Rhetorical Analysis Of Neither Here Nor There By Bill Bryson

Author, Bill Bryson, of “from Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe,” praises the admirable way of life in Luxembourg. Bryson’s purpose is to compare the United States to Luxembourg and to shape the idea that the country is intriguingly different. He creates a casual tone in order to appeal to friendly and adventurous adults. Bryson emphasizes his purpose and generates an entertaining literature piece, by using a variety of rhetorical devices: hyperbole, simile, anaphora, and style. The use of hyperbole in the opening statement grabs the reader’s attention and sets the structure for a humorous and friendly tone. A hyperbole is the use of exaggeration to stress that he is not writing a formal paper. In his hook he says, “... a yellow backpack so enormous that when I went through customs I half expected to be asked, “Anything to declare? Cigarettes? Alcohol? Dead horse?’’” Bryson attempts to appeal to the reader’s humour by exaggerating how much

Bryson writes in a pattern of varying sentence lengths; his casual tone and diction are appropriate for his intended audience, and may be understood by a variety of people. This allows him to keep his audience’s attention throughout the passage. By using an illustrating diction, Bryson was able to form a picture in his reader’s mind of his personal experiences in Luxembourg. This rhetorical device even further allows him to connect with his audience, because adventurous people would generally be intrigued by the numerous foreign aspects described. At the end of his paper, Bryson writes about how the people of Luxembourg know next to nothing about the lifestyle in America. He thought, “It was just wonderful.” This advanced thinking contributes towards his style and ultimately pushes the reader to think in a similar fashion, which leads them to compare the people of Luxembourg to the everyday people in