Post 2: Rhetorical Analysis

 Hello and welcome back to my blog. In this post, I will be discussing the rhetorical analysis that Monique Morris uses in the novel. 

    In this section of the book, Morris continues to interview young Black girls about their experiences. She establishes the appeal of ethos right away. The way she asks the girls questions make them more comfortable, and the fact that she is also a Black woman gives them more to relate to, so they understand each other on another level. Morris was interviewing a girl named Destiny who was labeled as a juvenile delinquent, so she was put into a juvenile facility instead of regular school. While Morris is talking to her, she asks her a question but lets Destiny speak for as long as she can get her message out. It's a healthy conversation and Morris asks her phrases like "do you feel safe in school?" and "how do you feel about being called ratchet and ghetto?" (Morris, page 45). These kind of questions allow Destiny to truly express what she feels. 

A girl's juvenile detention center
(Gold)

    Morris also interviewed a fifteen year old girl who was in juvenile detention school, just like Destiny, and her name is Faith. Faith asked Morris "You know how they say this is a man's world?" (Morris, page 52). Morris described here that they had a connection over that conversation, because they could both relate to it and felt the same way. The fact that a young, fifteen year old girl who was named as a delinquent, was having a serious and mature conversation like this means there's a good chance she should not be in the detention facility. Morris writes that what Faith sees in the world is the hierarchy that shows she is supposedly less than adults, boys and men, wealthy people, and heterosexual girls. (Morris, page 52). Everything she was not, she had been told that she was less. I thought this was a great example of pathos, which is the appeal to the reader's emotions. Reading about how a fifteen year old girl thinks about herself is just heartbreaking, and no one should ever feel like they are inferior, because of things they can't change.

    In the same chapter, Morris uses techniques like using evidence to explain how some Black Americans feel on certain subjects. The first thing she talked about was a picture of the Obama family in the classroom. Morris described that they were "A Black family of the highest privilege," (Morris, page 53). Though Obama and his family might be great role models to look up to, Morris wrote about how she could only think about the comparison between the former President and Faith. She felt that the picture didn't belong in this institution where help is not being provided for these young girls. "In that juvenile hall, the image and the privilege it represented felt unreal, out of touch, and unfair," (Morris, page 53). This part is also where Monique Morris gave some logos, or logic to the situation. Her interviews with the girls supports her argument that the school system is not treating Black girls the way it treats others.

    The last technique I wanted to talk about in this post that Morris used is about word choice. She wrote that often, schools will say when girls of color get in trouble, they brought it on themselves, and it's their fault. When most of the time, the things that these girls are doing are not as bad as the punishment they're receiving, and if it were a white girl doing it, the consequences would not be the same. For example, Morris noted that Destiny said Black girls get in trouble for being "unruly" and they "talk back to teachers and principals, fight each other, show up to school 'half dressed,' and display an overall lack of self-respect or respect for others," (Morris, page 46). To Morris, and I feel the same way, these are just stereotypes that Black girls get, and everything they do is criticized. Teachers said that they're out of control, and the word control is what Monique Morris focuses on for the next section. She says that when Black girls get called out of control and all these other insults, that they start to internalize the ideas. So when the adults say that they're out of control, wild, problematic, ratchet, these young women will start to believe it and put themselves down. (Morris, page 46).

The author covered a lot in this section, and I really learned a lot more about school life and the stereotyping that goes on there. I am excited to read the next section!

Works Cited

Gold, Jenny. "In Juvenile Detention, Girls Face Health Care Designed For Boys." KHN, NPR, 26 Nov. 2012, khn.org/news/girls-health-juvenile-detention/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2021.

Morris, Monique W. Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. New York City, New Press, 2016.