Capture Rankine’s thesis from “Excerpt from Citizen” in one sentence. Discuss Rankine’s appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos and whether or not you feel her appeals were successful. Your response should be 5-7 sentences long.
2 thoughts on “Blog Post #9: Response to Excerpt from Citizen”
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The thesis I believe is “Youngman’s suggestions are meant to expose expectations for blackness as well as to underscore the difficulty inherent in any attempt by black artists to metabolize real rage.” Rankine appeals to logos by quoting Serena Williams and other people associated with tennis to support her claim. She also quotes Zora Neale Hurston which also can appeal to her ethos because it makes her claim seem more believable. The way Rankine appeals to pathos is quite unique, she uses her evidence to build up emotions for her audience. For example when she quotes multiple different media reports on Serena’s dance.
The main point Claudia Rankine was trying to convey was to analyze if “angry African American exterior” was actually a way to become successful. Rankine analyzes things like Serena Williams argument with the referee. She says this was a result of all of Serena’s past injustices of her career flashes through her eyes and she decided to let it all out. Rankine appeals to logos by quoting other tennis players like Serena’s sister Venus and Williams and Zora Neale Hurston. Rankine continued to talk about the situation and what had led up to it like the warnings from the judge. Rankine is appealing to pathos because she’s telling the story and building it up so it can have an impact on the audience to find out the real reason why Serena acted the way she did.