roman’s blog

1. To explain that Corn-pone opinions are not opinions derived from facts but from feelings that guide to self approval

2. In changing “I” to “we” Twain addresses the majority of people, not just himself or people he might know.

3. It adds to his argument because the black slave talks about conforming to the majority to get satisfied or to get owns “corn-pone.” It detracts in the fact that if one were to form an independent opinion about matters such as religion and politics than he could suffer “social damages.”

4. The effect of numbering the two items is to list the grounds for which corn-pone opinions are made on. In listing the two Twain elaborates on Jerry’s definition of corn-pone by making it more specific.

5. The examples given strengthen the appeal of logos because they are definite examples of mindless conformity where a fashion became a trend, just because other people did it.

6. uhhh

7. Paragraph 13 is so long because its more of a list of examples that make it sound more like an argument. The purpose of the subordinate clauses in the middle of the paragraph helps the reader understand Twain’s point and purpose and making that particular paragraph seem more important

8. The purpose of parallelism in the two long sentences is to show how the corn-pone thinking (expessially when it comes to  politics) is impossible to be free from. Basically, the party has influence over you at all times and any political decision you make has some sort of influence.

9. By capitalizing “Public Opinion” and “Voice of God” Twain is able to make them look important, especially since Twain argued that Public opinion is never, if rarely come to independantly. By using “voice of God” he is able to tie them both together because he thinks people conform to public opinion as if it were indeed, the voice of God.