1. What Themes Does Biss Explore?

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What themes does Biss explore? Be specific and provide textual examples. In the article, Biss portrays numerous amounts of themes throughout the three parts in which she separated the article into. The first of three parts in which the article is separated into is the history of telephone poles. Biss explains that Americans did not at first believe that it was possible that the idea that every home and country could be connected by a vast network of wires suspended from poles set an average of one hundred feet apart (3). However, once the people of the United States figured out that it was possible that telephone poles could connect humans from far distances they then learned that it would require an invasion of privacy as poles would need to be planted into the ground on private …show more content…

Describe the style, voice, and audience of this essay. Why do you think Biss chose to engage in these rhetorical styles? As I broke down this article into three pieces to explain the themes, I will do same to explain the style and voice of this article. In part one of the article, I imagine Biss reading the article with a sense of pride as she explains how the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell was an American invention as well as the invention of telephone poles; a byproduct of the telephone. However, going into part two, I see Biss changing her tone from prideful to very serious as she transitions from the back story of telephone poles to the wrong-use of telephone poles. Biss is explaining the wrong-doing of the American people to themselves; in this instance African Americans. Biss explaining history in this article suggests that the audience could be anyone in the world because everyone can learn from history, what to do and what not to do. To conclude with part three, Biss would read in a hopeful tone as she would suggest that the worst of racism is behind us. 3. Describe the organization, connection(s) between ideas, and transitions within the