Rhetorical Analysis Of The Danger Of A Single Story

Truman Capote, author of “In Cold Blood,” builds the setting of the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. His purpose is to emphasize that the town of Holcomb is a small town where no one comes and no one leaves. He includes these details to show the contrast between the town before and after the murders of the Clutter family to the reader.

From Godzilla to aliens living in outer space, people have been fearful of the unknown. Well, the Red Scare brought fear that could somewhat be equated to the fears people have of Godzilla to aliens living in outer space. But, the Red Scare was mot brought about through the fear of aliens but of human beings, being fearful of human beings. The Red Scare came to light in 1919s and 1920s. Senator Joseph McCarthy started this mass epidemic of fear. He claimed to have a list of citizens and elected officials that were impartial to the communist party. He used his position with the HUAC to spread his rhetoric across the U.S. Many people lost their jobs, homes and businesses thanks to Joseph McCarthy. At the very end of this saga, everyone

“In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote is a nonfiction book based on a real crime happened in the peaceful town of Holcomb, Kansas. Capote wrote from both victim and criminal side to show both thoughts and point of view of the story to avoid the one-sided account. In the book, Truman Capote, a former journalist and the author of “In Cold Blood” is making readers feel sympathy for Perry since Capote befriended with Perry while interviewing him. Capote uses of pathos and strong diction effectively in order to evoke sympathy for Perry’s childhood environment and deleterious effect it had on Perry’s mind. To begin with, Capote uses emotional appeal in order to illustrate Perry’s devastating past.

“McCandless didn’t conform particularly well to the bush casualty stereotype.” Jon Krakauer, in his book Into The Wild, argues that McCandless was a unique personality who yearned for adventure. He supports his claim by the usage of epigraphs, interviews with McCandless’s acquaintances, and various maps that are indicative of where the protagonist travelled. Krakauer's purpose is to use an argumentative structure in order to convince the audience that McCandless was more complex than previously known. He uses a nostalgic and commanding tone in order to emotionally appeal to an audience who may have originally had different opinions on McCandless. In Into The Wild, Krakauer employs techniques of ethos and speaker in order to thoroughly convey

Nonconformity allows people to go against a prevailing rule so that they may do as they please.

“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

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his bold novel, The Scarlet Letter tackles a variety of themes that include: sin, guilt, redemption, postfeminism, and organized religion's abuse of power. Hawthorne spoke in a somber and grim tone, designed to arouse a sense of suspense for his readers. The audience in which he was addressing would have been conservative Christians and women suffragettes, all of whom reflected the ideologies during this time period. By instilling clever diction, Hawthorne exposes hypocrisy in Puritanism and objects against the religion's superfluous punishments; which force individuals to endure unnecessary and extreme suffering.

A prosecutor’s job is to find evidence to support his case against an individual accused of breaking the law while a defense attorney tries to present evidence to prove the innocence of the person accused. Neither can be truly be unbiased about their evidence but each of them is motivated to confirm a particular position. Much like a defense attorney, in his biography, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer attempts to prove that McCandless’s tragedy was not due to his incompetence or lack of knowledge about the wild. He asserts emotions and rational onto McCandless’s experience as well as drawing similarities between his personal experience and McCandless’s in order to create a more sympathetic response from readers.

This postcard builds suspense in the reader’s mind. Alex saying that this adventure could kill him makes the reader interested in finding out more. “If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again I want you to know you’re a great man.” (Krakauer 3).

Lindsay Holmes’s “A Quick Lesson On What Trigger Warnings Actually Do” is a persuasive piece written in response to the backlash that The University of Chicago received against implementing trigger warnings for their students. Likewise, Holmes sets up her argument in the hopes of persuading the general population the importance of creating safe zones and use trigger warnings for those who need them. In order to do this, Holmes uses a series of rhetorical devices throughout her essay to develop her argument for the use of trigger warnings. Holmes achieves her goal of persuading the audience that trigger warnings should be taken into consideration through her intentional use of rhetorical appeals, anticipated objections, and hypophoras in this essay.

Others may disagree with the facts and discussion Adichie stated about a single story; however, her lecture represented exactly how people nowadays base their decision about others on a story other than providing distinct evidence. She explains how there is never a single story to a certain subject. For example, she had a new house boy named Fide who she had only seen as “poor,” but after the visit to Fide’s village she realized that they were indeed poor but very hardworking people. If she had not seen Fide’s lifestyle with her own eyes, then she would have continued seeing them as people who were unable to make ends meet. I personally experienced an event when I was young where I too only listened to the single story that was presented to me. When my parents divorced, I blamed my mother for allowing my dad to leave. Years later, I found out the real reason they divorced was because she was unhappy with a man who continuously lets her down and emotionally abused

No one wants to read a boring paper. It will make people tired within minutes. Most textbooks have no word or images that captivate their readers. That’s why people avoid reading them because there’s nothing fascinating about it. Writing about a topic that has conflict and visual literacy will keep the audience interested and wanting to read more about it. In a rhetorical situation, there are tones used for different types of audience. Rhetoric is used for different communities. It needs to be a reliable in a specific topic in order to communicate effectively.

Many people wish they can drop everything important to them and isolate themselves from society; very few people will even attempt this, but Chris McCandless breaks societal norms to accomplish this goal. In Into the Wild, John Krakauer tells the story of this young man’s life to inspire the audience to chase their dreams through the use of logos, involved sentence, and anecdotes.

Authors use various styles of writing to appeal to different types of audiences. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and “The Most Dangerous Job” by Eric Schlosser both utilize ethos, pathos, and logos writing styles to convince the audience of their ideals. An author uses ethos in writing to show his/her credentials and explain why he/she is credible. Pathos appeals to an audience’s emotions and makes the audience feel sympathy or pity. The author draws feelings out of the audience and compels the audience to feel what the author wishes them to feel. Logos uses facts, statistics, historical and literal analogies, and quotes from authorities on a subject to convince the audience with logic or reason. Upton Sinclair and Eric Schlosser have the goal of exposing the corruption in the meatpacking industry, but the authors develop their arguments through similar and contrasting approaches.

Lacking a wider variety of stories on any given topic can lead to dangerous misconceptions and casual racism. In her TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, Ms. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award winning Nigerian novelist and public speaker, uses personal encounters with the effects of a single story to normalize her experiences with her audiences so that they may internalize them and act upon them easier. Ms. Adichie's use of pathos, as well as her comedic tone and understanding of who her audience is makes it significantly easier for her to accomplish the aforementioned goal.