Sergeant York

Summary

Alvin York is an ordinary backwoods Tennessee farmer. He is at first a dunk and violent person. He gets struck by lightning and becomes religious, vowing to live by the teachings of the Bible. He is then drafted by the army, and captures 132 Americans single handedly.

Context

The film was released in 1941 at the outset of WW2 and depicts the life of Alvin York.

Rhetoric/Content

At face value, this movie seems like an ordinary war movie about “"fightin' an' hell-raisin.'" However, as many have discovered, this movie goes well beyond the fighting and addresses several religious, philosophical, and societal dilemmas. Sergeant York is actually a “sensitive portrayal of [York’s] complete trust in God’s Word as he seeks answers from Scripture to the questions raised by war and is indeed a refreshing contrast to typical Hollywood fare” (Waggoner).

In this sense, Sergeant York is far from your stereotypical war movie. After reviewing the most emphasized portions of the movie, one gets the feel that this story was more about reconciling one’s internal and external struggles than action-packed explosions and battle scenes. It is for these reasons that this movie is so highly acclaimed. It touches upon issues that thousands of people face every day: a conflict of ideals. The movie raises and somewhat answers the questions ‘is it right to take the lives of others in order to defend one’s country and is there a limit to how much blood can be spilled’, at least from Sergeant York’s point of view. These questions plague even the most patriotic of people and arise whenever there is a war going on. Evidently, Sergeant York is a timeless movie that will always be relevant as long as there is war. However, the integrity of the film is somewhat lost due to its overt use propaganda. This film was released just as the United States became involved in the second war that engulfed over half the globe and definitely advocates “fightin fer yer country”. The story was filled with propaganda from beginning to end. Using York as the ideal American, the director implies that all Americans must rise to the occasion and fight against tyranny in order to be an outstanding citizen.  Despite the lack of subtlety, the film was incredibly effective. In the weeks following the movie’s premiere, there was a spike in voluntary war recruits.

Poor literacy 'increases early death risk for elderly'

Summary:
This article talked about a study where people with poor health literacy who are 65 years and older are twice as likely to die within 5 years as those who have a high health literacy.

Source: 
BBC news sponsored this article which is typically a reliable source. I could not ascertain the author's name however.

Exigence: 
This article was written about a study that was recently conducted

Rhetoric:
The author went about conveying this in a systematic manner. First and foremost, the author had to establish what he/she meant by "poor literacy." It turns out that poor literacy means being incapable of reading and correctly answering questions about aspirin directions. So, "poor literacy" should actually be changed to poor health literacy. However, when you substitute that phrase in the title for the generic "poor literacy" phrasing, you get readers thinking duh, of course you are going to die earlier if you are poorly informed about health and incapable of understanding medical directions. In essence, by omitting the word 'health' in the title, the author draws in more readers and prevents this sort of reaction from occurring. Afterwards, the author included some startling information about the risk factors for poor literacy. Low health literacy is linked to "a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms, physical limitations, chronic diseases, and asthma." While higher health literacy was linked to higher cognitive abilities. After discussing the risk factors for low health literacy, the author delves into the implications of the study. He/she uses testimonies from director general of Age UK and the chief administrator of Patients Association in order to describe the current push for better and more accessible medication directions specifically aimed at those in their late 60s and upwards. All throughout the article, the author maintains a biased tone of voice, actually I could not even detect a persona when I was reading, it was as if it were not even a person writing. This could be a result of all of the quotes and statistics the author used. Nearly 50% of the article was devoted to such devices which left little opportunity for the author to write in his own style.

Author:

I am unaware of the identity of the artist who created this picture, but I do know that he is a strong advocate for the conservation and preservation of nature. This picture clearly indicates his/her stance on the way in which humans should interact with the environment.

Rhetoric:

The "Save the nature" comment was necessary for explaining what the tree in the snow-globe symbolizes. The fact that the globe is positioned in the palm of a human suggests that it is up to "us" to save the planet. It suggests to the audience that not only do we have the ability to save nature, but also the responsibility. The contrast of green on a black background also helps to grab the audiences attention and would cause passer-bys to give this picture a second glance. Without this commentary many people would misinterpret or misunderstand what the artist is trying to say. The background is a plain greyish-black color. This accentuates the solemn/serious tone of the picture. In creating this type of tone, the audience gets the feeling that this is an important message, and not something to be merely forgotten.