Rhetorical Analysis - "Shame" by Dick Gregory

In the text "Shame" by Dick Gregory, he describes his personal experience with shame and struggles caused by poverty. He describes an embarrassing childhood experience in which his teacher stated that he didn’t have a father, to the whole class. Two rhetorical strategies used in the text are imagery and repetition.

Gregory describes a girl he admired, he went out of his way to look more presentable and do things for her. “...Helene Tucker, a light complexioned little girl with pigtails and nice manners.” (Paragraph 1) Gregory uses imagery to illustrate her nice qualities. Helene Tucker was clean, smart and popular. Her character is used as a comparison to Gregory. Gregory was the complete opposite to her. He wasn’t white, wealthy or clean. She had these qualities that he didn’t have because she wasn’t in poverty.

Living in poverty, he had to struggle with hunger and to find food. Explaining his struggle, “pregnant” is repeated. (Paragraph 5) Repetition is used to emphasize many hardships he faces, each having a heavy burden. He uses the word pregnant to explain these hardships, things he had to deal with but can’t do anything about them. He couldn’t be clean, buy new shoes, or have better living conditions.   

Response/Opinion Piece

One issue brought up in the text, was that Gregory admired Helene because she had qualities that he didn’t have. I think that people admire others’ qualities because of this, and which may also be caused by insecurities. Conscious on how he appeared to Helene, Gregory was insecure about his appearance, so he tried to make himself more presentable. I believe that due to insecurities, people change themselves. They can change their appearance, or change how they act to other people. They change how they represent themselves.

Vaccinations for Children

Vaccines are necessary to children’s health. There are no risks for health defects. Vaccines are safe. They are tested before released to the public. However, it is a misconception that vaccines cause children to develop disease, as they weaken the immune system. This is false, they release antigens into the body. The body creates antibodies to prevent disease, strengthening the immune system.

Dr. Wilderman, DO, osteopathic pediatrician believes that vaccinations are healthy. He states that vaccines are “... eliminating diseases like polio”. Vaccines prevent diseases from developing and spreading, many diseases are now obsolete. Families are destroyed when their unvaccinated children die from something preventable.

Zinsser’s Teachings

I used mood changers to contrast the benefits to introduce the misconceptions of vaccinations. I contrasted from supporting to vaccines to why people don’t support it. When talking about vaccines, credibility is established. No statements were exaggerated, and facts are accurate. I did not use overstatements. I did not describe that anti vaccinators are committing mass murders. Exaggeration is not needed to make a point.

"Should Your Child Be Vaccinated?" American Osteopathic Association, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2016, http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/about-your-health/health-conditions-library/general-health/Pages/vaccines.aspx.