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Rhetorical Response: Talking in Color: Collisions in Culture

         Tiffany Hendrickson’s narrative essay, “Talking in Color: Collision of Cultures” (2013), explores the idea that a person’s voice supposedly attaches them to one race. The author supports her story by supplying real life events that she experienced while growing up and delivering them as they happened. Hendrickson’s purpose is to bring awareness to the world, to decrease the amount of negative judgment that is put out towards people every day, because of the way they speak. The intended audience is for people in need of a boost of confidence, and people who find themselves judging others.


          After reading the text,  we can agree with how the author, Tiffany Hendrickson, feels about code switching. There has definitely been times were we felt we had to code switch. Sometimes it can be simple as having a conversation with friends to having a conversation with our professor. In those cases it doesn't seem uncomfortable. Only because it's necessary and respectful to your professors. But it can be uncomfortable when being around a group of peers that we're not used to. This reading made us see that code switching is real and that judging a person based on their voice is not the correct way to define them.

      Hendrickson uses Logos to narrate her experiences while living in an impoverished African American neighborhood. She appeals to the audience by using real life experiences. For example, she says, “When I walk outside…I see faces that are not familiar to mine.” The author is explaining that she lives in an environment where most of her neighbors are African American and she is Caucasian. At this moment she is letting the reader know that although she is accustomed to the language where she was raised, majority of those with the same voice as her, are not the same race as her. She also says, “As I wait for the bus, the white faces rushing into school look at me quizzically because I am not walking into their school.” Hendrickson is trying to show the audience how judgmental people can be of someone, just by their surroundings. Although Hendrickson was not the same ethnicity as the people in her neighborhood, that doesn’t rob her of the fact that that is where she is from. The moral of the text is, you are not a product of your environment. Your voice is your voice and not the product of your environment.

Tiffany, Hendrickson. "Talking in Color: Collisions in Culture". https://qc-writers.com/2013/03/21/storming-the-gate-talking-in-color/ . 2013 .

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