Eight years ago, history was made in the United States. Barack Obama was the first African American to be elected, a landmark decision that forever marked his legacy, with first lady Michelle Obama at his side. The results of a new election have ignited even more hate than the previous one, and division in society is only getting more heated. Some people believe racism in modern society is non existent, and others believe racism is tearing this society apart. In his column “Dear Michelle Obama,” Leonard Pitts takes the stance of the latter and uses rhetorical strategies such as syntax, diction, and humor to express his admiration for Michelle Obama and his contempt for racist bigotry. Throughout the column, Pitts uses a variety of sentence structures to criticize the bigotry of citizens and even of officials. For example, in paragraph 7, the first two sentences are styled in the same way. One sentence is introduced with “of course,” and the other with “naturally”; one sentence continues with “swore she was “not of any way” racist,” and the other with “swore that race had nothing to do with his words.” Pitts composed these sentences using parallelism so as to highlight the same predictable excuse that everyone uses. Later in the paragraph, he also utilizes syntax to comment on the ignorance of these officials, who are able to “sleep the untroubled sleep of the truly righteous—and utterly clueless.” The sentence even has a certain rhythm or cadence to it, that concludes with a stark interruption that articulates a truism. It packs a punch. Pitts’s flow in the piece has a certain melodic ring to it that matches the gracefulness that he describes Mrs. Obama as having. In conjunction with syntax, Pitts utilizes diction to create a harmonic counterpart to the already beautiful melody.
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His structure creates the rhythm and flow while his diction adds a poetic quality that makes all the elements unify. However, in paragraph 10, he suddenly breaks the unity by shifting his tone with the line, “racial denigration from ugly, stupid people.” The break this line creates due to the unexpected harsh diction is quickly brought back together in the next paragraph, line 2, “They watch even now in acquiescent silence.” Alliteration is subtly but effectively used in the phrase “acquiescent silence” to bring back the flow in the article. Later, Pitts is able to tie together his central idea, which is especially conveyed through his usage of anaphora in paragraph 13. He repeats the phrase “too many” to communicate that there are too many ignorant and bigoted people in the nation to allow the issue of racism to be addressed properly. Pitts wants Americans—specifically blacks and whites—to be unified, but he understands that this cannot happen unless each group recognizes racism as a problem that is still prevalent in modern society. By utilizing diction to both break apart and unify his piece, Pitts is able to express this desire through his writing. Pitts’s utilization of humor also conveys stark contrasts that he observes in society. For example, in paragraph 11, after he rejoins his flow with alliteration, he juxtaposes an image of “the incoming president plays tonsil hockey with Vladimir Putin,” and when Mrs. Obama “planted a garden and encouraged kids to exercise”. These two contrasting images highlight just how laughably
His structure creates the rhythm and flow while his diction adds a poetic quality that makes all the elements unify. However, in paragraph 10, he suddenly breaks the unity by shifting his tone with the line, “racial denigration from ugly, stupid people.” The break this line creates due to the unexpected harsh diction is quickly brought back together in the next paragraph, line 2, “They watch even now in acquiescent silence.” Alliteration is subtly but effectively used in the phrase “acquiescent silence” to bring back the flow in the article. Later, Pitts is able to tie together his central idea, which is especially conveyed through his usage of anaphora in paragraph 13. He repeats the phrase “too many” to communicate that there are too many ignorant and bigoted people in the nation to allow the issue of racism to be addressed properly. Pitts wants Americans—specifically blacks and whites—to be unified, but he understands that this cannot happen unless each group recognizes racism as a problem that is still prevalent in modern society. By utilizing diction to both break apart and unify his piece, Pitts is able to express this desire through his writing. Pitts’s utilization of humor also conveys stark contrasts that he observes in society. For example, in paragraph 11, after he rejoins his flow with alliteration, he juxtaposes an image of “the incoming president plays tonsil hockey with Vladimir Putin,” and when Mrs. Obama “planted a garden and encouraged kids to exercise”. These two contrasting images highlight just how laughably