Marquart Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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“Driving west from Fargo on I–94, the freeway that cuts through the state of North Dakota, you’ll encounter a road so lonely, treeless, and devoid of rises and curves in places that it will feel like one 5 long-held pedal steel guitar note” (Marquart, 1-5). In the passage from The Horizontal World, Debra Marquart reveals her love for the upper Midwest region of North Dakota. Countless people who visit this region do not enjoy the site due to the location. Numerous visitors would describe the Midwest region to be boring and vacant. With the use of impressive diction and detailed allusions Marquart can show the audience that the region has outstanding characteristics and value.


Marquart exploits impressive diction to label the region first seen by …show more content…

Marquart refers to Major Stephen Long, a man who has visited the region before. Long states, that the region is known to be useless “a dreary plain, wholly unfit for 40 cultivation” (Long, 39-41). Through Marquarts reference, she reveals the views of judgemental people who have issues with the region. Marquart uses this technique to compare their opinions to her own opinions of the overall region. While Long expresses the disadvantages of the region, Marquart refutes this with her own statements and feelings defending a different perspective. Marquart confirms to the audience that the Midwest region has quality and feature behind it. Her statements justify that the region is known as a place where history is made. The audience can also see the use of impressive diction when Marquart initiates a story about her grandparents who felt “anticipation” while anxiously waiting to accept their land (Marquart, 70-74). In this statement, Marquart allows the audience to make the inquiry that her grandparents wouldn’t have known the development of the world, but they would have felt it. By comparing the negative aspects of the land to her

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