Take a Different Road
Perspective and the stereotype are the two main themes brought out in Brent Staples “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”. This is a personal account intended to bring an empathetic eye on the stereotypes that black men face. While the author has exceptional credentials as a writer combined with first-hand experience with prejudice laying a basis for ethos, the pathos used to draw a reader in to emotionally identify with his argument flounders, being too provocative at first for those he is sharing with before engaging his motive. The authors intent to establish race coupled with gender for his encounters with bias lacks an impartial look. Circumstantial situations mentioned by Staples blur the lines of cause and …show more content…
Staples “…has a doctorate in psychology…has built a career as a reporter and a columnist” (Cohen 339) and “…writes on education, culture, and politics” for the New York Times. An extensive pedigree as an author and writer gives more gravitas to the personal narrative used. To establish his relationship with stereotyping while growing up Staples recollects a time “…cross[ing] in front of a car stopped…and elicit[ing] the thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.” (Staples 340). Again, he remarks that “…entering a jewelry store…the proprietor excused herself…silent to any questions he asked…returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash” (340); another revealing a time being mistaken for a burglar and “…being pursued through the labyrinthine halls [by a] posse” (341) helping to associate him with the subject of stereotyping based on appearance and authenticates both the writing and the individual as a reliable source of …show more content…
Opening with “My first victim…white…” (339) immediately arresting the attention of the reader and eliciting the emotional context of being an attacker or perpetrator. The author then assumes the prejudice of his counterpart because “…[t]o her the youngish black man…seemed menacingly close…[so] she picked up her pace and was soon running.” (339) This essay “…originally appeared in Ms.” (Cohen 339) as an article to women and for which would be inappropriate. In appealing to the reader, the first statement places him in an attackers’ position positing strong emotions in an audience of women. While the intention is clear to bring out prejudice through stereotyping; the writer alienates the ones this article was intended for by comparing a woman’s genuine fear of attack, coupled with accusations of prejudice thinking, to a slight on the character of an innocent man. Another more impartial attempt at expressing pathos is as mentioned before discussing ethos when he heard “…thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk” (Staples 340) while passing cars where drivers “black, white, male and female-hammer[ed] down the door locks” (340) showing a “language of fear” (340) that was encountered at simply passing in front of vehicles. The strongest appeal to his readers is in his last statement where he likens whistling classical tunes to a “…cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country.” (341), revealing the
Perspective and the stereotype are the two main themes brought out in Brent Staples “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”. This is a personal account intended to bring an empathetic eye on the stereotypes that black men face. While the author has exceptional credentials as a writer combined with first-hand experience with prejudice laying a basis for ethos, the pathos used to draw a reader in to emotionally identify with his argument flounders, being too provocative at first for those he is sharing with before engaging his motive. The authors intent to establish race coupled with gender for his encounters with bias lacks an impartial look. Circumstantial situations mentioned by Staples blur the lines of cause and …show more content…
Staples “…has a doctorate in psychology…has built a career as a reporter and a columnist” (Cohen 339) and “…writes on education, culture, and politics” for the New York Times. An extensive pedigree as an author and writer gives more gravitas to the personal narrative used. To establish his relationship with stereotyping while growing up Staples recollects a time “…cross[ing] in front of a car stopped…and elicit[ing] the thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.” (Staples 340). Again, he remarks that “…entering a jewelry store…the proprietor excused herself…silent to any questions he asked…returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash” (340); another revealing a time being mistaken for a burglar and “…being pursued through the labyrinthine halls [by a] posse” (341) helping to associate him with the subject of stereotyping based on appearance and authenticates both the writing and the individual as a reliable source of …show more content…
Opening with “My first victim…white…” (339) immediately arresting the attention of the reader and eliciting the emotional context of being an attacker or perpetrator. The author then assumes the prejudice of his counterpart because “…[t]o her the youngish black man…seemed menacingly close…[so] she picked up her pace and was soon running.” (339) This essay “…originally appeared in Ms.” (Cohen 339) as an article to women and for which would be inappropriate. In appealing to the reader, the first statement places him in an attackers’ position positing strong emotions in an audience of women. While the intention is clear to bring out prejudice through stereotyping; the writer alienates the ones this article was intended for by comparing a woman’s genuine fear of attack, coupled with accusations of prejudice thinking, to a slight on the character of an innocent man. Another more impartial attempt at expressing pathos is as mentioned before discussing ethos when he heard “…thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk” (Staples 340) while passing cars where drivers “black, white, male and female-hammer[ed] down the door locks” (340) showing a “language of fear” (340) that was encountered at simply passing in front of vehicles. The strongest appeal to his readers is in his last statement where he likens whistling classical tunes to a “…cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country.” (341), revealing the