Nia Ogletree

ENC2135 - Revised Workshop Response 2

In Ayana Mathis’ essay “On Impractical Urges”, she explores her personal journey in
finding success and delves into the bigger picture that her life falls into. Mathis’ narrative begins
with a critical moment of her life that propelled her fame and goes on to detail what led up to that
moment. Mathis utilizes strong emotional appeal in her essay to invite a connection with the
audience and convey her messages. As the audience, I felt a strong connection with Mathis’
experiences as a Black youth. Mathis also uses some visual aspects and imagery within her
narrative, which helps to express her purpose. Lastly, the narrative’s structure provides a unique
method of storytelling and engages the audience as the writer takes us through different
memories and life events.

Mathis’ essay aims to describe to the reader the flaws of merit-based success and the
infamous “American Dream”, and she does so by talking about her personal encounters. She
states that many people think, “We believe that if we just work hard enough, we will achieve.”
However, Mathis goes on to explain that this belief is naive and just not true. There are other
factors, like one’s race and class position, that affect their chances of success. Through the
discussion of her personal experiences, Mathis emphasizes this point, noting her and her
mother’s childhood of poverty. She did not have specific goals in life as an adolescent but simply
wanted to not be poor. Mathis also describes how she grew up feeling undesirable and less than
because of the color of her skin. Black people were portrayed in the media as lazy, drug addicts,
and criminals, and Mathis emphasizes that from a young age, “the damage done by those
images…[was] inestimable.” I also was strongly influenced in my youth by how the media
represented Black people and Black women, especially. By expressing her personal feelings,
Mathis appeals to the readers’ emotions, helping us better understand her perspective, and
opening her own experiences to comparison and contrast.

Along with the emotional appeal, this narrative involved visual appeal as well. The
inclusion of the illustration at the very beginning of the article was an important aspect because it
helps the reader visualize who the speaker is and what the context of the article will be. The
picture shows a brown hand with painted fingernails writing on a piece of paper, and the article
is written by a Black woman who discusses her writing journey. The inclusion of this image may
additionally connect with other Black people reading the essay, and further emphasize Mathis’
approach of emotional appeal. Mathis also invokes strong imagery by using descriptive
vocabulary throughout the essay. For example, Mathis uses the “Welfare Queen” as a figurative
character to describe how Black women living in poverty were often falsely portrayed or
perceived. Having this image is key to the narrative because it was who Mathis did not want to
grow up to become, but it was also a portrayal she was familiar with and damaged by. Having the
visual imagery for the reader allows them to connect with Mathis’ ideas.

The structure of the essay also connects Mathis’ ideas well. Because this was a personal
narrative, the foundation of it was the writer’s life and firsthand experiences. The narrative starts
at a life-changing moment for Mathis and then transitions to her childhood and adolescence. This
choice gives context to her present-day success and status because the audience sees what
influenced Mathis and shaped her into the woman she is today. The next section of the essay then
goes back to 2012 where she started. Much like the first section, Mathis uses past experiences
and family anecdotes to explain her current perspective. For example, when Mathis begins to
question what it means to “deserve” success, she describes how her mother grew up poor and
could not pursue her dreams of art school until later in her life. Mathis used this story because
her mother, too, deserved success, but was trying her best to “survive her circumstances.”
furthermore, detailed anecdotes are a personal way of connecting and relating to the intended
audience. When Mathis discusses this aspect of her life story, I was reminded of my own mom
and family and the role they play in my life and success.

In conclusion, Ayana Mathis’ essay used frequent emotional appeal and visual imagery to
emphasize the writer’s opinions and perspectives. The structure of the essay as present and past
life experiences does well to explain the writer’s ideas and helps contextualize the information
presented to the audience. As a Black person, I can personally relate to some of the struggles that
Ayana Mathis grew up with. I felt that I connected with this essay despite having different
experiences because of the distinctive perspective Mathis implemented, the descriptiveness, and
the strong emotions throughout. The rhetoric that Mathis used overall made the essay relatable to
a diverse audience while also sharing a unique story.