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Hannah King

Professor Brian R. Adler

STACC English 1A #32463

29 March 2017

Writing for a Purpose

Writing has always been one of the most powerful forms of communication. It is a way to

connect with your reader for a purpose, and as a way to share ideas and different perspectives.

Jimmy Santiago Baca uses unique forms of poetry to express his own ideas and perspectives.

Mary Phipher introduced the term change writing through Writing to Change the World, and

this idea of change writing encourages many readers that any type of writing can make a

difference because if a persons writing has the capability to change even the smallest percentage

of someones mindset then you can chance the world with your writing. Through vivid imagery,

in Looking, Whats Happening, and December Nights Baca depicts the power of emotion

that writing can instill within his poetry which results in Mary Phiphers concept of change

writing.

Without writing, Bacas way to express his unique voice, the remainder of his life would

have been in silence. In Singing at the Gates by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Baca shares passionate

poems that bring forth some kind of thought or emotion. Looking shares how writing peeled

through the depths of Bacas hardened layer of personality that was sealed together by his never-

ending tragic experiences during his endeavor from youth to adulthood, yet writing pried those

layers apart and revealed the flesh of his sensitive nature, To hold in his palm / lines of my

hearts untouched essence / and the callousness I wear / when nothing else will light my path / or

marry them, two separate ones to me (8-13). Poetry with such a beautiful reveal of ones

genuine experiences has the power to influence the life of the reader. Baca was able to create

change writing by writing a pure form of poetry that revealed the layers of his character. This
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type of writing filled with imagery allowed Baca to use language to discover himself; writing to

influence his own being and allow others to be inspired by his own perspective of life.

Connecting with the aesthetic of nature allowed Baca to show how fire could be used to bring

change or clear the way for justice in even the most dirtiest of places by purifying the area he

was forced in through his imagination and use of diction within his writing. Including the

strength of human beings in terrible conditions that are meant to dehumanize ones soul. In

Whats Happening, Baca paints a scene where he is submerged in a pit of dark smoke of a fire

that broke out in prison that was meant to rehabilitate each person held captive, Men calling that

they want justice / sixty fires are spewing everywhere / in the foot deep sewage, are the cries, We

Want Justice / yet every day I go on (6-58)! Every day the choice to continue is made even

though the apparent need to stop and rest is shown. Foot deep sewage and black lungs show the

condition and affect on Baca which was inhumane, yet he holds on his will to continue like it is

his only lifeline. Every prinsoner in the poem demands for the change and justice that was

stripped from their lives leaving them bare and exposed. Bacas writing shows the resilliance of

human nature and the strength of togetherness to stand up for human rights within the prison

portrayed in his writing. This change writing shows the influence of the rebirth of the prison

system to be for the prisoners well being and to change the living conditions prisoners must

endure.

The use of rhetorical language in writing can have an affect to greatly influence the

reader for the authors intended purpose. Martin Luther King Jr. writes to his fellow racist

collegues with the attempt to show them what it would be like for them to step into his shoes as a

black man, We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitiutional and God given

rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political

independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a

lunch counter (3). Using the imagery of other nations moving more efficiently, as well as, faster
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than America provides strong support towards persuading the reader to understand the point

King is trying to make. Showing that rhetorical language is necessary when trying to persuade a

audience for a beneficial purpose.

Bacas use of rhetorical language in his poetry allows influence to pour from the words

within them. In Let Me Give You a Portrait lines like The pure heart I carried in me / was like

a simmering volcano mouth / where roses grew and rocks talked (41-43), Baca is showing how

pure his heart used to be. Using the imagery of a place where roses grew and rocks talked show

that where his heart used to be was a beautiful place. That was before the influence he

experienced during the troubles in his life, I had a pure heart, long before prison and / county

jail cells, / before drugs and whiskey and guns came into my life (37-40). Whiskey and prison

tainted his pure heart. Bacas rhetorical language shows this cause and effect for the reader to

understand.