Assertion analysis #6: John Winthrop

          Some of the first colonists in America were puritan. Before setting foot on land the puritan already knew that everyone, from England to the world, would be watching. If they failed, their religion would be mocked. If they failed, the none believers would have all the more reason to shame them. Worst of all, if they failed, their failure would be remembered throughout the ages as idiotic and full of incompetent people. John Winthrop, one of the first puritan, uses the fear of the colonists failure to motivate them to be "good" and succeed.
           Throughout the text, John Winthrop tells the colonists that they are being used as an example by God. He says that God has gifted them with this opportunity to prove themselves. He then says that if they do something wrong God will withdraw that gift and let them rot to show everyone else that they were wrong. He lets everyone in the boat now that if they fail, their country, their enemies, and God himself will laugh at them and shame them to the end of time.
          What John Winthrop is doing in this speech is what many parents do to their kids: scare them into behaving. Instead of using the threat of getting beat though he instead uses their worst fear: going to hell. Another way this could be seen is that Winthrop is making them nervous by letting them now that they are being watched, which should make them behave as their best self. John is trying to make them be an example through their fear and it worked.
          Many people rule others in many ways. Some people rile through the love of their people, others rule through shear power, and John Winthrop choose to rule through fear. The reason many people use these methods is because they work, however, other methods are sometimes more or equally effective. Sometimes it is better to treat your people well and have them listen to you than to scare them into listening.

Assertion analysis #9:Henry David Thoreau

Every person has things that they are good at and thing that they aren't good at. People develop these talents at their own pace and eventually reach what can be considered as their best self. However, more often than not, people chase things that they arent meant to be. Instead of pursuing they're own talents, people try to conform to the standards set upon them by others. According Henry David Thoreau, conforming to these standards is useless and should be avoided. Thoreau show this by using imagery to exemplify the struggle between newer and older generations and why the there is no such as the best generation.

Throughout the text, Thoreau tells the audience about all the standards that have been set upon them. Society wants them to be like the previous generations because they are supposedly better. Thoreau contradicts this and proves that it is stupid to try to be like someone else and that it distracts you from finding your true self. He tells the audience that it is better to follow their own pace and path as long as it will lead to their success.

Honestly, there isn't very many things Thoreau uses in this text, it's quite simple but there is two things that get used a lot, and that's metaphors and imagery. The author uses very simple to understand imagery so that the audience can visualize his point and understand what he is saying; which is that the older generation is not better than the new one. An example of this is when he compares a dead lion to a living dog to show the audience that despite the Lion being fiercer, it is powerless if it's dead and the dog is the opposite but is living. 

Thoreau made people realize that it is futile to try to fit new generations into the mold of the old ones because they have a different pace to things. Back then everything was super slow and took eons to do but nowadays people live in a society where things get done almost instantly. It is better to use they're own methods than to conform to the old ones; better to be themselves than to be fake.