Rhetorical Analysis: Brent Staples' Essay on Public Space and Race

This essay presents a rhetorical analysis of Brent Staples' "Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space," examining how Staples employs rhetorical devices to convey his experiences with racial discrimination and its impact on his life. The analysis focuses on Staples' use of anecdotes, polysyndeton, and onomatopoeia to draw the reader into his narrative and evoke empathy. It explores how Staples' personal experiences and reflections on his own attributes contribute to the persuasiveness of his argument, successfully highlighting the pervasive nature of racial bias and its effects on public perception and personal identity. The essay concludes that Staples effectively uses "Aristotelian Appeals" and "Ethos, Logos, and Pathos" to persuade readers to agree with his point of view while creating an emotional response.

1Staple, 263-268
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Name of the Professor
English Essay
Date: 9 September 2018
Rhetorical analysis on “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to
Alter Public Space”
Introduction
The study intends to give a rhetorical analysis of “Just Walk on By: A Black Man
Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space” by Brent Staples. The study will evaluate how the
author positioned his argument in his writing while making the essay a worth reading piece to the
readers. The author’s intention was to reveal the racial discrimination which can ruin a life of an
individual grossly. Staple nicely portrayed his personal experience as he experienced
discrimination because he was a black (Staples: 263-268). Hence, the paper will critically
analyze the essay to figure out whether the writer has achieved his intention or not.
Discussion

2Staple, 263-268
Staple in his essay explains the discriminative behavior of a white dominated society
where he works as journalist. The author experiences discrimination just because he was black
man. In order draw the readers’ attention from the very beginning, Staples begins the essay with
an anecdote. The anecdote is about the fear based on convention (Staples: 263-268). This way
Staples holds the grip of the readers’ attention at the immediate starting so that the readers
become further exited to learn about the reason behind the story of fear:
"I only needed to turn a corner into a dicey situation, or crowd some frightened, armed
person in a foyer somewhere, or make an errant move after being pulled over by a
policeman" (Staples: 263-268)
The line is a true example of polsyndeton which stresses on the effect of a living
individual represented by Staple’ own presence in the story:
" I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk,
thunk of the driver...hammering down the door locks” (Staples: 263-268).
The repeated use of the word ‘thunk’ suggests the author’s use of the device
onomatopoeia in order give a visual imagery of the incidents that take place in the narrative.
However, the entire essay was full of anecdotes that present the evidence of the author’s intent
that he or similar other persons can transform the tone of public space instantly.
In the essay Staple often gives the narrative of his personal experience while positioning
his message. In the whole course of the essay, Staple gradually makes the readers to feel
sympathy with his sufferings while reinforcing his point of view:

3Staple, 263-268
“As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken-let alone hold one to a
person’s throat-I was surprised, embraced, and dismayed all at once” (Staples: 263-268).
The line implies Staple’s attestation of personal attributes. Both his judgment and refutes
threw the light upon on Staples’s own self while developing a positive engagement with the
readers.
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded by saying that the overall analysis was done in accordance
with “Aristotelian Appeals” and “Ethos, Logos, and Pathos”, and then analyzed how the author
persuaded the readers in agreeing with his point of views while creating an emotional response.

4Staple, 263-268
Works Cited page
Staples, Brent. "Just walk on by: A black man ponders his power to alter public
space." Canadian content (2012): 263-268.