Veil of Ignorance

I chose this essay because recently I read an article in the Washington post. It talked about all the recent things the Islamic community are going through in America. In the article, the mother of a young Islamic girl was begging her daughter to take off her veil while out in public in America, because she did not want her daughter to be a victim of a hate crime and that she feared for her life. This article does not personally affect me, but it makes me wonder about the repercussions of my fellow Islamic Americans. At first I was not sure that this essay was peer-reviewed, because it had a lot of misspelled words, some of it did not make any since. After I did some research, I found this essay to be peer-reviewed, because it was listed under peer-reviewed by ProQuest. The claim of the essay is as follows, where she once saw the veil as a symbol of intolerance, she now understands that for many women, it is a badge of individuality and justice. I stood firmly and unquestioningly against the veil and the hijab, the Islamic head scarf, viewing them as signs of women’s disempowerment (Ahmed).

The author does use the toulmin method and proves his claim based on the claim of evaluation. The author compared the difference of wearing a hijab or not wearing a hijab. After interviewing women wearing the hijab, there were many reasons for wearing the hijab. Clearly, these women have a very different view of the veil here in the west, where they are free to wear whatever they want, then the old notion of the veil with which I grow up, fraught with ancient patriarchal meanings as it was and still is in societies where it is required by law or through ferocious social pressure (Ahmed). I stood firmly and unquestioningly against the veil and the hijab, the Islamic head scarf, viewing them as signs of women’s disempowerment.

I have never used the toulmin style of argument in any assignment or project. Yes, I will use it in the future, because it helps me to express my point of view. It also helps me to be persuasive I my argument, and give support to my claim.

Looking at the comments from my instructor, on my critical evaluation essay, I can improve my essay by, making sure I use third person, making sure direct quotations are clearly identified, and only site sources, if I used in-text citing.