Wednesday, January 26, 2011

REHUGO is in the comments.

2 comments:

  1. Jochebed Ramat

    Mr. Soeth

    English 3AP

    January 27, 2011

    REHUGO Analysis: Reading – Essay

    A. “In Search of the Good Family” by Jane Howard

    B. In the article, Howard discusses the individual’s need for a family,

    regardless of relations by blood or seclusion. She also establishes the

    idea of a community by emphasizing what makes up a “good family.”

    C. Evidence:

    a. The author describes the time that when she had a conversation with

    “the two Helens”, one of them introduced the idea of families as “support

    systems” in order to aid the “voluntarily childless” individual. Howard

    further confirms this as she mentions how the Unitarians have “extended

    families” from Santa Barbara to Boston who are just like relatives to each

    other. The need for families is stressed when Howard quotes Kurt

    Vonnegut, Jr., who defines relatives “as possible donors or receivers not

    of love but of common decency.”

    b. Howard lists and discusses ten characteristics that make up a good

    family as 1) having a “chief”, 2) having a “switchboard operator”, 3)

    being just as important to their clan as well as everyone else, 4) being

    “hospitable”, 5) being able to confront and discuss problems, 6)

    cherishing “rituals”, 7) being “affectionate”, 8) having “a

    sense of place”, 9) searching for a way “to connect with posterity”, and

    10) respecting “their elders.” She proves this by contributing her own

    anecdote of the importance of her blood clan to non-members and

    referring to rituals as times when the community comes together to

    interact with each other.

    D. Rhetorical Strategies:

    a. Process Analysis: Howard advises readers what to do in certain

    situations concerning family to improve the sense of community

    established in a group: “If our relatives are not, do not wish to be, or for

    whatever reasons cannot be our friends, then by some complex alchemy

    we must try to transform our friends into our relatives.” Also, she urges

    the need to create families to support the individual: “We must steer

    each other through enough seasons and weathers so that sooner or later

    it crosses our minds that one of us, God knows which or with what

    sorrow, must one day mourn the other.”

    b. Allusion: Howard quotes several individuals, such as Aristotle, Kurt

    Vonnegut, Jr., Martin Buber, Susanne Langer, Michael Novak, and Richard

    P. Brickner as well as refers to The Moviegoer to establish more

    credibility to her thesis.

    MLA Citation for essay:

    Howard, Jane. “In Search of the Good Family.” The Language of
    Composition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 283-88. Print.

    ReplyDelete
  2. “the two Helens”, - watch punctuation

    Howard further confirms this as she mentions how the Unitarians have “extended families” from Santa Barbara to Boston who are just like relatives to each other. - replace how with that.

    letter b under evidence and analysis, is that logos, pathos or ethos?

    ReplyDelete

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