Skylar Ewing College Preparatory English Comparison/Contrast Essay November 22, 2016 Growing Darker Ginia Bellafante, writer for The New York Times, says, “The recent upheavals in the economy stemming from the financial crisis, the rise of racial tensions and the increases animosity toward immigrants that the current election cycle has fed and exposed have arguably made this new catalog inevitable.” She is talking about the contents of new and upcoming young adult literature books. Book critic, Meghan Cox Gurdon, offered her opinion on using explicit topics in young adult literature in her article “Darkness Too Visible.”After the publication of Gurdon’s article, author, Sherman Alexie, wrote an article “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood” where he discusses his opinion of explicit topics in today’s young adult literature. Although Gurdon and Alexie are both writing on the topic of young adult literature using connotations, rhetorical questions, and generalizations; Alexie’s article establishes a stronger connection to the reader. Both authors use different persuasive techniques to get the reader to side with them; the first technique both Gurdon and Alexie use is connotation. Connotation is words used to draw emotion from the audience. Gurdon uses words that make the reader feel horrified and appalled by the information that is often found in newer young adult literature. Gurdon uses words like “sadistic sexual prank,” “sliced her arms to ribbons,” and “a mess of meat and blood” (Gurdon par. 11). Using these examples from young adult literature helps support her argument that young adult literature is becoming too graphic for teens. Alexie uses connotations to create a different mood throughout his article. He uses connotations to get his readers to feel sympathy for him and other kids who have went through similar situations. He grabs the readers with word such as “damaged by murder and rape” and “already lives in hell” (Alexie par. 10). The word choice he uses draws attention to the bad situations that kids like Alexie have went through. Along with connotations, both authors ask rhetorical questions, which gets the reader thinking deeper about the points the authors are trying to prove. Gurdon does not rely on her rhetorical questions to sway her audience to believe in her points. In fact, the only rhetorical question she ask is “How dark is contemporary fiction for teens?” (Gurdon par. 3). She may not rely solely on her rhetorical question, but it gets the reader hooked and thinking about the article. Alexie, on the other hand, used rhetorical questions frequently in his article. Alexie asks, “Does Ms. Gurdon honestly believe that a sexually explicit YA novel might somehow traumatize a teen mother?” (Alexie par. 10). His questions not only get the reader thinking about his points, but they also prove his points true. The last technique both Gurdon and Alexie use is generalizations. Broad generalizations show up often in both articles. Gurdon uses generalizations to make it seem that her points apply to large groups of people. When referring to a young adult literature author that often uses explicit language, Gurdon says, “Ms. Myracle’s case, with her depiction of redneck bigots with meth-addled sensibilities, the language is probably apt” (Gurdon par. 19). Alexie takes a different approach to his generalizations. His generalizations he uses in his article are used to draw emphasis to his points. Alexie says, “When some cultural critics fret about the “ever-more-appalling” YA books, they aren’t trying to protect African-American teens forced to walk through metal detectors on their way into school” (Alexie par. 16). He continues to use broad generalizations, concluding that majority of teens face hardship at some point in their lives, and young adult literature will not affect what they have already experienced in their own personal life. Overall, young adult literature author Sherman Alexie was able to establish a stronger connection with his readers in his article “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood” than book critic Meghan Cox Gurdon’s article “Darkness Too Visible” even though they both use: connotations, rhetorical questions, and generalizations. Alexie’s usage of connotations, rhetorical questions, and generalizations are more effective. He is able to draw emotion from the reader and use it to prove his points. Gurdon uses similar techniques as Alexie but is not able to capture her audience as well as Alexie.