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Plastic Surgery

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Submitted By jacobhn
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English assignment A

1) The two texts both state, that the narrow modern day perception of beautiful is the main reason for the rapidly increasing number of plastic surgeries on adolescents. “… They’re constantly bombarded with images of beautiful men and women who are held up as the norm”(P. 2, L. 10-11), Valerie Ulene, who’s a specialist in preventive medicine, writes. A norm which neither the youth nor anyone else has the slightest chance of reaching. The pressure of fitting in that especially lies on the teenagers makes them want to change even the smallest of “flaws”. While people like Dr. John Canedy, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgery, sees the good sides of this epidemic, most people agree that the good things don’t outweigh the consequences. While Canedy sees the surgeries as a boost of self-esteem to some as much as an improvement of appearance, others see the surgeries as an easy way of changing something that in reality perhaps shouldn’t be changed. Since our body isn’t fully evolved when in the teenage years, changes in these years can really mess things up. Many teenagers aren’t aware of the permanence of the operations, and furthermore do their ideas often appear from day-to-day – parents as well as doctors should therefor be careful not to give permission to a quick and spontaneous idea.

2) Valerie Ulene starts of her article by telling a personal story about her struggles with her body back when she was an adolescent. “To say I disliked my nose as a teenager would be an understatement… At the time, the plastic surgery boom was just beginning to gain steam and, for the most part, adolescents weren’t on-board. Times have certainly changed”(P. 2, L. 1-5). Here she uses the form of appeal called Pathos. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and in this text she does that by bringing a personal angle/story, which makes us

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