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The Border Patrol State Summary

Good Essays

Leslie Marmon Silko is a Tucson based Laguna Pueblo fiction author and poet. Having been based in the southwestern area since 1978, she began to notice the increase in border security and checkpoints. In 1994, her essay, “The Border Patrol State,” was published in The Nation magazine.
In it, she explains her concerns and criticisms for the development and enforcement of the US-Mexican border, arguing that it is an infringement on the free right to travel. She backs these arguments up with a series of anecdotal accounts and experiences, using few statistical evidence. As a result, Silko’s essay becomes very powerful pathos wise, but weak when it comes to logos and ethos.
Silko’s audience seems to be targeted at people who would likely or already agree with her. For example – people who lean left politically, people living in the area and may have possibly gone through a similar experience, and minorities. The first reason being where it was published – The Nation. The nation is considered to be “the ‘flagship” of the political left” (The Nation 9) as seen in The Nation’s about page. Secondly, her arguments tend to have a one sided feel which works well for people who would or may already agree. She seems to appeal more to minorities, noting the more frequent stoppage of Chicanos and Asians. She also states the fact that she is a minority herself, being Native American.
Her style is unique in that it has the feeling of a story. The first reason being her use of anecdotal

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