AOW #28: IRB

In this section, pages 98-195, Monsieur Poirot attempts to find out more about Norma Restarick by contacting her family, friends, and connections they might have that would influence Norma. Poirot is frustrated by all of the information he has gathered: he sees “the links”, that connect people surrounding Norma to her and to each other, but he cannot find “the pattern”. He can not make sense of the information that would explain what Norma had first referred to when she told him she “thought” that she had committed a murder. This frustration he feels is reflected in the writing; the omniscient narrator takes the reader through Poirot’s thoughts as he summarizes and mulls over all the information he has gathered. This provides the reader with an overview of what has been uncovered, and what may be important in solving the mystery. In his summary he stresses some aspects that the reader knows to be important, such as the significance of Norma’s position as “The third girl”. Not only does the reader note this fact as important because of it’s repeated mention, but also because it is the title of the book. The individual parts of the mystery are presented through different characters, not only Poirot; using third person omniscient allows Christie to reveal tiny pieces of information that may be useful to Poirot through other characters in different chapters, different parts of the story. When Christie then describes their interpretation of their experiences to Poirot, the reader is able to compare what actually happened to what Poirot thinks happened. This is important because there are some discrepancies which affect Poirot’s ability to solve the mystery. For example, Mrs. Oliver, an old woman who is trying to help Poirot, finds out that one of the tenants of the apartment building Norma lives in died shortly before Poirot’s first encounter with Norma. Mrs. Oliver did not note this as important, so she mentions it briefly a while after finding out. Poirot is very upset by this, because he does think this is important. This example of the effective use of breaking the information into parts also shows one of the many intricate interrelationships surrounding the mystery that Poirot finds very frustrating. After Poirot investigates this “suicide”, he finds that the name of the woman who died is Louise Charpentier. Poirot does not realize this, but Louise was also the name of the woman who could be blamed for Norma’s destroyed childhood: her father had left her mother for another woman – a woman named Louise. The reader realizes this connection because it was discussed by other characters in an earlier chapter. But Poirot does not. At first, I did not make the connection between the two “Louise”s mentioned; however, the suspenseful conclusion, like many of the other cliff-hangers she ends her chapters with, stresses the importance of the name. Christie writes (from Poirot’s point of view), “Why had the name Louise some haunting memory about it?” (Christie 188). This is one example of the effectiveness  of Christie’s style in pulling the reader into the story and encouraging them to solve the mystery with Monsieur Poirot.

AOW #27: IRB 2

In this section, pages 98-195, Monsieur Poirot attempts to find out more about Norma Restarick by contacting her family, friends, and connections they might have that would influence Norma. Poirot is frustrated by all of the information he has gathered: he sees “the links”, that connect people surrounding Norma to her and to each other, but he cannot find “the pattern”. He can not make sense of the information that would explain what Norma had first referred to when she told him she “thought” that she had committed a murder. This frustration he feels is reflected in the writing; the omniscient narrator takes the reader through Poirot’s thoughts as he summarizes and mulls over all the information he has gathered. This provides the reader with an overview of what has been uncovered, and what may be important in solving the mystery. In his summary he stresses some aspects that the reader knows to be important, such as the significance of Norma’s position as “The third girl”. Not only does the reader note this fact as important because of it’s repeated mention, but also because it is the title of the book. The individual parts of the mystery are presented through different characters, not only Poirot; using third person omniscient allows Christie to reveal tiny pieces of information that may be useful to Poirot through other characters in different chapters, different parts of the story. When Christie then describes their interpretation of their experiences to Poirot, the reader is able to compare what actually happened to what Poirot thinks happened. This is important because there are some discrepancies which affect Poirot’s ability to solve the mystery. For example, Mrs. Oliver, an old woman who is trying to help Poirot, finds out that one of the tenants of the apartment building Norma lives in died shortly before Poirot’s first encounter with Norma. Mrs. Oliver did not note this as important, so she mentions it briefly a while after finding out. Poirot is very upset by this, because he does think this is important. This example of the effective use of breaking the information into parts also shows one of the many intricate interrelationships surrounding the mystery that Poirot finds very frustrating. After Poirot investigates this “suicide”, he finds that the name of the woman who died is Louise Charpentier. Poirot does not realize this, but Louise was also the name of the woman who could be blamed for Norma’s destroyed childhood: her father had left her mother for another woman – a woman named Louise. The reader realizes this connection because it was discussed by other characters in an earlier chapter. But Poirot does not. At first, I did not make the connection between the two “Louise”s mentioned; however, the suspenseful conclusion, like many of the other cliff-hangers she ends her chapters with, stresses the importance of the name. Christie writes (from Poirot’s point of view), “Why had the name Louise some haunting memory about it?” (Christie 188). This is one example of the effectiveness  of Christie’s style in pulling the reader into the story and encouraging them to solve the mystery with Monsieur Poirot.

AOW #26

This TV advertisement was recently released by Apple to promote their latest version of the iPad, which features Retina display, 5MP iSight camera, and 4G LTE. The clip features 2 young girls, scenes from the movie, Up, a flower, text from a children’s book, and a painting. Along with background music, these images are used to illustrate the adjectives the narrator uses to describe the iPad: stunning, brilliant, new, vibrant. The purpose of the advertisement is to convince their audience that the improvements made to this new iPad make it worth $500. The images shown indicate that the targeted audience consists of children and their parents: Up and the text appeal to children, and the images of happy, smiling, learning children appeal to parents who want their children to be happy, smiling, and learning. The tone of the background music and of the narrator serves as another rhetorical device intended to appeal to children and their parents; the tone is soft, gentle, and simplistic. The progression of dark to light images symbolizes the learning that the iPad brings to children, while also reflecting the context of the advertisement: spring is approaching, so Apple used scenes of butterflies, flowers, and bright green grass backgrounds to illustrate the positive diction. While I agree that this iPad is very high-tech and innovative, I do not see why parents would spend $500 on a slim piece of technology for their children to finger print and potentially break, especially if they already bought an earlier version of the iPad. For this reason, (even though I would not mind having one myself) I do not think Apple achieved its purpose.

AOW #25: Text (APUSH Chapter 30)

Chapter 30 in The American Pageant, written by David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey (all renowned professors of history considered to be experts in the area of study), describes America’s role in and point of view during World War I. This book was written for American high school students who are preparing to take the AP United States History Exam in May, which influences the way it’s written insofar as which facts and concepts it highlights. For example, instead of delineating the exact warpath of each Allied army unit with full descriptions of each battle, the text book only mentions the most important ones with more focus on their historical significance than their military technicalities. This is because the AP exam focuses on the “historical mindedness” aspect of United States History: the overall trends and events that have shaped our society in a way that have caused our country to be the way it is today and how they did this. Memorizing each battle will not help with the AP Exam. The authors included other rhetorical elements that are intended to help students study for the exam, including organization, colored maps and pictures, and extra passages. The chapters are organized with bolded, colorful, attention-grabbing headings and titles that indicate what the section will be about. They also reflect the narrative style of the writing; rather than listing the information as dry facts, the authors write history as if it were a story and the titles are just as captivating. The colored maps and pictures provide more material for students to survey while reading which breaks up the sometimes-seemingly-monotonous text and also help students further understand concepts being discussed in the text. Extra passages are included to delve further into an idea discussed briefly in the main text (such as more detail about the migration of the Irish to America) or to introduce other ways of thinking about what was presented in the main text (such as the “Varying Viewpoints” passages inserted at the close of almost every chapter). With these rhetorical elements, the authors accomplish their purpose of helping students prepare for the AP exam.