Questions: 1) Joy Castro opens her essay with an arresting image: a bullet-riddled paper target pinned over a crib. Why did she decide to hang the target there? How does her explanation evolve between the essay’s beginning and end? 2)In the last third of her essay, beginning with paragraph 10, Emma Gonzalez offers a series of proposals for curtailing gun violence. Which of her proposals do you support? Why? Which do you oppose? Why. Makes sure to give an example of each a proposal you support and a proposal you oppose. If you do not support any of them, write about 2 that you oppose; if you do not oppose any of them, write about 2 that you support. 3)According to classical rhetoric, there are 3 main ways a speaker or writer might connect with or persuade an audience; (1) by establishing her own character credibility, or authority on a subject (ETHOS), (2) by appealing to emotions (PATHOS), or (3) by offering reasoned arguments (LOGOS). In her essay, Gonzalez relies on all 3 types of appeal. Where and how does she use each of them? Why might she have chosen to organizer her essay as she did? 4)What, according to David French, is “gun culture?” Why are people drawn to it? What are the feelings, values and opinions that characterize it according to the author? 5) Compare David French’s stance on gun control with Emma Gonzalez’s “Fighting for Gun Control”. Where do they disagree? Where do they find common ground? Then, compare David French’s essay “What Critics Don’t Understand about Gun Culture” to Joy Castro’s article “Grip.” In what ways does French fit Castro’s portrait of a typical gun owner? In what ways does she difference from or complicate it?
