Words vs. Words
As a child, I was an avid reader of mostly fictional novels. Nonfiction bored me. At least, I thought it did until I realized how expansive and inclusive nonfiction writing actually is. My favorite commercials for Legos and Barbies were all written to persuade me, each person behind them creating a complex thesis and involving ethos, pathos, and logos to “ultimately move” me to purchase the toy. I applied for leadership positions in clubs at my school and synthesized my experiences and qualifications not just to list them, but to apply them to the purpose of making a point and advocating for myself (C). Therefore, when I started this class, I had all of the tools I needed to create my own rhetoric and I needed to learn how to understand them and wield them responsibly. The best nonfiction works are not the ones that feel like reading, but the ones that feel like action. Just words on a paper is not enough, it is the calling to our values and our urgencies that make some writers more influential than others and distinguish the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s of the world from the bystanders. (E) Words mean so much more when they cannot be ignored.