The Big Thirst Chapters 8-10

1. In The Big Thirst (2011) by Charles Fishman, he manages to bring light to the importance that water truly holds and that people take little consideration of. Everyday tons of water is used and wasted, many take it for granted or as Fishman mention in his book, we do not take it for granted since we do not even pay that much attention to it. The final chapters of Fishman's book adds to the already set purpose of reminding everyone, in particular Americans, of our everyday use of water. He speaks about countries who have to sacrifice a lot to access water and do not receive it 24/7 as we do, in India water is carried in buckets and many girls are forced to drop out of school to get water everyday. He furthers this issue by stating how the water we pay for is to pay for the processing to get it to us and in reality water is a free natural element on Earth. Overall, Fishman's purpose is to "rescue water not so much from ignorance as from being ignored". He discusses the many ways water is used and gives real account stories that involve water such as dying of thirst, the waste of water in Las Vegas and he limited access of water in other countries. Water is a free element that Earth has provided us with, we use it everyday (many waste it), and it is time to recognize the importance of water and find ways of preserving it. 


2. Vocabulary

• ambient (adj.): existing or present on all sides
• dichotomy (n.): a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities
• vertiginous (adj.): inclined to frequent and often pointless change
• nominal (adj): of, relating to, or constituting a name
• pristine (adj.): belonging to the earliest period or state
• irrigation (n.): the therapeutic flushing of a body part with a stream of liquid
• incentive (n.): something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action 
• allocate (v.): to set apart or earmark
• refurbish (v.) to brighten or freshen up
• juxtaposition (n.): the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side; also : the state of being so placed
• pivots (n.): a person, thing, or factor having a major or central role, function, or effect
• gimbals (n.): a device that permits a body to incline freely in any direction or suspends it so that it will remain level when its support is tipped
• insurmountable (adj.): incapable of being surmounted
• exuberance (adj.): the state or quality of being  joyously unrestrained and enthusiastic
• proprietorship (n.): a person who has the legal right or exclusive title to something

3. Tone: Logical, Formal, Concerned 

4. Rhetorical Strategies

• Metaphor: "It is a kind of water slavery that millions- tens of millions- of ppoor Indians are trapped in every day..." (221). 
• Allusion: "On the Forbes 2010 list, two of the five richest people in the world are Indians" (226).
• Statistics: 
• "In India, 32 million households get their water from "away"- 17 percent of the country. About 170 million people..." (240).
• "In Toung's ideal scheme, the high- security pol of water is 30 percent of the ten- year moving average of available water. If a river an annual flow of 10,000 gigaliters...then 3,000 gigaliters-30 percent- would be high- security.." (283).
• Anaphora: 
• "We all know what it feels like to be thirsty, and what it feels like to be refreshed with a glass of water. We know what a dried- up lawn....We know what water that's been sitting..." (312).
• "All we have to do is change how we value that system...All we have to change is how we think about water..." (292). 
• Anecdote: 
• "One boy uses hooks and straps to sling water containers on either side of his bicycle- a five gallon bucket bungee corded onto the back..." (220).
• "Many girls walk off with five- gallon buckets balanced on their heads- 42 pounds of water gliding off into the dawn, steadied on their hands..." (220).
• Imagery: 
• "IN THE MODERN AND AIRY TERMINAL A at Detroit's Metro Airport sits a smooth black slab of granite. It looks something like a black river rock except for it size. Positioned on the floor, the disk is an oval, the height of a low table, and about forty feet across" (293).
• " IT IS 63 DEGREES, the sky is clear blue and bright, the air has the freshness of spring in the mountains, when it still gets cool each night and each day has to warm up from scratch. I can hear the waterfalls roaring faintly in the distance" (310). 
• Personification: "When you think of the qualities of water that are so appealing- the energy, the playfulness, the adaptability, the variety of mood, the artistry, and also the sheer everyday usefulness.." (312). 

5. Questions

1. What is Charles Fishman's purpose of capitalizing the beginning words of paragraphs?
2. Why does Fishman begin most of his chapters with a story or reference? Can that be considered to be part of his writing style?
3. How many purposes do you think Fishman had throughout his book? 

6. Quotation

"Girls don't go to school because they have to fetch water.Girls drop out of school because the schools have no working bathrooms" (246).