For my topic to write a critical analysis on, I would like to choose the album Blonde by Frank Ocean. It does an incredible job addressing a vast variety of topics concerning the life of a modern adult, serving as a criticism of materialism and vanity to conveying experiences of racism, heartbreak, and loss. It is one of my favorite albums of all time and it holds a lot of personal weight in my life, but it is also undisputedly one of the most skillfully executed albums ever. The themes are present in every track in some way shape or form, and the creative delivery of the art ranges from modern r&b to experimental ballads inspired by soul, trap, and rock. The lore surrounding the album also only contributes to how meaningful and important the music is. It was released four years after Frank’s previous album, channel orange, and some of the songs were rumored to have up to 50 versions, so his Grammy-winning song selection definitely grants thematic weight to all elements of the album, up to the most minute details. There’s a lot to analyze in the album, it’s an important work of art to me, and I believe that with some time, I could put together a decent critical analysis/interpretation on it.

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Ethos Pathos, and Logos are three of the major rhetorical appeals. Each appeal serves to act as an agent of persuasion utilizing a different approach. Through Ethos, the speaker seeks to persuade the reader by establishing a sense of credibility with their words, granting substantiality to their claims. Through Logos, the speaker guides the reader, through reasoning, to logical conclusions that support the point they are trying to make. Logos is where factual information is used to support opinions and a line of reasoning. When Pathos is employed, the speaker appeals to the emotions of the artist, persuading them by evoking feelings such as sympathy or fear. All three are used interconnectedly by great authors and speakers. For example, if the leader of a nation is convincing their people to go to war, their ethos as a leader is pre-established, and they may pose a problem through an appeal to fear and a sense of brotherhood, or “love for your fellow man” (pathos). The audience will trust the leader that the issue is pressing because of their ethos as a leader (which they may remind the audience of), who will then employ logos to lead their country to the conclusion that the only way to neutralize the threat of another country (which has been established as a threat through an appeal to pathos) is to go to war.

Knowing your audience will always affect the agents of persuasion employed, as well as how they are used. For example, a teacher convincing their preschool class to be quiet for the lesson may offer some kind of reward, such as an extra few minutes of recess time. Their ethos as a teacher gives the students a sense of assurance that the extra recess time can and will be delivered. Logos, however, is the most dominant appeal in this situation, as the teacher offers a direct and concise line of reasoning to the students. The teacher reasons that if the students act accordingly to instruction, then the outcome will be in their favor. In this case, the outcome is extra time to spend in recess. Through this line of reasoning, the teacher most likely will have success in the persuasion of the students, since they have been convinced that the conclusion that the outcome of the situation will benefit them.

Healthcare should be free for all citizens of the United States. For some background on the topic, this is not a completely outlandish proposition. In established and productive countries such as Italy and France, all citizens already receive universal healthcare, with many services such as emergency medicine available to the public for no cost. For a second now, imagine you are the child of a cancer patient, a mere victim of circumstance. Innocent, yet you must carry a burden of pain unimaginable to those who have never experienced it. Unfortunately, costs run high, up to around $300,000 a year. Your family can no longer afford treatment, and your sick mother decides she doesn’t want to run the risk of you inheriting potentially millions in debt. She sadly passes away. Those fighting for a private healthcare industry are fighting for exactly that – victims of circumstance having to choose between millions in debt or death. The total cost of cancer care alone in the US last year was $400b. Thousands of dead children, parents, friends, siblings, and grandchildren would have cost billions more if not for their sacrifice. Pretty expensive, right? Now consider this. The predicted total wealth accumulated in the US this year by the top 1% of wealth earners alone is $140,000,000,000,000. An additional .2%, yes, a point two percent wealth accumulation tax on the top 1% could have paid for all cancer treatment in the United States. Give that one some thought. And to those, especially politicians, in support of a private healthcare system, imagine your baby dying because you couldn’t afford treatment for their leukemia. Remember that thought and remember it would have been due to your failure to implement a tax that could never possibly affect the lives of those who would be taxed by it.

1. A mindset is a mental framework that strongly influences how we receive, interpret, react, and respond to information. Those with a fixed mindset are closed off to new information, and consciously (or unconsciously) do not expand their knowledge, and therefore their perspective. Their intelligence also remains static by refusing to accept alternative perspectives. A “growth mindset” is a mindset in which one is willing to accept information from others, even if the information challenges their previous beliefs. Those willing to accept new things will expand their capacity for both intellectual and emotional development. A fixed mindset only stifles progress and hinders development through a toxic, repetitive cycle that revolves around negative reinforcement. When one refuses to believe they can grow, they do not grow, which kills motivation, which leads to unproductiveness, and so on and so forth. When one accepts that they have the ability to learn new things, they believe they can grow, which leads to expansion, which reaffirms their beliefs and the cycle continues.

2. Style is an abstract term that can reference many aspects of literary technique, however it is best described as a concise blend of signature rhetorical devices and techniques employed by an author. Style can also be developed through the tone and context of the statement’s delivery. For example, the style of a presidential speech may be different from that of you greeting your friend. The global perspective focuses on the main presence or absence of rhetorical appeals, devices and modes. This perspective is where the ethos, pathos, and logos of the writing is developed. The local perspective is concerned with the combination of language and syntax in the piece. For example, a monologue from a play, when studied under the global perspective, may utilize pathos to incite a sense of anxiety from the audience. When studied under a local perspective, this can be accomplished with sensory language through a combination of repetition and imagery. Both perspectives offer useful information for analysis, and both are crucial to pay attention to when writing in a professional style. When the local and global perspectives match in purpose and energy, it gives the piece both purpose and momentum.

Imagine a scenario in which one drunkenly addresses their professor as a peer while asking for an extended due date, employing profanity and informal slang as agents of persuasion in their plea. Now, I implore the reader to formulate their own conclusion on the result of that plea. It is more than likely that the student will not be receiving any credit for the aforementioned assignment. Once again, I implore the reader to imagine how the outcome may have differed if the student in question addressed their professor in a respectful and professional tone. The result may have drastically changed. Now assume that the assignment from that imaginary scenario is a senior thesis paper. Considering the considerable impact of most thesis papers on GPA, an abysmal mark on one may not be ideal when it is factored in amongst the reduced number of classes most seniors take their final semester. If the student in question was previously teetering around a 3.5 GPA, the opportunity to graduate with honors may slip away. Posing a hypothetical, assume our student has not secured a post-graduation job, but rather has landed an interview with a very important company. Our student has made good use of their time in a prestigious program, making connections and suavely maneuvering the social network of elitist culture, manipulating it to their will. However, it would be erroneous to assume that our student is the only one in that same program, with the same skills, methodically networking. Walking into their interview, they spot a classmate waiting in the same lobby. The two begin to converse and learn they are interviewing for the same position, so both agree to quiz each other as mock interviewers to pass time. Instantly the tension and anxiety melt away, and each feels more comfortable in the presence of a friend. The wait continues, and time is spent reminiscing and enjoying each other’s company. All of a sudden, the door opens and a nervous millennial flees. The shadow of an imposing businessperson approaches, and steps into the light. Our student’s friend from school is called in. “Good luck, you got this!” our student exclaims to their peer. As they turn around to say “Thank you!”, their resume slips out of its folder. Our student good-heartedly offers assistance in cleaning up, and picks up the first page they see. They reach down and flip it over, preparing to hand it back. Curiously handling the paper, they decide to sneakily take a quick glance at their classmate’s work, only to discover the “3.6 GPA (Graduated Cum Laude)” inscribed on the sheet. Their heart drops. And all of a sudden, their mind flashes back to the drunken email.