University English 4: Critical Analysis of Literary Tone in Texts

This argumentative essay critically analyzes the tone and rhetoric employed in three literary texts: Rohinton Mistry's "The Ghost of Firozshah Bagh," Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Tomorrow is Too Far." The essay examines how each author uses tone to convey their message and explores the themes of discrimination present in each work. Mistry's story highlights societal discrimination against caretakers, while King's letter addresses racial discrimination and Adichie's story explores gender-based discrimination. The essay compares and contrasts the rhetorical strategies used by each author, including the use of direct address, personal anecdotes, and narrative perspective. The essay concludes by evaluating the effectiveness of each author's approach and the impact of their respective tones on the reader's understanding of the issues presented. The analysis adheres to APA formatting guidelines, providing in-text citations and a reference list for the course texts.

Critical Reading and Writing
Argumentative Essay
12/10/2019
University
Student Credentials

English 1
Analysis and Critical examination
Thesis of this essay revolves around three different scenarios that states that
discrimination is a practice that revolves around every person in this world and is a very
serious issue that needs to be tended to as soon as possible.
Tales from Firozshah Bagh is a compilation of various short stories written by
Rohinton Mistry. A particular short story, “The Ghost of Firozshah Bagh” is the topic of
discussion here. It is a story from the viewpoint of a care taker of a flat in Firoz Shah Bagh.
This story specifies the author’s tone regarding discrimination concerning the treatment care
–takers get from the society surrounding them. Though the story is quite well written and
Rohinton Mistry is one of the famous writers who is renowned for his writing ability, one
drawback in the writing that makes the reader get confused is the story going back and forth
in the past without any intimation. Once the narrator or the care –taker is talking about the
ghost and another sentence is about a person from her past.
In this story, the author talks about major criminal issues being portrayed as a casual
encounter such as a person molesting the care –taker and she watching another girl being
molested later on by that same person without reporting him. Discrimination is another aspect
that can be seen in the Indian society in general. The care –takers or the maids are not
allowed to sit on the chairs or be equals in any manner. The narrator in the story even sleeps
on floor on day to day basis. She works hard all day long despite her age and still the owners
of the house do not treat her well and make her work even harder. Superstition plays another
very important role in this story, as the narrator starts seeing a ghost and later believes it to
have left when she reports him to the father of the church. Even the ‘bai’ in the story or the

English 2
woman of the house later starts believing in ghosts and starts performing Parsi superstitions
around the house (Mistry, 2019).
The letter from Birmingham Jail was a letter written by Martin Luther King Jr.
directing towards the eight clergy men in Alabama, Birmingham, who tried to condemn the
actions of Martin Luther King (Jr.). Though it is a well written letter stating all the necessary
information relating to their motives, the tone of the author tends to aggravate the opponents
or the clergymen and instead of sympathizing with the situation King is under, it clears out
the plans king has for the future of America. Since ages, black people have been bound to
racism and discrimination and it is a regular part of their life that they deal with. But one
thing that makes the letter criticism worthy is King Requests the black people to accept the
discrimination and not revolt back or make a fuss. He believes that taking a path of non-
violence shall resolve the issue, though it is a positive approach. But years have passed
already but racism does exist and though people are much more accepting nowadays but not
much has been gained after so many years ( King (Jr.), 2019).
The thing around your neck is another compilation of many short stories by the
infamous Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The tone of the short story that is
being discussed further is one from this book titled as “Tomorrow is too far”. The narrator or
the girl in the story is quite envious of her brother being the one treated differently as in their
house, it is a belief that the men lead and succeed the tribe after the elders. Hence, the
grandmother’s special treatment towards her brother makes her and her cousin furious. The
author talks about the discrimination based upon the gender which is the main issue of
criticism in the story. This discrimination leads the protagonist to commit a criminal act or
the murder of her own brother. The feeling of being left out and the sole purpose of her
existence is to be good to her husband is what the protagonist feels that makes her commit the
act.

English 3
Another aspect that shall be discussed is, the act of murder being taken so lightly in
the story. The cousin that co –operates and knows everything must tell the authorities the real
picture but he never does so, hence protecting the criminal. Though both of them are guilty of
the deed they did but no one ever reported their crime. Children being prone to wrong
activities while exploring is another aspect of this story. The protagonist falling in love with
her cousin and kids trying to have intimate relationship in a cupboard is not a healthy idea to
paint the picture in small children’s minds. Though all over, it is a well written story, but
again there are certain areas where it lacks. Hence, leading the small minds to wander and
make stories on their own. Also, the climax part where the secret behind the lies that the
protagonist has told her mother reveals, that the actual criminal in this story was the
protagonist herself is quite sloppily written and could have been written in a much better
manner (Adichie, 2019).
There are basically three literary pieces discussed above, that debate in detail about
the discriminating practices and other wrong practices around the world. Every writer has
his /her own style of writing and keeping the readers hooked with it. Though all of the stories
above discussed are master pieces on their own have a few points that shall be criticised due
to their content. In all of these three stories, discrimination is the common key. Though it is
of different kinds but discrimination is everywhere. Be it gender based, race based, colour
based or even status based, discrimination comes in various aspects of society. It is how the
society sees the individuals.

English 4
Bibliography
King (Jr.), M. (2019). "Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]". Retrieved December
2019, 2019, from AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER - UNIVERSITY OF
PENNSYLVANIA:
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Adichie, C. N. (2019). Tomorrow is too far. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from Moodle:
https://moodle.nait.ca/pluginfile.php/8538182/mod_resource/content/1/adichie
%20tomorrow.pdf
Mistry, R. (2019). The Gost Of Firozshah Bagh. Retrieved December 10, 2019, from
Moodle: https://moodle.nait.ca/pluginfile.php/8538183/mod_resource/content/1/
mistry%20ghost.pdf