Rhetorical Analysis of Kingsolver

In Barbara Kingsolver’s writing, she uses many different techniques to get her point across. By the end of the piece of work, Kingsolver wants the reader to feel like they are able to do the same thing that she was able to do. One of the main things that Barbara Kingsolver does in her writing is that she uses a lot of humor in her pieces and books. In Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the beginning of the book starts out with an anecdote, describing her and her families first steps to the year they were about to embark on. She uses humor as she describes that their first stop was at a gas station to get some fossil fuels and junk food, just to through a little bit of irony to what they were about to do for a year. In Lily’s Chickens, Barbara Kingsolver also uses humor in the beginning, and throughout the essay. One part of her humor is this “To be five years old and have some other life form entirely under your control- not counting goldfish or parents- is a majestic state of affairs”. This adds humor because it is saying that the five year old has control of her parents. Another thing that Kingsolver does is that she does not scare off her audience, she makes herself relatable. The same thing that was comical in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle also shows that Kingsolver is relatable. She is showing that even though she was able to finish this amazing task of living off of the land for a year, she, and her family, still like these junk foods, and that way she is just like us and our families. This also allows Kingsolver to gain credibility because she is not attacking the audience, and making them feel bad for it, but she is making herself seem more like us, which readers like to hear. Kingsolver also does not separate herself from the audience, she saws things that include her and the audience in one big group instead of blaming and telling the audience that they did something wrong. Instead of doing that she includes herself with the audience which also helps her gain her credibility and makes her more relatable. Kingsolver also uses a lot of pathos, ethos and logos to create more effective writing. The logos in her writing also gives her more credibility by stating true and correct statistics and facts, while the pathos of her writing appeals to the emotions of the reader, and the ethos of the writing gives it a more real, and personal touch. Kingsolver uses all of these different techniques to make her writing effective and really reach out to the reader, and truly getting her final message to the reader.

Barbara Kingsolver's Garden

Although I am not an avid or advanced gardener, I have had my fair share of gardens, small as they might have been. When Barbara Kingsolver spoke of how her and her family lived off of mainly their own, or locally grown food, I was amazed. From my little knowledge of gardening, I know that taking care of a garden is a hard task, although living in Texas may have made it a little more difficult. I was so shocked that Kingsolver and her family were actually able to basically live off of their land. When I had my garden with my dad, the only thing we actually were able to grow were tomatoes, and there were slim pickings of those to say the least. The basic reason that I wanted to have a garden was to have something that my dad and I could do together, not to have fresh food. Living in the day and age that we live in, I thing we forget where our food truly comes from, which I why I was so in awe that Kingsolver was able to accomplish this task.

Rhetorical Analysis of Emerson

            Ralph Waldo Emerson was an avid writer who had many topics to write about. In one of his most famous works, “Self Reliance”, he uses many different tactics to develop his writing to become effective. “Self Reliance” was written in the 1800’s. “Self Reliance” was also written during the time of transcendentalism which explains a lot of its messages that Emerson speaks of. Throughout the essay Emerson uses many different strategies but many of these include his style, his tone, and his emotions, or pathos, and his metaphors he brings into his essay.

            Beginning in the second paragraph, Emerson uses pathos a lot. When he says “envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good” It feeds to peoples emotions, people do not want to think that imitating someone or something is, in Emerson’s mind, suicide. It gets to the people emotionally because they do not want to think of these things the ways that Emerson thinks of them, they also feel down about their envy they feel, or the imitation they have done. In “Self Reliance” Emerson also says this metaphor, “The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. ” This metaphor can seem a bit confusing when first read, the reader may first think, “what does an eye have to do with self reliance?” Though when thought about in the context of the text, it actually has a lot in common with it. It speaks about how that you were given your own two eyes to see, to have your own views, and those views are yours and only yours, and they are original to each and every person. While if you take someone else’s views then your views are no longer the same, they are no longer original. Another thing that Emerson does to emotionally get to the reader is by including God in the essay. When God is mentioned in any essay it automatically catches the attention of the audience whether that is supposed to happen or not, because God and religion is such a touchy subject with most people.

            Continuing on to the second paragraph, Emerson again uses pathos to make his writing effective. In the first sentence pathos is especially used. “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” This not only uses pathos by speaking to the emotions of the readers, but it also uses tone. In this sentence Emerson uses a different tone, a happier, more exaggerated tone. While also using the “Trust thyself” to feed on the emotions of the readers. Also by Emerson saying “every heart vibrates to that iron string” he is using a metaphor that makes the tone of the paragraph become very happy and upbeat because of the reference to music. As the paragraph continues on it has much more pathos, referring to the fact that you should accept your place in society instead of being envious of someone elses place. “Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.” In this sentence from the essay the style that Emerson uses is different, he uses parallel sentence structure by saying “working through their hands, predominating in all their being.” In doing this Emerson adds emphasis to that part of the sentence, and therefore also adds more pathos to his essay, because the readers feel something more to that part of the sentence. As the paragraph progresses Emerson uses more metaphors and pathos to make his essay more and more effective. In the last few words of the essay, Emerson uses the words “Chaos and the Dark” by using these words the tone of the paragraph seems to change a little bit to more of a mysterious tone, simply because of those two words. Though the two final words change the tone of the last sentence of the paragraph remains the same upbeat, happy tone it was.

            Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the most influential writers of his time, and he did not get to become as influential as he was by using normal writing. His writings fed off the emotions of his readers and his metaphors, tone, and style all helped him become so influential. By reading Emerson’s essays, writings, and poems we learn how simple things used in the correct manners can make pieces of writing much, much more powerful.

Emerson Seeks Friend

 

Activities:

• Intellectual Conversation
• Edit each others work
• Share ideas about new writing pieces

I am a very spiritual person and am part of the transcendentalist movement. I would need a friend that had the same beliefs that I have, they must hold nature very close to their hearts, and believe in one omnipresent God. They would also need to believe very strongly in the power of choice, that everyone’s opinions are valid and that they should not change to meet the status quo. They must also believe in creative visualization and that they must be somewhat of spiritual people.

I want a friend that is not afraid to be who they are no matter what people might think of them. He would like a friend that is able to think for their own selves and not alter their own opinion after they hear the opinions of others. I also feel very strongly that friendship is a precious and rare thing, I would like my friend to feel the same thing, and I would want them to cherish the friendship that we share with each other. I would also like a friend that would be someone who would not judge me or my thoughts that I share with this friend. I would also want someone that has the same beliefs as me, but also someone who would be able to better myself as a person. I would want a friend that was not afraid to go after what they wanted in life, someone who was not scared off by obstacles. Also I would want someone that was not afraid to challenge society and go against the grain, against the normal. Finally, I would want a friend that was not an imitation of someone or something else, someone that was truly their selves one hundred percent of the time. 

Friendship is a precious thing. True friendship is hard to find, but when it is found it is something to be cherished, and never taken for granted. I think that friendship is something that does not need to provide material benefits or any kind of gain from it. It in its basic form is a simple bond between two people that share similar views on some things. Friendship should be effortless and non judgmental. Every man when by himself has the greatest of intention, but when placed with other men, some how their intentions get altered. I think that true friendship is what everyone wants, but few can actually ever achieve. People first have to learn how to be a friend if they are ever going to want or have a friend. Friendship should first and foremost non judging. When with a friend one should never be afraid to speak their mind, a friend should be that person that you can share anything with and not be judged for it. When with that friend it should be a safe spot where anything can be shared, no matter what it is, an opinion, a secret, anything. Friendship should also be something that people never want to loose. They should keep it so close to their heart that it is like a part of them, a part that they can not imagine living without. It should be something that is not put on the back burner or not taken care of for a while; it should always be a priority. Lastly friendship should be something that makes people better, it should be something that helps both friends become better people, helping people learn about each other as well as themselves.

Emerson and Friends

Ralph Waldo Emerson possessed many admirable traits in his day. From believing that you should be confident in your own ideas to his belief that character was one of the most important things about a person. Though Ralph Waldo Emerson’s trait that I can most relate to is that you should be able to be the “real” you when you are with your friends, and his overall view on friends.

            Emerson has said “A friend is one before whom I may think aloud.” To me this says a lot. I have had many friends that I could not be my complete self around, fearing that I would be judged if I stepped one foot out of “my place”. I know that that is not how friends should be; you should be able to be your self around all of your friends, like Emerson has said. Although hard as it might be to accomplish that, knowing that even by my best friends I can, and most times will get judged, but hey I am only in high school. Friends should be the people that you are not scared to show your full self, and be able to share your true thoughts around without fear of judgment.

            Ralph Waldo Emerson has also said this about friends, “The only way to have a friend is to be one”. This quote is also very relatable in my life. I have gone through experiences in my life where all I really needed was someone to just be there for me, and those people that were there for me became my better friends. Also another simple example of that Emerson quote is if it is someone’s birthday on facebook, but I know they did not say happy birthday to me, then I do not say it to them. It may be simple, but it portrays Emerson’s quote quite well. Also when I started high school, I went to a different school then most of my friends went to, but I expected that we would stay close. This did not happen though, none of us tried really to be each others friends when we actually had to work for it. It is like the saying the phone goes both ways, but when both ends are too scared to actually pick up that phone, it does not really work.

            Although we are just beginning to start and uncover all of whom and what Ralph Waldo Emerson was and did in his life, I can see that he was a very individual thinker. His thoughts of what friendship was and how to be a good friend still account today for friends and building relationships. His words truly do relate to my life today.