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Rhetorical Analysis Of The City And The Pillars

Decent Essays

Rhetorical Analysis Essay - “The City and The Pillars” by Adam Gopnik In his article, “The City and The Pillars,” Adam Gopnik illustrates the city of New York on the day of and after 9/11 to show how devastating and shocking the attack was on the city and its civilians. He does this by describing the scenery and attitude of New York, and the acts of civilians. Gopnik’s purpose is to show how people express different forms of grief, in order to emphasize that over time, New York and its civilians will recover from the attack. Speaking to both the affected and unaffected people of the 9/11 attack, Gopnik tries to make the event more realistic and in the process, unite everyone over the tragedy. Before the 9/11 attack, Gopnik describes parts of New York as “gleaming and luxuriant [with] the leaves just beginning to fall… making them at once golden and bright green” (Gopnik 1). This visual imagery creates a pleasant atmosphere that will help emphasize the drastic change of events and scenery of New York after the attack. The sudden change of events following the serene visual imagery will also help stress the amount of shock that New Yorkers were in and justify their needs and ways to cope. Gopnik later describes New York after the fall of the Twin Towers as a place where “the stanchions and walls are plastered with homemade...posters, smiling snapshots above, a text below, searching for the missing:‘Roger Mark Rasweiler. Missing’... ‘We’re Looking for Kevin M.Williams’... Every lost face [on the posters are] smiling” (Gopnik 2). Describing the surroundings of New York City following 9/11 shows that many people searched for their loved ones in hopes that they’ll still be alive in order to cope with the tragedy. By including this, Gopnik is also able to connect with his readers that were not directly affected by 9/11, showing that real people are either dead or missing with their family and friends out searching for them. Which will consequently evoke sympathy from this audience. While some are looking for the lost, others are trying to find a way to occupy themselves. The author states that New Yorkers had a “hoarding instinct…[an] instinct to do it… the instinct to hoard quickly…[and] the instinct to

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