MITCHELL METHODS OF PERSUASION & “AIN’T I A WOMAN”

WHAT IS PERSUASION? Persuasion is the art of convincing people to do, believe, or think certain things. Examples: Advertising. Michael Jordan is endorsed by and associated with certain merchandise: You buy the latest Jordan athletic shoes. You wear Hanes. You wear Nike athletic clothes. You drink Gatorade. Why? Because we see commercials with him and these products. This is called an ethical appeal.

AN ETHICAL APPEAL IS… … when you are persuaded into doing or believing something because you trust the author or person presenting the information. Think about it - why do we drink Gatorade? Because famous people do, like the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena) and other pro athletes. Here’s the catch – those people MAKE MILLIONS each year by allowing those companies to use their names and their faces in advertising. For $20 million/year, who wouldn’t drink Gatorade or wear Nikes??

EMOTIONAL APPEAL … works when you are persuaded through your emotions, such as sympathy, guilt, jealousy, or even your personal desires, etc. Any emotion counts. Hey! There’s a new convention this weekend! Want to lose weight or quit smoking, but can’t? Do it the EASY way – through hypnosis! Sessions are just two hours, and you walk away without those bad habits and you won’t feel any different! (I actually heard this commercial on my way in to work today).

LOGICAL APPEAL … this is actually the trickiest of the appeals, because this appeal works by presenting logical reasons, such as facts and numbers, to make you believe or do something. BUT – people often misconstrue truth so that information fits certain scenarios they want you to believe. This is why its important to never fully trust one source of information, for it could easily be biased (lean towards one side, without fairly representing both).

THESE APPEALS ARE EVERYWHERE: Politics Commercials and Advertising Industry Even in every day conversations! WATCH CLOSELY

“AIN’T I A WOMAN?” Delivered by Sojourner Truth, May 29, As you read the text, annotate for examples of appeals. Truth’s methods of persuasion actually uses all three (emotional, ethical, and logical), so be sure to look for them.

GAGE’S ACCOUNT OF THE SPEECH Read the account provided by Frances Dana Gage, who was the presiding official at the Women’s Rights Convention at the time Truth gave her speech. Annotate for evidence of how Gage and the others in the audience perceived Sojourner Truth (like you did with character traits in “Flowers for Algernon”).

RESPONSE TO READING Differing Perspective: How does Gage’s recount of the speech change the way we perceive the original text? Written Conversation: With a partner, discuss the question above. Key words to use: recount, perceive

HHHEEYYYYYYY! QUIZ TIME. 1.How does Gage describe Truth? 2.How did other women at the convention respond to Truth’s presence at first? 3.How do you think Mrs. Gage felt about Truth speaking at this meeting? 4.How does Truth structure/organize her argument? (hint – think about how she “called folks out”) 5.Once Truth was done with her speech, how did people respond?

WHAT IS MODERN SLAVERY? Annotate the text, and look for evidence of structure, evidence, organization, and central idea. Do these QUESTIONS in your notebook: 1.Structure: How does the author of this text present the different ideas contained within this piece (hint - sections?) 2.Content: What topics are discussed ? What distinguishes one type from another? 3.Tone: How does the author feel about this subject? Does the tone ever change? (hint, it does, so find it!) 4.Based on the text, what is the central idea? (hint – look for those repeated words & ideas!)