The Spanish American War Genre Analysis
The Spanish American War Genre Analysis
Abstract
This paper explores two different published articles that give different points of view about the
Spanish American war. During the year 1898 Cubans decided to fight against Spain to gain their
liberty but they did not accomplished anything it was later on when the U.S decided to interfere
and help Cubans to gain their independence, which they did accomplished. The articles that were
examined concentrated on different matters. The article written by Gregory Aydt focuses on how
Cuba and the U.S benefited from each other while the article written by the United States
Department of State focus on how the U.S helped Cubans gain their independence. The Spanish
American War was very important for both the United States and Cuba because the U.S gained
many countries such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico, while Cuba gained their independence,
which was very important for them due to the bad treatment that they received from the Spanish.
Keywords: Cubans independence, U.S gains
reasons why the United States helped Cuba gain its independence. The difference between both
was that the first genre included a lot of reading but the second genre used more statistics to help
people understand better.
During the year 1895 Cuba was under the Spanish control and there were many Cubans
who were being cruelly mistreated. When the Cubans decided to fight against the Spanish for
their independence the U.S decided to intervene and help them. It was on April 11, 1898 when
president MvKinley asked the congress to end the war between Spain and Cuba in order to
establish a stable government that would ensure the peace and tranquility of Cuban and U.S
citizens on the island. The Spanish government rejected their idea and declared war on the
United States. On April 25 Spain and the U.S went to war and the U.S won Cubans
independence. The United States decided not to annex Cuba because it had to deal with the
Philippine insurrection and did not wanted to get into another war over another territory.
The Spanish American War officially ended when Spain and the United States signed the
Treaty of Paris on December 10.1898. This treaty forced Spain to give Cuba its freedom and it
also force it to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States. When all this happened Spain
decided to agree with the United States to sell them the Philippines. The Philippines cost the
United States about $20 million. The Treaty of Paris was ratified by the United States Senate on
February by a margin of only one vote. The United States also wanted to annex the independent
state of Hawaii. Many people believe that the United States wanted to annex Hawaii because it
was vital to the U.S economy. The purpose of acquiring Hawaii was so it could serve as a
strategic base that could help protect United States interests in Asia.
Rhetorical Issues
Both genres present rhetorical appeal, but their ways of presenting them differ in
accordance with the genre.
Ethos
In the first genre, the author focused more on Cubans independence during the Spanish
American war. The author appeared to be deliberate when presenting the information. The article
establishes its credibility by presenting its information from reliable sources. People are aware
that the information presented is concise because it was written by a Doctor in history named
Greg Aydt. Both articles used in this paper were very informative but The Spanish American
War: The Cuban Perspective genre written by Gregory Aydt was more effective in conveying its
message. The information provided on this article was more concise and well structure. Most of
the information provided on this article was very clear and well structured which made it easy for
the reader to have a better understanding and knowledge of the reasons why the United States did
not annexed Cuba and how Cubans gained their independence.
Pathos
The author of the web page genre utilized an emotional appeal in an exaggerated manner
by presenting pictures of people dying during the Spanish American War. He provided many
pictures and then talked about how many Americans died at this war to make people think about
what happened at that time and affect the manner in which the audience respond. The reading of
the second genre was not strong enough that is why the author decided to include images, so the
audience could visualize the problem and the suffering Cubans went through at this time.
Logos
The first genre used logos to support the information it presented in its reading. The types
of evidence that were used were educated speakers such as Doctor Aydit who specialized in
history and is very familiar with all the things that happened during the Spanish American war
because that was one of the things that he studied and he is a reliable Doctor in history. In the
second genre the, the webpage presented some facts that were not supported by Doctors of
scientists but were already known to be true by others.
Structure and Delivery
The structure of each genre is very well organized and the mode of delivery directly
impacts the audience. One of the things that the authors wanted to do through the way they
delivered their information was to catch the readers attention by first starting strong. The genres
that were organized differently, the first genre started with pictures and that was so people could
easily visualize the matter that was going to be discussed and after that the rest was just
information. While the second genre was a bit more serious about the subject because the author
decided not to use any colors or pictures so people could focus more on the information that was
being presented. There were many things that contribute to the message that was being intended
to be sending, such as, the use of vocabulary. Through the use of vocabulary it is very easy for a
person to know whether the author was very serious about the information he provided or
whether he just wanted to quickly share his point of view and inform. The similarities between
the two genres are that the mode of delivery of both was to impact their audience and make them
focus on the information that the individuals were about to read. The difference between both of
these genres was that one used more formal language to catch the attention of adults and the
other one was a little less formal to get the attention of young adults.
Conclusion
Overall, both genres discussed the main topic well. The first genre was more serious
about the information it presented, but the second genre allowed the audience to have a better
interpretation and knowledge of the information presented due to the target audience clearness of
the reading. Each genre talked about a different side of the issue but the main goal of both was to
inform the people. The Spanish American war was a very big problem in the U.S as many
Americans died that is why it is important for the authors to let the people know about this
matter.
References
Aydit, G. (n.d.). The Spanish American War: The Cuban Perspective. 1-7. Retrieved
September 20, 2016.
Milestones: 1866-1898- Office of the Historian. (n.d.). Retrieved September
26,2016.from https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/spanish-americanwar