Dbq

In this passage Nancy Mair's describes herself using the word cripple. Nancy Mair's presents herself as a normal person, but with a slight challenge in her life. Nancy says the word cripple seems to her as a word that is very clean and straightforward. Mair's says that she would not call any other person a cripple just herself. Mair's shows us that she does not want us to feel sorry for her or to pussyfoot around her disability. She says that basically she is a cripple and there is nothing more to it. Mair's does not feel embaressed about her situation and she just wants the outside world to see her for what she is.

In the beginning of this passage the tone is informative and towards the end the tone is accepting. Throughout the whole speech Mair's presents a tough tone, because she is presented as a tough individual. The reason the tone in the beginning of the passage is informative is because she talks about how and why she choose the word cripple to describe herself. She also informs us about how people wince at the word cripple and how they are not comfortable around the word cripple. People would be much more comfortable using the word disabled or the word handicapped. At the end of the passage the tone becomes more accepting, because she talks about how she has grown accustomed to people calling her handicapped or disabled. At the end of the passage the tone changed completely than from the beginning because now Mair's says that she doesn't care what people call her whereas in the beginning of the passage she said straightforwardly "I am a cripple."

Mair's word choice is makes it seem as if she want to go to the straightforward choice that she is a cripple. This is shown by her saying that shedoes not like to be called handicapped because it makes it seem as if her god is a Handicapper General, which in her opinion is not true. Also the word cripple, in reality, does seem like the harshest word to call a person with a disability, therefore by calling herself a cripple she is basically saying, lets just get to the point here.

One rhetorical feature Mair's uses is an allusion. She says the word cripple had its first appearance in the Lindisfarne Gospel in the 10th century. This is an allusion because she relates the word to having been first seen in a well known place, the Lindisfarne Gospel. Another rhetorical feature that Mair's uses in a euphemism. The euphemism