Close Reading Post 1
A: “And when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan.
Q: “Holding onto what?”
A: “Hulk Hogan, that’s just how big he felt and how small I felt just from grasping his arm.”
The above quotes are from an excerpt of the State of Missouri v. Darren Wilson trial. Upon reading assigned 35 pages, I could not help but notice how persuasive Darren Wilson seemed in court. He utilized Pathos and Ethos to make himself seem like a victim, when in reality, Michael Brown was the unarmed victim.
Wilson used Pathos to appeal to the court room’s emotions, knowing everyone has literally and figuratively felt smaller than someone else before. He compares himself to a 5-year-old as if he has no power or control at all. He compares Brown to Hulk Hogan, a professional wrestler whose namesake stems from a fictitious beast. He implements Ethos as a device to appeal to the court room’s morality–a key component in this wrongful death case. Wilson explains how powerless he feels “just from grasping” Brown’s arm. This kind of diction implies Wilson was acting in a seemingly gentle manner compared to Brown, portrayed as a monster. By setting up the initial encounter with this type of language, and appealing to the court room’s ethical views and emotions, Wilson is able to make it seem as if he did not have a choice in shooting Michael Brown. As if, perhaps, Wilson was the true victim.
source: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1371057-grand-jury-volume-5.html#document/p196
Thank you for calling our attention to this detail. I’m with you; it’s a very stunning if not bewildering way that Wilson uses the power of description to craft a reality in which he is the true victim just lucky to be alive. You are using an archaeological dig method here, and in your dig you point out the reference to Hogan which is also an allusion to a fictitious beast. You also talk about the comparison to size and the arm. All of these are good. As I mentioned in class, I think what you’re noticing is more nuanced and astute then how you have presented your interpretation. I’d love to see you give more discussion to the different elements you pick out in your archaeological dig. Say more about Hogan and Hulk and about the arm. What I ultimately want is you to posit not so much that he says these things to get sympathy. What I want is for you to tell us what does it say about the way we imagine sympathy that these are the things he chooses to say gain our sympathy?
Also you can put the page and line number for your quoted text from the transcript.