week 3 resp

Gilbert Absolu posted May 21, 2022 12:13 PM

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The article “The Last Straw” is written by author Alice Wong and was published on Eater.com on July 19, 2018. Alice Wong is a disability activist, researcher, and the founder of the Disability Visibility Project. In “The Last Straw” Wong stresses her perspective as a disabled person to the evolving debate about banning plastic straws. She puts an overlooked viewpoint the topic, by arguing plastic straws are essential for disabled people to participate in the social norm of eating out. In her essay, Alice Wong utilizes several rhetorical elements. The author is effective in implementing rhetorical elements since they connect with the text and increase the understanding for the audience.

The rhetor of the essay, “The Last Straw” is Alice Wong, a disability activist, researcher, founder of the Disability Visibility Project, co-partner of #CripTheVote. She has written several pieces that has been published on many media platforms. Wong isn’t afraid to share her experience as being a disabled person, which makes her work passionate, genuine and trustworthy. Wong has solidified herself as a voice for disabled issues throughout the online community.

The audience of Alice Wong’s essay are those open to learning about the plight of others since she is talking about a specific issue plaguing her community. She is also speaking to other disabled people to let them know they are not alone in their struggles. Her essay addresses disabled people in a manner that is somewhat a call to action. The action is to hold eating establishments accountable to their disabled patrons. She wants them to feel free in speaking up about the challenges they endure when wanting to go out to enjoy the same privileges as everyone else. Wong attempts to bring awareness to everyone about the social ostracization of disabled persons. To bring the point home even further, Wong included personal testimonies via tweets.

The exigence is the problem defined as the purpose of the Wong’s essay. “The Last Straw” was written to inform society about the challenges disabled people face with the banning of plastic straws. awareness of eating establishments, such as having plastic straws for those that require them with their beverage. The writer demands the audience’s attention to the problems facing those living with physical disabilities in public spaces. In the face of the ban, Wong explains the extra scrutiny disabled people face when having to ask for plastic straws and having to disclose their disability in front of other patrons of the eating establishment. While the banning of plastic straws is not a big issue for nondisabled people, it carries profound consequences for disabled people. Wong expresses the depth of the problem by sharing her personal experience. Thus, the author uses this essay as a call for action to prevent the banning of plastic straws by explaining how disabled people benefit from having them available. Plastic straws are more than a prop, as Wong stated, “one person’s social prop is another person’s conduit for nutrition. It’s as if people who rely on straws — older adults, children, and disabled people — don’t matter and that our needs are less important than the environment. I feel erased by these attitudes” (Wong, 2018).

The constraints are the limitation of the author’s work. The most notable constraint of the essay is the attention of the audience. As the campaign to ban plastic straws has been sold as an environmental issue that will help the greater society. The risk the audience sharing the attitude of some organizations. As the National Restaurant Association, who regards disabled people as “fakers” and “complainers” based on their disdain for the American Disability Act (ADA). The writer uses tweets from others to provide examples of what other disabled people experiences. Thus, the writer is forced to inform the audience on how plastic straws have been used as a social prop in a larger environmental problem that will require eating establishments to look at their overall consumption of waste throughout their business and not just focus on plastic straws as the enemy. Wong is tasked with changing the ideology of her audience by challenging them to think more open minded about banning of plastic straws as a health issue versus that of environmental integrity. Thus, the author explains the problem outright to convince the audience that disabled people’s health are dependent upon plastic straws.

The context of the essay is the situation that inspired Alice Wong to write the essay. The circumstances Wong is writing about is the need to consider the needs of disabled people in public spaces. In an effort to combat environmental pollution, companies, as Starbucks, decided to ban plastic straws. As Wong noted, the banning of plastic straws fail to put a dent into environmental pollution. Banning plastic straws is an attempt by businesses to feel better in their pollution without actually scaling back on their consumption of wasteful plastic products throughout conducting business. The targeting of plastic straws is a target on disabled people as Wong, that depend on them. Therefore, the situation of the plastic straw ban led Wong to write her essay to inform others of the effects of banning plastic straws.

The text Wong uses is exposition, as it the essay offered a particular point of view pertaining to the banning of straws. Wong informed the reader of a problem and offered solutions by explaining what eating establishments can do to offset the banning of plastic straws and reduce their reliance on other plastic material. Wong perspective granted the reader access to the life of a disabled person and the challenges they face when simply going out to enjoy a meal; something nondisabled persons take advantage of freely. As a result, the audience is more likely to be compelled to be moved to action.

Wong used logos form of rhetorical appeal. She explained the usefulness of plastic straws for people with certain physical disabilities, as herself. Wong lends her experience as a disability activist for credibility to her argument as to why plastic straws should not be banned. While evoking emotions of the reader, Wong does well to explain the benefits of having access to plastic straws for all who needs them. She makes the point that banning plastic straws adds to the burden of many disabled persons. She uses her own plight to draw the reader in to the context of the writing by offering examples of her good and bad experiences.

In reading her essay, Alice Wong was successful in executing rhetorical elements in “The Last Straw”. Her use of different elements delivered a well-rounded piece of writing toked passion and emotion while informing about the problem. Along with the rhetorical elements, Wong’s credibility helped her craft a well informative piece of work.

Mini Reflection

In doing this rhetorical analysis I understood the content and context of the essay on a higher level. I discovered that the adding of rhetorical elements aids to writing a great informative piece. As it adds to the appeal to the audience and sparks a call to action on a real-world problem. I respect Wong’s embracing her personal life struggles into the writing. It made the issue a society issue and not that of only disabled persons. Especially her including the negative feedback she has received from outsiders within the online social media community. As Wong noted, disabled people have to explain and defend themselves in a world that was never built for them.