"Learning to Read" - Discussion

Question 1

SOAPSTONE

Answer 1

• S: Malcom X, angry, funny, self educated
• O: interview, middle of civil rights movement
• A: everyone/inspire African Americans, castigate white audience
• P: inform us on his education, argue against white domination
• S: juxtaposition, allusions, evil v good, black v white, faith v poverty, anti thesis
• TONE: angry, didactic, moralizing

Question 2

focus: appeal to pathos

Answer 2

an appeal to the emotions of the reader

Question 3

how to appeal to pathos

Answer 3

• use emotional language
• relate emotional event
• describe possible emotional rewards/results

Question 4

step 1

Answer 4

Malcom X

Question 5

step 2

Answer 5

juxtaposes

Question 6

step 3

Answer 6

the feeling of “freedom” that reading gave him with his time of physical imprisonment

Question 7

step 4

Answer 7

to highlight the liberating power of education

Question 8

claim: malcom X utilizes paradox to illustrate the point that literacy sets people free. How could you grammatically restructure this claim, so it still conveys the same message?

Answer 8

Malcom X paradoxically illustrates the idea that literacy can set one free

Question 9

claim: the author uses irony to highlight the idea that anyone who wants an education, regardless of circumstance, can be literate

Answer 9

the author ironically highlights that, regardless of circumstance, persevering is key to education

Question 10

claim: the author employs contrast to convey the idea education is necessary to be alive and free

Answer 10

“awoke inside” “mentally alive” “opened to me “ contrasts with “right there in prison”

Question 11

claim: the author employs contrast to convey the idea education is necessary to be alive and free

Answer 11

the author contrasts the idea that reading is necessary to feel free and alive

Question 12

claim: the author employs contrast to convey the idea education is necessary to be alive and free

Answer 12

figure language like “new vistas… opened”

Question 13

claim: malcom X utilizes paradox to illustrate the point that literacy sets people free.

Answer 13

“being imprisoned” “I never had been so truly free” all function to convey this message

Question 14

claim: malcom X utilizes paradox to illustrate the point that literacy sets people free.

Answer 14

the claim acknowledges that even in the most difficult of places, education can set humans free