Discovering the Power to Influence Tone, Mood, Style, Voice, and Meaning

discovering the power to influence tone, mood, style, voice, and meaning

Standard: L.9-10.1; L.9-10.2; L.9-10.3; L.9-10.5 R.9-10.1; R.9-10.4; R.9- 10.6; R.9-10.9

To be college and career ready in language, students must have firm control over the conventions of standard English. At the same time, they must come to appreciate that language is as at least as much a matter of craft as of rules and be able to choose words, syntax, and punctuation to express themselves and achieve particular functions and rhetorical effects. (CCSS, 51) Featured Skill: Students will understand the significance of parallel structure and repetition in creating meaning and tone. By the end of the lesson, they will understand how and when to use parallel structure for emphasis. Grade Level: 9-10 (Suggested for grade 10)

While parallel structure and repetition are the featured skills for this Anchor texts for this lesson may lesson, this lesson offers an additional opportunity to review the include Things Fall Apart or Night. significance of figurative language and other literary devices on creating meaning and tone. Teachers should use this lesson after explicitly teaching the impact of figurative language (L.9-10.5) using another text. Featured Text Theme and/or Essential Question Primary Text:  Should powerful countries get involved in the political affairs of less powerful countries? Why  Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Why We Are in Vietnam” or why not? from “Peace Without Conquest,” 1965  What is the role/responsibility of the United States in democratization of the world? http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/108/111105/ch28_a5_d2.pdf  Why does the US get involved in foreign affairs? Why do other countries get involved in foreign affairs? Secondary Text:  What realities may have the greatest influence  Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “Beyond Vietnam” – over a nation’s decision to fight for another? optional for enrichment activity

Process Activity Instructional Steps 1. Background: Students should, in grades 6-8, learn about sentence patterns and sentence types as well as ways to vary sentence patterns and types for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style; however, students may not have an understanding of the ways in which the opposite choice – repetition of language and structure such as occurs in parallelism – works to create emphasis and Modeling and Instr meaning. explaining the 2. In this particular lesson, students will engage in a close reading of LBJ’s “Why ucti featured We Are in Vietnam” in order to determine the impact of language choices on on grammar skill meaning and purpose. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to examine parallel structure and analyze its use and effect. This lesson guides students to discover the impact of usage in a piece of writing. For students to become well acquainted with the text, multiple opportunities to read the selection will be necessary.

Language  Page 1 Process Activity Instructional Steps Practice in Context Reading 1: Student reading 3. Independently, students will read and annotate the speech. The teacher might direct students to paraphrase and summarize difficult portions of the text, to identify literary devices and strategies, to underline difficult words, etc., but the teacher should not provide any context or background information for the speech other than what is provided on the document.

Reading 2: Teacher or fluent reader reading 4. After providing students the opportunity for an independent initial reading, teachers may want to read the speech aloud while being careful not to deliver the speech. Students need to hear all the words pronounced correctly; delivery includes deliberate choices that could begin to rob students of the opportunity to make meaning based on the word choice, word order, and punctuation. Students should continue to paraphrase and/or summarize difficult sections of the text during this fluent reading. As students gain understanding throughout the lesson, they will want to make adjustments and additions to their annotations.

Reading 3: Answering questions to engage in the text 5. Students will re-read the “Why We Are in Vietnam” excerpt independently with guiding questions. 6. Students should continue to Language  Page 2 Process Activity Instructional Steps Practice in Context  How would this section be different if LBJ had used sentence variety instead of repetition? Students might even be asked to re-write the section replacing the repetition with variety and evaluating the impact of this change.  Why and when should an author choose NOT to use variety?

8. The teacher should introduce the concept of parallelism at this point in the lesson by explaining that parallelism is a type of repetition – repetition of a particular structure. After introducing / reviewing the idea of parallelism, depending on the level of the students, the teacher can ask the students to identify examples of parallelism from the text. Alternatively, the teacher might provide examples from a different text and then allow students to find the examples in this particular speech. For students who are really struggling, the teacher might provide a few examples from LBJ’s speech to get students started. Either way, the teacher should ensure that the students understand that parallelism comes in multiple forms: parallelism of individual words in lists, parallelism of phrases, parallelism of clauses, and parallelism of organization and paragraph structure.

9. The teacher should guide the students as they put the first few examples from the speech in the graphic organizer (Handout 2) and analyze them for meaning. Note: The examples on Handout 2 are forLanguage the teacher  Page 3 Process Activity Instructional Steps Writing: Use the features skill(s)

12. Use the skills in a meaningful way – Ask students to write a short constructed response Application Writing text and applying the featured grammar skill in a essay to answer the following in Writing deliberate way prompt: How does parallelism add meaning and impact to LBJ’s speech? Be sure to use evidence to support your answer and use parallelism to emphasize your most important points!

Language  Page 4 Process Activity Instructional Steps Extensions and For extension: Interventions  Multiple perspectives: Teachers introduce Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, speech “Beyond Vietnam.” Students engage in a rhetorical scavenger hunt within MLK’s speech and then consider which argument – MLK’s or LBJ’s is more effective and why. You might also ask students to consider which text is more literary and why as well as which text uses parallelism to greater effect and why.  For advanced students (ie, pre- AP) use the resources below to help teach students specific types of parallelism (such as isocolon, antithesis, etc.). These students can further analyze parallelism in the speech as well as other works by identifying specific types. They can also practice writing these specific types. o American Rhetoric http://www.americanrhe toric.com/figures/paralle lism.htm o Parallel Schemes http://web.cn.edu/kwhee ler/schemes.html For Intervention and support:  Teachers should review the questions (What does it say? What does it mean?) for the speech carefully. The questions are intended to help the students attend to the reading for comprehension. The use of the questions should be determined by the students in the room. The teacher may add or delete questions as necessary. If students need additional What does it say? questions to guide their literal comprehension of Language  Page 5 Process Activity Instructional Steps  Many students will have learned about parallel structure in the past; however, many of them may only know of parallelism in terms of lists. For example, many of them will have seen the following example: Incorrect: I enjoy hiking, swimming, and to bike. Correct: I enjoy hiking, swimming, and biking. Potential Confusion Although it is essential that students can use parallelism in this simple form, it is important in this lesson to take students beyond parallelism of lists and to begin to look at parallelism on a broader scale in terms of the structure of complete sentences and even the organization of an essay in its entirety. Be sure to move students beyond a simplistic understanding of parallelism in this lesson.  Answer keys are not provided. The lessons are intended to create opportunities for students to rely on the text to gain independence in reading complex texts. In this instructional model, the only wrong answers are those that are not well supported or engage in fallacious reasoning.  It is best for teachers to engage in conversations and make instructional decisions with a PLT about this lesson, its content, and student outcomes. Teacher  You may have noticed that providing background information is not part of the beginning of the lesson. Within the Language Lessons, Notes students will need to rely upon the words and punctuation to create meaning without the assistance of the teacher or other background building activities prior to the learning experience. As students progress through the activities, they will need information and build the background that we typically provide up front. When students enter the world of college and career, they will need to be equipped with the necessary skills to determine context, question a text, determine the information they will need to know to increase understanding, and know where to locate that information.  Purdue OWL: Parallel Structure http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/1/ Additional Resources to  American Rhetoric Consider http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/parallelism.htm  Parallel Schemes http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/schemes.html

Language  Page 6 Text: “Why We Are in Vietnam”

Step One: Read the text to yourself and annotate the text. Read the text to yourself. Paraphrase and/or summarize difficult sections. Mark literary devices and choices. Make note of words, phrases, and punctuation that intrigue you in some way.

Look for irregularities, similarities, and unknowns.

Irregularity: I find it peculiar the way the author used this word. Similarity: I am seeing a pattern here: in words, phrasing, or ideas. (Diction and Syntax) Unknowns: I don’t know what that means. Or I don’t know what that means in this context. Step Two: In this step your teacher or a classmate will read aloud. Listen carefully to the words being read. If you read a word incorrectly, you may want to make note of that change. Paraphrase each line of the text. As you learn more, you will want to adjust your paraphrase. Step Three: In this step, you will be asked to re-read the text carefully. These questions are designed to promote understanding of the text. What does it say? Remember to support What does it mean? Remember to support your reasoning with your reasoning with specific and detailed specific and detailed evidence from the text. evidence from the text. 1. Why do you think Johnson references both Americans and Asians in 1. Read the italicized background the opening of his speech? What is the effect of this choice? information. Explain the context (relevant details) in which Johnson gave his speech. 2. To what was do you think Johnson is alluding when he says that “our ancestors fought in the valleys of Pennsylvania”? What is the 2. For what principle does Johnson say effect of this allusion? Americans have fought in the past and are continuing to fight during the 3. When he says, “We fight because we must fight if we are to live in a Vietnam War? world where every country can shape its own destiny, and only in such a world will our own freedom be finally secure,” what is the 3. Why does Johnson say the US is fighting effect of his use of “we” and “our”? Why does he choose to use in Vietnam? these pronouns? How would the quotation be different if it said, “The soldiers fight because they must fight. . .”? 4. How does Johnson characterize Asia and North Vietnam? 4. Find one image. Cite it (using an appropriate tag and citation). What is the effect of this image? 5. What details does Johnson use to support his claim that this is a “war of 5. Find one metaphor. Cite it (using an appropriate tag and citation). unparalleled brutality”? What is the effect of this metaphor?

6. How does Johnson explain why the U.S. is 6. Find one example of personification. Cite it (using an appropriate in South Vietnam (hint: there are 3 tag and citation). What is the effect of this personification? reasons)? 7. Why does Johnson call the farmers simple? What is the effect of this choice? What other choices does Johnson make in this same 7. How does Johnson characterize South paragraph with the same effect? Vietnam? 8. Why does Johnson include references to Berlin and Thailand? What 8. What does Johnson say to acknowledge is the effect of these references?

Language  Page 7 9. List one way that Johnson includes ethos in his speech (remember: ethos is something that the speaker says to show that he/she is credible and believable). How does this choice provide credibility? and refute each of the arguments of the opposition (hint: there are 2 opposing 10. What is the effect of the repetition in the paragraph that begins, arguments)? “We do this in order to slow down aggression”? 9. How does Johnson defend his decision to Challenge: attack North Vietnam by air? 1. What is Johnson’s tone in the concluding parts of his speech? What 10. What are the essentials of a “final choices does he make in his conclusion to create this tone? What is settlement”? the effect of these choices on the conclusion of the speech?

2. Look for more examples of literary strategies (you may look for literary strategies other than the ones listed here and/or more examples of literary strategies already listed). Analyze them for impact and effect.

Step Four: Introduction to and Analysis of Parallelism Your teacher will provide you instruction on parallelism and directions for completing the Analyzing Parallel Structure Chart. Step Five: Writing Write a short constructed response essay to answer the following prompt: How does parallelism add meaning and impact to LBJ’s speech? Be sure to use evidence to support your answer and use parallelism to emphasize your most important points!

Extension: “This kind of world will never be built by bombs or bullets. Choose one of the options provided by the teacher. Yet the infirmities of man are such that force must often precede reason, and the waste of war, the works of peace.”

Language  Page 8 LBJ: “Why We Are in Vietnam” Analyzing Parallel Structure

Quotation from Text (Parallel What is Parallel? Words? Phrases? Significance / Impact on Meaning Structure) Clauses? Structure and Organization?

“Americans and Asians” Parallelism of individual words – Emphasis on unity between two nouns people

“This is the principle. . . It is the Parallelism of structure – sentence Emphasis on “principle” – creates a principle. . . “ openings strong sense of morality

“The war is dirty and brutal and Parallelism of individual words – Emphasizes that LBJ understands difficult.” adjectives why others might not support the war

“Why must this Nation hazard its Parallelism of phrases – its ease, its Juxtaposed to the description of ease, and its interest, and its interest, its power war, this emphasizes even more power for the sake of a people so that LBJ understands why others far away” might not support the war

“We are there. . . We are also Parallelism of structure – Emphasizes that there are there. . . We are also there. . .” paragraph openings legitimate reasons for LBJ’s decision

Language  Page 9 Challenge: The use of parallelism certainly has an impact on meaning as you have discovered above. It is often necessary, however, to understand parallelism not just to get to the deeper meaning of a text but also simply to be able to comprehend and paraphrase the text. For example, in the sentence below, the comma between “war” and “the works” replaces a phrase from the first half of the sentence that is missing in the second half of the sentence. Based on an understanding of parallelism, what can you infer is the phrase that this comma replaces? Why do you think LBJ uses this comma instead of simply repeating the phrase? How is this a type of parallelism? In what other ways does this sentence use parallelism for impact?

“This kind of world will never be built by bombs or bullets. Yet the infirmities of man are such that force must often precede reason, and the waste of war, the works of peace.”

Language  Page 10 Lyndon B. Johnson, Why We Are in Vietnam, 1965

By the summer of 1964 the Johnson Administration had already made secret plans to escalate the American military presence in Vietnam. But during the 1964 election campaign LBJ stressed his differences with the hawkish views of Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. The President publicly rejected the idea of getting “tied down in a land war in Asia.” But in the spring of 1965 Johnson ordered the first massive bombings of North Vietnam and began the buildup of American troop levels, soon to reach over 500,000. Speaking at Johns Hopkins University, Johnson tried to justify his policy.

SOURCE: Lyndon B. Johnson, “Peace Without Conquest.” Address at Johns Hopkins University, April 6, 1905. Department of State Bulletin, April 26, 1965.

Tonight Americans and Asians are dying for a world where each people may choose its own path to change.

This is the principle for which our ancestors fought in the valleys of Pennsylvania. It is the principle for which our sons fight tonight in the jungles of Vietnam.

Vietnam is far away from this quiet campus. We have no territory there, nor do we seek any. The war is dirty and brutal and difficult. And some 400 young men, born into an America that is bursting with opportunity and promise, have ended their lives on Vietnam’s steaming soil. Why must we take this painful road?

Why must this Nation hazard its ease, and its interest, and its power for the sake of a people so far away?

We fight because we must fight if we are to live in a world where every country can shape its own destiny. And only in such a world will our own freedom be finally secure.

This kind of world will never be built by bombs or bullets. Yet the infirmities of man are such that force must often precede reason, and the waste of war, the works of peace.

We wish that this were not so. But we must deal with the world as it is, if it is ever to be as we wish.

The world as it is in Asia is not a serene or peaceful place.

The first reality is that North Vietnam has attacked the independent nation of South Vietnam. Its object is total conquest.

Of course, some of the people of South Vietnam are participating in an attack on their own government. But trained men and supplies, orders and arms, flow in a constant stream from north to south.

This support is the heartbeat of the war.

And it is a war of unparalleled brutality. Simple farmers are the targets of assassination and kidnapping. Women and children are strangled in the night because their men are loyal to their government. And helpless villages are ravaged by sneak attacks. Large-scale raids are conducted on towns, and terror strikes in the heart of cities.

The confused nature of this conflict cannot mask the fact that it is the new face of an old enemy.

Language  Page 11 Over this war—and all Asia—is another reality: the deepening shadow of Communist China. The rulers in Hanoi are urged on by Peking. This is a regime which has destroyed freedom in Tibet, which has attacked India, and has been condemned by the United Nations for aggression in Korea. It is a nation which is helping the forces of violence in almost every continent. The contest in Vietnam is part of a wider pattern of aggressive purposes.

Why are these realities our concern? Why are we in South Vietnam?

We are there because we have a promise to keep. Since 1954 every American President has offered support to the people of South Vietnam. We have helped to build, and we have helped to defend. Thus, over many years, we have made a national pledge to help South Vietnam defend its independence.

And I intend to keep that promise.

To dishonor that pledge, to abandon this small and brave nation to its enemies, and to the terror that must follow, would be an unforgivable wrong.

We are also there to strengthen world order. Around the globe, from Berlin to Thailand, are people whose well- being rests, in part, on the belief that they can count on us if they are attacked. To leave Vietnam to its fate would shake the confidence of all these people in the value of an American commitment and in the value of America’s word. The result would be increased unrest and instability, and even wider war.

We are also there because there are great stakes in the balance. Let no one think for a moment that retreat from Vietnam would bring an end to conflict. The battle would be renewed in one country and then another. The central lesson of our time is that the appetite of aggression is never satisfied. To withdraw from one battlefield means only to prepare for the next. We must say in southeast Asia—as we did in Europe—in the words of the Bible: “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.”

There are those who say that all our effort there will be futile—that China’s power is such that it is bound to dominate all southeast Asia. But there is no end to that argument until all of the nations of Asia are swallowed up.

There are those who wonder why we have a responsibility there. Well, we have it there for the same reason that we have a responsibility for the defense of Europe. World War II was fought in both Europe and Asia, and when it ended we found ourselves with continued responsibility for the defense of freedom.

Our objective is the independence of South Vietnam, and its freedom from attack. We want nothing for ourselves—only that the people of South Vietnam be allowed to guide their own country in their own way.

We will do everything necessary to reach that objective. And we will do only what is absolutely necessary.

In recent months attacks on South Vietnam were stepped up. Thus, it became necessary for us to increase our response and to make attacks by air. This is not a change of purpose. It is a change in what we believe that purpose requires.

We do this in order to slow down aggression.

We do this to increase the confidence of the brave people of South Vietnam who have bravely borne this brutal battle for so many years with so many casualties. Language  Page 12 And we do this to convince the leaders of North Vietnam—and all who seek to share their conquest—of a very simple fact:

We will not be defeated.

We will not grow tired.

We will not withdraw, either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement.

We know that air attacks alone will not accomplish all of these purposes. But it is our best and prayerful judgment that they are a necessary part of the surest road to peace.

We hope that peace will come swiftly. But that is in the hands of others besides ourselves. And we must be prepared for a long continued conflict. It will require patience as well as bravery, the will to endure as well as the will to resist.

I wish it were possible to convince others with words of what we now find it necessary to say with guns and planes: Armed hostility is futile. Our resources are equal to any challenge. Because we fight for values and we fight for principles, rather than territory or colonies, our patience and our determination are unending.

Once this is clear, then it should also be clear that the only path for reasonable men is the path of peaceful settlement.

Such peace demands an independent South Vietnam—securely guaranteed and able to shape its own relationships to all others— free from outside interference—tied to no alliance—a military base for no other country.

These are the essentials of any final settlement….

This war, like most wars, is filled with terrible irony. For what do the people of North Vietnam want? They want what their neighbors also desire: food for their hunger; health for their bodies; a chance to learn; progress for their country; and an end to the bondage of material misery. And they would find all these things far more readily in peaceful association with others than in the endless course of battle….

We often say how impressive power is. But I do not find it impressive at all. The guns and the bombs, the rockets and the warships, are all symbols of human failure. They are necessary symbols. They protect what we cherish. But they are witness to human folly.

A dam built across a great river is impressive.

In the countryside where I was born, and where I live, I have seen the night illuminated, and the kitchens warmed, and the homes heated, where once the cheerless night and the ceaseless cold held sway. And all this happened because electricity came to our area along the humming wires of the REA [Rural Electrification Administrative]. Electrification of the countryside—yes, that, too, is impressive.

A rich harvest in a hungry land is impressive.

The sight of healthy children in a classroom is impressive. Language  Page 13 These—not mighty arms—are the achievements which the American Nation believes to be impressive.

And, if we are steadfast, the time may come when all other nations will also find it so.

Every night before I turn out the lights to sleep I ask myself this question: Have I done everything that I can do to unite this country? Have I done everything I can to help unite the world, to try to bring peace and hope to all the peoples of the world? Have I done enough?

Ask yourselves that question in your homes—and in this hall tonight. Have we, each of us, all done all we could? Have we done enough?

We may well be living in the time foretold many years ago when it was said: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”

This generation of the world must choose: destroy or build, kill or aid, hate or understand. We can do all these things on a scale never dreamed of before. Well, we will choose life. In so doing we will prevail over the enemies within man, and over the natural enemies of all mankind….

Language  Page 14