This writer and naturalist Terry Tempest Williams dedicates her writing to speak out on behalf of moral issues. Her personal website, coyoteclan.com/bio, explains her qualifications, struggles, and dedication. She has won awards, has been invited to the White House, and testified in front of Congress. In her personal story called “The Clan of One-Breasted Women,” Williams shows her need for justice in this life. Even though there is no direct correlation, the bomb testing in the 1950s could have easily cause certain kinds of cancer from the radiation and Williams tries to prove this. She gives evidence supporting her claim combined with her personal experience while living in Utah.
In Salt Lake City, Utah lived a young women by the name of Terry Tempest Williams. At a young age Williams knew the difficulties of death when her mother passed from breast cancer. Her mother, grandmothers, and several aunts all knew the harsh life of cancer, struggling to be optimistic. Williams would often wait for good news, but never received any and soon it became clear none would come. She argues the fact of what caused the cancer. The nuclear testing during the 50s could have made a difference, but the government denied any involvement. Does that mean the testing didn't affect anyone or did they miscalculate (Williams, 118-120)? Back in the 50s it was not well known that radiation caused cancer, but with more testing and research we now know radiation can severely damage your health.
Williams offers an interesting fact about her culture that helps her point. When Williams is talking about cancer she reasons that statistically it was rare for her family to have so many cancer infected spouse for several reasons. One reason would be that breas...
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...d cancer in her family from the mere radiation exposure. She gives evidence such as family history and government history of testing to support her claims. These facts combined with her personal experience of life in Utah constructs a good argument in her favor. Williams dedication is clear seen when the audience considers the resentment she received from other family members due to her Mormon culture and her lack of fear from being arrested. The audience would be prone to give Williams sympathy from family tragedy and believe her more easily because she offers specific dates of her information.
Works Cited
Tempest Williams, Terry. "Bio." Terry Tempest Williams. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. .
Tempest Williams, Terry. “The Clan of One-Breasted Women.” Natural Acts. Scipione, Stephen. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 118-125. Print.
I think the chapter that helps to support her main point the most is chapter four titled “Space.” In this chapter, she discussed a great deal about the geographic distribution of cancer as well as the environment of the people who are more likely to get cancer. This includes: job type, living location, and living surroundings. To expand on each, she states that workers with
To conclude, Rachel Carson is a skilled writer who employs many different rhetorical strategies and formats her information in a deliberate way to maximize the effectiveness of her argument. She appeals to emotion, but supplements her points with facts, examples, and expert opinions. Her book, Silent Spring, surely convinced many of the dangers of poisons like parathion, and inspired some to seek alternatives to aerial
Wilma Mankiller was born in 1945 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma where she lived with her father Charlie, a full-blooded Cherokee, her mother Irene, of mixed Irish and Dutch ancestry, as well as her four sisters and six brothers. Their surname is a traditional Cherokee military rank. Wilma was a fifth generation Mankiller, with ancestry traced back to the Cherokee forced to move west along the Trail of Tears (Mankiller 3-4). She grew up in Oklahoma on land granted to her family by the federal government. In 1956, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a federal agency responsible for the land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans, relocated her family to San Francisco with their consent (Mankiller 60). Her family’s relocation by the government had a great affect...
Rachel Carson establishes ethos to begin constructing her argument against poisonings. In lines 8-12, she cites the Fish and Wildlife Service to demonstrate that her concerns extend to credible organizations and are not unfounded. She documents an example where farmers in southern Indiana “went together in the summer of 1959 to engage a spray plane to treat an area of river bottomland with parathion” (lines 12-16). To further establish her ethos and authority to speak on this topic, she also supplements this example by explaining a healthy, eco-friendly alternative to how the farmers could have responded. In lines 17-22, she states that agricultural practice revisions would have sufficed for a solution, making the poisonings unnecessary. By offering a solution, Carson not only
In situations such as this, Williams has had use his skills not only to understand what those speaking to him are trying to say, but also who in the household may be ill. In Danse Pseudomacabre, Williams shows off his ability to place what culture each of the residents of an area may hail from. He does it almost instantaneously in his mind as he carries out his duties as a physician. This example also shows that Williams was very culturally versed. In A Night In June, Williams visits to a household of Italian speakers as a young doctor and fails in an attempt to deliver a child. The tale continues with him returning later on to aid in the safe delivery another child by the same woman, who at the time (with the exception of one child) had had all of her children delivered by Williams. The family spoke very little English, but Williams was somehow still capable of understanding what they were trying to say as well as able to issue orders to the members of the household to aid him in the
As modern humans, we understand that the quality of our health is affected by the negative impacts, such as air pollution, water and food. Science is developing in much faster way but at the same time number of problems are also arising. Problems like infectious diseases, diseases without any treatment or whose treatments are available up to a lesser extent such as Lung cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, penile cancer etc. Cancer is responsible for one in seven deaths. It is epidemic disease thefore its consequences can be seen worldwide. More than twelve million new cases diagnosed yearly and the rate is increasing much faster (Hegde, j.j. 2009). Large number of patients die after developing cancer despite the availabity of various treatments, therefore there is a increase demand for a developing new approaches to cancer therapy. There are number of treatments available but the problem is that they have number of side effects, disturbance or effect on the norm...
...ate cancer are the quality of life, medical care, and nutrition. I have learned that scientists are coming up with broader and unique treatments of this cancer. One other factor that I encountered while researching was that African American men were more likely to develop this cancer due to the lack of resources to help themselves.
“Carson used the era’s hysteria about radiation to snap her readers to attention, drawing a parallel between nuclear fallout and a new, invisible chemical threat of pesticides throughout Silent Spring,” (Griswold 21). She described radiation as the creation of human’s tampering with nature, and warned that similar dangers would become inevitable with the continued use of pesticides (Carson 7). Carson also knew that a large percent of her audience would be housewives, who she could use as example of those who found poisoned birds and squirrels in their gardens. She angled much of Silent Spring towards this audience, which helped her book become the catalyst for environmental change (Griswold
The book begins with a narrative of cancer relating back to its history. Cancer in the book is discussed as a confusing, complex disease that was hard to decode by doctors for over a century. Mukherjee gives rich details about the way people assessed breast cancer in the nineteenth century discussing how radiation and chemotherapy were once used before modern times. Further, into the book, Mukherjee shares with personal experience working in the field of
Williams will continue to act in civil disobedience against some of the beliefs held in the Mormon Church; questioning everything she is taught. She attributes her work in part to her faith. This is perhaps because of her upbringing in Mormonism and her vision of a person in white that confirmed her faith. The love she had for her mother was perhaps another reason; Williams’ mother was a devout Mormon who took her religion seriously and closely followed its traditions. The independent spirit that she possesses, however, keeps her from accepting Mormonism in its entirety. She believes that it is right to challenge one’s beliefs, that it prevents one from blindly accepting everything.
In 1962, the publication of Silent Spring Rachel Carson captivated the American public. Carson wrote about the harmful effects of chemical pesticides in the environment, and her writing was very reflective of the events occurring at the time. There is a strong connection between Carson’s writing and the Cold War. In fact, if it were not for the war, the American public may not have responded in the same way to Carson’s writing. Carson used tone and content as methods of getting her point across to the public. Silent Spring shined a light on the damage done to the environment as a result of the Cold War, and this issue was finally being recognized by American public.
...ave had discussions where we determined that, as a family, we should be proactive in preventing or, if need be, treating breast cancer. My mom is even considering genome mapping. She would rather know and take action, than wait for it to happen. From my grandma’s experience, we’ve learned how hard it is to watch someone deteriorate quickly while knowing how treatable her disease would have been had she sought care sooner.
In today’s world, cancer is known to be one of the deadliest diseases around; however, in the 16th century, diseases that are much less common in today’s world were prominent. All of these diseases played a substantial role in wiping out a massive population during the Elizabethan era. Within the 16th century society, diseases such smallpox, the Black Death, and syphilis were all detrimental to the civilians.
The East Pennsboro elementary school raised money for a statue at a local park. The statue was a ring of children that were holding hands. There was one child missing; the link was broken. The statue was dedicated to East Pennsboro students that did not make it to their graduation. My sophomore year of high school inspired this piece of artwork.
In Terry Tempest Williams, “The Clan of One-Breasted Women” she talked about the women in her families’ struggle with breast cancer. She points out that the reason behind it is the nuclear testing that was done in Utah. Williams tone throughout her writing is brave and determined yet angry at the same time. This is shown when she writes “But as I walked toward the town of Mercury, it was more than a gesture of peace. It was a gesture on behalf of the Clan of One-breasted women” She writes this explaining when she crossed the Nevada Test Site on March 18, 1988 to try and protest the nuclear testing in the deserts.