Each author has their own writing style they have developed over the years, which includes the uses of different tools to enhance one’s thoughts. The modes of rhetoric include a total of nine unique writing tools, which essayist tend to lean on throughout their work. The point of writing for many people is not about crafting a unique writing style, but to point an audience towards a meaningful theme of some sort. Even if two pieces of writing do not share the same concept or subject, they have the ability to share modes of rhetoric. In the essays “Once More to the Lake” by E.B. White and “Shooting An Elephant” by George Orwell, each author focuses extensively on description, comparison and contrast, and exemplification. By using these few …show more content…
tools, each author adds depth to their writing, while pushing forward a common theme of trying to secure personal satisfaction. Description is a mode of rhetoric author’s tend to use, with the hope it will help reader’s paint a picture of what is happening in an essay or story. Throughout the essay, “Once More to the Lake”, White tells the story of a vacation he experiences with his son at a young age. The trip itself, completely reflects the one the author experienced with his father as a kid. When looking back in the past, White sees the vacation he experienced with his father as one of the best times in his life. Unfortunately, while trying to recreate the same magic, E.B. struggles to feel the way he did back then. In multiple scenes, description is used extensively to describe how nature has yet to change since White’s original trip. During the author’s first fishing trip of the vacation, he depicts the scene by explaining that “The small waves were the same, chucking the rowboat under the chin as we fished at anchor, and the boat was the same boat…” (White 460). A major component of connecting with a character and their feelings, is by getting an understanding of what they see or feel. By reading about the author’s interpretation of everything around him, it allows the reader to get an understanding of White’s obsession with securing some type of personal satisfaction. Slowly but surely, he is trying to convince himself, this trip feels the same because it has not changed. E.B. is chasing some self satisfaction he just cannot reach. This inability to accept what life has become, is the main focus of the essay, and it is personified by description. Even though two authors may use the same tool to push a familiar theme, it can be executed in different ways. In the essay “Shooting An Elephant” by George Orwell, the author tells the story of his moral debate when opting to kill an elephant. As a police officer, Orwell despises most of the village he helps control in Moulmein because of his surroundings and the treatment he tends to receive from people in the area. Unfortunately, when a villager’s elephant ends up breaking loose and committing murder in a graphic fashion, George is forced into a position where he needs to punish the elephant. Due to the author yearning acceptance and fearing hate, Orwell murders the elephant and the moral aspect of it tends to quickly disappear. The main concern for George, only surrounds whether or not his actions were legal when it came to the village’s laws. During George’s horrific murder scene, he describes the scene by saying “At the second shot he did not collapse, but climbed with desperate slowness to his feet and stood weakly upright, with legs sagging and head drooping” (Orwill 301). Description is used harshly to describe the damage the author is doing with his gun. In “Once More To the Lake” White focuses on the beauty of nature, while “Shooting An Elephant” emphasises Orwell’s negative opinions and actions against wildlife. By describing the elephants disturbing destruction, it added another element into whether Orwell was morally right in his actions. Before seeing George’s real colors at the end of the essay, it made readers question whether he would ever be okay with taking the animal’s life. It touched directly upon the theme, of chasing personal satisfaction or acceptance. Despite George Orwell choosing to go his own route with his use of description, it still ensured the theme behind his work was consistently pushed to the front as the reader turned the page. Not all essays, can easily depict a theme and keep it relevant, as the reader comprehends the story infused with it. When a theme surrounds the concept of someone attempting to feel one way or another, comparison and contrast can be a tool author’s use to understand both viewpoints.
Within the essay “Once More to the Lake”, E.B. notes that “I bought myself a couple of bass hooks… returned to the lake… to revisit old haunts… When the others went swimming my son said he was going in… As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin left the chill of death (White 464). The essay “Once More to the Lake” brings a significant amount of attention towards the author’s attempt to secure personal satisfaction. It becomes quite obvious in the first few paragraphs, that the main character is on this vacation with his son, to recreate the careless feeling he use to have while vacationing with his dad as a child. Even though E.B. does not come out clearly and say it, the author is chasing some type of nostalgic feeling he clearly needs to feel better about life. On each page, White uses comparison and contrast to explain to the reader how the trip resembles the one he use to experience with his dad. By the end of the reading, the father begins to realize his vacation trip with his son will never be the same as the one he has dreamt about. He is no longer a child who can only notice the positive components of life. At this point, the father is an adult who will never have the innocence he once clung too. It takes some reflection for him to finally realize his place as a father in the situation. Comparison and contrast displays the idea that even though everything may look the same, it does not mean it feels the same. This mode rhetoric reflects back to the theme at the end of essay, as it concludes the author’s failed attempt to find some satisfaction from the
trip. Comparison and contrast can be used in different ways, to form a certain outcome or develop a specific style of results. The essay “Shooting An Elephant” uses this mode of rhetoric to make a moral decision, when it says “A white man mustn’t be frightened in front of ‘natives’; and so, in general, he isn’t frightened. The sole thought in my mind was that if anything went wrong these two thousand Burmans would see me pursued, caught, trampled” (Orwell 300). Throughout the essay, George is constantly comparing himself to the villagers around him. He feels pressured and upset by them, due to their treatment towards police officers in the area. When it comes to handling the murder of the rampaging elephant, Orwell seems to differentiate himself, with the hope it silences his doubts on the subject. As a white man, Orwell claims to take responsibility for taking care of the natives and watching over them. George justifies his decision using his status amongst this society. He sees himself as more advanced than these villagers, and better prepared to take on such a dangerous beast because of his heritage. The author’s use of comparison and contrast may serve a different purpose in this essay, but it connects back towards the theme of a character trying to secure personal satisfaction. Throughout the essay, Orwell’s main focus is trying to sustain personal satisfaction, despite doing something considered morally wrong in some eyes. When chasing some type of personal satisfaction, people tend to use exemplification to try and reach a point of happiness faster. E.B. White does this consistently with the father in “Once More to the Lake”, when he talks about “I felt the same damp moss covering the worms in the bait can… and the boat was the same boat, the same color green and ribs broken in the same places” (White 460). E.B. continued to note during the father’s trip, that the setting looked exactly the same. It was used as a false foundation, to prove the trip was the same way it once was. White just filled the father’s mind with numerous examples, to try and silence doubts. Evidently, this strategy would not last forever, because the father even realized what he had been doing by the end. Feeding examples or supporting arguments to try and implement happiness, can only trick other people. It is impossible to trick yourself into feeling one way or another. The author’s use of this writing tool, helped show off the father’s journey towards trying to reach some level of personal satisfaction. It made the struggle recognizable for the reader, as the father’s character slowly developed throughout the essay. When trying to make a decision, exemplification can be used to help a person sway one way or another. Orwell’s essay “Shooting An Elephant”, depicts exemplification, when he writes “It is a serious matter to shoot a working elephant- it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery- and obviously one ought not to do it if it can be possibly avoided… peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow” (Orwell 298). Early on in the essay, Orwell provided many different details and pieces of information that said he shouldn’t kill the elephant. He continued to line up facts, with the hope he could convince himself to commit one action or another, As the author contemplated his decision, it weighed heavy, because he was scared of making a morally wrong decision. Due to George being so unhappy as a police officer amongst these natives, holding onto whatever person satisfaction he had left seemed crucial. The rhetorical mode of exemplification, helped emphasize the author’s struggles with maintaining and sustaining some form of content. Orwell’s ability to manipulate different writing tools consistently, allows him to push different themes through his work, without getting redundant in his task. Authors E.B. White and George Orwell engineer different rhetorical modes and writing tools within their writing, to help intertwine underlying themes with stories. The essay’s “Once More to the Lake” and “Shooting An Elephant” different significantly in terms of content, but they share a common theme of trying to reach personal satisfaction. Three modes of rhetoric each piece share, are description, exemplification, and comparison and contrast. Just because these pieces share similar writing tools, it does not mean they are portrayed the same. Each author implements their own writing style, to complement the tools they are able to access. Developing the ability to use each tool with some form of success, adds depth to any writing piece, while allowing the reader to understand an author’s intent.
In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White, uses diction and syntax to reveal the main character’s attitude towards the lake in Maine. He has an uncertain attitude towards the lake throughout the essay because he is unsure of who he is between him and his son. On the ride there White, pondering, remembering old memories, keeps wondering if the lake is going to be the same warm place as it was when he was a kid. The lake is not just an ordinary lake to White, it’s a holy spot, a spot where he grew up every summer. “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot-the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps” (29). White’s diction and syntax
Writers use rhetoric to communicate their specific point of view or argument in a speech or text. A reader analyzes the writer’s use of rhetoric to evaluate the effectiveness of the given argument or point of view. In his “Interfaith Prayer Vigil Address,” President Barack Obama argues the need for more restricted gun control by using emotional appeals to compassion and paternalism, collective diction, and structure, which reflect the influence of a school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
John M. Barry is successful with his use of rhetoric because of his varied forms of the art. He makes the Mississippi River seem not only like a body of brown water in the middle of the continental U.S. but like a whip, a live snake, a living being, and a whirlpool all at the same time. Not only does he build his ethos, he also uses elevated diction, varied forms of sentence structure, or syntax, and different types of figurative language. Because of this, Barry is able to successfully achieve his purpose: communicate his fascination with the complex mechanics of the Mississippi River. The reader ends up being just as fascinated with a river that they may have never seen before but are now just as amazed with.
An article that uses a lot of rhetorical devices is Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott. The speaker of this article is obviously Anne Lamott; the reader gets to understand her more after she shares some personal experiences. Lamott wants people to know that their first drafts are supposed to be shitty. This article is meant for college students who just finished their first draft and is looking for improvement. The purpose of this whole article is to inform you that your first draft is supposed to be horrible because no one can just pull an amazing paper from no where, not even the people who write for a living. The whole subject is telling you that your first drafts are going to be bad, so make sure to write multiple drafts before you
Written as part of a short story collection, author T. Coraghessan Boyle’s “Greasy Lake” presents itself as a climactic account of one night in a less than savory young man’s life. Upon closer inspection “Greasy Lake” reveals a complex series of foreboding events that incorporate the innocence and ignorance males have when presented with different social scenarios and the female gender. Through his masterful use of the protagonists internal dialogue, Boyle’s artistry shows an evolving dynamic of indifference, aggression, and intimidation towards and by the women of “Greasy Lake”.
Throughout the essay, White reminisces his past experience at the lake where he recalls what it felt like to think about girls and how quiet the steamboat ran on the still water while boys would play mandolins and girls would sing (White). These memories allow White to compare his past with the way things are in the present. He realizes that things are slightly more advanced, such as the loudness of the new motorboats. While White notices the slight changes in the environment, he encounters a dual existence where it
Authors often use details that evoke a response in readers to produce an effective description. Their aim is not simply to tell readers what something looks like but to show them. Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Grave” and E.B. White’s “Once More to the Lake” are essays that use subjective language to illustrate the principles of effective description. Porter’s “The Grave” describes a childish afternoon of rabbit hunting that brings death close enough to be seen and understood, while White’s “Once More tot he Lake” is a classic essay of persona; reminiscence in which he recreates the lakeside camp he visited with his son.
Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” is in the form of allegory and is a fiction. Plato did not express his ideas directly; he used metaphors throughout the story. Every actions and setting he used as symbols and they all represent allegorical meanings. Plato uses his philosophical viewpoint to criticize people's cowardice and ignorance. “Shooting an Elephant” is a nonfiction essay. It is autobiographical and is narrated as a story in the form of an essay. Unlike Plato, George Orwell is telling his own experience; readers can recognize that human foibles through his description directly. For example, Orwell says, “I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool”(302). According to this quote, readers can understand that killing the elephant is not Orwell’s original intention. If Orwell does not fear listening to his own heart; if he has the courage to face reality; he will not kill the elephant. So, the biggest difference between these two essay is that readers can more easily get the author’s idea in “The Allegory of the Cave” than in the “Shooting an
E.B. White's way of letting the reader know that the father is in a way depressed, is through great detail and description. The story mentions how the lake has changes since the father had seen it last. How the once gravel roads have been paved over, and the sail boats are now replaced with boats with outboard motors. As the reader, one can sense a...
After a few moments, he settles and reflects, “I thought about him, fog on the lake, insects chirring eerily, and felt the tug of fear, felt the darkness opening up inside me like a set of jaws. Who was he, I wondered, this victim of time and circumstance bobbing sorrowfully in the lake at my back” (193). The narrator can almost envision himself as the man whose corpse is before him. Both deceased from mysterious causes, involved in shady activities, and left to rot in the stagnant lake water, and never to be discovered by the outside world. This marks the point where the main character is the closest he has ever been to death.
In the beginning we find the family and its surrogate son, Homer, enjoying the fruits of the summer. Homer wakes to find Mrs. Thyme sitting alone, “looking out across the flat blue stillness of the lake”(48). This gives us a sense of the calm, eternal feeling the lake presents and of Mrs. Thyme’s appreciation of it. Later, Fred and Homer wildly drive the motor boat around the lake, exerting their boyish enthusiasm. The lake is unaffected by the raucous fun and Homer is pleased to return to shore and his thoughts of Sandra. Our protagonist observes the object of his affection, as she interacts with the lake, lazily resting in the sun. The lake provides the constant, that which has always been and will always be. As in summers past, the preacher gives his annual sermon about the end of summer and a prayer that they shall all meet again. Afterward, Homer and Fred take a final turn around the lake only to see a girl who reminds Homer of Sandra. “And there was something in the way that she raised her arm which, when added to the distant impression of her fullness, beauty, youth, filled him with longing as their boat moved inexorably past…and she disappeared behind a crop of trees.
Yet throughout White’s essay you see how peaceful he keeps the tone the entire time. With the subtle approach White has on the parts of his memories he thoroughly explains to this audience. Look at the melodrama of the storm White uses. While in The Pond the tone is more spiritual and religious. For example in The Pond, Thoreau is using The Pond as a spiritual symbol. Then there is the dominant impression. In both The Ponds and Once More to the Lake they share something. The way they share their views. The views of the memories, environment around them, and the way they felt throughout the entire thing. Once More to the Lake is on the memories surround the lake White has always known of as a boy and that is his dominant
The impact and effectiveness of using proper rhetoric was a strategy of “good” writing that I was not aware of until my senior year of high school. While taking AP Language and Composition my junior year, my fellow students and I believed that we had survived countless essay workshop activities and writing assignments with emphasis on word choices, grammatical structure, syntax, punctuation and spelling. By the time we had entered AP Literature our senior year, we felt we could achieve success; we already knew how to write in the correct format and structur...
In “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White expresses a sense of wonder when he revisits a place that has significant memories. Upon revisiting the lake he once knew so well, White realizes that even though things in his life have changed, namely he is now the father returning with his son, the lake still remains the same. Physically being back at the lake, White faces an internal process of comparing his memory of the lake as a child, to his experience with his son. Throughout this reflection, White efficiently uses imagery, repetition, and tone to enhance his essay.
Every writer has that one special quirk that keeps readers coming back for more. Whether it is the humor or the characters, most authors carry their quirks from story to story. In “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell describes his experience of shooting an elephant. In “A Hanging,” he describes the emotions that run through him as he watches the hanging of a prisoner. Both essays have similar key ideas that identify Orwell as a writer. The results of pride and power contribute to the themes that connect his essays and identify Orwell as a descriptive writer.