They Are Addressing, Making It a More Believable Stance

Moreno 1

Odette Moreno

Heather Ordover

English 102

9 September 2008

Spanglish

“Spanglish,” a polemic that identifies a significant issue found in border town cultures relating to the idea of language, expresses certain troubles in combining both English and Spanish and how quickly this has become a popular way of speaking. This polemic has an evident sign of persuasion since the beginning, through the use of an example, “Hey vamos a comer primero then we can go to the fiesta.” This not only enables the reader to clearly understand what point the author is trying to get across but also catches the audience’s attention to keep reading more. The writer also uses a form of personal narrative to persuade the reader, certain rhetoric styles, and an organization structure that affects the polemic both negatively and positively.

The author writes this polemic using personal experiences and certain circumstances they have undergone, which can ultimately have a greater influence on the audience. Being that this polemic refers to those people who live near border towns, most people can relate to this because Tucson is located very close to a border town and it is evident they will come across this Spanglish form of speaking. This is essential so that the public becomes aware and realizes the reality of the situation, so they too feel the issue needs to change. The author mentions they have lived in a border town all their life, proving they have a definite background and first hand experience regarding the issue

Moreno 2

they are addressing, making it a more believable stance.

As the writer makes their arguments with supporting evidence, certain ideas affected the organizational structure because the author disputes about two separate issues relating to Spanglish rather than one. In the beginning of the polemic the writer says, “English and Spanish are meant to be spoken to represent two separate cultures,” this sets the reader with the idea that the author is going to argue about how Spanglish takes away the individuality about each culture. After further reading, the reader demonstrates their frustration towards how Spanglish sounds in general and that it’s a horrible way of speaking. This adds confusion in the sense that the audience doesn’t get a clear understanding of whether the author despises the idea of combining cultures or the idea of how terribly wrong Spanglish sounds. Organization, the way in which the ideas of the writer are put needs improvement in that the entire polemic should be based on one single idea rather than two, so the audience doesn’t lose focus on the major idea.

This polemic greatly uses pathos, one of the three modes of persuasion in rhetoric, another effective form of convincing the audience using emotion. Many expressive words such as annoying, illiterate, offensive, and absurd that the author uses, proves to the reader they have strong feelings towards the issue. Even though this is essential in convincing the reader to think a certain way it can at times be too much of an exaggeration, pulling the reader away from being persuaded. The polemic did lack the use of logos because there were no facts included within, which can make it harder for the audience to believe this so called Spanglish is truly increasing in border town cultures. Having rhetoric terms enforced in a polemic can both help or harm the

Moreno 3

influence it will have on the audience.

Any polemic regardless of the subject has the goal of persuading the reader. “Spanglish” uses various ways to entice as well to not allure the audience, such as personal experience, organizational structure and the use of rhetoric terms. These ideas both support and weaken the persuasion trying to be made.