TOW #16: Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer

When trying to recall a traumatic experience, many times the events that someone may think occurred are not actually true. Jon Krakauer, the author of Into Thin Air, had to determine between fact and fiction when writing about his disastrous expedition of Mt. Everest. Krakauer uses quotes from survivors and analogies from other writers to retell the most accurate account of the devastating events that he and his fellow expeditionists experienced.

Krakauer was sent to Nepal by Outsider Magazine to write about a guided ascent of Mt. Everest. Krakauer unknowingly took part in a climb that would lead to the death of many of his fellow climbers. Upon his return, Krakauer wrote his article for Outsider Magazine, but felt the article did not serve proper justice for his experience. Krakauer’s decision to write a book meant that he would have to tell the accurate version of the events that took place. Krakauer knew that he had difficulty remembering the accuracy of every event because of the emotions that the expedition caused him. Due to this, Krakauer met with the survivors to use their quotes as well as his own to retell the story as accurately as possible. By his use of quotes, Krakauer is proving his credibility. Since it is known that every survivor may view the climb differently, Krakauer creates a medium between all of the viewpoints that make his story, as accurate of an account of his expedition as possible.

Krakauer also alludes to other writers’ work to help create the emotions that he felt during each chapter in the story. At the beginning of every chapter Krakauer shares a poem or excerpt either about climbing or ones that create the same mood that the chapter creates. For example, at the beginning of chapter fifteen Krakauer provides an excerpt from Joseph Conrad’s, Lord Jim. The paragraph talks about the emotions felt by a man when he is facing a danger that takes his life. This foreshadows events that will occur in the chapter that follows. By using appropriate allusions to other writers’ work before each chapter, Krakauer foreshadows events and creates moods that will be portrayed in the chapter to help the reader feel as he felt when experiencing the events.

Krakauer faced the difficulty of accurately portraying the disastrous expedition of Mt. Everest that he experienced. He uses quotes to find a medium between all of the survivors viewpoints and shares excerpts from other works of writing to create a specific mood that enables him to write the most accurate account of his Mt. Everest expedition.

TOW #15: NFL Advertisement, Sports Illustrated

An effective advertisement should appeal to more than just one target market. Located inside of Sports Illustrated, the NFL placed an advertisement for NFLShop.com. The NFL is always trying to expand their fan base, and the NFL uses this advertisement to try to appeal to the women.The NFL successfully advertised their women’s products through the use of bandwagon appeal and by their word choice.

Sports Illustrated is primarily read by men, so why would there be an advertisement for women’s products in the magazine? The NFL put an advertisement showing five women in their team’s shirts to show that women also enjoy the game of football. When a husband, father, boyfriend etc. sees these women wearing NFL shirts they will think that all women are buying into being a fan, and this will cause them to purchase NFL attire for the woman in their life. Band wagon appeal causes the male fans to not want to feel left out from their special woman owning their team’s apparel, causing them to buy a product and making this advertisement effective. 

For the less frequent readers of Sports Illustrated, women, the NFL uses specific word choice to make women feel as if they play just as much as an important role in the success in the NFL as men play. At the top of the advertisement is the line, “Together we make football”. The “together” is written in the largest font on the page. The large font puts emphasis on the “together”, showing that the NFL would not be what it is without the help from all of their fans. Since this ad is made for the women fans, the “together” gives these women the feeling that they are just as important to the success of the NFL as any other fan, making them want to purchase NFL apparel to show that they are just as much of a fan of the NFL as anyone else.

Watching football is no longer just for men. As more women are beginning to enjoy watching the game of football and are adding to the success of the NFL, the NFL must begin to advertise their products to them. In this advertisement, the NFL uses a bandwagon appeal for the men and specific word choice for the women to get both genders to purchase NFL apparel. 

TOW #14: "The Al Qaeda Switchboard", Lawrence Wright

Whether or not one believes that the N.S.A has the right to view phone records and other forms of personal data in the United States, he/she must begin to see why others have opposing views on the subject. Lawrence Wright, writer for The New Yorker, and author of “The Al Qaeda Switchboard” wrote his essay  for citizens of the United States to see another side of the Edward Snowden scandal. Wright uses historical references as well as rhetorical questioning to show that N.S.A surveillance can only prevent terrorism if the agencies that have access to the surveillance use it correctly.

Wright uses historical references to provide background information that allows the reader to understand why he is showing the need for N.S.A surveillance to be used correctly. Wright retells events from 9/11, “What the report actually says is that the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. already knew that Al Qaeda was in America, based on the N.S.A.’s monitoring of the Hada phone. If they had told the F.B.I., the agents would have established a link to the embassy-bombings case, which “would have made them very interested in learning more about Mihdhar.” Instead, “the agents who found the source were being kept from obtaining the fruits of their work.” By retelling the events that led up to 9/11 and his use of quotes, Wright is able to convince the reader that the surveillance has the ability to work, but it did not because the agencies did not share the information correctly. Wright was able to show that the surveillance could have worked to prevent 9/11 if it was used correctly, so he changes the audiences’ views to now question if the N.S.A surveillance is being used correctly rather than if it should be allowed at all.

Wright also asks rhetorical questions to call out the mistakes that the agencies made with the information that they collected from surveillance before 9/11. Wright informs the reader that the CIA knew that Al Qaeda members were in the United States, and that the CIA did not inform the FBI of this. Wright then asks, “What did the agency intend to do about the Al Qaeda operatives in America?” Wright asks this question to show that the surveillance did its purpose, but the CIA made the mistake of not sharing this information with other agencies. By asking what was the CIA was trying to do, the reader again takes his/her focus off of should their be N.S.A surveillance and now questions if the surveillance is being used correctly because the C.I.A knew that there were Al Qaeda members in the U.S and did not act accordingly toward them.

Wright was able to achieve his purpose of proving that the agencies need to be more of a topic of discussion amongst the public, rather than the N.S.A’s ability to use surveillance on Americans by his use of historical references and by asking rhetorical questions.