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Introduction: Journalist and author, Alex Kotlowitz, determines to explain the impact of a young black child's murder on two towns with complete opposite opinions and attitudes. Kotlowitz attempts to demonstrate the difference of race in the two towns which shows why this death is such a controversy. The author's shockingly blunt and detatched tone shows his neutral attitude on the surprising death

First Piece of Evidence: Kotlowitz's use of imagery demonstrates his straightforward tone that appears throughout the book. When describing the battered murdered boy, he states his head was, "So swollen that the face looked separated from the skull, as if someone had stuffed cotton in the cheeks, the chin, the forehead, and every other part of the head."(2)

Second Piece of Evidence: The author's use of logos helps bring authority to the saddening murder. A police officer casually says, "Drownings are a common occurrences around here, sometimes as many as three to four times  in a year."(3)

Third Piece of Evidence: Kotlowitz shows the everlasting effect of the murdered boy on the population. After seeing photos of the injured child, one individual states, "I flinch at the image of his battered face, which, because of the decomposition and its ballooning, seems without form or character."(8)

Commentary for the first piece of evidence: This statement shows the blunt trauma that the young teenager, Eric, suffered. Kotlowitz's detached tone shows his neutral take on the shocking event. This lets the reader develop their own opinion on which side to take of the two towns.

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Author and Journalist, Alex Kotlowitz, in the Other Side of the River talks about the impact between two towns with opposite ideas about a death of a young black child. The purpose of Kotlowtiz is to document and to report opinions from both towns of why the murder of this child is relevant in both towns.  Kotlowitz used a more objective tone in the beginning slowly changing into a sincerer more opinionated tone. Using opinions from others and opinions from himself as facts and information about the death of the child.

Evidence one:  Kotlowitz uses many different types of figurative languages for example similes and hyperboles as a way to make his points more relatable. For example, a simile that was used was “like rambunctious school children, they playfully circled about the mouth of the St. Joseph river” (1) The use of the comparison is to set the scene of how the town was with a relatable comparison of school children playing around. Kotlowitz use of hyperbole also is used to make his point easier to understand. Kotlowitz says that the “black community exploded” (9).

Evidence two: Kotlowitz use of diction is very prominent in his writing using long sentences separated by commas and or colons. An example is when he describes how hard it was to find the information saying, “at times, as I approached what I think are facts, thy bulls’’-eye multiplies, each taking on a different shape and hue, so that, as my vision darts from one to the other, I don’t know where to land” (9)

Commentary: Kotlowtiz use of diction is very important to the story of the book because as a reporter and journalist he can use long sentences and separate complicated though and or ideas with this style of diction. The use of many commas in his writing is to make his writing a little like a conversation having multiple thoughts separated by pauses or by commas. This type of diction becomes very important later in the story when he gathers opinions from other and tries to incorporate the opinions of others in the writing while keeping the integrity of the story.

Evidence three:  Kotlowitz use of ethos as a call to action for unity. Kotlowitz says “the events surrounding Eric’s death should ring familiar to all of us, both black and white: the confusion and the understanding, the despair and the hope, the disconnections and, indeed, the connections” (11).

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Introduction: Author and journalist, Alex Kotlowitz, in his book, The Other Side of The River, tells a story about the death of a black teenager and it’s effect on two neighboring, polar-opposite towns. Kotlowitz’s purpose is to reveal evidence and opinions from both sides and show how the truth depends on which side you live on. He adopts a detached and informative tone to appeal to an audience that wants to learn about the event.

First piece of evidence: The author’s use of figurative language, especially imagery and similes, is very helpful to help the reader visualize. “Like rambunctious schoolchildren, they playfully circled above the mouth of the St. Joseph River here in southwestern Michigan” (11).

“the third officer circled the corpse like a buzzard over its prey” (13).

Second piece of evidence: The author’s tone is rather detached and informative. “Drownings are common occurrences around here, sometimes as many as three to four in a year. The area, after all, is surrounded by water. ” (14).

Third piece of evidence: The author’s syntax consists of long, descriptive sentences with many commas. He also includes mixtures of hyphens and colons. “Vacationers on their way from Chicago—it’s a two-hour drive—to the northern woods of Michigan stop here to browse the downtown mall, shopping at the antique stores, art galleries, and clothing boutiques.” (16). “It incites us to act as we wouldn’t in other arenas: clumsily, cowardly, and sometimes cruelly” (24).

The author uses various forms of figurative language, but the most important form of figurative language is his use of imagery and similies. He uses imagery to create a vivid image in the reader’s mind, and to appeal to their senses so that the writing can feel much more realistic. He uses strong, descriptive words in combination with comparisons (similies) to achieve a really graphic form of writing. “Like a swollen snake, the St. Joseph River lazily winds its way north from Indiana through the hilly cropland of southwestern Michigan, eventually spilling into the clear waters of Lake Michigan, where it is 450 feet across at its widest” (15). In this example, Kotlowitz is using imagery to describe a river while including a similie to help the reader further visualize the setting. Similies help us because they compare what most of us know in real life, giving us a greater understanding of what’s going on.

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Introduction:  Investigator and journalist, Alex Kotlowitz, manages to describe a single death's impact on two very different neighboring communities. Kotlowitz expresses polar viewpoints and how lives were changed thoroughly when sharing his investigation. Attracting an audience who would like to learn about his work and the event, he uses the facts and his own opinions. The author's voice conveys the story so the readers can feel engaged in the catastrophe, and they get a feeling of investigating themselves.

First Evidence: Ethos
"..over two hundred interviews, after scouring, countless times, the six-inch police report.." (7)
Commentary: In the beginning of the book the author brags about all the work he has put into the investigation. The rambling sentence seems necessary in order for him to establish his credibility. The audience can now trust his opinions on the subject later in the book.

Second Evidence: Objective Syntax using quotes
" "Hey, man, who been shot?" "Do dirty." ....." (61-62)
Commentary: Kotlowitz uses quotes about another death that occurs in the book that is similar to the main killing. The conversation quoted shows the racism in the town. Using quotes, he proves to the readers of the issue, and they are able to make the judgement easily themselves.

Third Evidence: Subjective Syntax asking questions
"Revenge?" (115)
Commentary: When the author is interviewing someone, she asks for her name not to be used. The author responds with this question, but he does not ask it. He only writes it for the audience to see. Revenge is the answer to why she doesn't want her name to be shared, but there is no evidence so it is subjective. However, this far in the book the audience is aware of Kotlowitz's efforts they are influenced greatly, and this question to himself seems like the obvious answer to readers.

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Introductory Paragraph: Writer of the Wall Street Journal, Alex Kotlowitz, focuses in on the idea of the death of a young, black boy in a river separating two cities of varying races.  Directly speaking to the reader with a first-person perspective, he arranges an effective call for change in the history of prominent racism with somber and touching tones.  Including examples of analogy, pathos, and irony, the author takes it upon himself to encourage an alteration of life between these groups of people who have had a tumultuous and wounding history amongst themselves.

Analogy: “So I would tell them that, while the contrasts between St. Joseph and Benton Harbor seem unusually stark, they are, I believe, typical of how most of us live: physically and spiritually isolated from one another” (10).

Pathos: “The events surrounding Eric’s death should ring familiar to all of us, both black and white: the confusion and the understanding, the despair and the hope, the disconnections and indeed, the connections” (11).

Commentary: To resonate with the reader, the author uses a combination of abstract ideas to push Eric’s death in the open while touching on the appeal to emotion.  The contrasting words contradict each other in ways to emphasize these opposing feelings one would feel upon experiencing a tragedy and occurrences following it.  By subtly implying that those who have lived during a time of segregation or ideals passed down from generation to generation should be aware of these underlying problems of inequality between two groups of people, he instills feelings of unrest and sadness amongst the readers in that this is only the tip of the iceberg in relation to ideas revolving around racism.

Irony: “So seductive is the setting that in recent years there have been a number of suicides in and around these waters, which seem to offer a gentle exit from an otherwise burdensome world” (14).

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Alex Kotlowitz in his book about two towns and extreme racism has two specific purposes. He wants the readers to learn about the types of racism happening and about the death of a young boy that may or may not have resulted from that. By using many similes, alliteration, and allusions, the speaker addresses the idea that racism played a vast part in creating towns dynamics with each other.

Kotlowitz begins his book The Other Side of the River by using massive amounts of similes to get his point across to the reader. The first comparison was, “Like rambunctious school children, they playfully circled the mouth of the St. Joseph river…(1).” Another example would be, “Like a swollen snake, the St. Joseph river lazily winds its way north…(3).”

Later on in the book, Kotlowitz utilizes alliteration to draw the reader’s attention. Such as, “…providing sustenance for spawning salmon and seasoned sailors, that this story begins (5).” And again later on, “…clumsily, cowardly, and sometimes cruelly (10).”

And the final piece of evidence would be Kotlowitz’s use of allusions to compare what he’s writing to something that has happened in the past. An example would be. “A quarter of a century after race was part of everyday public discourse, it haunts us quietly, though on occasion- as in the Rodney King beating or the O.J. Simpson trial or Eric McGinnis’s death- it erupts with jarring urgency (11).”

This piece of evidence involving allusions is very important to what Kotlowitz is trying to convey to the readers. By comparing the difficulties in these towns to a couple of infamous racial problems and trials, it demonstrates to the reader the kind of problems that these towns are having and how they are similar to ones that have occurred in the past. History is very easily repeating its self and old problems have yet to be solved in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.

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Introduction: Author, Alex Kotlowitz, discusses the impact of a young, black boy's murder on 2 neighboring towns. Kotlowitz's purpose is to reveal information gathered from both sides. He utilizes a formal and objective tone to get his point across.

Evidence 1: He interviews a police officer, getting information on the matter and showing the emotional touch on the story, that it doesn't seem to be a big deal, "Drownings are common occurrences around here, sometimes as many as 3 to 4 times a year."

Evidence 2: Kotlowitz uses an abundance of figurative language such as imagery to allow the reader to see as he sees; Kotlowitz describes the setting, "A landscape so shriveled and stooped that it appeared near death..." giving readers a clear picture.

Evidence 3: Ethos is depicted through statements given by locals, "If I lived in Benton Harbor, I'd think that building was there to keep an eye on us."

Conmentary, Evidence 2: With an abundance of figurative language, Kotlowitz easily presents a more interesting and picturable story.

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For the second prompt, I want you to write an outline for a rhetorical analysis. Write a short intro paragraph, and then identify three pieces of evidence you would include in your essay.  Include page numbers for your evidence.  Choose one piece of evidence and write commentary that you would include to support why they evidence is important, effective, worthy of pulling out from the hundreds of pages.

Please set up your response with your full name and block number as the title.
In the entry, write as follows:

Introduction:

First piece of evidence:

Second piece of evidence:

Third piece of evidence:

Commentary for first/second/third piece of evidence: