Analyzing a Few Things About 30 Little Turtles

In "Questioning Thomas L. Friedman's Optimism in '30 Little Turtles'," Stephanie Malinowksi, a student writer, writes in response to Thomas L. Friedman, a New York Times author, about his experience with outsourcing in India. She writes that Friedman only expounds on the positive parts of the Stephanie makes another point that Friedman makes large overgeneralizations on his few experiences with Indian outsourcing that all of the Indians are hospitable. Also, Stephanie points out what she thinks is an even bigger problem in Friedman's article, and it is that he talks about the Indians in a very condescending tone. Finallly, she believes that Friedman ended his article too abruptly and thinks that it leaves the audience wanting more.

Stephanie chose to use the bulk of her essay to prove her rhetorical points such as: only going into depth on the positive aspects of Indian outsourcing, large overgeneralization about Indians, writing in a condescending tone about Indians, and that Friedman comes to an abrubt end of his article. When explaining her points she uses alot of examples and quotations from "30 Little Turtles" that support her points. One of the the best of examples and quotation that Malinowski uses are when she says that Friedman overgeneralized based on few experiences. Stephanie uses the quotations "Indians are so hospitable." and "All of them seem to have gained self-confidence and self-worth." Also, Stephanie counters what Friedman writes when she says that she read other articles that said that outsourcing is basically a deadend job and that $200 a month is not a large salary, Friedman said the opposite of Stephanie. However, she does have alot of support for some of her points, she doesn't have as much for some of her other points. She could have used a few more examples and quotations on her point of Friedman coming to an abrupt end of his article. Stephanie uses only one signifcant quote and that is "we make not only a more prosperous world, but a safer world for our 20-year-olds." She used this quote earlier in her writing and could have gone into a little more depth about her point.

Stephanie Malinowski uses many attributive tags to give full credit for what Friedman has written in his article. Some effective tags that she uses are "Friedman asks the reader" and "Friedman states,"clearly giving ownership to what he had said. If I were going to write a rhetorical critique of Friedman's article I would use mostly what Malinowski such as: overgeneralization, condescending tone, and the lack of negative aspects. The only point that I wouldn't make is that he tried to come to an abrupt end of the article and tried to end on a happy note. I believe that Friedman was trying to end on a positive note, because the story was written with a positive demeanor. Aside from agreeing with Stephanie, there are also some of Friedman's points that I agree with.

Friedman says that outsourcing has helped international relationshups between India and other countries like America and Canada. I would go into more detail about this if I were in Friedman's position writing the article. Also, I would go into more detail about the negative aspects of outsourcing and some of the problems it causes, instead of just using positive aspects. Aside from all the dispute between Friedman's article and Malinowski's response they both do a good job of giving their opinion on what they have to right about.

Jordan Engel