Cora Tucker

Core Tucker was an extraordinary women who did great things in her time. Though she was never a wealthy person by any means, which would make her unsuccessful by Horatio Algier’s definition, she was still a very virtuous person who fought for what she thought was right. This kind of determination and attitude that she could fix what was wrong led to her to be a very successful person, in a different way. Her outspoken attitude lent itself to the reform of politics in her area and put her in the spotlight, which often left her open to criticism. Through her work, many changes were wrought, including changing the racist demeanor of her local area by getting changes forced upon the area that required the hiring of African Americans. Successes such as this is what made Cora Tucker the great and successful person she was.

Self Reliance

Emerson's version of success is not measured in monetary gains or the power you have over others but rather how little power others have over you. He believed that to be truly successful you would have to shake the influence of others and learn to think for yourself so that you could not be controlled. Those that think for themselves instead of conforming should be informed and we should learn to pay more attention to what the voice inside of us says. I believe that this could be one measure of what success is, but should not be the only measure. It is rather easy for Emerson to just say that success is thinking for yourself, it is another to actually shake the influence of others. Friends, family and peers will almost always have an influence in your life, and being able to fully shake that and do what you believe is right would be incredibly hard, but if you believe in what Emerson says, that is what you must do to be truly successful.

Class in America Blog

While the essay does not say that the wealthy are exploiting the poor that is the general idea I got from the essay. The idea that the wealthy just keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer, and they do this because the rich use the poor for cheap layer and the poor cannot avoid this because they are trapped within their class. Though the rich are not expressly exploiting the poor, they are inadvertently doing so by not raising wages of their workers and continually passing their money down an inheritance line, where their kids will have better opportunities for success and will thus stay in the rich class, whereas the poor kids will not have the same opportunities. This data is fairly one sided and shows the increasing differences within the classes in the United States. It states the ever increasing affluence of the wealthy and shows the great advantages they have over the poor while highlighting all the disadvantages that the poor have. Though it is an unpleasant situation and one that could not be easily rectified, it is a current problem within our nation.

Harlon L. Dalton vs. Stephen Cruz

After reading the two passages of reading that were assigned to be read by Tuesday, October 6, and reading the story by Horatio Algier, clear differences were illustrated between the beliefs of Cruz, Algier and Dalton. It was made clear that Algier believed deeply in the American Dream and believed that good traits such as dedication, hard work and compassion for your fellow man would lead to achieving the America Dream. Many, however, would disagree with him, including Cruz, who at first believed in the American Dream and thought that he was succeeding due to his abilities but soon realized that many of his successes were due to his status as a minority. Dalton also disagreed with Algier, saying that the American Dream could not be realized most of the time due to three main reasons. The first was that Algier's stories went off the assumption that everyone was judged solely on their own merits. The second was the illusion in Algier's stories that everyone has the same opportunity to develope those merits, and the third was another assumption that "ultimately, merit will out (p. 279)." He believes that the illusion of the American Dream is harmful to society, which directly goes against Algiers beliefs. These three different opinions offer varying view points on the American Dream and its role in society.

Horatio Algier- Ragged Dick

Within the story, “Ragged Dick,” Horatio Algier constantly stresses the fact that hard work, dedication and honesty will lead to a better life. This is not explicitly stated, however, which makes this an implicit argument. In the story, a young hard working man had begun planning out his future and had set realistic goals about how much he could make, but a turn of fortune, in which he rescued a young child from drowning, made him much more successful. His drive to rescue the child and later modesty about the event led to the father offering him a high paying job in a counting room. The description of the characters modesty, hard work attitude and kindness followed by his success leads to the idea that the American Dream truly does exist and that those who work hard and have traits such as Dicks can be successful. These kinds of stories are truly why Horatio Algier is known for his “Rags to Riches” stories.

Rhetorical Triangle- Color Plate G

Exigence-The need to demonstrate that the VUE was environmentally friendly so that more people would be interesting in it.
Purpose- To show that the Saturn VUE wouldn't hurt nature.
Audience- Those who are concerned about how environmentally friendly a VUE is.
Logic- Cars that do not harm the environment are better and may sell better.
Credibility- No real demonstration of credibility.
Emotion- Appeal to love of environment.
Organization- VUE slightly off center with many animals and trees surrounding it, has a key of all the animals in the left hand sides.
Imagery- Uses many different animals, from small creatures to large ones to help give the message that the VUE will not hurt the environment.

Visual Arguments

Our society is quickly becoming a visual society, which means we are subjected to more and more compelling stories, day after day. Before, people would read newspapers which would provide a story, which also generally contained the bias of the writer. Many people, however, were used to this kind of bias and it was much easier to ignore within the confines of a written piece. Nowadays, we are subjected to image after image, whether it be of terrible deeds done by groups such as the LRA, or a political comic poking fun at the amount of pork in the last Stimulus Bill. These kinds of images are much harder to reject because images can easily appeal to our emotional side and, though they are generally not explicit arguments, they lead us to think of the argument from the point of the view the images creator wants us to think of. Though they are only images, and can easily be ignored, visual arguments can be much more persuasive than written ones.