Rhetorical Analysis Of Roz Chast

A Rhetorical Analysis of Roz Chast’s “The I.M.s of Romeo and Juliet”
Roz Chast, since a young age, has always had a desire to draw cartoons. It was something
she enjoyed to pass her time, and hoped to be able to expand on when she was older. In
the year 1978, Roz became a staff member for the New Yorker as a cartoonist, where she
published works such as Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, and
HealthInspected
Cartoons of Roz Chast, 19782006
.
From 2002, Roz Chast’s illustration of “The I.M.s of Romeo and Juliet” was first printed.
The title itself draws attention, as most generations are familiar with the classic
Shakespeare's play, “Romeo and Juliet”. The curiosity of what comparisons she might
make with her illustration to the original

play brings the attention of the reader in. The
first eye catcher of the illustration is the complete, and utter chaos that is the mess of the
two characters rooms. It shows a lack of any desire to be clean or organized. The same
desire is also reflected in the chat between the two teenagers as they follow up with each
others day.
Roz adapts the current texting lingo that is used among the younger generation of today
to use for another demonstration. It expresses how the teenagers have no desire apply
their education into their daily life, giving the impression that maybe they have a lack of
education in the first place. The texts themselves give off the impression that Romeo and
Juliet have no proper manners. Juliet’s first chat, “Romeo u there” is followed by the
reply from Romeo of, “Yo wassup?” (347). No formality is used, which shows that a
certain amount of personal acknowledgement is established between the two. This type of
language to be used in texting or chatting was originally established as a shortcut to be
used to shorten messages, due to charging rates phone companies used to bill their users.
Overtime, it evolved to be a casual of communicating with those we are close to.
However, it still feels like due to the lack of actual formality, and grammar, that there is
now a lack of respect in the younger generations. Many express that the generation today
does not know how to communicate properly anymore, and the ability to truly understand
the feelings a user is trying to express is missing.
Juliet also mentions in the chat that she had “heard wylander got mad at u”.

Romeo had
chatted to Juliet, “what a jerk i usedd purpl, ink on the sci test. he g5ot pissed looks like
jimminy crickt”(347). In this example, it shows that Romeo is trying to attempt to use an
analogy to express his dislike for the teacher’s reaction to his own actions. Since the
adapted texting language, it is somewhat unclear as the what exactly he is trying to
express. We understand that he is disrespecting the teacher, and is upset about the
consequences. Though when he compares Wylander to the ever famous character Jiminy
Cricket from Disney’s Pinocchio , his lacking amount of information as to how exactly he
looks like this character leaves us wanting. He is unclear as to whether it is the physical
appearance of Jiminy Cricket he is making this comparison or a specific type of
expression that is known of this character. Juliet’s only response is, “lol”, showing her
lack of sympathy or empathy, and actually finds the situation amusing.
At this point, the background of the illustration, and the current amount of
communication, causes a natural response to want to correct any and every mistake and
impropriety in this scene. We are beginning to see some of the similarities between

the
original Romeo and Juliet , and the illustration by Roz Chast. It points out during the
conversation that Juliet messages, “...btw both my rents hate u”, in which she receives a
response of, “mine hate u 2” (347).

The same scenario was established in the play by
Shakespeare between the two main families: The Capulets and the Montagues. During
the conversation, though, the intensity and details of just how deeply the dislike is
described is left out, again due to the adapted shortcuts used in texting. Neither character
seems phased by the dislike created by both families/sets of parents. With the fact the
Juliet nor Romeo commented anything else shows their disregard of the opinion of those
closer to them, who also have more experience in life. The famous line “O Romeo,
Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or if thou wilt
not, be but sworn my love And I'll no longer be a Capulet,” (The Tragedy of Romeo and
Juliet) is the perfect example of a disregard for the opinions of adults surrounding her and
Romeo. They cared not for what they should do, but only express what they want to do.
These situations bring to light, and make us think about whether the current generation of
today is responsible enough to take on any type of relationship. In Romeo and Juliet ,
relationships at a young age were common, and even expected at most times.

However,
in society today, a young relationship is looked down upon with a certain amount of
scrutiny. The illustration gives us thought on whether most young people today are just
like this. With the examples given, it convinces most readers that with the lack of respect
and desire to apply any education they have acquired, that a relationship is far out of
reach for the level of maturity that the two characters show.
The two characters again demonstrate a lack of caring to use proper grammar in their
farewells. When Juliet mentions “my dads coming gtg”(347), they begin their one liners
of , “Juliet: xoxoxo bye see u tmw”, and continues with “Romeo: xoxoxoxoxoxo bye”,
and “Juliet: xoxoxoxoxoxoxxxoooxxxgtg”, and concluded by Romeo’s, “K” (347). The
“x” and “o” are commonly used to express hugs and kisses. The over exaggeration on
both their parts leads to wondering whether they truly understand the seriousness of what
the responsibility of a relationship means. It is hard to decide on how to address an issue
such as this. We have seen many previous examples, that even though if it were
explained, the chances of the characters actually taking to heart the sermon is very slim.
Seeing such chaos before us, we naturally wish to want to correct such behavior. Though
many teenagers and other youth are getting away with behavior like this, it does not mean
that society itself should give up on needing to impress upon our youth that more is
needing in having to meet the needs of current times. If such actions are not corrected
when the youth are at their most vulnerable stage of learning, then the development of
their later lives will be affected. It may not be as tragic as the deaths that occurred for the
characters Romeo and Juliet in the play, but much can be prevented with proper
education, and learning how to apply such teachings into their everyday activities. The
digression of modern education can be able to progress once more.