Jeserey Sanchez

Mr. Soeth

English 3 AP

Jan. 26, 2011

REHUGO Analysis: Reading


A. Reading: “In Search of the Good Family” By, Jane Howard

B. Thesis: In the article the author’s main purpose is every human being belongs or needs a family.

C. Evidence: "If you're voluntarily childless and alone," said the other Helen, who was from Pennsylvania by way of Puerto Rico, "it gets harder and harder with the passage of time.It's stressful. That's why you need support systems." Howard establishes her pathos. It brings out the emotion in the article. Howard explains and shows that you can be anyone in the world, be as strong as a brick wall. Replace your family with friends, people who you may think will be there for you in the long run, end up being the people who leave you at the moment you need them the most. And you’ll still be running back to no other place, but your family. And thats what she means by support system, your family is your support system, through thick and thin they’re are the people who can’t turn you away, no matter how long of a grudge they’ve held on you. When it comes down to it, they’re are the ones who are there to catch you when you fall. Jane Howard refers to author of the fictional novel Slapstick written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr in her essay. Howard establishes her ethos with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s quote from his novel to back up Jane Howard’s argument saying, "human beings need all the relatives they can get - as possible donors or receivers not of love but of common decency." If as much as possible its always best to fall back on someone thats your own blood, rather than a friend. Whether they be a very close friend or not. If its between you and their relative in need, they would help their own blood first.


D. Rhetorical Strategies: “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.” Howard uses repetition to state her main point in the first sentence of the first paragraph of her essay. Call it whatever you want to call it, they’re family. Her reason is straight forward and to the point. Doesn’t matter where you’re from, who you are and where you stand in life, you came from some place because you are a human. She believes you can go on with life alone and live in solitaire, but either way you can’t go without a family. Howard uses multiple rhetorical questions to continually get the reader not only engaged in her essay, but keep them thinking and on their seats as she builds up to her main argument and purpose. “Are there not thriving “mega- families” of as many as three hundred people in Scandinavia? Have not the Japanese for years had an honored, enduring -- perhaps by our standards rather rigid -- custom of adopting non relatives to fill gaps in their families? Should we not applaud and maybe imitate such ingenuity?”


Citation:
Shea, Renee Hausmann., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin. Aufses. "More
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