Close Reading Chart

Instructions: Complete a close-reading chart for each of the assigned readings from They Can’t Kill Us Until
They Kill Us this semester. Print out and fill in several copies of the chart or draw the chart in your notes. Use
the charts for discussion board, journal, prewriting, and drafting assignments. For Unit 1, select passages that
answer questions from discussion board questions and/or journals that will help you with your Essay #1:
Rhetorical Analysis assignment.

Objectives: By doing this assignment you will:

 bring your prior knowledge and experience to the reading

 construct meaning from the reading
 gain insight into the significance of the larger issues in America
 create clear, organized notes with quotes you an reference in your essays

Procedures:

 Passage: Select 5 passages that engage you and that you find significant for some reason.
You can also do this for passages that seem ambiguous, that confuse or puzzle you or when
an important key term or concept is defined in the reading. For Unit 1, select passages from
the readings that speak to, respond to, or help you answer the questions from discussion
boards and journals.

 Response: Write a 2-3 sentence response to the passage you have chosen. Consider the
following questions as you respond:

a. Why were you drawn to this passage?

b. How does this passage illustrate an important idea or concept detailed in the assigned
reading?
c. How does this important idea relate to larger American issues or help answer the
questions from the Discussion Board or Journal?
d. What are the rhetorical strategies of your passages?
e. What do you think is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
f. Who is the audience/reader of this passage?
g. Based on this passage, what do you think is the author’s argument?
h. For ambiguous passages, explain why you were drawn to it or what you think the
passage’s ambiguities might mean. This is a great way to have a conversation with
yourself about the work, break it down, and ponder aspects you find confusing,
mysterious, or complex.
i. List a question if you have one, about your passage. See if, by the end of the article,
you are able to answer your question.
 They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us
‘Carly Rae Jepsen Loves You Back’
“Chance the Rapper’s Golden Year”
Directions: Select 5 quotes and find examples of passages that speak to you in a humanly important way.
Quotation, Passage, or Scenario Page Response: Observation, Reflection, Questions
1. ” Seriously. Who brings weed 26 d) Hanif use descriptiveness as a rhetorical device,
to a show like this?” he tells reader what he was feeling and seeing in a
specific moment of story. In the beginning Hanif
sets the scene of him smoking weed at a concert
and we are able to feel the tension when the event
staff confronts him when the concert was just
beginning.

2. “it occurs to me that maybe no 27
one actually wants to a pop star
who could be their friend”
e)Great example of our society and their mindset.
Hanif describes this artist who is truly happy in
what she does and what she writes. Hanif describes
this artist who is truly happy in what she does.
However society almost finds her too relatable.

3. “deadly attacks seemed to be a 17 f)By telling in his story about the death of innocent
monthly occurrence, anchored people and lost loved ones because it to appeal to
by the Pulse nightclub emotion, makes the people sympathize.
massacre there were funerals I
missed, and funerals I didn’t.
People I loved walked out of
doors they didn’t walk back
through”

4. “July, three black men were shot 19
and killed by police officers over
the course of just three days in
Brooklyn, Baton Rouge, and Saint
Paul”
b) This passage illustrates attacks and massacres of
black people because of the unjust system in
America. Hundreds of lives have been lost due to
racism.

5. “when you watch hope closely 20 g) Hope is a desire or an expectation. He claims

enough, manifested in enough that hope is evident if one feels it, he says that
people, you can start to feel it too” there is actually hope around everyone just look at
things a little closer.