Rhetorical Analysis Of Katherine Anne Porter's The Future Is Now '

In Katherine Anne Porter’s, “The Future Is Now,” the author develops her argument through the use of rhetorical devices, as well as varying points of view, which greatly help emphasize her argument. In the second paragraph she notices a siren going off outside her home, she then starts to wonder about all the different things the siren could represent. As she considers all the possibilities she notices a man across the street who is consumed by a table he is carefully building. She fails to understand how a person can be so absorbed by something that they fail to notice something so alarming surrounding them. The primary argument the author is trying to make is that it is more important to exist and cherish life rather than always worry about

the things appearing to be more important. She shares this through a series of different points of view and in doing so, she examines the reality of the different issues and how we as humans often times obsess over the problems which seem to be of huge importance to us, yet lead us to miss out on the beauty and true meaning of life itself. Furthermore, the secondary claim the author is trying to make is that it is immoral for humans to take a person’s opportunity of enjoying life by killing them. As she furthers her arguments, we see how the author’s perspective on the value of life evolves to accommodate the realization that human life should be valued within each and every moment.
First off, looking at the second paragraph, Porter presents her primary argument, by beginning a reflection about the things she notices surrounded her the very evening she heard the sirens.

As she sat at her work table she, “was drawn away,” by the screeching sirens outside her window. In this example, the author uses the word “was” as an indicator of her recollection of the events of that evening. The way they quickly grasped her attention reveals how focused she was on these specific occurrences surrounding her. We also notice how she is reflecting on the bad things that happen in society, yet we find ways to overcome them in order to continue to live our lives. In the following paragraphs, we see the judgment she has towards people who fail to consume themselves within the events happening around them. More specifically, we see her judgment towards the young man across the street who is so dedicatedly working on his table and in fact she wonders why he takes, “all those pains to make it beautiful?” She fails to understand his outlook on life by presenting us with a rhetorical question that she herself could not answer in the very moment. She fails to understand why and how a person can cherish life so deeply when his surroundings consist of nothing but chaos. As we continue to read through her essay we come across a moment that changes her perspective on the idea that people can quite possibly live a life that is consumed in something they love rather than the fear of

the events surrounding them. In an encounter with a young aspiring author she advises her to take her time, because things will fall into place in the future. Completely shocked, yet touched when the young author says, “The future is now,” she comes to the realization that as human beings we become so consumed in our daily surroundings, when what we should be doing is becoming preoccupied with the things we cherish, love, and find true meaning in.
Furthermore, as the author continues her essay, she begins to incorporate her secondary claim. The author uses examples of rhetorical questions to reveal how the importance of human life goes far beyond any quantifiable amount. Through the examination of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the author portrays how the negligent attitude of the human race led to the mass death of so many human beings and the totality of the event never truly hit us, “And as for Hiroshima, surely it could not have been the notion of sudden death of others that shocked us?” and overall, the true loss life can be calculated, however the impact of the loss on humanity is unquantifiable. When the main goal in life is to enjoy every aspect of life, the author shows how cynical the human population is by constantly finding and inventing new ways to kill or harm people. This does not go along with the way humans are supposed to act towards one another and furthermore, a constant issue that arises is people have become insensitive towards the mass killings of others to the point where we pay attention to the issue for a little bit, but turn a blind eye very soon after the incident has passed. Taking away someone’s life is a true crime against humanity and it cannot be overlooked how important it is to give someone the opportunity to enjoy their life.
In conclusion, the author is showing how important it is to cherish life to the fullest even though there are so many things that could potentially take that life away. When looking at the big picture, the vast use of rhetorical questions helps to drastically develop the author’s point of view and it helps her to clearly get her point across to her entire audience. Overall, when re-examining the man who was building the table, it is clear that he is simply putting everything into living in the moment and cherishing the life he has, because he never knows when it could end.