Mr. Soeth
English 3 AP
January 26, 2011
REHUGO Analysis – Essay: “In Search of the Good Family”
A. "In Search of the Good Family" by Jane Howard
B. The essay "In Search of the Good Family," the author, Jane Howard, brings up the topic of how a family is essential to us, whether or not that is our blood family, or our family of friends, Howard makes it clear it does not matter. Howard states the qualities a "Good family" possesses, and gives deep explanations to each quality.
C. Howard has many uses of credible sources to help establish herself as a credible author, such as when she states in paragraph three, "Wishing to be friends, as Aristotle wrote, is quick work, but friendship is a slowly ripening fruit." Howard uses a very well known historical figure to help the reader acknowledge that she knows what she is talking about. She also refers to the "terminology of an African tribe" in paragraph 3, to help the reader further recognize the amount of knowledge she has on the subject she is encountering. As well as creating herself as a credible person, Howard manages to grab the emotions of her readers, such as in paragraph two, when she says, "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." When Howard uses this statement, she pulls in many readers into their own experiences with close family friends.
D.Howard uses many rhetorical questions, she uses repetition, metaphors, allusions, and definition to help pull her argument together. One of Howard's most successful rhetorical questions would be in paragraph eight, "Should we not applaud and maybe imitate such ingenuity?" Clearly her answer to that question is obvious, and it makes the audience notice that if Japan is doing it, and having a success, we can too. Howard uses repetition in paragraphs eleven through twenty-two by using the phrase, "Good families..." This phrase repeats and begins to narrow the amount of good families after each repeat. Howard uses repetition to emphasize the idea that a good family requires many things. An example of when Howard uses a metaphor could be from paragraph two, "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." The idea of using complex alchemy, as a metaphor, is to reveal the idea that it takes deep processing to create a family friend. Howard uses an allusion in paragraph four, "Wishing to be friends, as Aristotle wrote, is quick work, but friendship is a slowly ripening fruit." This allusion is brought up from Howard to help stabilize herself from becoming unreliable. And finally, Howard uses the rhetorical strategy of definition, to repeatedly define what a "Good family" is throughout paragraphs eleven to twenty-two.
MLA Citation
Howard, Jane. "In Search of the Good Family." 2008. The Language of Composition. Boston: Bedford, 2008. 283-88. Print.
B. The essay "In Search of the Good Family," the author, Jane Howard, brings up the topic of how a family is essential to us, whether or not that is our blood family, or our family of friends, Howard makes it clear it does not matter. Howard states the qualities a "Good family" possesses, and gives deep explanations to each quality.
C. Howard has many uses of credible sources to help establish herself as a credible author, such as when she states in paragraph three, "Wishing to be friends, as Aristotle wrote, is quick work, but friendship is a slowly ripening fruit." Howard uses a very well known historical figure to help the reader acknowledge that she knows what she is talking about. She also refers to the "terminology of an African tribe" in paragraph 3, to help the reader further recognize the amount of knowledge she has on the subject she is encountering. As well as creating herself as a credible person, Howard manages to grab the emotions of her readers, such as in paragraph two, when she says, "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." When Howard uses this statement, she pulls in many readers into their own experiences with close family friends.
D.Howard uses many rhetorical questions, she uses repetition, metaphors, allusions, and definition to help pull her argument together. One of Howard's most successful rhetorical questions would be in paragraph eight, "Should we not applaud and maybe imitate such ingenuity?" Clearly her answer to that question is obvious, and it makes the audience notice that if Japan is doing it, and having a success, we can too. Howard uses repetition in paragraphs eleven through twenty-two by using the phrase, "Good families..." This phrase repeats and begins to narrow the amount of good families after each repeat. Howard uses repetition to emphasize the idea that a good family requires many things. An example of when Howard uses a metaphor could be from paragraph two, "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." The idea of using complex alchemy, as a metaphor, is to reveal the idea that it takes deep processing to create a family friend. Howard uses an allusion in paragraph four, "Wishing to be friends, as Aristotle wrote, is quick work, but friendship is a slowly ripening fruit." This allusion is brought up from Howard to help stabilize herself from becoming unreliable. And finally, Howard uses the rhetorical strategy of definition, to repeatedly define what a "Good family" is throughout paragraphs eleven to twenty-two.
MLA Citation
Howard, Jane. "In Search of the Good Family." 2008. The Language of Composition. Boston: Bedford, 2008. 283-88. Print.
Opening paragraph you use the word "how." As soon as you do that you lose any direct approach to your writing you may have wanted and start using the passive voice - don't do it!
ReplyDeleteLastly, for an organization standpoint, you can use headings and subheadings to delineate your categories under logos, pathos or ethors as well as rhetorical strategies.