**Warning: this is the first post so don't judge me too harshly! I'm not sure if i am doing this contextual analysis correctly!
Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player in Major League history.He began playing for the Dodgers in 1947 and wrote this article in 1954. He accomplishes this in a time that was not at all friendly to black Americans. Robinson writes this article to inform us about prejudice, and show us the a little bit of how he sees humanity. Jackie Robinson was the child of single parent home. His mother raised him with his other siblings in a predominately white community in Georgia. His family went through many struggles there. Although he overcame them with the help of his mother and through athletics, and was able to break barriers, and succeed in baseball.
There were many efforts made to integrate blacks into “white” society, but progress like that made in the 1940’s to integrate troops was taken away during the Korean War. The sports world and the Armed Forces were not the only arenas fighting for justice during the early 50’s but also the education world. Brown vs. the Board of Education was just ruled by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional to segregate blacks from whites in public schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had yet to be signed into office, and therefore blacks were living without many of the basic rights we all have now.
What struck me about this article is that Robinson was shown little hope early on in life. The social and political issues around him were not those that harbored faith in a system or in people. Blacks were fighting for rights and losing them, but Robinson’s attitude is positive. He talks about how when the national anthem was being played he felt included, like he was a part of something. He talks of prejudices that he went though that his children will not have to bear witness to, however they will still have their own set of problems to deal with. What I found most poignant in this article is how Robinson describes these horrible injustices as, “human imperfections”. His idea is that slowly these imperfections would disappear, and is that not exactly what is happening? I won’t claim that America is free of prejudice against blacks. I do believe that he was right that given time we will change. We enacted the Civil Rights Act, we allow blacks and whites to fight side by side, and we are integrated in our schools systems. These changes are not always fully implemented, we could possibly elect a black President, but it will not be without controversy or snide remarks from some.
Robinson's aim I believe is to inspire us. He does this by using some of the things we talk about in class, and in our readings. Pathos is what really struck me as valid in this essay. Robinson is reacting to what is happening on around him which is social injustice, and small victories like he himself has experienced. He is using pathos by appealing to the emotional side of the readers. I feel like I trust him and his point is validated which is using ethos because he is an African-American from meager beginnings who succeeds and becomes basically the first black man to play in the Major League. Robinson also includes the logos with his sympathetic language, which convinces us to see his point. It shows us what is happening and what has changed. But most importantly it moves us.
-AJ
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3 comments:
I thought this analysis included many of the things that we talked about in class, but I think the beginning contextual information should be more related to the analysis, like near the end, instead of facts.
I like how you were able to incorporate Robinson’s history to give more us more understanding about his prospective. I think you got it right when you said Jackie’s aim was to inspire us, I think essays like this still speak in volumes today.
I loved how you looked at the contextual side of this article! It was so interesting to see how Jackie Robinson grew up, and how this lifestyle did or did not affect his beliefs and values. I also liked how you added that he had a very positive attitude even through all the obstacles that he had to overcome. I wonder if he was this positive before he started playing in the Major Leagues? I also wonder how that would have changed the tone of his article? Would he have been able to instill hope in others as well as he did if he had not accomplished his own goals and dreams at the time he had written his article?
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