Michelle Roessel

Mr. Soeth

English 3 AP

January 26, 2011

REHUGO Analysis – Essay: “In Search of the Good Family”

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

B. In this essay, “In Search of a Good Family”, Jane Howard says that anybody can have a family. No matter who you are, you deserve a family. It doesn’t mean you need to be blood related, you could just be really close friends.

C. In paragraph 6, Howard says, “A few of my life’s most tribally joyous times, in fact, have been spent with people whom I have yet to see again.” This establishes his ethos because he earlier says that clans that don’t last have merit also. By bringing in his own experience he tells his audience that he knows what he is talking about. Since he himself has gone through such experiences where friends walk in and out of his life, he establishes his credibility.

Howard appeals to his audiences emotions when she says, “More and more I realize that everybody, regardless of age, needs to be hugged and comforted in a brotherly or sisterly way now and then.” in paragraph sixteen. By saying this she establishes her pathos because people can relate to that and it plays on peoples emotions. Mostly everyone wants to be hugged and comforted.

D. Throughout the essay Howards uses narration. Such as in paragraph eleven, “Good families have a chief, or a heroine, or a founder – someone whom others cluster…” Also in paragraph twelve Howard says, “ Good families have a switchboard operator – someone who cannot help but keep track of what all the others are up to…” By using defining uncommon words, she tells the audience exactly what she means. Also in her definitions she provides examples. Along with the definition in paragraph twelve she says, “… who plays Houston Mission Control to everyone else’s Apollo.” By saying this it helps the audience compare her definition to a well-known mission.

In the second paragraph Howard ends saying, “If blood and roots don’t do the job, then we must look to water and branches, and sort ourselves into new constellations, new families.” She uses parallelism when she refers back to it in paragraph eleven. She says, “Sometimes clans based on water rather than blood harbor several such personages at one time.” By using similar words, Howard makes the audience think back on what has already been said. By doing this it allows the readers’ to see the importance of her argument, that all people need a family, blood related or not.

Work Cited:

Shea, Renee Hausmann., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin. Aufses. "More Working Parents Play "Beat the Clock"" The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing and Rhetoric. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. Print.