Double-Consciousness and The Rhetorical Triangle: Argument, Audience, and Purpose

Paper 2: Double-Consciousness and The Rhetorical Triangle: Argument, Audience, and Purpose

Length: 6 paragraphs; MLA Style formatting, including a Works Cited page

Texts:
W. E. B. Du Bois: “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”
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ONE of the following autobiographical texts:

Dani Fernandez: “No Es Suficiente”
Ibram X. Kendi: “My Racist Introduction”
Lindy West: “Bones”

Prompt:
Du Bois’s concept of double-consciousness is fundamental to understanding the experiences of Black Americans and other marginalized groups in varied times and places. In this essay you will compare and contrast how Du Bois and one contemporary author use various strategies to make arguments to specific audiences for specific purposes.

Use the following structure:

Paragraph 1 (Intro):
Start with an anecdote (narrated in first-person) that sets up the topic of double-consciousness and deliberately uses at least TWO of the following to help the reader understand your experience:

exposition (explanation, telling)
dialogue (reported speech)
diction (word choice)
metaphor (e.g. love is a rose)
point-of-view (first-, second-, or third-person)    repetition (words, sounds, structures)
sensory detail (showing, imagery)
sentence length (long, short, medium)
simile (e.g. love is like a rose)
tone (implied feelings/attitude)

Introduce both texts: title, author, one-sentence summary for each
End the paragraph with a 1-2 sentence thesis comparing and contrasting WHAT your authors argue (Argument), HOW they convey those ideas (strategies), to WHOM (audience), and WHY (Purpose).

Paragraphs 2 and 3:
Analyze Du Bois’s Argument, Audience, and Purpose.
In each paragraph, choose a quote and analyze
WHAT Du Bois argues
HOW he gets his point across
WHO he wants to reach with this argument, and
WHY he’s making this argument (what he wants to happen as a result)

You can use material from Paper 1, but you should continue to improve it in revision. Your paragraphs should develop different points rather than just repeating the same ideas.

Paragraphs 4 and 5:
Analyze your contemporary author’s Argument, Audience, and Purpose, comparing and contrasting it to Du Bois’s along the way
In each paragraph, choose a quote and analyze
WHAT your author argues
HOW they get their point across
WHO they are trying to reach with this argument, and
WHY they are making this argument (what they want to happen as a result)
Your paragraphs should develop different points rather than just repeating the same ideas.
Paragraph 6: Tie together the compare-contrast analysis of your previous paragraphs and reflect on how the concept of double-consciousness, as Du Bois describes it, “shows up” in the contemporary world. What has changed? What hasn’t changed?

Graded Skills:
All Unit 1 Skills
Apply my comments from Paper 1
Write an academic title
Write a thesis
Construct a Works Cited page
Use idiomatically appropriate and grammatically correct language
Use a concept to interpret a primary source
Compare and contrast related texts