Spacecat
Answer each question in depth and provide specific evidence from
the text or speaker whenever available. The more you write, the better!
Title of the text:
S
SPEAKER:
Who is the speaker/writer?
What do we know about
them? What can you tell or
what do you know about
the speaker that helps you
understand the point of
view expressed?
P
PURPOSE:
What is the speaker/writer
hoping to accomplish?
What is the reason behind
this piece? What do they
want the audience to do
after having listened?
A
AUDIENCE:
Who is the speaker/writer
trying to reach? How do we
know? Do they indicate a
specific audience? What
assumptions exist in the
text about the intended
audience?
C
CONTEXT:
What is the time and place
of this piece? What is
happening in the world as
it relates to the subject of
the speech or the
speaker/writer?
E
EXIGENCE:
What was the spark or
catalyst that moved the
speaker/writer to
act/write? How did that
event impact the
speaker/writer?
C
CHOICES:
What are the rhetorical
choices that the
speaker/writer makes in
the speech? Think about
overall structure, devices,
This speaker was a former black factory worker. He won a prize for his poetry and he
also is a head of a library today, named in the honor of Hurston. So it probably focuses
on african-american writing and concepts around that. Because of that I’m able to
understand that the speaker is associated with colored society and some things that I
have been exposed to in literature about that, I can understand it better. I can tell that
the speaker probably had a complicated relationship with his dad.
The speaker’s purpose is to expose people to the lives of black people. There are a lot
of issues that surround their culture and I think a part of that is he wants to expose
those. Those issues which face teenagers are important and things he wants society to
address those issues. After the audience has finished listening, I think that the thing
that this author most wants them to do is to critically reflect on the relationships they
build with their family and parents. He wants kids to see themselves in their parents
eyes, and parents understand how their kids most likely see them.
He is trying to reach parents and kids, teens especially. I think that other groups aren’t
really applicable because they aren’t really mentioned in life. But his poetry methods
are trying to reach the two groups of people whose sides he mentions. He tells
parents what teens face and he helps teens realize what their parents are thinking
about in the background while they make decisions. He kind of assumes that kids are
bad though and parents all are wise, seasoned, and laid back as their kids do
something like this.
This was written in 2013, and he is from Baltimore. There was a lot of talk about Black
Lives Matter probably going on, although it was mostly just starting I think. Besides
that not really anything big was going on. This was mostly a start.
The spark that motivated the writer two write was probably his childhood. Issues he
faced and a culture he faced were things he wanted to talk about. And he really
wanted to address how a relationship with his father helped him get through the
tough times. His time he spent with his father was valuable to him.
The choices that the writer makes in the speech are mostly around trying to contrast
and expose relationships. One of the first devices he uses is that he contrasts parents
opinions with what kids are doing. Furthermore, some line breaks that he uses
purposefully really bring out specific lines. Finally the similar length of all lines makes
them all stand out equally. The other device that they use is the imagery of the
corvette. Its easy to make inferences about this poem because he uses simple
 diction, syntax, etc. wording, and that allows the reader to think about things.

A
APPEALS: There isn’t really any logos in this poem. He doesn’t directly introduce ethos, except
Which of the three through perhaps compassion because he went through so many hard things. He uses
rhetorical appeals (ethos, a lot of pathos. The things he struggled with really bring compassion to him. And as
logos, pathos) are present we see inside each of their hearts, we are able to sympathize with the two
in the text? Where? Why? writers/characters.
His use of pathos is most evident in the usage of words when he writes about the
struggles that the son has. For example, “leave the books for street life, naming for
mentors men who pack guns and knives”, this author is a mainly appealing to the
pathos of the readers who see that this kid is really, really troubled. And so people
relate with their own problems, because this kid had a lot more. The graphic scenes
are an emotional appeal talking about blood and really can pull people’s heartstrings
in compassion for the father. A last example of pathos is the imagery of washing a
blue Chevrolet; something I think everybody can relate to is washing the car with
family members. This is an experience which I would say many people would
remember as happy, and so that contrast is also valuable to the poem. It really helps
people to relate with the story that he is trying to tell. I don’t think everybody has had
their child hang out with their murders, but a lot of people have washed the car with
their children. This is just one example of the many ways he appeals to readers with
pathos. Pathos is intertwined in the poem and continually brings readers back into the
focus of the poem.

T
TONE: The author’s attitude towards the subject is a respect through the parents. And it’s
What is the evident throughout the whole poem. It shifts not really, but it is more like a mirror,
speaker/authors attitude starting at a high point, going down to the struggles they were having, and then
toward the subject? Is the slowly, right before jumping back up to washing the Chevrolet. It is a sad tone mostly
tone the same throughout throughout the whole poem. Words like “troubled” and “night” and “scream” bring
the whole piece? Where out the tone of this passage, evidence of it. There isn’t really a point to choose out a
does it shift? What shift.
evidence is there to
demonstrate the tone?
Washing the Car with My Father
BY AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER

It is the twilight blue Chevrolet,

four doors with no power but the engine,
whitewall tires, no padding on the dashboard,
the car I drive on dates, park on dark lanes
to ask for a kiss, now my hand goes along
the fender, wiping every spot, the suds
in the bucket, my father standing at the gate,
poor and proud, tall and stout, a wise man,

a man troubled by a son gone missing

in the head, drag racing his only car
at night, traveling with hoodlums to leave
the books for street life, naming mentors
the men who pack guns and knives, a son
gone missing from all the biblical truth,
ten talents, prophecies, burning bushes,
dirty cars washed on Saturday morning.

He tells me not to miss a spot, to open

the hood when I'm done so he can check
the oil, the vital thing like blood, blood
of kinship, blood spilled in the streets
of Baltimore, blood oozing from the soul
of a son walking prodigal paths leading
to gutters. Years later I tell him the stories
of what his brother-in-law did to me, and

he wipes a tear from the corner of his eye,

 wraps it in a white handkerchief for church,
walks up the stairs with the aluminum
crutch to scream at the feet of black Jesus
and in these brittle years of his old age we
grow deeper, talk way after midnight,
peeping over the rail of his hospital bed
as we wash the twilight blue Chevrolet.

Afaa Michael Weaver, "Washing the Car with My Father" from The Government of Nature. Copyright © 2013 by Afaa Michael Weaver. Reprinted by permission of
University of Pittsburgh Press.

Source: The Government of Nature (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013)