McGraw 1 Jody McGraw Ashe Rhetorical Analysis 7 October, 2011 Arthur Ashe: Race and Rhetoric AIDs isnt

the heaviest burden I have had to bear being black is. (Ashe 28). This shocking statement made within the first several paragraphs in Arthur Ashes essay, The Burden of Race catches his audience off guard and allows him to infiltrate their thoughts and feelings. Both AIDs and racism are sensitive subjects in the common Americans society, subjects that are always there in the background but are not to be talked about or discussed. The blatant introduction of the topic of his essay intrigues and concerns Ashes readers neither black nor HIV positive - to continue on in their examination of the piece. They read on, succumbing to Ashes clever rhetorical strategies and eventually to his point of view in race and the burden entangled with it. Ashes argument that AIDs is not nearly the burden that being black is comes as a shock for most readers in our modern world. However, his take on these unmistakably unfortunate fates is well supported. The initial reason for Ashes opinion is the nature in which each fate gets their burdensome implication. AIDs are biological Ashe tells the reader, there is no control over the course of the disease; on the other hand, racism is made by people and human beings do have control over their actions (28). Ashe states that AIDs are fatal, but when he views being an African American as, one of those fates worse than death the reader can see

McGraw 2 how he may view the latter the worse (28). He calls upon the history of his people as a minority, as an enslaved people, as a welfare recipient as many still are today and this the particular sorrow that lies deep within each African American (28). Through this very unfortunate yet logical description of his reasoning, the audience, who is unaware of this suffering, submits to Ashes point of view and allows him to tell the rest of his story. Using a narrative voice throughout the entirety of the writing, as well as adding a few anecdotes creates an intimacy between Ashe and his audience. The intimacy continues through casual diction combined with the highly personal content matter. This fosters the feeling of a temporary friendship between the reader the famous tennis player. Ashes fame as a sports icon assists him in this friendship as it provides him the credibility for his voice to be heard and believed. The contradiction the reader faces as this person (Ashe) who from the light of the media seems to have a perfect life but is really faced with a torturing burden enhances the reality that racism is a problem and those forced to deal with it are put through much anguish. Ashe even begins his essay with an account of a People Magazine article, reclaiming his role in the media and thus the obligation to truth he has to the public. This accounts placement at the start of the essay also provides Ashe with the perfect approach to situate the reader into his own life. This allows for an easier transition of emotions as Ashe tries relaying the pain and suffering he felt himself to his readers. Dialogue placed throughout the writing adds to the experience of the reader existing alongside Ashes day to day struggles. When Ashe retells the story of his daughter and the doll, the inclusion of Margie Smiths reaction, Gosh Arthur, I never thought about it like that. I never thought about anything like that! cultivates a realization in the reader (29). They see the similarities between Margie Smith and themselves while simultaneously feeling the pain and inconvenience Ashe must have encountered.

McGraw 3 Pain and despair is a common thread connecting the essay. Repeated multiple times, Ashe talks about how the shadow [of race] is always there; this strategy of mimicking real life with writing creates a fictional shadow following the readers eyes as it appears from page to page (28). Ashe also uses this technique to give the reader a sense of entrapment comparable to how he is trapped. This entrapment is formed by the continual repetition of sayings such as, burden, pall of sadness, prison of the past, darkens my most sunny days, and only death will free me (28). This penitentiary of prose also serves as a metaphor of his racist incarceration. Ashe informs that, Racism is entirely made by people, and therefore it hurts infinitely more. (28). His race is his crime, convicted by a jury; forevermore he will be forced to deal with the consequences, just as a convict must deal with his criminal record for the rest of his life. More than just his own life, Ashe confesses to tampering with [his daughters] innocence; the strain of race he had dealt with from early on trickled from his own entrapment to his daughters (29). The loss of innocence is a pertinent theme through literature and society and through the story Ashe tells of his daughter and the doll the audience truly captures the entirety of the distress race can cause. The distinct terminology Ashe uses works as clues to produce the picture of the affliction Ashe wants the reader to feel. The argument Ashe presents to his audience in The Burden of Race is controversial, divisive, and does not come without some hesitation from the reader. However, through his own tumultuous life, Mr. Ashe is able to transform his pain into a worthy argument. With emotion, passion, and understanding Ashe clearly allows the audience to see what he has suffered his entire life. The techniques and appeals strategically used throughout the paper make the readers come to a conclusive opinion that yes indeed: the burden of race is worse than disease.

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Works Cited Ashe, Arthur and Arnold Ramperad. The Burden of Race. In The Social Construction of Race

McGraw 5 and Ethnicity in the United States, 62-67. NewYork: Allyn & Bacon/Longman, 1998.