May 26, 2016

Dear Tasche,
To be honest, I can barely remember what Ive done this week -- let alone the past 9 months.
Fortunately, I have folders upon folders of saved work to show me how Ive grown as a writer,
reader, and public speaker.
Reading, writing, and speaking are inherently tied, therefore it should come as no surprise
that, respectively, I now know how to pick up on the use of rhetorical devices meant to convince
me, and how to convince others through rhetorical devices in my writing and speeches. Reading
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was instrumental to my
understanding of rhetoric, as we analyzed how he seamlessly weaved ethos, pathos, and logos
into his anecdotes and imagery. For example, in this excerpt, he uses irony in order to convince
his audience that slavery is not kind:
Few are willing to incur the odium attaching to the reputation of being a cruel
master; and above all things, they would not be known as not giving a slave
enough to eat. Every city slaveholder is anxious to have it known of him, that he
feeds his slaves well; and it is due to them to say, that most of them do give their
slaves enough to eat (30).
In the 11th grade, I may have recognized the irony in this snippet. However, I would not have
realized how it was part of a larger purpose in convincing his audience at the time, which was
white, literate, and religious.
ELA 12 taught me to both recognize and use rhetoric. In my speech about the importance
of education, for example, I used pathos and parallelism:
Last year, my fathers emotional and mental abuse came to a peak. In an attempt
to leave the situation, my mother, brother, and I commuted half an hour outside of
my home every weekend throughout the winter of my junior year. As a result,
while some of you in Economics were learning about renting, leasing, buying, and
other real world situations -- I was already handling them. Furthermore, as a result
of my moms limited English, I spent a considerable amount of time looking for a

new apartment, speaking to landlords, reading leases, and then moving multiple
times last year.
Last year, my writing would not have been as succinct, nor would I have known how to most
strongly sensationalize my speech and convince my audience (through emotion).
Memorizing the education speech was easy because it was written by me, so I could
tweak it to fit what felt natural to say. Memorizing my lines to perform The Winters Tale, on the
other hand, has not been quite as simple because Shakespeare tends to write like Yoda in order to
fit the iambic pentameter. Unlike my own speeches, I cannot alter the words. As a result, Ive had
to connect the words to specific movements or gestures in order to memorize them. Committing
speeches to muscle memory has made me a better public speaker -- especially when it comes to
memorizing words that aren't mine.
My growth as a reader, writer, and public speaker has been tangible. Most importantly,
however, I've grown as a person. Analyzing The Kite Runner, The Yellow Paper, and Where Are
You Going, Where Have You Been?through a feminist lens was a guilty pleasure that I may not
have had in another class. Telling Moth stories and acting as Camila has forced me to leave my
comfort zone. I can only hope that I enjoy Harvards English classes as much as I've enjoyed this
one.
Sincerely,
Valentina