Married to the Wrong Sex by Jodi Shaw - Assignment Example

ID of the of the assignment Topic: Married to the Wrong Sex by Jodi Shaw Purpose: To create empathy in readers about homosexuals and their feelings about marriage and children. Main Idea The main idea is to make the readers understand the challenges homosexuals face in this society. They either have to suppress their proclivities or they lose their loved ones. Summary Jodi Shaw is sitting with Brady at a restaurant table. They are having a conversation about homosexuality as Brady is gay. Brady tells her that his marriage is tough. His wife doesn’t know he is gay. Shaw and Brady’s mutual friend David is “very gay”. He is open about it but Brady doesn’t want to publicize his homosexuality because he doesn’t want to be treated like them. Brady tells Shaw that he was relieved when the Bill C-38 was passed that allows same sex marriages. He also adds that it won’t be easy to implement. During their conversation Brady takes out his wallet and shows Shaw the picture of his 19 month old son. He gets emotional because his son thinks he is a good dad but the society in general doesn’t believe that homosexuals can be good parents. Shaw tries to cheer up the mood. Brady reveals that his marriage is a fraud but he will continue to play along because it is the right thing to do. His wife is expecting another baby. Their conversation ends on a dilemma that if Brady reveals his sexual orientation he might lose his family but if he doesn’t he will abandon a part of himself. The conversation ends and they both depart. Primary Rhetorical Mode The essay is written in the narrative rhetoric, filled with dialogues and history about the characters. Giving insight to an adult homosexual male probably could not have been done with other rhetorical modes. It is more emotional than critical or argument-driven. As the famous philosopher says that one needs three things to convince someone; credibility, logic and emotional appeal. In this case the emotional appeal dominates the rest. It creates empathy in the readers for Brady. Shaw has not touched the philosophical debate on homosexuality as either right or wrong. She has only given an insight to the life a homosexual man who apparently has a wonderful family but his homosexual nature is restless. How this mode is dominant – examples There are many instances where Shaw gives the narrative. For instance she brings in the comparison between Brady and David. David is mentioned to strengthen the narrative that he is a confident gay male while Brady is shy. Shaw calls him “very gay” (paragraph 8). Just like a fictional story, the use of dialogues to describe personality has been used extensively. For instance Brady’s own words are quoted to describe what sort of a person he is. On not telling his wife about his homosexuality he says; “It’s the right thing to do.” (paragraph 36) How this mode is appropriate for the topic Had Shaw used any other mode like exposition, argumentation or description it would have either created a debate or it would have lacked the emotional appeal. Both of which would have defeated the purpose of the essay (to create empathy for homosexuals). Examples of two different rhetorical modes in essay Mode one – example Argumentation has been used in the essay to make the point across. The talk of the Bill C-32 boils down to a very subtle as-a-matter-of-fact argumentative style; “It gives people the chance to love who they want to love and marry who they want to marry. That doesn’t mean it will be easy though.” (Paragraph 19) How it contributes to the topic and how it helps further the author’s purpose The whole point of bringing in explaining Bill C-32 is in fact argumentation rhetoric. The purpose is to strengthen the emotional aspect of the essay. Mode two – example Descriptive rhetoric is used to describe the personality of Brady. This rhetoric has been used quite often. For instance he is described as a loving father and a good husband; “It changes everything. [My child] matters to me more than anything ever could.” (paragraph 34) How it contributes to the topic and how it helps further the author’s purpose Without understanding the nature of a person it is hard to empathize with him. When the ‘character’ of Brady is created by referring to his love for his child, his respect for his parents and their beliefs, and how he cares about his wife, this description appeals to the readers’ emotions. Demonstrate your understanding of strategies for generating ideas by doing the following: Write a reaction you had to the essay you read. The immediate reaction was of realization what it feels to be gay. It is equivalent to wearing a stigma and walking around with it. Others keep judging and cursing homosexuals but it is rare that they actually step into their shoes to feel how it is for them, when their orientation turns into a noose around their neck. They are treated as rejects. People recommend electroshock therapy for ‘correcting’ what appeals to them as if they chose this ‘perversion’ for them. After reading the essay I immediately had a thought, what if suddenly I enter in a dimension (reality) where the majority is of homosexuals, gay marriages is the norm and religious preachers are gays too, but I, with a few others, am straight. Beginning from the reaction statement or question you wrote for part “a” of this question, use one of the strategies for generating ideas (refer to card 19) as a pre-writing step. Let this beginning idea lead you in as many directions as possible. Follow tangents and make associations. Raise questions. Write out memories. Whichever of the five methods you use, you should strive here to generate a lot of material without worrying right now about where it is taking you. It is obvious to sympathize with Brady even if anyone holds something against the homosexual community. No matter what someone thinks about homosexuals no one can deny them their basic rights. They have the right to get married out of choice. The obvious questions that can be raised are, what if this debate settles for good? What does medical science has to say about homosexuality? Is it inborn or is it acquired through environmental effect? Or is it only a mental malfunction or is it as natural as someone being born with ginger hair? I feel compelled to go to the root cause of it. I sympathize with Brady but there has to be a clear statement from the scientific community about being gay. In fact this debate can be dragged to the existence of God. Every religion (all that I am aware of) curses homosexuals. They deal with them as perverts. So either religions are true and it (homosexuality) is a perversion or there is no god and it is just part of evolution. But hoping for a concrete conclusion is in itself nothing but a fantasy. Religions (speaking holistically) don’t agree with each other. So, even if one religion draws out a scripture explaining homosexuality (hinting towards accepting it), the other religions are surely to differ from it. Reread your answer to “b” above and look for something that is of interest to you. Formulate a main idea statement that could serve as the focus of an essay. How to deal with something you’re born with. Assuming that there will always be a conflict about acceptance of homosexuals, how does a homosexual lives a comfortable life. Now pretend that you are indeed going to write an essay on the main idea you stated in “c” above. Again using an idea generating method, but this time staying with this main idea, come up with as many developmental points, examples, and details as you can that might be used in writing an essay with this main idea. You do not have to actually write the essay nor organize the material you generate at this time. Just pursue this idea and come up with as much material as you can. Brady gives a partial reply to the idea about survival of a homosexual man. Don’t expose yourself to the ones (in this case it was Brady’s parents and his wife) that won’t understand or accept homosexuality. They can easily survive in the society by playing along. The choice is not easy as they face the dilemma of concealing their sexual orientation or face the wrath of society. But Brady is apparently a normal functioning male who enjoys his life (not to the fullest). Homosexuals can seek private places, countries that protect them and allow them to marry whoever they want. They can enjoy their secret pleasures but they will have to do them in secrecy. Read More