Wedad Mourtada, Week 6 Reading Responses

1. Ethos, pathos, and logos

Ethos: “Honestly, I had no problem reading books that consisted of five sentences and three pictures on each page.” 

Here I explained that I would read lower-level books because I was an ESL student. Therefore, I appeal to my audience, ESL students, as another ESL student, which gives me the credibility to speak on ESL struggles. 

Pathos: “I didn’t want to feel special. I just didn’t want to be the only one who thinks in Arabic.”

I appeal to my audience’s emotions because ESL students know what it’s like to feel left out because of not speaking English properly. So, I explained that I didn’t want to be special because I’m bilingual; I just didn’t want to feel left out. 

Logos: “Non-ESL kids did not have special powers, just a higher reading level.”

Everyone knows that generally, non-ESL students have higher reading levels in elementary school; that’s how students are classified as ESL or non- ESL. I persuade my audience that just because non-ESL students read at a higher level doesn’t mean they have special powers. Throughout my essay, I explain the importance of being bilingual and thinking in a foreign language. 

2. Summary and analysis 

All American, episode 11 “The bigger picture”

This episode on All American was made to remind people of the black lives matter movement. Tamika Pratt was an African-American woman who was shot in her car after pulling over to take a nap because she was intoxicated. The main characters, Olivia and Spencer, along with a few other people organize a vigil for Tamika Pratt where they talk about police brutality and the injustice that African American women face in the United States. This scene captures how the main character, Olivia, the daughter of a white district attorney,  was affected by the shooting. Olivia was drunk driving and she wasn’t pulled over rather she was offered a ride home. Tamika didn’t get the same treatment as Olivia. This contrasts Tamika’s situation with Olivia’s to capture the injustice that African American women face. Moreover, only a few people attended the vigil and the main characters speak on how this is the reality of BLM; many people don’t fight for African American rights because it simply does not affect them. The absence of the community during this event portrays the sad reality of the United States. This is significant because this episode not only exposes the reality of the United States but also brings awareness to injustice. 

3. Reflection  

In the first three sentences of my paragraph I just briefly explained the purpose of the episode and for the rest of my paragraph, I explained the meaning behind the events that took place during this episode. I can see the difference between describing something vs. explaining the meaning behind it which is what I attempted to do in my paragraph. While I understand the difference between a summary and analysis, I honestly feel like my analysis could’ve been stronger but I just didn’t want to write more to avoid summarizing. I think what made my analysis stronger is explaining the significance of the episode but I don’t know if I have to explain deeper or if that was enough. I think writing a summary and analysis in the same paragraph helped me see the difference between the two.