Guinevere's Blog

#8 Suheir Hammad "First Writing Since"

     Suheir Hammad is definitely using poetry to make her argument and she was very persuasive in doing so.  The logos appeal is to tell us the wrongness of killing, of racism, of "assuming that a people represent evil" (Hammad). She points out the false logic of someone asking her if she knew who the 9/11 attackers were just because of her heritage. Her thesis is stated at the very end, saying "You're either with life or against it.  Affirm life" (Hammad).    Her ethos is evident in her message as she speaks clearly and powerfully, with a genuine plea to the audience, telling us "I've read too many books to believe what I'm told".   Hammad's appeal to our pathos is in the pictures she creates in our minds of skyscrapers falling, transforming to smoke, of  the injustice of 9/11 being no different than what was happening on the West Bank and Gaza.  She talks about her love and fear for her brothers, a family love with which we can all identify.   
    I felt extremely "persuaded" by this poem, by Hammad's pictures she put into my mind, by her strong voice, and by the overall message that is left with me after listening. When she told us "I have never been so hungry that I willed hunger", it struck me that the people in this world who are killing and causing such incredible hurt, must be so intensely hurt themselves in order to wish such pain on others.   Affirming life is essential, and needs to be taught and practiced by all peoples.