Kenwood Academy High School



SOAPSTone Preview Graphic Organizer

|Directions: Complete the SOAPSTone organizer including text details to support your claims for each element of the table. NOTE ANY SHIFTS IN THE TEXT. |

|SOAPStone Components |Notes/Text Indicators |

|Speaker |Brent Staples, black man, PHD in Psychology, journalist |

|The voice that tells the story, |“The youngish black man—a broad six feet two…” |

|or in nonfiction, the author. |Comes off as threatening to others based on his appearance |

|What do we know and what can we |Actually has a very gentle, soft personality |

|infer about the writer’s life and|From “a small, angry industrial town” in Pennsylvania |

|views that shape this text? |Went to school in Chicago and lived in NYC |

|Occasion The time and place of |Published in 1986, takes place in 1970s and early 80s |

|the piece; the current situation |Racial tensions heightened |

|or context which gave rise to the|Urban areas (Chicago and NYC)—segregation and racism prevalent |

|writing or speech. | |

|(Think about genre & | |

|publication!) | |

|Audience The group of readers to |Women (mostly liberal and feminist) based on original publication in Ms. Magazine in 1986 |

|whom this piece is directed. The |“I understand, of course, that the danger that they perceive is not a hallucination” |

|audience may be one person, a |Wider audience when published in Harper’s |

|small group, or a large group. |American people/society in general |

|What qualities, beliefs, or |White people (majority) |

|values do the audience members |“I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver—black, white, male,|

|have in common? |or female…” |

|Purpose |To provide the perspective of a black man who encounters public racism/prejudice on a daily basis |

|The reason behind the text. What |To illustrate how black men alter public space in negative ways |

|does the speaker, writer, or |“It was in the echo of that terrified woman’s footfalls…” |

|filmmaker want the audience to | |

|do, feel, say or choose? | |

|Subject |Prejudice based on appearance, race, gender |

|The general topic, content, and |Racism in society |

|ideas contained in the text. What| |

|is this piece about? | |

|Tone |Candid/Truthful—use of personal experience/anecdotes |

|What choice of words and use of |Forgiving “Over the years I learned to smother the rage…” |

|rhetorical devices let you know |Ironic/bitter “My first victim was a white woman…”—the speaker is actually the victim |

|the speaker’s tone. Is the tone | |

|light-hearted or deadly serious? | |

|Mischievous or ironic? What | |

|emotions are conveyed behind the | |

|language in the text? | |

|Rhetorical Considerations |

|ETHOS: How do we know the speaker is credible, intelligent, and good-willed? Does our understanding of his or her persona make his claim powerful/reliable? |

| |

|Speaker is a black male so he has personal experience with this issue—paragraph 1 |

|Firsthand experience with racism/discrimination/stereotypes—“my first victim was a white woman…” |

|He’s intelligent/educated—graduate student at U of C |

|Good-willed—tries to make others comfortable “I whistle melodies from Vivaldi…” |

|“I now take precautions to make myself less threatening…” |

|“Women are particularly vulnerable to street violence…” (shows he understands why some people fear him/acknowledging the counter-argument) |

|PATHOS: How does the speaker appeal to the audience’s emotions? How is this effective in making his or her point? |

|Paragraph 5: “I understand, of course, the danger they perceive is not a hallucination” (appeals particularly to women’s emotions) |

|“I grew accustomed to but never comfortable…” (incites empathy in reader) |

|“I was surprised, dismayed, and embarrassed…” (helps reader relate to/connect with speaker) |

|“My first victim..” (causes reader to look inward at his/her own stereotypes) |

|“Yet these truths are no solace against the kind of alienation…” |

|LOGOS: Where does the speaker use logical evidence to support his claims and refute counterarguments? Does he or she follow a CLAIM-DATA-BECAUSE pattern? |

|Uses facts/common knowledge to show understanding of counter-argument |

|Real-life experiences/personal anecdotes (several examples)—“I was mistaken as a burglar..” |

|Also gives experience of another black man |

|“Black men trade tales like this all the time” (shows that more people than him face this issue—it’s ALL black men) |

|ARRANGEMENT: What is significant about the way the author arranged this essay? (What comes before what and why?) Is there a clear beginning, middle and end? |

|How are they characterized? |

|Starts off essay by acknowledging white woman as “victim”—ironic when in the end we realize he is the victim. |

| |

|Most of the essay consists of personal anecdotes to provide ethos |

| |

|Establishes claim, provides anecdotes, personal reflection at the end (shows how he has to change himself to make OTHERS feel comfortable—might help to affect |

|change in the reader) |

| |

|Does not provide solution—there’s no clear solution (still going on) |

|STYLE/DICTION: What word choices, phrases, or images really “pack a punch” in essay? How do these words or images support the tone, purpose, or effect of the |

|essay? |

|“I was surprised, embarrassed, dismayed”—develops ethos and pathos |

| |

|“It is my equivalent of the cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country” (ends with this analogy to show how he has to alter himself to |

|make others comfortable; flips the hunter/hunted metaphor) |

| |

|“I learned to smother the rage…” (emphasizes how much effort it takes for him not to get upset; fire imagery; has to smother his identity and assimilate) |

| |

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