Outside Reading Week 4 Part A

Vocab:
laquered (169)- to give a sleek, glossy finish to.

coalescing (170)- to grow together; to unite; to blend; to come together.

Appeals:
"One morning, dad plunked bread slices in the old toaster...the handle on the toaster was still down, but nothing was happening. He discovered the heating element was gone, mainly because I had taken it to see if my plans for an electrical-ignition system would work" (171-172). Although I couldn't fit the entire quote here, I found it to be a rather humorous one. I thought it was both a logical and emotional appeal. The logical portion comes from Homer describing the events that happened on that particular morning while the emotional comes from the tone of voice. Instead of saying that he took the heating element so his dad's bread couldn't be toasted, he found a way to make it more interesting by saying that the toaster wouldn't work and then adding, "oh yeah...by the way, i took the heating element." It makes the passage more enjoyable to read and shows off Homer's writing style.

"No teacher had ever confided in me anything about anything to do with her personal life the way Ms. Riley had just done, almost as if I were her equal. She kept smiling at me, and I felt at that moment like I was the most important person to her in the world" (179). In my opinion, this demonstrated an emotional appeal. Homer is describing his experience with an important teacher in his life. For most people who have attended school, or are attending, this is something that can be easily related to. It's almost a guarantee that there has been at least one teacher we have met that has changed our lives somehow. And with that, he is evoking a feeling and connection with us as the reader.

" 'Attaboy,' he said, and then kept going. Startled, I turned and watched him go up the steps. Attaboy?" (181). This quote kind of a confused me a little. Homer's dad asked him if his propellant exploded, how high it would go. Homer told him about 1 to 2 feet and he responded "attaboy." That one word has so many different meanings to it and it's hard to tell exactly which one it is. Even Homer is confused. Those two points make this an emotional appeal. Maybe his dad has turned around and decided to support Homer's experiments or maybe he just liked the fact that the propellant could blow up the house. I don't know if we'll ever find out. Maybe, it's all up for interpretation.

Quote:
"Someday, I was convinced, we could go there. Not just mankind, but us, the boys on that roof....That's why I decided, up there on that roof, that we would melt saltpeter and sugar" (184). I liked this quote because I thought it was really inspirational. Throughout the book, it can sometimes seem that Homer and the Rocket Boys are just building rockets to be rebels, but through this quote, it's clear they have a goal. And because they have a goal, they are able to sum up courage and travel into the unknown to try and reach it.

Theme:
A theme that I think was evident in this section is, in order to reach your goal, sometimes you have to try something that is outside the box.