The essay that I think that I will be writing my essay to will be Deborah Tannen's Essay on "There is No Unmarked Woman". She depicted some of the issues of stereotyping woman in today's society and I think that it would be interesting to respond to that. Now the first question that I want to respond too comes from the "Question-Asking Strategies for writing a rhetorical critique". The first set of questions is based on Audience and Purpose. "Who is the intended audience?" I believe that in this essay the intented audience is both male and female. "What is the writer's purpose?" Tannen's purpose for writing this essay was to show how females are constantly being judged, by both men and women, and how society judges on sex harder than the other. And lastly, "How well does the text suit its particular audience and purpose?" I believe that the text covered exactly what the reader was expected to know when you read and understand the thesis of the essay. The second question focuses on the Use of Evidence. How reputable, relevant, current, sufficient, and representative is the evidence? Throughout the essay, Tannen uses countless, up-to -date examples to justify her point. From the use of make-up, items of clothing, too the use of pronouns in the English language. She also uses a male source in her essay to further present her case of her thesis.
Now questions for the section on "Question-Asking Strategies for Writing an Ideas Critique" get more interesting as I further break down Tannen's essay. The first question states, Where do I agree with this author? I believe that Tannen makes a strong case throughout the whole article, but the part that I agree most on would be when she argues the point that women have to make lots of choices. Whether they are leaving for work, going to class at a university, an interview, etc., we woman must make choices. Between comfortable or attractive shoes, certain clothes, how to wear your hair, the choice of wearing make-up or not, etc. and if one of these items seem to be off, then that marks you as either presenting yourself to much or not enough at all. The second question states, Where do I disagree with this author? Overall, Tannen essay was great, but when she stated her point about surnames being marked, it through me off a bit. I can see where she would suggest that being married puts you in Box A, while being single, puts you in Box B. But what I didnt agree with were the stereotypes that she thought people had about the value of those letters. In today's society, I believe that everyone looks at being single and married as a personal decision. I mean yes, marriage is way more serious and suggests a bigger commitment, but at the same time if you have a Ms. in front of your name then that doesn't mean that you can't find a husband or simply to complicated to be with, but it merely suggest the fact that you can make your own decision about that situation. Its a choice and people chose everyday.
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Going first to the question of "how reputable, relevant, current, sufficient, and representative is the evidence?", I agree that Tannen uses many good examples, examples that she backs up with evidence. Because her examples lead to legitimate evidence, it is very easy to agree with her on the topic of marked women. I disagree with your response to the second question for the ideas critique. I believe that "mrs" and "miss" and "ms" all carry meaning. I agree with Tannen that "ms" is saying that your not married and perhaps aren't looking for marriage. I actually think that it was one of her stronger point's to make especially for students like us who commonly address adults as "mrs" or "ms."
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