Kathria Pador

Mr. Soeth

AP English 3

January 27, 2011

REHUGO Analysis : Reading – Essay

A. “In Search of the Good Family” –Author: Jane Howard.

B. In the essay “In Search of the Good Family” by Jane Howard, the author states that everyone needs a family. This family, blood-related or not, will help someone to be less stressful by acting as support systems. Howard stresses the idea of finding family in friends if becoming friends with blood family is not a possibility.

C. One piece of evidence Howard uses is an example of ethos. In the essay she states that, “Several of my colleagues and I used to meet for lunch every Pearl Harbor Day, preferably to eat some politically neutral fare like smorgasbord, to ‘forgive’ our only ancestrally Japanese friend, Irene Kubota Neves. For that and other things we became, and remain, a sort of family…” Howard shows the reader that she has found a family in her friends from having a tradition with them. She is trying to show that even a small one, like her lunch with friends, can lead to a lifelong friendship and “sort of family.” Another piece of evidence Howard uses is an example of pathos. In the very first paragraph she writes, “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. You need one because you are human. You didn’t come from nowhere. Before you, around you, and presumably after you, too, there are others. Some of these others must matter a lot – to you, and if you are lucky, to one another. Their welfare must be nearly as important to you as your own.” Howard appeals to the readers’ emotions by noting the fact that everyone has and needs a family. When she says, “Their welfare must be nearly as important to you as your own,” the readers can relate to the feelings of wanting the best for their families.

D. One rhetorical strategy that Howard uses is allusion. In paragraph four, she alludes to Aristotle’s ancient proverbs written in his Ethics, “Wishing to be friends […] is quick work, but friendship is a slowly ripening fruit,” and “…you cannot know a man until you and he together have eaten a peck of salt.” Howard uses Aristotle’s ideas that friendships take time to develop. There needs to be a deep bond and understanding between two people in order to actually know who that other person is. Another rhetorical strategy that Howard uses is the use of metaphor. She writes, “Good families are fortresses with many windows and doors to the outer world.”This metaphor is comparing a good family to a fortress. A fortress is known for being a place where someone can feel safe and protected, much like how someone would feel in a loving family. In a loving family, someone can learn useful skills to use in the outside world. This metaphor describes these skills as the many windows and doors.

MLA Citation :

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