The Delusions of Grandeur,” Henry Louis Gate Junior proposes that young African Americans are not good in sports are it has been the illusion by the general public. Henry is trying to say that many people assume that young African Americans excel in sports and can be glorious in sportsmanship than any other career. According to the narration he gives a response from the audience, not so many people are familiar with the real number of black Americans in their respective careers. The main messages of the article revolve around the misconception of African American athletes. He says that many folks think that the young blacks in America have higher chances of excelling in sports that careers like law, medicine, and like. He disapproves of the crowd by providing the statistics. Henry proves the claim by talking about how institutions do not educate athletes. He also demonstrates the fate of young black Americans who become disregarded on important occasions and situations across America. Nonetheless, his main point is that blacks and the whole American society should not presume that black people do well in sports without knowing the real statistics. According to him, young blacks in America should embrace education more than anything else for success in America.
Perhaps the most conspicuous rhetorical model that Henry uses is narration, at the beginning of the article, he starts with a conversation between him and his audience. “There are 35 million African-Americans, I Said. Ten million’: yelled one intrepid soul, too far into his cups.” The use of narration is successful in the article because it takes the attention of the reader. Narrations also give a vivid description of an event and make it more realistic as in Henry’s Delusions of Grandeur. The narration as a rhetoric mode makes the article appealing and non-fiction. Another common rhetoric mode in the article is an example. Henry commences the article by giving a wild guess of the number of Africa-Americans. He further gives examples of the number of blacks in various careers in comparison to sports. The success of example as a rhetoric mode comes in the article when henry uses examples of the few successful Black sportsmen in America. The use of example is to create a deeper meaning to a point in an article or any piece of writing. Henry succeeds in driving his point home by the excellent use of examples of other athletes as well as his life story. The whole article is more or less a process analysis as the general rhetoric mode.
The article Delusions of Grandeur,” Henry Louis Gate Junior shows the real career life of African-Americans. Henry is trying to explain that American society uses young African Americans to excel in sports while disregarding their potentials outside sportsmanship. I try to reflect on the article and become puzzled by the reason for the notion. Why would blacks in America think to be good in sports alone? I additionally question the article from the point that there are many African-Americans in other fields than in sports. It shows that society does not give sports career as the only option for young African Americans. The Delusions of Grandeur is somehow contradictory. Henry starts the article by engaging an audience with the notion of many Blacks in sports. In the same article, henry says that the notion is false. There is an arguable contradiction in the article that need well-structured research. On the other hand, the article encourages young African-Americans to be more vigilant with their education and to look for more achievements in the American education system. In my opinion, the article is not well-developed and expresses a contradictory message.