The Deer at Providencia

Annie Dillard's informative essay, The Deer at Providencia (1982); explores the idea that there is always suffering in the world. Dillard uses a personal experience to convey this idea, she tells a story. Dillard's purpose is to inform the readers in order to show how the world works and that inevitably involves suffering. She appeals to anyone who can understand how the world works and who can comprehend what suffering is.
I did not necessarily like this reading. Although I understand there is suffering in the world, I don't believe that you have to partake in watching it. This woman is watching this poor little deer suffer for no apparent reason. She is acting unlike most woman who can't stand the thought of an animal suffering. I understand that the deer has to die in order for the humans to eat, but that doesn't mean we have to watch it happen. I think there are better ways this situation could of been handled. Although the deer will taste better this way, it is still cruel and unusual punishment to put any living thing through this torment.
Dillard explains, "Its hip jerked; its spine shook. Its eyes rolled; its tongue, thick with spittle, pushed in and out." Dillard analytically describes what the woman is witnessing. She uses tone words such as "spittle" to create a lasting effect on the reader. These sensory words create and image that the reader can understand. The harshness of this sentence shows no remorse in the description. Dillard giving the woman's account, describes no pathos qualities. This in turn creates a cold heartedness within the main character.

Why I Want a Wife

Judy Brady's, "Why I Want a Wife", (1972) tells us about the author's sarcastic desire for a wife. The author herself is a wife and one of her male friend's divorce left her wondering what it would be like to have a wife of her own who would fulfill all the tasks of the average wife. It would innclude tasks such as taking care of the children and herself, doing household chores, and fulfill the author's sexual desires only when she's in the mood, etc. Brady wrote this passage to describe the roles that wives take on in their daily lives and would love to reverse these role with herself playing the husband role. Having a wife is seen as a wonderful role, as she mentions, "My God, who wouldn't want a wife?" This passage is very realistic towards today's society. Brady make a good point as to what most husband's expect out of there wives nowadays.

The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society

In Jonathan Kozol’s informative essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society”(1985), he asserts that illiterate members of society are neglected by the government which causes not only problems for the individual but problems as a country. Kozol uses experiences from those who are illiterate and shows how they are damaging themselves and society. Kozol's purpose is to highlight these problems to society and to the government in order for something to be done to fix it. Kozol appeals to essentially everyone, ones who are illiterate, ones who have met and illiterate person and people who have the power to doing something about it.

Johnathan Kozol brings many examples to question. It is appalling how true these accusations are in real life. I imagine myself as an illiterate person, not being able to do simple tasks by myself such as knowing where I am or what food I am buying. Hearing the personal accounts of some of these illiterate people makes my really question how they even got this way. How can the United States school system allow these people to fall through the cracks? How does the greatest country in the world allow people to be cheated and left hopelessly to figure life out when they don't even know how to survive. Although these people shouldn't of gave up in school, I believe the government has some responsibility to these citizens to make sure they can at least have a basic vocabulary to function in everyday life. I think the biggest thing that Kozol brings up is that " The number of illiterate adults exceeds by 16 million the entire vote cast for the winner of the 1980 presidential contest." This just shows that illiterate people are casting a vote based not off of knowledge but from appearances. This is a very scary thought that the people that run this country were voted for by illiterate people based on how they look and not how qualified they are. Since this is one of the biggest issues I think it is in the governments best interest to do something about this problem.

Black Men Walking in Public Places and Spaces

Brent Staples, non-fiction, Black Men In A Public Space, (1986); suggest that simply being black in America, causes people to look at you as if you are a criminal if you aren’t one already. He does this by sharing with his audience his personal experience of how he was treated by others but doing even the most bland things like walking through the park, while using and emotional appeal. Staples does this in order to make a connection with the audience and allow them to step in his shoes and understand where his is coming from. Brent Staples intended audience would be individuals outside of the description of the “Black Male” category. His style is quite relaxed and not very formal. He is very detailed and arranges his story in a way that wont confuse the reader.

Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police

Martin Gansberg's narrative, "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police," explains the murder of  Catherine Genovese, a twenty-eight year old woman that lived in Queens, New York. This murder happens in 1964, early morning hours, after midnight. Gransberg wrote this narrative to show how people in the community were not considerate enough to help Ms. Genovese at the time of her murder. He wrote this in order to show how people do not want to cooperate or be involved with law enforcement. The narrative shows this when the detective went around asking citizens why didn't they call the police when they saw the murder happening. The audience would be investigators or people that read the newspaper. In this situation we would have called the police before the murder.

Why Leaves Turn Color in the Fall

Diane Ackerman"s, "Why Leaves Turn Color in the Fall," (1990) explains why leaves during the fall season change colors. The author writes that the leaves stop producing the pigment chlorophyll and photosynthesis cease because the leaves are undernourished. Ackerman also writes about how humans love the changing color of leaves during the season and how different pigments change the colors of the leaves. The author mention the pigments anthocyanin which turn leaves red and carotenoids which turn leaves orange and yellow. Ackerman made an analogy that humans hope that our death would be like the death of a leaf, not to vanish but to sublime from one beautiful state to another. We feel that the changing colors are beautiful and that this article is very educational.

Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain

Jessica Mitford in behind the Formaldehyde Curtian, spoke on the subject of embalming as well as any other process that prepares the deceased for the funeral service. Her intended audience was anyone intereted or curious about the process of embalming and/or preparation of the body before it is put into it's casket. The purpose of this story was to explain what is not commonly talked about or questioned. She discribes the setting as well as who is involved in embalming and what to do to acheieve the desired life like look as well as what is best to do for each individual as everyone is not the same. As an example she used the charater Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is injected with many different types of chemicals to assist with any ordor is discoloration. His cheeks and gums were sewed in ways that affected his expression so he would have a satified relaxed look. It was also explained how high or low the body should be in the casket to avoid the giving the illusion that the body is lying in a box. Though this is not a topic I would have chosen to read on my own, I found that it was quite intresting and informative, thus making it a strangely enjoyable read.