Growing up everyone wanted to look the same so that they would fit in with the crowd. No one liked someone who copied one’s exact style. The person who copied would in return be called a “copycat”. Ironically that same mindset follows throughout adulthood, when a person would be upset that he or she saw another woman or man wearing the same outfit at a party. However similarity is not always an unpleasant thing. It helps people recognize things and understand them by being able to compare them with other similar experiences. In the essays “Blue Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose and “Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History” by Laurel Ulrich, the authors’ attempt to condemn stereotypes by using similar rhetorical strategies. To Begin, Both Mike Rose and Laurel Ulrich use three different references to debunk stereotypes concerning a certain group. Mike Rose uses personal figures such as his mother, Rosie; his uncle, Joe Meraglio; and himself: while Laurel Ulrich uses historical figures such as an actress, Mae West; a seamstress, Rosa Parks; and a midwife, Martha …show more content…
Mike Rose and Laurel Ulrich maintain an academic tone in their essays. However, throughout Mike Rose’s essay, Rose’s tone of voice becomes very casual at points. For example when Rose reminisces about his childhood he states, “my father and I would occasionally hang out at the restaurant until her shift ended, and then we would ride the bus home with her”(272). Rose does not fail to remind the reader that he is still reliable by transitioning back to a scholarly tone of voice. A bit later in Rose’s essay, Rose mentions the study he had completed concerning the blue collar worker. Likewise, Laurel Ulrich keeps her tone of voice in her essay constant. Though Laurel Ulrich does mentions herself, Ulrich keeps her tone strictly