Rhetorical Analysis Assignment: This assignment was to pick a piece of literature to read, and then write a detailed essay describing the authors use of rhetorical elements such as egos, logos, and pathos.
With the Rhetorical Analysis Essay the theme of "Cycles" came in the cycle of fatherhood in the analyzed text.
Rhetorical Analysis Essay
It’s easy to make an analysis essay boring. The general concept is simple, it’s that the author reads another piece of text, tells the audience about the text, but tells the audience about certain elements that the author of the outside piece of text used while writing it. Well, when reading “My Dad Tried to Kill Me with an Alligator”, the intriguing plotline, comical relief, and well-rounded moral of the essay provides the intended audience of fathers and sons with a fun experience to analyze what makes this essay great. He starts the story in Pearl River Mississippi, he tells a story of him and his brother losing their father’s beloved fishing pole in an alligator infested river. The story continues, as their father makes them swim in the river to try and find the fishing pole. The author describes the fear he felt, but how it showed him not to be afraid of life and how he uses that same lesson for his own daughters. By using intelligent diction and a plethora of references, a personal and intriguing narrative, and a powerful description of setting, the author of “My Dad Tried to Kill Me with an Alligator” donates a message that “fear should not dictate your actions” to the audience. The author makes the reader feel as if they are intellectually inferior; however, emotionally relatable, by referencing his dedication to education. In a grasp for ethos he often refers to how he read books as a child and his father didn’t. This allowed him to show the reader that even in his misfortunate upbringing he still valued and dedicated his time to reading. This shows the reader that he is qualified and smart enough to be critiquing his own father. (Which as time passes, proves to be an ironic form of Kairos). As to not overpower the reader’s knowledge, the author makes frequent references to pop culture such as “Pop Tarts, Gary Buesy, and Big Bird.” This shows the reader that he is still a regular person regardless of his level of intelligence. In a way, this cites his sources for being human and relating to the reader using logos. The intended audience of this essay is most likely fathers or young men who aspire to be authors. This is evident by the fact that the authors timeline jumps from him being a child talking about his father, to him being a father talking about his children. This emotional topic is something that most readers can relate to. A powerful use of pathos the author describes learning a lesson his father taught him, one that scared him. He then talks about Teaching that same lesson to his own children after burying his father and learning the meaning of that lesson he himself learned long ago. Most readers having fathers in their lives feel the impact of losing their father and being taught a lesson of maturity and grit. The Pearl River in rural Mississippi does not sound like a place that most people spend their vacation, nor does it sound like a place that could breed someone with the authors intelligence. This use of ethos shows gives its own description of the story. As most readers have never heard of the place, it creates the imagery of the small scale and bewilderment in this place. This directly contrasts the second half of the story when he talks about living in Savannah and Tybee Island. A well-known, historic city Savannah shows how the author has succeeded and grown possibly from the lessons his father taught him. In exemplifying a change in setting, deriving the message from a memory, and referencing his intelligence with modern media references the author shows the audience why they shouldn’t let their worries be their road. That means don’t let the decisions someone does or doesn’t make be based off their fears. A message that resonates on a greater scale than just the individual person. This message applies to families, cultures, and governments. One that can ring true to every father and son as well as everyone trying to be their best selves.
Rhetorical Analysis Reflection
Looking back on my personal experience with writing the rhetorical analysis essay, I would say it wasn’t my favorite essay but on some level was still enjoyable. Writing an analysis essay for me is extremely boring by nature just because it’s a very cookie cutter essay to write. There’s not a lot of room for creativity unless your dead set on going over the word count. However, with the story “My Dad Tried to Kill Me with an Alligator” it was a unique experience and a fun read. It was easy to connect with the author and with an engaging plotline it was an enjoyable experience. Compared to other rhetorical analysis essays I have written in the past this was probably the best, and I attribute that to the text I had to analyze being so enjoyable. The essay was fairly easy to write considering my writing process. I changed it up a little bit. During the “splurge” phase I just wrote down the sentences I knew needed to be in the essay and then I plugged them into the essay where they needed to be. Then during the revision phase I just made it all flow and sound like one coherent thought through and through. I feel as if this essay was a good test of my writing process to see if I could adjust to writing a different kind of essay. If I had to do anything differently about this essay, I would put more emphasis on the authors use of Kairos. I feel like his story did a great job of comparing and contrasting two different contexts using a similar theme. I feel like that is the only thing that would’ve made my essay provide a stronger message. All in all I would say this was an enjoyable, properly challenging essay.