Spacecat

Answer each question in depth and provide specific evidence from

the text or speaker whenever available. The more you write, the better!

Title of the text:

S
SPEAKER: - The speaker in the poem is Marshall Davis Jones
Who is the speaker/writer? - He is a communications expert that has lot of experience in the real world
What do we know about and travels around the world to communicate his thoughts and takes on the
them? What can you tell or modern world of technology
what do you know about - He is thought to be very human, being nicknames Marshall “Soulful” Jones
the speaker that helps you
understand the point of
view expressed?

P
PURPOSE: - The author is hoping to communicate that technology is both able to do a lot
What is the speaker/writer for us but there are some things that technology should not he relied on to
hoping to accomplish? do because technology does not know what it feels like to be human
What is the reason behind - He makes it very clear that he thinks that technology, although the statistics
this piece? What do they are overwhelming and would promote the idea that life is better online, for
want the audience to do example him saying that he has three thousand friends online while in real
after having listened? life he only has five, technology in reality is a lie that only puts up a facade
and draws us away from human fulfillment and emotion, in essence, he is
trying to communicate that technology’s promises are hollow
- Technology in theory connects us but in reality disconnects us worse that
anything else could, when we are on technology we are there but not there

A
AUDIENCE: 
 - The author is trying to reach out to everyone who uses technology to such a
Who is the speaker/writer degree that they have placed all of their hopes on forming a better and more
trying to reach? How do we fulfilling live on the capabilities of technology
know? Do they indicate a - The note above is justified through the use of only technological terms, you
specific audience? What cannot connect with an audience that does not understand what you are
assumptions exist in the saying, they will never be able to extract any message from something they
text about the intended will never have experienced
audience?

C
CONTEXT: 
 - The general context of this poem is technology in our modern world, the
What is the time and place poem was written more than a decade ago, yet the conditions that Jones saw
of this piece? What is an warned against back then have only intensified
happening in the world as - Essentially, in the modern day, social networks like Snapchat, Instagram,
it relates to the subject of Facebook, TikTok, and more have all theoretically connected people more
the speech or the than ever, allowing people from great distances to communicate instantly,
speaker/writer? however there are many concerns that such networks serve to disconnect
people from their

E
EXIGENCE: - There is no clear exigence from any article interview or poem that I have
What was the spark or read, rather I am lead to assume that the exigence is simply a slow intake of
catalyst that moved the experiences that Jones received from a world that has seen a rise in mental
speaker/writer to health issues and technology use
act/write? How did that - It is also most likely safe to assume that Jones had some motivation from this
event impact the piece based on personal experience because he has such a great knowledge
speaker/writer? of the implications of relying on technology to form connections
C
CHOICES: - In the video, it is almost immediately seen that Jones uses a lot of body
What are the rhetorical language to communicate his points, using hand gestures, varied postures,
choices that the and more in order to engage his audience
speaker/writer makes in - Marshal uses a great amount of homonyms that use the name of something
the speech? Think about natural compared to something technological to clearly display the difference
overall structure, devices, between natural and technological objects and ideas such as the use of apple
diction, syntax, etc. the fruit and Apple the brand
- He uses the same words in a phrase but then reorders the words to mean
something completely different like using Facebook more than a book faces
him

A
APPEALS: - Logos: An appeal to logic has been used, most notable in the part where
Which of the three Jones discussed how throughout evolution, we have stood taller and taller,
rhetorical appeals (ethos, going from crouching apes to tall and straight back humans, following this,
logos, pathos) are present Jones uses the image of someone
in the text? Where? Why? - Ethos: Jones has established ethos both by being at a very prestigious and
widespread poetry competition and by using common human emotions that
are associated with technology to communicate that he knows how it feels to
use technology and feel disconnected and unfulfilled after using it, in other
words he actively forms a connection with the audience using shared
experience
- Pathos: Pathos is used what Jones tried to communicate how disconnected
and generally bad technology can make a person feel and wants his audience
to feel inspired and to stop using technology in a way that makes them feel
this way, simply put, he is scaring them into stopping

T
TONE: - The author’s tone is almost forceful, he speaks with such conviction and
What is the experience that the audience is drawn to him, wanting to see what such an
speaker/author’s attitude experienced and motivated person has to say with such a convinced tone
toward the subject? Is the - The author also has almost an announcer’s voice or a voice of someone
tone the same throughout presenting a product in an advertisement in the very start of the poem,
the whole piece? Where which I personally think is done to both get attention and point out that
does it shift? What technology is a product, not a human who can know what is best for you or
evidence is there to feel things, but a thing that cannot feel and is no solution to your human
demonstrate the tone? problems
- The author is wary of technology and all of the hype around it
Washing the Car with My Father
BY AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER

It is the twilight blue Chevrolet,

four doors with no power but the engine,
whitewall tires, no padding on the dashboard,
the car I drive on dates, park on dark lanes
to ask for a kiss, now my hand goes along
the fender, wiping every spot, the suds
in the bucket, my father standing at the gate,
poor and proud, tall and stout, a wise man,

a man troubled by a son gone missing

in the head, drag racing his only car
at night, traveling with hoodlums to leave
the books for street life, naming mentors
the men who pack guns and knives, a son
gone missing from all the biblical truth,
ten talents, prophecies, burning bushes,
dirty cars washed on Saturday morning.

He tells me not to miss a spot, to open

the hood when I'm done so he can check
the oil, the vital thing like blood, blood
of kinship, blood spilled in the streets
of Baltimore, blood oozing from the soul
of a son walking prodigal paths leading
to gutters. Years later I tell him the stories
of what his brother-in-law did to me, and

he wipes a tear from the corner of his eye,

wraps it in a white handkerchief for church,
walks up the stairs with the aluminum
crutch to scream at the feet of black Jesus
and in these brittle years of his old age we
grow deeper, talk way after midnight,
peeping over the rail of his hospital bed
as we wash the twilight blue Chevrolet.

Afaa Michael Weaver, "Washing the Car with My Father" from The Government of Nature. Copyright © 2013 by Afaa Michael Weaver. Reprinted by permission of
University of Pittsburgh Press.

Source: The Government of Nature (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013)