Essay question: How does Ron Suskind presents the difficulties of Cedric’s education in part one and two of his articles?

In this essay I will explain how Ron Suskind presents the difficulties of Cedric education by using language techniques in part one and part two of his articles. At Ballou High and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cedric goes through many difficulties such as violence, receiving abuse and struggling with work at MIT. Throughout the articles Suskind uses various language devices that suggest that it was difficult for Cedric to get an education.

One language technique that Ron Suskind uses is metaphor. We can see this when he says ‘The arduous odyssey of Cedric’ He uses this quote to show that Cedric’s education is difficult. The word ‘odyssey’ is taken from a Greek myth where the main character has to go on a long hard journey alone where he battles many monstwrs along the way to get to where he wants to be. This relates to Cedric as he has to go a long hard journey alone to get his education. This also relate to Cedric as he faces monsters such as other students bullying him because hes a good student. The word ‘arduous’ suggests that it is going to be difficult, tiring and demanding for Cedric to get his education.

The metaphor ‘the odyssey’ talks about how Cedric faces difficulties by himself. However Suskind uses the metaphor ‘I tell him those people on the sideline are already out of the race’ to show Cedric is part of a group that faces difficulties as a collective. This quote shows that Cedric is part of a group that all face difficulties to get their education. The word ‘race’ suggests that Cedric has to compete with the other students to get his education. Also this quote suggests that Cedric has to keep working hard in order to, catch the other students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This quote is also similar to part one of the article as they both suggest that Cedrics education is going to be hard to get. 

Another metaphor Suskind uses is ‘being a minority and a high achiever means you have to carry extra baggage about who you are, and here you belong that puts them at risk’. This quote shows that Cedric has to carry extra baggage because his journey is going to be long and he is going to have to carry more because hes black and a high achiever. This quote also suggests that being a minority is a bad thing and that if you are a minority then you are not part of society. This means that Cedric no matter where he goes, he will always have to carry around the extra weight of him being black in a place where blacks don’t get as much opportunity as white people do. Also when Cedric was at Ballou High he was considered ‘white’ even though he was black because he was a high achiever. On the other hand when Cedric went to MIT he was seen as a minority because he was black and a high achiever.

Suskind uses the metaphor ‘Mr Washington vents his frustration at how the deck is stacked against underprivileged students like Cedric’. This quote suggests that the odds are stacked against Cedric because hes underprivileged and black. The word ‘Deck’ suggests that like a deck of cards in a game all the odds are against him. The word ‘underprivileged’ suggests that because Cedric is black and comes from a poor background it will be hard for him to get anywhere. This is similar to the previous quote as in both Cedric is the the minority because he is black and and the only student prepared to try and get there education. This quote is similar to the previous quote as in both talk about having extra baggage as the deck represents society so the odds is all the extra baggage that he carries such as being a minority but also being underprivileged.  

Another quote Suskind uses in part one of his article is ‘failure is persuasive here even seductive’ this is a metaphor and shows that in Ballou High failure follows you around and that it is easier to fail than to succeed this shows that it will be very hard for Cedric to get his education and succeed in Ballou High. The word ‘seductive’ suggests that failure will tempt you and it also suggests that its easier to fail than to succeed. The word ‘persuasive’ suggests that failure makes you believe that failure is the only thing that you can get out of Ballou High. It also suggests that at Ballou High they don’t get support so even though they want to be successful, because of the area they are in and all the failure that is around them they believe that it is easier to fail than to succeed.

The metaphor ‘But where i start from is far behind where some students are, i have to run twice the distance to catch up’.This quote shows that Cedric has to work twice as hard to catch up with the other students level of intelligence because he didn’t receive a good education at Ballou High due to drugs, violence, bullying, guns and a bad learning environment whereas the other students received a good education at their previous schools and they come from good backgrounds. The word ‘distance’ suggests that Cedric is going to have to go a long way to get to where he wants to be. This quote is similar to the previous one as they both talk about the things that hold Cedric back whether it be the work being hard at MIT or bullying at Ballou High. 

In conclusion there are many ways in which Ron Suskind shows that Cedric’s education is difficult in Ballou High and MIT. The quote that I think shows this the most is ‘the arduous odyssey of Cedric’. This is because it relates the most as they both have to go on a long hard journey alone with difficulties along the way to get to where they want to be. Cedric faces many difficulties such as bullying, violence and having to do extra work at home because Ballou High doesn’t provide good enough teaching for Cedric to get his education.