Close Work with the text. 1. A newspaper reporter is concerned with the facts of a news story, its “five w’s and h” (who, what

Meaning

1. A newspaper reporter is concerned with the facts of a news story, its “five w’s and h” (who, what, where, when, why, and how). Which of these has Martin Gansberg included in his lead, or opening, paragraph?

List all the facts about Catherine Genovese that are given in “Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police.” For example, how old was she? Where did she live? How long had she lived there? What was her occupation? How did she get to and from work?

2. “The Murder They Heard” examines the reasons behind the failure if thirty-eight witnesses to aid Kitty Genovese or call the police. How clearly have the authors of the article stated their purpose? Quote what you think is the article’s theme statement.

Method

1. Explain how, in “Who Saw Murder”, each of the following is used to evoke shock or horror in the reader: (a) Miss Genovese’s words, (b) notations of the passing of name, (c) interviews after the crime.

2. Early in their essay, Milgram and Hollander state, “… the Kew Gardens incident has become the occasion for a general attack on the City Of New York. It is portrayed as callous, cruel, indifferent to the needs of the people, and wholly inferior to the small town in the quality of its personal relationships”. How do the authors counter this argument - by facts and details, reasons, analyses?

3. Notice the difference in the verbs used in the titles of the two articles: one uses Saw while the other uses Heard. Is each verb here intended to be taken literally, or do both mean “witnesses”? Explain your answer, indicating any inferences you draw from either title.

LANGUAGE: WRITING FOR AN AUDIENCE

The two selections on the Kitty Genovese case were written for two different audiences. Gansberg was writing for newspaper readers, some of whom probably read his article while standing in a crowded subway train. His sentences and paragraphs are short; he uses dialogue; the language is easy to understand. Milgram and Hollander, on the other hand, were writing for a more relaxed and unhurried audience of magazine readers, most of whom had earlier read about the case in a newspaper. Milgram and Hollander’s paragraphs are long; the language is more difficult.

Choose two pieces of writing on the same topic, if possible, that are clearly intended for different audiences. You may want to read some of the articles aloud in class.

Discovering Rhetorical Strategies

How do S.Milgram and P. Hollander organize the elements of their essay? Why do they choose this particular order? Is it effective in achieving their purpose? Why or why not?

Describe the authors’s attitude to the Kew Gardens incident. Prove your answer.

Composition

1. Write a short essay in which you compare and contrast either the two pieces you have chosen or the two selections presented here. Consider such things as the authors’ objectivity or subjectivity; the simplicity or complexity of the subject; the coherence, or orderly presentation of ideals; the length of sentences and paragraphs; the vocabulary; and the style.

2. Write freely about the case which you considered to be the most fair and unfair in your own country.

LINCOLN STEFFENS

(1866 - 1936)

The turning point in the life of Lincoln Steffens came with his return to America in 1892 after several years of study in Europe. He arrived in New York newly married, twenty-six years old, to find a letter his father (a merchant in Sacramento, California), stating that the younger Steffens was now officially on his own. His father had sent him to military school and then to the University of California at Berkeley, and supported his studies in philosophy at universities in Berlin, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Paris, and London.

Steffens went to work as a reporter for the New York Evening Post and eventually became one of the Post’s best reporters. He used his skill as a journalist to express alarm at certain abuses in business and politics. In articles for McClure’s Magazine and in such books as The Shame of the Cities, his exposes of the corruption in business and politics in cities all over the country stunned many readers. Moreover, his work won him the esteem of such national figures as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

“Steffens’s Autobiography”, from which the following selection was taken, might be looked on as an expose of himself, of his growth from boyhood to maturity. One reviewer of the book, when it was published in 1931, went so far as to say that it should be required reading for all students, young and old. As you prepare to read, pause for a moment to remember your own childhood:

· What were you happiest moments in your childhood?

· Do they have connection with your pet? Did you have a pet?

· How did it influence you as a person?

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