Close Reading #3

BP’s Settlement Is Only the Beginning of the End of the Gulf Oil Spill
http://science.time.com/2012/11/16/bps-settlement-is-only-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-gulf-oil-spill/

 

            This article by Brian Walsh is about BP’s oil spill, and the fact that they owned up to their crime and paid off the 4.5 billion dollar fine.  This article is supposed to be informatory (no bias), but Walsh’s opinions shine through and they are evident through his diction, syntax, and details.  Walsh’s overall tone is bitter and he shows some resentment towards BP, because Walsh believes the company doesn’t care about the damage they have caused they just want everyone to forget about it so they can become a successful oil company.

            The article seemed like an informative piece, but looking at diction readers can see Walsh’s true opinions shine through.  When talking about the chief executive of BP and the statement he made Walsh said he “tried to spin the settlement as a step forward for the company.”  The word spin is pejorative diction; it has a negative connotation often associated with criminals who are lying to get out of trouble.  They often spin their stories to make them look innocent, and that’s what Walsh thinks BP is doing.  If Walsh didn’t have a bitter tone towards BP he could have just said that the chief executive gave a statement trying to calm the situation, but instead he made the executive look like a criminal.  Another example where Walsh uses diction to get his point across is when talking about another executive; Tony Heyward.  Walsh said “…the much-maligned Tony Heyward.”  Maligned is definitely a negative word because it means that Heyward has shown some evil disposition, and committed slander.  Walsh could have used a less harsh word when describing Tony Heyward, but he felt the need to make his point in a way that affected readers.

                Walsh also uses the literary technique of syntax to make his point.  At the end of the article when Walsh is talking about how BP is just paying off the fines so they can be one step closer to becoming a successful oil company, he adds a short impactful last sentence, “That’s not justice—that’s just economics.”  The article would have ended just fine without this sentence, but because of this short sentence it left readers with a bitter attitude towards BP as well.  The hyphen before “that’s just economics” separates economics and justice and shows that BP doesn’t care about what’s right (justice), but about the money (economics).  Another example of syntax is when Walsh says “Still, a big step was taken on Nov. 15 towards resolving the legal problems over the spill when BP announced that it would pay $4.5 billion in fines and other payments to the government and plead guilty to 14 criminal charges connected to the 2010 accident which resulted nearly 5 million barrels of crude being spilled into the Gulf—as well as the deaths of 11 crewmen aboard the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig.”  This sentence is very long and drawn out, and I think Walsh does this because in this sentence he’s listing all the things BP has done wrong.  This ongoing list adds the effect that there’s so much that BP has done wrong so that’s why the sentence is so long and drawn out.

                Lastly Walsh uses details to emphasize BP’s actions.  Walsh says “The total amounts to the largest single criminal fine in corporate history” after listing everything that BP has done wrong.  This detail sums up the previous sentence is a short one liner that makes readers upset at BP as well.  Walsh could have left it out and let readers calculate all the damage, but instead he made an impactful statement.  Another detail that Walsh put in there is “And make no mistake—this is all about money.”  This may not seem like a very important detail but it helps guide readers to the root of the problem, BP’s only goal is to get ahead and become rich.  This problem is evident throughout the article, but readers would have to put it all together in their heads, but instead Walsh comes straight out and says it.  This is important because it sheds a negative light on BP and that’s exactly what Walsh wanted to do.

                Overall Walsh mastered his bitter and disgusted tone towards BP through the syntax, details, and diction in this article. 

Open Prompt #3

2009, Form B. Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or play that focuses on a political or social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

                In the play The American Dream by Edward Albee the focus is on the social issue of gender roles and the social as well as political issue of the famous American Dream and Albee does this through his use of diction and details.

                Edward Albee disregarded the traditional gender roles; the stereotypical alpha male and the homebound wife whose whole life is dedicated to cooking, cleaning, and taking of the children.  Instead he gave us Mommy, the powerful one who only cares about money and social status, and Daddy the kind one who tags along and acts like Mommy’s puppy dog.  In the play when Mommy is telling Daddy a story she constantly says; pay attention”, or “All right, Daddy; now listen” and this gives readers the idea that Mommy is all controlling and treats Daddy like a child.  Aside from the personality differences there are also physical changes that affirm this gender role reversal, “…the doctors took out something that wasn’t there and put in something that wasn’t there.”   This means that the doctors took out Daddy’s penis and put in “woman parts” and this just shows how feminine and weak Daddy is.  Aside from the social issue of gender roles Albee also talks about the American Dream.

                Edward Albee uses characters to represent the social and political issue of the American Dream.  Grandma represents the old American Dream, which encompasses hard work and making a place for yourself, “…watching [Grandma] do the cooking and the housework, polishing the silver, moving the furniture…”  Grandma’s foil, or the new American Dream is represented by the Young Man who says he will do anything for money and that he has no soul just his good looks.  Some of the new American Dream is also present in Mommy, who is obsessed with impressing others and having money.  Readers can see this through the little details that Albee incorporates, such as Mommy refusing to consider what could be inside Grandma’s boxes, all she cares about is the nice wrapping on the outside of the box.

            Lastly Albee addresses the social issue of elderly people. This is present throughout the book when Mommy threatens Grandma with the van man, who is supposed to represent old homes.  In this time period old homes were a new phenomenon and readers can see that Albee didn't agree with them.  Mommy uses the van man as a threat to get Grandma to do whatever she wants.  Another aspect thats present is disrespect for the elderly, especially Mommy.  She has no appreciation for her own mother and feels the need to constantly put her down.    

            Edward Albee uses literary techniques to explore different social and political issues, and through using diction and details the issues stand out and force readers to think about them.  This contributes to the overall meaning o the text iin several ways, whether it be contributing to themes, symbolism, or character development.

Response to Course Materials #3

            After a couple weeks of analyzing The American Dream I feel like I finally understand it and it's not just a bunch of weird situations and unexpected lines thrown together.  I think the annotating helped the most because not only did I get to see the big ideas, but I  also got to see them develop.  I also got to go back and see if the ideas present in all those allegory of The American Dream worksheets were true, for example the part about Daddy's surgery to become more womanly.  I also thought the blog post was helpful because now all my information is in one place and I can see the big picture.

            Then we dug into Death of a Salesman, which was a little less confusing than The American Dream but I am still searching for some deeper meaning, like symbols and themes.  I started annotating it and it's taking a while because we haven't discussed literary techniques used in the play so I'm trying to find some myself, and this play is a lot longer too.  Overall I'm looking forward to digging deeper into Death of a Salesman and looking for symbols, themes, and character traits that are important to the plot.

            Last is the infamous terms test.  This test taught me that application of knowledge is a whole lot different than just memorizing definitions.  The first time we took it I thought I was well prepared, but was proved wrong very quickly so I was determined to do better the second time, and I did.  I had to go and find examples and really do some self teaching, and even then I didn't get an A, but I did okay considering the situation.   This just prepares me for college courses where we won't just have to know the information, but we'll have to apply it as well.