn't have placed such importance on. For example, in the movie, I noticed that the walls of Willy's house were not really walls.  The family obeyed them as if they were strict, conventional walls, except during Willy's flashbacks.  Then they passed through the "walls" freely.  This is mentioned briefly in the stage directions, but I'm not sure I would have noticed had I not seen the film. Of course, the movie is just one director's interpretation, but I think it is helpful to gather as many different views on a story as possible.

"How About Better Parents?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-about-better-parents.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

This article, by Thomas Friedman, attempts to convince the readers that we place the blame for American children's low test scores in the wrong place.  Friedman establishes a confident and matter of fact tone, and through diction, details and syntax is able to make the reader see that teachers are not the only factor in education.

Diction:  Friedman uses strong word choice.  Words such as "thrive" and "achievement" show that the author is intelligent. They are strong, 5 dollar words that make Friedman seem trustworthy.  Obviously he must know what he is talking about, after all, he is using such smart words.  The readers are suddenly open to whatever it is Friedman has to say, because they trust him.

Details: Friedman proves very specific numbers that prove his point.  He includes that children who have parents who read to them score 14 points higher on their PISA tests.  That seems like quite a significant chunk to the audience.  Though we have no scale by which to measure how much 14 points really is, that number seems significant in its own right.  It gives clout to the author's point.  Though we know nothing about the study except what Friedman tells us, the fact that he has any sort of physical data makes us believe what he tells us.

Syntax:  Friedman uses rhetorical questions such as "How do we know?" to make his readers really THINK about what he is saying.  It helps to involve the reader, in the author's argument, making the audience really feel as if it is a part of the article.  When Friedman makes a suggestion, the reader almost feels as if he came up with the idea himself.

Overall, Friedman is very successful in conveying meaning.  He establishes a matter of fact, competent tone, and weaves the reader into his argument.  All of this helps him to convince us that parents are just as important, if not more so, as teachers in a child's education.

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

                Every family has conflict.  However, in the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the conflict between Willy and his son, Biff, is more extreme than most.  Although a Biff’s discover of his father’s infidelity triggers the downfall of the relationship, the two have problems that are much deeper and date back much further.  Miller uses literary techniques to describe and give reason to the father-son rift, and then uses the broken relationship to show his audience what is wrong with how we live our lives.

                Miller provides his audience with details and makes good use of a foil in order to show just how terrible of a father Willy is.  It is not that he doesn’t love his sons.  The problem, however, is that Willy is always giving his sons terrible advice, as made evident through use of a foil, Charley.  Willy tells Biff to blow off school, and to be well liked.  Charley tells his son, Bernard, to study hard.  Willy laughs at his son’s theft.  Charley teaches Bernard right from wrong.  Willy and Charley are quite obviously opposite.  These differences shown in the past culminate in the lives Biff and Bernard created for themselves.  Miller provides us with very impressive details about Bernard’s life.  He is clearly successful, and Miller tells us he is off to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.  Clearly, Charley’s advice was good advice.  It follows naturally that Willy’s, being opposite, was not.  Biff resents his father for allowing him to feel so entitled.  He did not think he had to work, and now that he realizes he does, it is almost as if he can’t.  This is the root of the strain on Biff and Willy’s relationship. 

                Miller uses Willy’s incorrect parental guidance to show is what is wrong with society.  Willy believes that the key to success is being well liked.  The reader is forced to examine the world we live in to find the root of this belief.  Miller is telling us through Biff and Willy’s dysfunctional relationship that our society is superficial.  All we care about is popularity, and about things looking nice on the outside.  We don’t care what’s underneath.  That is why Willy’s appliances are always falling apart: quality.  Nobody in today’s world cares about quality.  Willy represents a far greater number of people than just himself.  American society as a whole believes that you don’t have to work hard, you can simply skate by if people like you.  Miller sees something inherently wrong in this fact, and highlights it through Wily and Biff’s dysfunctional relationship. 

2007. In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Soldiers come back to the United States every day from Afghanistan with scars, both mental and physical.  Jake Barnes in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises must deal with both the physical handicap his service has left him with in addition to exceeding feelings of hopelessness, each preventing him from being with the woman he loves, Brett.  Jake lives in the past, before his time in the army, and is unable to move forward.  Hemingway argues through use of detail, language and diction that war holds us back from progress.

                Hemingway begins by creating an air of uselessness surrounding everything in his work.  He is particularly famous for his language in conveying a sense of hopelessness.  The dialogue between Hemingway’s characters, especially in this novel, is very basic, and very ambiguous.  It sometimes appears as if Jake and Brett are talking about nothing at all.  They go around in circles, talking about what appear to be the most mundane and ordinary topics.  This creates a feeling for the reader that nothing matters.  Details or, more specifically, lack of details contribute to this established feeling.  Though we know Jake cannot be with the woman he loves, we are never actually told exactly what his injury is.  This is because Hemingway never tells us.  This deliberate vagueness is essential in adding to the illusion of uselessness.  It once again makes the reader think nothing matters.  Lacking details and specific language confuse and upset the reader.   

                Once the reader is convinced nothing has meaning, Hemingway swoops in to create some, using the specific event that ruined his characters’ lives: war.  All of Jake’s problems trace back to the battles he was a part of.  After drawing a connection between the hopeless feelings and war, Hemingway can easily claim war is bad.  The reader already feels incredible pity of Jake and his friends.  Once a cause is given to the terrible situations the characters live in, the reader has no problem despising it.  Hemingway convincingly makes the reader believe that war is wrong.

‘Hollywood on Wall Street”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/opinion/sunday/bruni-occupy-wall-street-and-hollywood.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Nobody wants to think of his or herself as a “bad person”.  In particular, those in the public eye tend to make an extra effort to appear “good”.  Frank Bruni discusses celebrities visiting the Occupy Walls Street protests in his article “Hollywood on Wall Street”, suggesting that these people are hurting the movement with their good, rather than helping it.  Using diction and details, Bruni sets the rich and famous apart from the protesters, and then creates the aforementioned meaning using the idea of difference combined with syntax.

                The Occupy Wall Street protesters think of themselves as the 99 percent of the country, so Bruni does everything in his power to place celebrities in the other I percent.  Words such as “lavishly” and “extravagantly” help to convey the idea that celebrities have a lot of money.  These words give the idea not only of extensive wealth, but of excessive wealth.  Bruni creates the effect in the readers’ minds that these people have much more than they actually need.  This is a sharp contrast to the protesters, who base their arguments on a lack of control of money.  Details further isolate people like Kanye West, who made “$16 million or so last year”.  Bruni includes how much money each of the famous people he mentions make, looking very different from the well under $100,000 a year most Americans make.  These techniques force the reader to see the celebrities not as one-of-the-many, but as the hated 1 percent.

                Having established the difference of celebrities, Bruni goes on to couple this with strong statements, making the reader realize the true outcome of celebrities visiting the protests.  After describing the celebrity endorsement of a company that manufactures in China, Bruni asks “How does that serve the jobs-hungry young Americans in Occupy Wall Street’s fold?”  This question has punch, and makes the reader think.  These celebrities are role models.  If, for example, Jennifer Lopez, tells us to buy a certain brand, we probably will.  In this way, she, and people like her, are actually hurting the movement, since it supports an outside company. 

                Celebrities are not like us.  They get up every day and make movies.  They have paparazzi following them around wherever they go.  They have a lot of money.  Bruni does his best to establish this fact in his article.  Given this incredible difference, we see that by attending protests, though genuinely attempting to help, celebrities are doing the opposite.   Bruni leaves the readers thinking that their heroes are, unintentionally, cheapening the plight of the American people.

     In the past few weeks we have done a lot of close reading, particularly with regard to The American Dream.  I find it really interesting to go back and reread the play, because there are so many things that I missed the first time around.  Sometimes, things are brought up in class that I know there was no way in a million years I would have seen originally.  Focusing so much on this play will help me when I read others, along with novels and poetry, in the future.  For example, it was pointed out in class that Albee does not use a lot of stage directions, so the ones that he does add in must be very important.  Stage directions (or lack thereof) were never really something I noticed when reading plays.  Now, I can notice whether or not a playwright puts stage directions in, where he does so, and most importantly, why.  This applies to all the things we noticed while close reading.

 2006. Many writers use a country setting to establish values within a work of literature. For example, the country may be a place of virtue and peace or one of primitivism and ignorance. Choose a novel or play in which such a setting plays a significant role. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the country setting functions in the work as a whole.

The world relies on farmers to provide nutrition for our people and materials for anything from clothes to cigarettes.  In the novel O Pioneers!, Alexandra Bergson, the protagonist, feels a connection to the frontier land she calls her home.  Willa Cather, the author, uses this connection to comment on Alexandra and, eventually, on marriage.

Willa Cather uses literary technique to establish a strong link between her main character and the country setting.  This is done partly through skillful use of diction.  Though the same exact words are not used to describe the woman and her land, Cather chooses words with similar connotations.  These words give the reader a sense of stability and strength, while remaining quiet and calm, all with a positive tone. Imagery is used in a similar fashion.  Cather paints a picture in her readers’ minds of rolling hills and trees waving gracefully in the breeze.  However, imagery further serves to make sure the reader knows the land is not weak.  It can be threatening when mistreated.  Cather shows through vivid description that the land, if it chooses, can wipe out an entire population by refusing to yield crops or giving a particularly harsh winter.  Alexandra is painted in the same way.  She is tall and serene, but will not stand for being crossed. 

The undeniable connection between Alexandra and the land serves as a commentary on all people.  Since the land and Alexandra have been connected in the reader’s mind, any way Cather describes the land or makes it act is automatically translated to Alexandra.  Since Cather thinks of the land and Alexandra well, naturally choices that this character makes are portrayed well. Alexandra chooses self-sufficiency.  She never marries, instead continuing to farm the land and expand her holdings.  Since we as readers like Alexandra, we see this as the right decision.

As Alexandra progresses through life, we see her encountering success, furthering our confirmation that the single, isolated life, living off the land, is the correct choice.  Around Alexandra, husbands and wives struggle, even resulting in the death of Emil, Alexandra’s beloved little brother.  Yet Alexandra, and her beloved country, stand strong.    Cather uses the country setting to show that marriage is not the fairy tale we are told as children.  Self-sufficiency through cultivation of the elegant and sturdy land or some more modern alternative is a much safer, and better, choice.

Protesters Against Wall Street

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/opinion/sunday/protesters-against-wall-street.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

                No matter where political loyalties lie, most Americans tend to get rather fired up during discussion of government.  This emotion can often prevent the speaker from making an effective point: he is too close to the subject.  This is not a problem for the author of “Protesters Against Wall Street”.  In this article, details are used to convey an authoritative yet calm tone.  The tone combines with use of diction and syntax to create a feeling that there is a need for change in the mind of the readers.

                The tone of the article makes the readers believe the author knows what he is talking about.  Details are extremely helpful in accomplishing this.  The author provides statistics such as “The jobless rate for college graduates under age 25 has averaged 9.6 percent over the past year…”  and “Before the recession, the share of income held by those in the top 1 percent of households was 23.5 percent, the highest since 1928 and more than double the 10 percent level of the late 1970s”.  These numbers support the author’s position on a content level.  They say that the situation is pretty bad and must be fixed.  However, more importantly, they establish a sense that the author is intelligent and well researched.  The audience really has no idea where these numbers come from.  However, the simple fact that they are present helps us to place our confidence with the author. 

                The established tone works in conjunction with various other techniques to create an overall belief in the need for governmental change.  Diction gives the author’s message punch.  He selects words such as “Extreme”, “dysfunctional”, and “suffer”.  These words all carry a powerfully negative connotation, giving the piece the overall air of disapproval.  The reader is swept along with these words, subconsciously goaded into agreeing.  Simply reading a word such as “toxic” sends a person into alert mode.  Syntax has a similar effect.  Relatively short sentences like “It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation” add power to the author’s words.  Since the reader already trusts the author based on the previously established tone, there is no disagreement:  the government is not doing its job properly.

                There is no question that the author of this article is convincing.  The question is, why?  Without thinking about it, after only on reading of the passage, we trust and agree with the author. This is due to a combination of several techniques on two levels.  First, details work to convey an intelligent and confidence-inspiring tone.  Then, the tone combines with diction and syntax to make the reader believe in the author’s message:  it is time for change. 

10/9/11
In the past few weeks, we have learned a lot about comedy.  In particular, one of the prompts we practiced writing with made us contemplate the concept of "thoughtful laughter".  This made me wonder what exactly it is that makes us laugh at anything.  Sure, there is the obvious "we laugh because something is funny".  But there are many different types of funny.  For example, Albee's The American Dream is so funny because it so absurd.  We find it ridiculous, because we laugh.  Now I am much more conscious about WHY I laugh when I do.  Additionally, we have done a lot more practice writing recently.  When we learned about how to write an essay, it didn't seem so difficult.  However, now that we are forced to actually write open prompts, they become much more difficult.  I do think this will make me become a better writer though, as learning by doing is one of the best ways to learn.  From this practice, my writing will improve not only in AP Literaturem but in my other classes as well. 

 1970 Also. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another.

Today, living in a world of screenshots and photographs, people often lack appreciation for the significance of a simple portrait.  In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, a portrait is central to the story, arguably as important as any of the characters. Though inanimate, the title object serves to remind Dorian Gray of his moral decay as well as ultimately destroy him, two separate but interconnected purposes.  These purposes combine to convey Wilde’s message about the dangers of beauty.

                Throughout the novel, the painting acts almost as a portal to another world, a portal of truth.  In the world in which Dorian and his acquaintances live, everything appears fine.  Dorian is a young, handsome man, living life and making the most of it.  He attends fancy parties, falls in love, and has good friends.  However, through Wilde’s use of imagery, the painting allows us to peel back the shiny exterior of Dorian’s life and see what lies beneath.  Really, Dorian’s “soul grows sick”.  Though he stays beautiful, his moral wrongs manifest themselves in the painting.  It grows old and hideous.  Wilde uses vivid description to make even the most sturdy of readers shudder just thinking about the twisted lips and fiery eyes of Dorian’s portrait. 

                Even Dorian is unnerved by his painting, allowing it to lead to his downfall.  At first, the young Mr. Gray hides his painting away.  However, as time passes and Dorian grows more and more evil, he begins to delight in the painting.  The physical manifestation of his evil is something only a truly corrupt person can enjoy, signaling to the readers that the innocent Dorian Gray they once knew is gone.  Finally, remembering the horror it had once caused him, Dorian decides not to let a silly painting control his life any longer.  Why had he not destroyed it years ago?    Wilde here uses diction, selecting words that give the final scene a truly ominous feeling.  As Gray plunges a knife through the painting, the evil flows back into him.  The Dorian Gray everyone knew is gone, replaced by an old, mangled man, dead on the floor. 

                The portrait of Dorian Gray serves the two main purposes listed above, to document evil and to kill it.  However, these two meanings are not independent of each other.  Dorian’s life is ended by the painting because it so accurately portrayed his immorality.  In it he saw his evil, and trying to eliminate any evidence of it, Dorian destroyed it.  However, the painting was that evil.  In destroying it, he destroyed himself. Dorian Gray, though beautiful on the outside, was far from it beneath the surface.  Wilde, through these purposes created by diction and imagery, is saying that beauty really is only skin deep.     

     The material we have learned so far all culminates in a single purpose: making and proving arguments.  This skill is useful not only in AP Lit, not only in school, but in life.  In almost any profession, one may need to be able to formulate an opinion and provide evidence for it.  For example, I hope to become a doctor in the future.  When writing a paper on research, I will have to come up with an idea, do experiments to find proof that my thesis is correct, and then accurately be able to convey my point to other people in the scientific community. The techniques we learned for reading to aid in thesis creation play into this.  Careful reading of previously published papers would factor into research.  Additionally, reading poetry is really not that different than reading complex data tables and charts.  Both have condensed meaning that must be sought through careful examination.  These are just a few examples of how what we have learned can help me in my future career. If they can apply to something as far away from literature as physician, I can see our curriculum working in any and all life situations. 

9/16/11

2002. Morally ambiguous characters -- characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

As a viewer watches a television show such as Dexter or House, he struggles with the decision to root for or to oppose the morally ambiguous main character.  In Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the reader falls into a love-hate relationship with the protagonist, Raskolnikov, on one hand, a murderer, but on the other, a desperately poor brother and son who wants to change the world.  Dostoyevsky first draws the reader into the complex mind of his main character, and then uses this conflicted individual to make the reader question the validity of a black and white world.

The reader finds Raskolnikov in two of the most opposite situations, solidifying his status as morally ambiguous.  Within the first few chapters, Raskolnikov murders an old woman and her sister, two women he hardly knew. Dostoyevsky vividly describes the murder, choosing words that make the reader cringe, almost able to feel Raskolnikov’s axe crashing down on the heads of his victims.  The reader is sure this man must be pure evil.  How could anyone who commits such a horrible crime be anything short of a monster?  Then, however, Raskolnikov is shown in a new light.  After receiving a letter from his mother and sister, the softer the protagonist comes out.   Though just pages before, the reader was sure Raskolnikov was not even human, now he seems capable not only of emotion, but love.  Suddenly, the reader does not know whether to love or to hate Dostoyevsky’s complicated little creation.

Raskolnikov’s moral ambiguity makes the reader question definitions.   Raskolnikov cannot be pigeon-holed into the category of “hero” nor “villain”, casting a shadow of doubt on other labels.  How does one know what is right and what is wrong?  Yes, murder is labeled “wrong”, but who decides on these labels? Maybe the murder of Alyona Ivanovna, the old pawnbroker, was not a crime, but in fact a good deed.  After all, this old woman was very wealthy, yet still bitter and useless.  Raskolnikov states at the beginning of the novel that he intends to use her money for good.  He could give it to the poor, or use it to finance his education.   Further, Rakolnikov justifies his action by asserting that all “great men” must remove obstacles in order to become great, often equating himself with Napoleon.  Christopher Columbus slaughtered large numbers of Native Americans, and modern American society deemed him so great there is a day named after him.  How is this different than Raskolnikov’s so-called “crime”? 

The fact that it is impossible to discern whether Raskolnikov is a good or bad is central to Crime and Punishment.   This situation allows the reader to transition from the smaller question “Is Raskolnikov good?” to the much larger “What is good?” very easily.  Without this morally ambiguous central character, the reader would feel uncomfortable asking if indeed, murder was okay.  Raskolnikov provides a smooth transition, guiding the reader to the ultimate question.  He provides the reader with basis, so when asking these questions, the poor reader, probably a bit morally confused himself at this point, does not seem like a raving lunatic.  Raskolnikov’s moral ambiguity is a gateway, elevating the novel from mere story to philosophical text. 

9/9/11

Time to Revive Home Ec: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/opinion/revive-home-economics-classes-to-fight-obesity.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

In this article, the author, Helen Zoe Veit,  makes the argument that Home Economics classes can help to prevent and reduce obesity.  Although Veit uses many methods to create effects in her readers' minds, diction, imagery, and syntax are 3 of her strongest rhetorical techniques.

Diction:  In the last paragraph of the article, Veit acknowledges that her proposal may appear "outlandish".  This acknowledgment of a potential weakness, especially with such an attention-grabbing word, gives the reader confidence in Ms. Veit.  Yes, she sees that this idea could appear crazy, but is confident in her ability to refute that.  A word such as "outlandish" illustrates that Veit is not hiding, attempting to pull one over on her readers.  She is ready and willing to address their concerns.

Imagery:  Veit describes her first home economics class in a great degree of detail.  The reader can actually see the class "sticking our thumbs in the center of each raw biscuit" and cringes as the teacher "dipped them in hot grease to make doughnuts".  Veit describes this class to make her point relatable to the audience.  Chances are each reader has some home economics experience, probably similar to Veits. By using such vivid imagery, the author is able to relate to the reader through a shared experience, and prove that she understands what is wrong with current home ec classes.  Her plans will be nothing like this unhealhty and useless version of home ec.  Veit's imagery, much like her diction, makes the reader think that she understands their concerns and can set them at ease. 

Language: Veit asks the question: "But what if the government put the tools of obesity prevention in the hands of the children themselves, by teaching them how to cook?".  The fact that this is in question form is very important.  Veit has already layed the background to her argument.  She has assured her reader she is not some old, fuddy-duddy who condones teaching young girls that they belong in the kitchen.  She has acknowledged the problems with Home Economics classes.  Now, she abruptly changes her sentence structure by asking the million dollar question.  All of a sudden, it seems so simple.  Why don't we teach kids to cook?  If Veit had simply told her readers "We must teach children to cook", it would seem as if she is lecturing.  This well placed question makes the reader feel involved, like he or she is a part of the process.  The reader almost feels that it was he, not Veit, who came up with the Home Economics plan. That is quite the effect.