What is America? It seems like such a simple question, but when you really take a step back and think about it, America can be classified in many different ways. The most commonly held ideal about this country is it’s strong sense as a land of freedom and equal opportunity for all. However, when the topic of immigration comes up, it is often given a negative connotation and seen as a damaging process. How can a country that prides itself on being a land of liberty and welcoming have such excluding ideals on those from other countries? Maybe it’s because those who want to immigrate to this country have bad intentions, maybe they’ll spread disease, maybe they’ll damage the economy, maybe they don’t contain traditional American values, or maybe
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It turns out that there is indeed quite a big difference in perspectives on the definition of America and this is shown as I went around New York and asked 35 people of various backgrounds and cultures about what they think the definition of America truly is, and the results turned out to be very interesting. To those immigrants who had captured their dream by coming to this nation, along with those who are still trying to make it here, America was described as a place of “freedom”, “sacrifice”, “possibility”, “religious freedom”, and seen as “beautiful” and “fun”. To American citizens, it was described as a place of “money”, “lost opportunities”, “contradiction”, and “ignorance”. The idea of the United States being a place of liberty, freedom, and opportunity is actually held better by those who came from outside the country. Immigrants felt a sense of optimism and hope in America while those who were born here displayed a sense of negativity and entitlement. Immigrants truly play a vital role in this country and they help maintain the great values and ideals associated with this …show more content…
I believe that there are shortcomings with the art genre as the argumentation of the piece can be perceived quite differently depending on the viewer. Due to the choice of this genre, the overall impact of the piece is reduced as it can be much more challenging to fully understand the true meaning of an art piece. With that being said, Gordon used a very specific set of rhetorical strategies when making the piece. Rather than relying on description and analysis to get his point across, Gordon chose to let the audience come to their own conclusion by providing lots of imagery and organization. By asking for only one phrase from each person and then showing each of their individual pictures, Gordon is not only giving his audience his discoveries, but he is also giving them a visual in order to tie each phrase that was said to the person who came up with it. Additionally, Gordon chooses to use a very interesting organization strategy with his piece. He decides to mix up the order of people rather than just separating those who were born in America to one half, and then immigrants to the other. By mixing everyone
It turns out that there is indeed quite a big difference in perspectives on the definition of America and this is shown as I went around New York and asked 35 people of various backgrounds and cultures about what they think the definition of America truly is, and the results turned out to be very interesting. To those immigrants who had captured their dream by coming to this nation, along with those who are still trying to make it here, America was described as a place of “freedom”, “sacrifice”, “possibility”, “religious freedom”, and seen as “beautiful” and “fun”. To American citizens, it was described as a place of “money”, “lost opportunities”, “contradiction”, and “ignorance”. The idea of the United States being a place of liberty, freedom, and opportunity is actually held better by those who came from outside the country. Immigrants felt a sense of optimism and hope in America while those who were born here displayed a sense of negativity and entitlement. Immigrants truly play a vital role in this country and they help maintain the great values and ideals associated with this …show more content…
I believe that there are shortcomings with the art genre as the argumentation of the piece can be perceived quite differently depending on the viewer. Due to the choice of this genre, the overall impact of the piece is reduced as it can be much more challenging to fully understand the true meaning of an art piece. With that being said, Gordon used a very specific set of rhetorical strategies when making the piece. Rather than relying on description and analysis to get his point across, Gordon chose to let the audience come to their own conclusion by providing lots of imagery and organization. By asking for only one phrase from each person and then showing each of their individual pictures, Gordon is not only giving his audience his discoveries, but he is also giving them a visual in order to tie each phrase that was said to the person who came up with it. Additionally, Gordon chooses to use a very interesting organization strategy with his piece. He decides to mix up the order of people rather than just separating those who were born in America to one half, and then immigrants to the other. By mixing everyone