The Art of Racing in the Rain

Summary:
Enzo is Denny's dog, is barely clinging to life, and is the main character of the novel. As such, there isn't a lot of action in this first section of the book. The author spends most of the time reflecting on Enzo's past experiences. He begins with Enzo's days as a puppy, proceeds to his life with Denny before Denny got married, and ends with Enzo's life with Zoe and Eve around (Denny's daughter and wife).

Author: 
Garth Stein was just recently established as a novelist. He has written three books, one play, and co-produced an Academy Award winning short film. He also owns a dog, which may have inspired this tale of friendship.

Purpose:
From reading this first section of the novel, I can determine that this book serves to highlight the relationship that people have with their dogs and how important a role they play in the family.

Rhetoric:
As previously mentioned, there was not a significant amount of action that took place in this first section. Instead, the author used flashbacks to provide context for existing relationships between characters and, perhaps, for future conflicts and events. This method was effective in introducing the characters that will play a major role in the story. Additionally, it gave the novel a sentimental tone to it. The set-up of this first portion was successful in appealing to the emotions of readers for the flashbacks explained the deep bonds between characters. From Enzo's opening comments about his readiness to die to Eve's request that Enzo promises to protect Zoe (which served to strengthen Enzo's bonds with the family), the audience is taken on a emotional ride. Perhaps the most unique aspect of this book, is the fact that it is written in first-person from a dog's perspective. Most would think that this point of view would only provide a limited perspective on the book since dogs aren't very thoughtful creatures. However, Stein does an incredible job of humanizing Enzo. By noting that Denny accepts death due to the fact that, according to a documentary he watched about Mongolia he will be reincarnated as a human, which is his ultimate wish, Stein gives Enzo a human-like feel. Additionally, Enzo's comments, emotions, concerns, and reactions are just as human and complex as an actual human. The only difference is that, unlike humans, Enzo cannot communicate through words, he must engage in charade-like activities to get his point across. This may in fact be the reason that this point of view is so effective. Enzo is capable of interpreting and understanding Denny's words and actions and such an ability is quite believable. However, Denny often misinterprets Enzo's signals which is just as believable. If it were written from Denny's perspective, the audience would lose the ability to accurately identify Enzo's moods. So, by writing the book from the dog's  perspective, you get insight into both Enzo and Denny's mindset.

Linsanity

Summary:
This article talked about the cinderella-like success of Jeremy Lin, an Asian-American Knicks basketball player. Not only does it examine his athletic abilities and skills on the court, it mentions his incredible humility and forgiving personality.

Source: 
Steve Busfield from the Guardian Sports News.

Audience:
People who are interested in sports 

Context: 
This article was inspired by the recent streak by the New York Knicks and their cinderella-story point guard.

Purpose/Rhetoric:
After reading the article, it seemed to me that the author was giving credence to the "linsanity" movement. All throughout the article, Busfield portrays Lin as an incredibly humble guy with a talent and desire to play basketball. And while he briefly mentions Lin's 9 turnovers in the New Orleans game, he immediately proceeded to offset that performance by highlighting the 28 points and 14 assists that he had today. So, this article might have been slightly biased, but the facts that it presents are definitely accurate. In addition to using facts to demonstrate how incredible this Harvard grad is, Busfield includes testimonies from both the Knicks and opposing teams, both of which talk about what an amazing athlete and person he is. In this regard, the author  painted Lin in a very favorable light. Lastly, the author makes use of sports and basketball jargon to appeal to his audience. He uses words such as Linsanity and drive to both captivate readers and demonstrate his knowledge of the sport and current happenings.

Rick Santorum Issue

Author:
I assume that this video was created by Rick Santorum's campaign employees.

Exigence: 
It is now campaign season and Rick Santorum has launched his campaign for the 2012 presidential electron

Purpose:
This advertisement was created in order encourage voters to vote for Rick Santorum in the upcoming election.

Rhetorical Analysis:
All of the rhetorical devices in this piece served to stir the emotions of viewers. One example of these devices was the soundtrack. While viewers watched these heartbreaking images of families living on the street, struggling to survive, a slow-paced song was playing. The pace of the music reinforced the feelings of desperation and depression that its audiences perceived the families in the photo to be going through. Clearly, no sane person would wish another person ill and would ideally like to see everyone happy, whether they are rich or poor. In this manner, these images did not only appeal to people who were in a similar situation, but also to people who are better off in life. These images and the text that described then set up the current situation of the United States. After the context was set up, the video's text basically claimed that Rick Santorum would dedicate his life to solve these problems IF ELECTED.  This helps shine Santorum in a saint-like light. After this message was displayed by text on the screen, viewers saw a much more uplifting side of America, as if saying this uplifted America will be achieved through the leadership of Santorum.

IRB Post

I will be reading The Art of Racing in the Rain. My mom read it and claimed that I would greatly enjoy this read. Since she is normally pretty adept at selecting books that I like, I decided to trust her once more. It is 250 pages so I will read approximately 65 pages per section