Rhetorical Analysis Of David Foster Wallace

Edmundson, Mark. "On the Uses of a Liberal Education." From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and a Reader. Ed. Stuart Greene and April Lidindsky. Bedford/ St. Martin’s: New York, 2008. 322-337. Print

In his essay Consider the Lobster, it’s apparent what David Foster Wallace is trying to tell his audience: we should really think about the lobster’s point of view before cooking and eating it. Wallace uses multiple rhetorical strategies to get his point across, including pathos and ethos. His essay is very good in how it gets its point across, and how it forces even the largest lobster consumers to truly contemplate how the lobster might react being boiled alive. It brings up many controversial topics of animal rights that many people tend to avoid, especially people who are major carnivores. Wallace’s use of rhetorical strategies really gets the reader thinking, and thoroughly captures the argument of many vegetarians against the consumption of animals. Wallace captures the use of pathos in his essay and uses it in a way that is incredibly convincing to the reader. For example, he compares the Maine Lobster Festival to how a Nebraska Beef Festival could be, stating, “at which part of the festivities is watching trucks pull up and the live cattle get driven down the ramp and slaughtered right there…” (Wallace 700). Playing off of people’s natural tendency to feel bad for the cattle, he shows that the killing of lobster is, in reality, no different than the killing of cattle, but we treat it much differently. We tend to think that lobsters are different because they are less human than cows are, and, maybe to make us feel better about our senseless killing of an animal,

In the autobiographical narrative “The Pie” by Gary Soto, the author recreates the experience of his guilty six-year-old self as he describes his first experience with stealing. He effectively portrays his worst sin through his use of contrast, repetition, and imagery. While contrast describes the existence of both the Holy ways and temptation of human desires that Soto faces, repetition emphasizes the guilt that he is feeling, and imagery aids the reader in imagining the guilt and satisfaction that Soto is feeling through the eyes of a six-year-old.

Referred to as a “antislavery zealot” by some and as a “heroic hand” by others, John Brown was certainly one who stained history with blood. John Brown’s conduction of anti-slavery raids to fight “fire with fire”, triggered by his radical ways to fight the tyranny that was slavery,Brown impacted the whole country. During this time most anti-slavery supporters were peaceful and only tried to fight slavery “morally”, however John Brown lead many anti slavery raids his most famous and the one which he would have to pay with his life being, the Harpers Ferry Raid. The seizing of federal armory and arsenal with a group of men with just a mere hope of the local slave population helping him in order to reach success and create a nation wide effect failed miserably when the slavery population frightened did not join his raid. Captured, John Brown delivered one of the most enticing and alluring speech during his trial, his last speech, his address to the court in which he admits his actions in his “crusade” to fight slavery as well as patronizingly accepts his punishment without regret or remorse. In his speech he address one objection, being that if he was fighting on behalf of the rich, high class and those who supported and benefited from the tyrant slavery system,he would have been rewarded and praised instead of punished, proving that once again the tyrant, oppresing, racist and discriminating federal government was being run by bias men who aimed to keep the inhuman hierarchy

4. Throughout the speech, Wallace emphasizes that he is not offering “banal platitude[s]” (paragraph 2) or “moral advice” (paragraph 12). Explain what he means by this. Do you think he successfully avoids these things? Explain.

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to animals being killed and eaten. If a person agrees or not is completely their own opinion and will not be the focus of the essay. David Wallace’s essay “ Consider the Lobster,” is used to address perspectives of varying opinions while trying to persuade the reader. The author accomplishes this throughout the essay through the excellent use of multiple rhetorical techniques. Rhetorical devices such as ethos, lothos and pathos are all used in the essay to convey the author's opinion and try to convince the reader to choose a side.

Baldwin is known for his passionate and poetic style in 1963, which is based on his skillful use of rhetorical devices. In a detailed response, explain how the rhetoric language and its use of Aristotle's appeal are integral in aiding Baldwins purpose. In James Baldwin's letter to his nephew, written one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Baldwin emphasizes on the issue of In a detailed response, explain how the rhetoric  language  and its use of Aristotle's appeal are integral in aiding Baldwins purpose toward his intended audience.

Wallace establishes a humorous tone in the first section to convey his argument. “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys, how's the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’” (233) This anecdote introduces the fact the many people don’t understand what is going on around them and why Wallace believes it is important to be conscious of what is happening around you. “This is not a matter of virtue- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.” (233) Wallace argues that it is hard to get into a state of awareness because humans have their “hard-wired default-setting”. People need to get out of their own self-centered habits and see things in a different point of view. By using a humorous tone, Wallace can effectively get people on his side of the argument.

Famous philanthropist Stephen Hawking once stated, “We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit.” In the world of George Orwell’s 1984, this shared human spirit is abused, neglected, and utterly destroyed. This is most apparent when O’Brien deconstructs the argument of Winston and, in turn, tears down his human spirit. While Winston clings to a persistent hope of the failure of The Party, O’Brien uses logos and pathos strategies to methodically tear apart this belief. This maniacal argument for The Party, the strong imagery involved in the interrogation, and the mental collapse of Winston produce one of the most thought-provoking, saddening, and terrifying scenes in 1984.

Award winning journalist and author, Jon Krakauer, in his book, Into the Wild, analyzes the life of Chris McCandless as well as the events that ensued his death. Krakauer’s purpose is to inform the reader about how and why Chris McCandless decided to embark on a journey into the wilderness of Alaska. He adopts an empathetic tone in order to impart to his readers that Chris McCandless was a very misunderstood young adult.

A short parable comprises the opening paragraph of Wallace’s speech. In this, there are two fish swimming along when they pass an older fish, headed in the opposite direction, that asks them how the water is. The two fish continue along for a bit before one asks the other “what the hell is water?” This serves as an extended metaphor used by Wallace to demonstrate his main argument for awareness in life. Just as the fish do not consider their surroundings, people more often than not fail to consider

Yuling Lu (Gipsy) ENGL 202B Prof. Charnesky 2/3/2015 Explication for Consider the Lobster In "Consider the Lobster", David Foster Wallace argues that the process of cooking lobsters is an issue both uncomfortable and complex.

“The Dark Knight,” a movie directed and produced by Christopher Nolan, depicts the way a system of justice deals with terrorism. If an archetype is defined as a symbol that exists instinctively in the collective consciousness of the human race, the terrorism in Batman The Dark Knight represents an archetype through the violence, murder of the innocent, mayhem and mass destruction. Governments often lay down laws and procedures for a country to function, and to avoid anarchy. The laws promote wellness, equality, and justice, but sometimes even these entities of justice are forced to break the law for a greater good. In contemporary U.S. history, President Barack Obama, the head of one of the most powerful

Wallace has a very colloquial style to his word choice and presentation of his speech. He has a unique way of making listeners feel comfortable and safe listening to him speak. He appears to talk to the listener’s as if they are having on a one-on-one conversation with each and every person listening. Wallace also works hard to present himself as an equal, no more righteous or smarter than anyone in the audience. He chooses to remind everyone not to “think that I'm giving you moral advice, or that I'm saying you're “supposed to” think this way” (Wallace 12), but to offer advice and new insight into changing our perspective on the world. This comfortable word choice is a unique way for Wallace to make himself more relatable to the graduates and listeners in general.

Ray Comfort is a Jew that is concerned that this generation is forgetting one of the greatest tragedies of the human race, the Holocaust. The Germans do not like it when someone says that the Holocaust never existed because of a fear of repeating history (Comfort 2011). Comfort parallels something that many people put in a box and he takes the holocaust and abortion in different context showing people what they are choosing when they are for abortion. He eventually ends up changing many people’s mindsets throughout the film. Comfort uses ethos, pathos, and logos in his “180” video to make his point clear.