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Silko's Essay
4 Does Silko acknowledge views about the subject that are different from her own? What is Silko’s attitude towards those who hold different views? Evaluate how well Silko includes and responds to an opposing point of view.

* Silko does briefly acknowledge views different from her own and her attitude is negative toward them. She refers to immigration policies as racist. She thinks US Government waste a lot of money trying to close the border and it’s not working people still crossing the border.
She says that” the great migration within the Americas cannot be stopped; human beings are natural forces of the Earth, just as rivers and winds are natural forces.

5 Analyze and evaluate Silko’s credibility and authority—her ETHOS appeal. (Review the notes for ETHOS in The Appeals folder on Blackboard.) Find specific examples in the text to support your analysis and evaluation.

* The fact that Silko was raised on a reservation and has personal experience with border patrol check points gives her essay credibility.Silko and her companion Gus were traveling south from Albuquerque, when they were stopped by the Border Patrol.The agents ordered them to step out of their car.Silko said the she will never forget that night beside the highway,that she could sense a feeling of violence and menace.She compares her experience to a report she read on the Argentine police officers who became addicted to interrogation, torture, and the murder that followed. She thought how easy it would be for the Border Patrol to shoot us and leave our bodies and car beside the highway, like so many bodies found in these parts and ascribed to drug runners.

6 What are the strongest and most persuasive parts of Silko’s argument? Where is her argument weak and what suggestions do you have for making her argument more persuasive?

Silko’s most persuasive points are made when she describes how the border patrol dog seemed to hate her handlers and refused to serve them.

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