The Good the Bad the Ugly

23
The Good the Bad and the Ugly A collection of works By: Cory Phillips

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Transcript of The Good the Bad the Ugly

Page 1: The Good the Bad the Ugly

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

A collection of works

By: Cory Phillips

Page 2: The Good the Bad the Ugly

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

A Collection of Works

By: Cory Phillips

KRedding

ENGL1102

Page 3: The Good the Bad the Ugly

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

A Collection of Works

By: Cory Phillips

Table of Contents

Analytical cover letter 01

Quality comparison……………………………………………………………………………

Least Successful (original draft) 02

Most Successful (original draft) 04

Quality Comparison 06

Revision Samples………………………………………………………………………………

Least Successful Paper (with mark up) 08

Least Successful Paper (final version) 10

Most Successful Paper (with mark up) 12

Most Successful Paper (final version) 14

Free Choice Paper (with mark up) 16

Free Choice Paper ( final version) 18

Page 4: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Cory Phillips

KRedding

ENGL1102

6/27/12

Dear Mrs. Redding

I came into this class fresh out of 1101 and I felt like I was a decent writer, but after my

fist essay was graded I realized I had a lot to improve on. I was struggling with almost every

aspect of righting an essay. I had grammatical errors, Sentence structure errors, and I was

breaking a lot of picky rules. I was having a lot of trouble developing a good thesis and giving

enough evidence to back it up. I don’t think I had a hard time wrapping up my essays with my

conclusions but everything else needed work

After being in this class for such a shot time, I am amazed at what I was able to learn. I

now know about all the picky rules which I had never heard about until this class. I know that

my thesis should always be at the end of the first paragraph and that I need a topic sentence at the

beginning of each paragraph that relate to the thesis. I have also learned that I need to use quotes

from outside sources to help me make my points because just talking about what the writer said

does not work.

I feel a lot more confident as a writer after taking this class. Before this class, I could not

write a formal essay to save my life. Now I can wright an essay without using the words you and

use in every sentence. I feel that my over all essay layouts has improved also. My essay can now

flow all the way through and make sense throughout the entire paper.

I wouldn’t say that I am an excellent writer now. I still have a lot of work before I can

write an essay with no mistakes but I have progressed steadily throughout this semester. I now

feel more confident when I think about writing. I believe that the stuff I learned in this class will

benefit me when I have to write a paper in future classes.

Page 5: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Best regards,

Cory Phillips

Page 6: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Survival

By: Cory Phillips

“A glove smacked against my head. I pivoted, striking out stiffly as someone went past,

and felt the jar ripple along the length of my arm and my shoulder. Then it seemed as though all

nine of the boys had turned upon me at once”(Ellison, 289). In this short story, “Battle Royal” by

Ralph Ellison the author focuses on a young African american boy. Throughout his life, the boy

struggles to survive the countless cases of racism that he is faced with, but ultimately displays

courage when overcoming the many obstacles.

At the beginning of the book, Ellison tells us that the boy had to act a certain way around

the white people so they would accept him and not treat him poorly (Ellison, 286). This shows

how the boy had learned that to survive in the white man's world he had to act how they wanted

him to act. Ellison also talks about how the boy gave a speech at his orientation that he didn’t

believe in just to make the white people happy. (Ellison, 286) This is another way that the boy

had to do something other than what he wanted just to survive. He didn’t believe in the speech

that he was giving, but if he had given the speech the way he wanted to, the white men would

have been furious and he would be treated like every other African American that went against

the white man.

Ellison tells us that the boy had to survive a battle royal with his classmates for the white

mans entertainment. Ellison talks about how the boy didn’t want to fight in the battle royal

because he didn’t like the boys he had to fight and they didn’t like him. (Ellison, 287) Ellison

says,” blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity. I stumbled about like

a baby or a drunken man.”(Ellison, 289) This shows how the boy had to survive this fight

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between these boys who already didn’t like him while blindfolded and disoriented. This is an

example of how the boy had to actually physically survive this violent battle and overcome his

fear of these bigger tougher boys.

Ellison tells us that after the boy had to survive this battle between his classmates, he had

to stand up and give a speech in front of all of these drunken racist white men in his

town.(Ellison, 291) The boy was beaten up and beaten down for the last half hour and now he

had to speak in front of a bunch of men who could care less about what he had to say. This was

another way the boy had to survive during this book. He had to survive the ridicule and

embarrassment so he could go on looking a certain way for the white men.

During this book this boy had to endure many things. No matter how difficult the task,

the boy was able to overcome his fear and do what was asked of him. The boy displayed great

courage throughout the story despite the degrading and hurtful thing that were said by the white

men. The boy was a true survivor and that is what the author was expressing in this short story.

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. “Battle Royal.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8th ed. Eds.

….........Michael Myer. Massachusetts; Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 285-295. Print.

Page 8: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Cory Phillips

KRedding

ENGL1102,11:00

6/26/12

Good vs. Evil

The movie immortals is about a battle to save the world against a warlord named king

Hyperion. It is set in the time of greek gods and mythical creatures. In this movie there is a hero

or “good guy”, a “bad guy”, the gods and the titans. During this movie, the director uses different

camera shots and angles combined with different types of lighting to give a sense of good and

evil. The director believes that a good character is someone who is honest, heroic and someone

who always fights for what they believe in. The director believes an evil character is selfish,

dishonest and has no regard for the lives of others.

In the scene where the “good guy” is introduced, the director uses an extreme long shot

of two men on a cliff by the ocean, with a very bright sunrise in the background. The entire shot

is very bright and everything in the shot looks golden. The director choose this lighting and

camera angle to give a sense of hope. The next shot is a full shot of one of the men standing up

cutting wood on the cliff. He is very well lit with that same golden color around him. The

director is saying that this is the hero or the “good guy” of this movie. The director continued to

use this same lighting with the hero throughout the rest of the movie.

The director chose to introduce Zeus by using a full shot of him standing in the dark. It is

night time but he is almost glowing, with golden light covering him. The director over

exaggerated this lighting to show that he was a god, and to give a sense of purity and holiness.

This character is obviously good because of the bright light that surrounds him.

When the “bad guy” is introduced, the director uses an extreme long shot and a dark and

light contrast to show the difference of good and evil. In this shot there is a temple that is

Page 9: The Good the Bad the Ugly

covered in sunlight and to the right of the temple is the villain’s army, which is covered in

shadows. The director choose to shoot this scene like this to show that this army was bad, and

that they were going against the gods. The first shot of the “bad guy” in this scene is in the

temple and we get a full shot of him. There are priests in this scene that are brightly lit but the

villain is darker with lots of darkness and shadows behind him. The director did this to show that

this guy was the villain and that he was also against the gods and everyone who worshiped them.

The last group of characters are the Titans, and their scene starts out as a long shot of a

very dark cavern with a bright golden cage in the middle. Next the camera goes straight to a

close up of a few of the titans greyish black faces. The Titans are obviously bad since they are

dark and scary, but the cage they are in belongs to someone good because it is very bright and

golden.

Throughout this movie the director does a good job of making it obvious who was good

and who was evil before they ever did anything. He did this by using certain camera angles

combined with different types of lighting. I chose to focus on these two elements of filmmaking

because I believe they are two very important tools for directors to use when it comes to filming

a movie.

works cited

Tarsem singh. 2011. Immortals. movie.

Page 10: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Cory Phillips

KRedding

ENGL1102

6/27/12

Quality Comparison

Throughout this semester I have learned a lot about writing essays. I have picked up on a

lot of my bad writing habits and I have done my best to correct them. Looking back through my

essays from this semester it is pretty obvious to me which essay was the worst and which one

was the best. I believe that my poorly titled essay “survival” was the worst essay from this class.

My essay titled “Good vs. Evil” was a better essay but it too could use some work.

Both of these essays were written to analyze some type of literature. My worst essay was

written to analyze a fictional short story titled “Battle Royal”. The story was about a young

African American boy trying to survive in early America. My thesis focuses on the boy’s

courage when facing the racism of the white man. This essay had a number of grammatical

errors but the main problem I had throughout the paper was not providing enough evidence to

back up my thesis. For example, the first sentence of the first paragraph I say, “Ellison tells us

that the boy had to act a certain way around the white man so they would accept him and not

treat him poorly”(Phillips, essay 1). I should have explained the way the boy had to act instead of

being so vague. I made a similar mistake in “Good vs. Evil” when I said, “He is very well lit

with the same golden color around him. The director is saying that this is the hero or the “good

guy” of this movie”(Phillips, essay 2) I should have gone into more detail about why the light

means good and what the light said about his character. Both of these essays lacked the details

needed to really make my point.

Another issue I had in “Survival” was being to informal. For example, I said,

“Ellison tells us that the boy had to survive a battle royal with his classmates for the white mans

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entertainment”(Phillips, essay 1). I shouldn’t have used the word us because it makes the essay

informal. I should have said something along the lines of, Ellison tells the reader, instead of “us”.

In “Good vs. Evil” I did a better job of making the paper more formal. In a similar sentence I

said,” In the scene where the “good guy” is introduced, the director uses an extreme long shot of

two men on a cliff by the ocean, with a very bright sunrise in the background” (Phillips, essay 2).

I started to wright, when we first meet the “good guy”, but that is informal so I changed it. I

believe I did a much better job of correcting this in “Good vs. Evil”.

Although there are similar mistakes in both papers, I believe that I did a much better job

in my last essay. Throughout the semester I have been working on expressing my ideas more

clearly and correctly and I feel that I did a lot better job of doing that in “Good vs. Evil”. I still

have a long way to go before I can consider myself a great writer but I fell I have leard a lot

through these essays.

Page 12: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Survival

By: Cory Phillips

“A glove smacked against my head. I pivoted, striking out stiffly as someone went past,

and felt the jar ripple along the length of my arm and my shoulder. Then it seemed as though all

nine of the boys had turned upon me at once”(Ellison, 289). In this short story, “Battle Royal” by

Ralph Ellison the author focuses on a young african american boy.Throughout his life, the boy

struggles to survive the countless cases of racism that he is faced with, but ultimately displays

courage when overcoming the many obstacles.

At the beginning of the book, Ellison tells us that the boy had to act a certain way around

the white people so they would accept him and not treat him poorly (Ellison, 286). This shows

how the boy had learned that to survive in the white man's world he had to act how they wanted

him to act. Ellison also talks about how the boy gave a speech at his orientation that he didn’t

believe in just to make the white people happy. (Ellison, 286) This is another way that the boy

had to do something other than what he wanted just to survive. He didn’t believe in the speech

that he was giving, but if he had given the speech the way he wanted to, the white men would

have been furious and he would be treated like every other African American that went against

the white man.

Ellison tells us that the boy had to survive a battle royal with his classmates for the white

mans entertainment. Ellison talks about how the boy didn’t want to fight in the battle royal

because he didn’t like the boys he had to fight and they didn’t like him. (Ellison, 287) Ellison

says,” blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity. I stumbled about like

a baby or a drunken man.”(Ellison, 289) This shows how the boy had to survive this fight

Comment [1]: Not in MLA format

Comment [2]: This was a good way to start the paper.

Comment [3]: Change this wording

Comment [4]: Be more specific.

Comment [5]: What shows?

Comment [6]: Don’t use how.

Comment [7]: Don’t use how.

Comment [8]: Don’t use how.

Comment [9]: Give evidence.

Comment [10]: Change this wording

Comment [11]: No contractions

Comment [12]: Need to connect this with thesis

Comment [13]: Need to give evidence from the book.

Comment [14]: Good evidence.

Page 13: The Good the Bad the Ugly

between these boys who already didn’t like him while blindfolded and disoriented. This is an

example of how the boy had to actually physically survive this violent battle and overcome his

fear of these bigger tougher boys.

Ellison tells us that after the boy had to survive this battle between his classmates, he had

to stand up and give a speech in front of all of these drunken racist white men in his

town.(Ellison, 291) The boy was beaten up and beaten down for the last half hour and now he

had to speak in front of a bunch of men who could care less about what he had to say. This was

another way the boy had to survive during this book. He had to survive the ridicule and

embarrassment so he could go on looking a certain way for the white men.

During this book this boy had to endure many things. No matter how difficult the task,

the boy was able to overcome his fear and do what was asked of him. The boy displayed great

courage throughout the story despite the degrading and hurtful thing that were said by the white

men. The boy was a true survivor and that is what the author was expressing in this short story.

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. “Battle Royal.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8th ed. Eds.

….........Michael Myer. Massachusetts; Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 285-295. Print.

Comment [15]: Need to connect with thesis.

Comment [16]: Do not use us.

Comment [17]: Short story.

Comment [18]: Why did he want to look a certain way.

Page 14: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Cory Phillips

KRedding

Engl1102

6/27/12

Survival

“A glove smacked against my head. I pivoted, striking out stiffly as someone went past,

and felt the jar ripple along the length of my arm and my shoulder. Then it seemed as though all

nine of the boys had turned upon me at once”(Ellison, 289). In this short story, “Battle Royal” by

Ralph Ellison, the author focuses on a young African American boy. Throughout his life, the boy

struggles to survive the countless cases of racism, but ultimately displays courage when

overcoming the many obstacles.

At the beginning of the book, Ellison tells us that the boy had to act like a happy,

obedient black boy around the white people so they would accept him and not treat him poorly

(Ellison, 286). Acting like this was a form of survival for the boy. He knew that if he didn’t

behave this way he would not survive. Ellison also mentions the boy’s speech, and that he didn’t

believe in what he saying, but he gave it just to please the white man. (Ellison, 286) The boy

gave this speech so he could survive in the white mans world. He knew he had to do whatever he

could to please the white man because he couldn’t be successful without there assistance.

Ellison tells us that the boy had to survive a battle royal with his classmates for the white

mans entertainment. Ellison talks about how the boy didn’t want to fight in the battle royal

because he didn’t like the boys he had to fight and they didn’t like him. (Ellison, 287) Ellison

says,” blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity. I stumbled about like

a baby or a drunken man.”(Ellison, 289) This shows how the boy had to survive this fight

between these boys who already didn’t like him while blindfolded and disoriented. This is an

example of how the boy had to actually physically survive this violent battle and overcome his

Page 15: The Good the Bad the Ugly

fear of these bigger tougher boys. This took great courage and bravery to be able to fight these

boys even though he was scared of them.

Ellison mentions that after the boy had to survive this battle between his classmates, he

had to stand up and give a speech in front of all of these drunken racist white men in his

town.(Ellison, 291) The boy was beaten up and beaten down for the last half hour and now he

had to speak in front of a bunch of men who could care less about what he had to say. This was

another way the boy had to survive during this short story. He had to survive the ridicule and

embarrassment so he could go on looking a certain way for the white men. Again, the boy knew

that if he wanted to accomplish his goals for higher education than he would need the help of the

white men.

During this short story this boy had to endure many things. No matter how difficult the

task, the boy was able to overcome his fear and do what was asked of him. The boy displayed

great courage throughout the story despite the degrading and hurtful thing that were said by the

white men. The boy was a true survivor and that is what the author was expressing in this short

story.

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. “Battle Royal.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8th ed. Eds.

….........Michael Myer. Massachusetts; Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 285-295. Print.

Page 16: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Cory Phillips

KRedding

ENGL1102, 11:00

6/26/12

Good vs. Evil

The movie immortals is about a battle to save the world against a warlord named king

Hyperion. It is set in the time of greek gods and mythical creatures. In this movie there is a hero

or “good guy”, a “bad guy”, the gods and the titans. During this movie, the director uses different

camera shots and angles combined with different types of lighting to give a sense of good and

evil. The director believes that a good character is someone who is honest, heroic and someone

who always fights for what they believe in. The director believes an evil character is selfish,

dishonest and has no regard for the lives of others.

In the scene where the “good guy” is introduced, the director uses an extreme long shot

of two men on a cliff by the ocean, with a very bright sunrise in the background. The entire shot

is very bright and everything in the shot looks golden. The director choose this lighting and

camera angle to give a sense of hope. The next shot is a full shot of one of the men standing up

cutting wood on the cliff. He is very well lit with that same golden color around him. The

director is saying that this is the hero or the “good guy” of this movie. The director continued to

use this same lighting with the hero throughout the rest of the movie.

The director chose to introduce Zeus by using a full shot of him standing in the dark. It is

night time but he is almost glowing, with golden light covering him. The director over

exaggerated this lighting to show that he was a god, and to give a sense of purity and holiness.

This character is obviously good because of the bright light that surrounds him.

When the “bad guy” is introduced, the director uses an extreme long shot and a dark and

light contrast to show the difference of good and evil. In this shot there is a temple that is

Comment [1]: Capitalize and italicize

Comment [2]: Capitalize

Comment [3]: Move thesis to the final sentence of the paragraph

Comment [4]: Good explanation of good and evil

Comment [5]: Don’t use is

Comment [6]: Don’t use very

Comment [7]: Don’t use very

Comment [8]: More detail on what the light says about him.

Comment [9]: Explain the reason for the dark setting.

Comment [10]: Why does holiness = good?

Comment [11]: Use this throughout the paper

Page 17: The Good the Bad the Ugly

covered in sunlight and to the right of the temple is the villain’s army, which is covered in

shadows. The director choose to shoot this scene like this to show that this army was bad, and

that they were going against the gods. The first shot of the “bad guy” in this scene is in the

temple and we get a full shot of him. There are priests in this scene that are brightly lit but the

villain is darker with lots of darkness and shadows behind him. The director did this to show that

this guy was the villain and that he was also against the gods and everyone who worshiped them.

The last group of characters are the Titans, and their scene starts out as a long shot of a

very dark cavern with a bright golden cage in the middle. Next the camera goes straight to a

close up of a few of the titans greyish black faces. The Titans are obviously bad since they are

dark and scary, but the cage they are in belongs to someone good because it is very bright and

golden.

Throughout this movie the director does a good job of making it obvious who was good

and who was evil before they ever did anything. He did this by using certain camera angles

combined with different types of lighting. I chose to focus on these two elements of filmmaking

because I believe they are two very important tools for directors to use when it comes to filming

a movie.

works cited

Tarsem singh. 2011. Immortals. movie.

Comment [12]: Use this concept throughout the paper.

Comment [13]: More detail on the titans and why the director portrayed them this way.

Comment [14]: Too informal....

Comment [15]: Capitalize

Page 18: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Cory Phillips

KRedding

ENGL1102, 11:00

6/26/12

Good vs. Evil

The movie Immortals is about a battle to save the world against a warlord named King

Hyperion. It is set in the time of Greek gods and mythical creatures. In this movie there is a hero

or “good guy”, a “bad guy”, the gods and the titans. The director believes that a good character is

someone who is honest, heroic and someone who always fights for what they believe in. The

director believes an evil character is selfish, dishonest and has no regard for the lives of others.

During this movie, the director uses different camera shots and angles combined with different

types of lighting to give a sense of good and evil.

In the scene introducing the “good guy”, the director uses an extreme long shot of two

men on a cliff by the ocean, with a bright sunrise in the background. The entire shot is bright and

everything in the shot looks golden. The director choose this lighting and camera angle to give a

sense of hope. The next shot is a full shot of one of the men standing up cutting wood on the

cliff. He is well lit with that same golden color around him. The director is saying that this is the

“good guy” of this movie and that he is honest and heroic. The director continued to use this

same lighting with the hero throughout the rest of the movie.

The director chose to introduce Zeus by using a full shot of him standing in the dark. It is

night time but he is almost glowing, with golden light covering him. The director over

exaggerated this lighting to show that he was a god, and to give a sense of purity. This character

is obviously good because of the bright light that surrounds him and he is in the dark to show he

is a sense of hope in the midst of all this evil.

Page 19: The Good the Bad the Ugly

When the “bad guy” is introduced, the director uses an extreme long shot and a dark and

light contrast to show the difference of good and evil. In this shot there is a temple that is

covered in sunlight and to the right of the temple is the villain’s army, which is covered in

shadows. The director choose to shoot this scene like this to show that this army was bad, and

that they were going against the gods. The first shot of the “bad guy” in this scene is in the

temple and we get a full shot of him. There are priests in this scene that are brightly lit but the

villain is darker with lots of darkness and shadows behind him. The director did this to show that

this guy was the villain and that he was also against the gods and everyone who worshiped them.

The last group of characters are the Titans, and their scene starts out as a long shot of a

very dark cavern with a bright golden cage in the middle. Next the camera goes straight to a

close up of a few of the titans greyish black faces. The Titans are obviously bad since they are

dark and scary, but the cage they are in belongs to someone good because it is very bright and

golden. The Titans are portrayed as evil characters because they are the anti-gods. There goals is

to destroy the gods and take back their spot as rulers.

Throughout this movie the director does a good job of making it obvious who was good

and who was evil before they ever did anything. He did this by using certain camera angles

combined with different types of lighting. Lighting and camera angles are very important aspects

of filmmaking, because I believe they are two very important tools for directors to use when it

comes to filming a movie.

Works Cited

Tarsem singh. 2011. Immortals. Movie.

Page 20: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Essay

When I read these two articles, I was immediately interested because I like reading

articles where somebody is getting attacked. Sometimes, these types of articles can be

persuasive, and sometimes they lack the facts needed to make me believe what they are

saying. I believe that an article needs to have more than just a bad quote from the person to

make somebody think badly of them. Sometimes, people say things without thinking, and a lot

of times the writer will use the quote out of context. After reading these two articles, I felt that

article two by David Firestone titled “Romney Not Concerned About the Very Poor” was the

more persuasive of the two.

In article one, the writer starts of by saying that we as Americans don’t have a problem

with electing presidents that are very wealthy, as long as they show that they care about

people without as much money. I believe by starting off this way he has let the reader know

that he doesn’t have a problem with Romney because he’s rich. He makes it clear that he has a

problem with him because of they way he speaks about poor people which I believe creates

common ground with the readers. The writer could have started off by going strait into bashing

Romney, but that would have immediately turned some people away from his article. He then

presents a quote from Romney on CNN saying, “I’m not concerned with the very poor.”

He doesn’t just use this quote and immediately start attacking him about it. He

continues to tell us what he said in the interview so we can see where Romney was coming

from. That doesn’t help Romney’s case in the article, but it helps the reader to know that the

quote wasn’t taken out of context. The writer uses more quotes and presents some facts about

Comment [K1]: Not in MLA format

Comment [K2]: comma

Comment [K3]: take out

Comment [K4]: Needs comma

Comment [K5]: Authors last name

Comment [K6]: Authors last name

Comment [K7]: Start new paragraph

Comment [K8]: Don’t use us

Comment [K9]: Don’t use we

Comment [K10]: No contractions

Page 21: The Good the Bad the Ugly

the economic state of Americans, which let the reader know that this is a serious problem that

Romney seems to not be concerned about. He ends the article by making a claim that Romney

has gone against his statement of being a uninter not a divider, and after reading this article I

would have to agree.

Article one, written by Paul Krugman, was a short sarcastic blog, which already makes me

question its credibility. The writer didn’t create common ground with the reader. He has used a quote

from an Email Romney sent to reporters in which Romney contradicts himself. Like I said earlier, people

make mistakes and say things without thinking, but it wasn’t a good comment for someone who wants to

be president to say. George bush was president for 8 years, and he said something stupid every week. So I

don’t think one poorly thought out comment is enough to persuade readers to think differently about

Romney.

I believe that both of these writers had the same goal, but I believe that the writer in article two

was more persuasive. I do love reading about or watching people like Romney screw up every once in a

while but it’s usually not enough to change the way I feel about him. If I were planning on voting for

Romney I would seriously reconsider voting for a man who doesn’t think it is a priority to help the

Americans who have nothing. I believe Article two was well written and more persuasive than Article

one.

Comment [K11]: Lets

Comment [K12]: Change this part of sentence, doesn’t flow

Comment [K13]: Authors name

Comment [K14]: Authors name

Comment [K15]: Take out

Comment [K16]: No contractions

Comment [K17]: Don’t use who

Comment [K18]: No contractions

Comment [K19]: Take out

Comment [K20]: Take out

Comment [K21]: comma

Comment [K22]: comma

Page 22: The Good the Bad the Ugly

Cory Phillips

KRedding

ENGL1102

6/27/12

When I read these two articles, I was immediately interested, because I like reading

articles where somebody is getting attacked. Sometimes, these types of articles can be

persuasive, and sometimes they lack the facts needed to make me believe what they are

saying. I believe an article needs to have more than just a bad quote from the person to make

somebody think badly of them. Sometimes, people say things without thinking, and a lot of

times the writer will use the quote out of context. After reading these two articles, I felt that

article two by David Firestone titled “Romney Not Concerned About the Very Poor” was the

more persuasive of the two.

In article one, the writer starts of by saying that we as Americans don’t have a problem

with electing presidents that are very wealthy, as long as they show that they care about

people without as much money. I believe by starting off this way, Firestone has let the reader

know that he doesn’t have a problem with Romney because he’s rich. Firestone makes it clear

that he has a problem with him because of they way he speaks about poor people which I

believe creates common ground with the readers. Firestone could have started off by going

strait into bashing Romney, but that would have immediately turned some people away from

his article.

He then presents a quote from Romney on CNN saying, “I’m not concerned with the very poor.”

He doesn’t just use this quote and immediately start attacking him about it. He continues to

Page 23: The Good the Bad the Ugly

talk about what Romney said in the interview the reader can see where he was coming from.

That doesn’t help Romney’s case in the article, but it helps the reader to know that the quote

was not taken out of context. Firestone uses more quotes and presents some facts about the

economic state of Americans, which lets the reader know that this is a serious problem Romney

is not concerning himself with. Firestone ends the article by making a claim that Romney has

gone against his statement of being a uninter not a divider, and after reading this article I would

have to agree.

Article one, written by Paul Krugman, was a short sarcastic blog, which already makes me

question its credibility. Krugman didn’t create common ground with the reader. He used a quote from an

Email Romney sent to reporters in which Romney contradicts himself. Like I said earlier, people make

mistakes and say things without thinking, but it was not a good comment for someone wanting to be

president to say. George bush was president for 8 years, and he said something stupid every week. So I do

not think one poorly thought out comment is enough to persuade readers to think differently about

Romney.

I believe both of these writers had the same goal, but I believe the writer in article two was more

persuasive. I do love reading about or watching people like Romney screw up every once in a while, but

it’s usually not enough to change the way I feel about him. If I were planning on voting for Romney, I

would seriously reconsider voting for a man who doesn’t think it is a priority to help the Americans who

have nothing. I believe Article two was well written and more persuasive than Article one.