In "Halloween's Afterlife", the author takes up a informal and conversational tone in order to describe to us the scene that he imagines will become of the city streets now that Halloween is over.
The author of "Halloween's Afterlife" uses rhetorical devices to help the reader better understand the argument and to help the argument flow easier. For example, when the author uses repetition when he says, "irreverence toward death, which is much less frightening than death's irreverence". He highlights one of the underlying themes of Halloween: to show that we can have fun despite knowing that death will come for us one day, and to show that death does not scare us. This repetition with the word order switched around makes the reader stop and really think about the how true the statement is. Moreover, the use of repetition just makes this phrase memorable and flow nicely.
In addition, the author’s use of alliteration, as in "grown fat from feeding on ghouls", and the “rule of three”, as seen in "inflatable rat-20 feet tall, paws raised, incisors exposed-" helps the passages sound smoother, and makes the readers more receptive to what the author has to say.
Although the author does a really good job with taking advantage of most of the rhetorical devices, I think he could’ve taken more advantage of the natural rhythm of English in order to emphasize his points. He could’ve switched around the word order within sentences a bit so that sentences would end with something memorable. This is because the ends of sentences are normally what the reader would remember most. As it stands, his sentences end with phraes like "a while longer", "come down", "to guess", "any night", etc. Nothing that would particulary stay with me for a long time.
In “Halloween's Afterlife”, the narrative persona is very informal. At various points, I felt like me and the author had a personal joke going on. For example, at the beginning, the author states, "It's a few days after the e'en of Oct. 31", indicating that this essay is to be informal. Also, the author says things like, "The zombie undead will turn out to be very easily disposed of. What will happen to the Puritan graveyard...we can't begin to guess...Soon it will be back to business for the giant rat...Then Halloween will be over, unless, of course, it isn't truly over til the last piece of candy has been eaten". All these parts of the essay help build up the author's voice, which is both ridiculing and intimate. All this intimacy makes me like this essay so much more because it makes me feel like I'm "in" on everything that's going on, and just makes me feel like I'm involved in the essay.
If this essay were an AP essay, I don't think the voice would be appropriate because the author is too informal and ridiculing in this editorial.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/opinion/04thu4.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Pass! :)
ReplyDeleteAgain, good job hitting on all the requirements. In this essay, I feel like you could have focused more on HOW the author crafted a strong voice. You mentioned this in the second to last paragraph, but I felt like it was more of an after thought than the main focus. Your analysis of rhetorical devices was excellent though. :)
Pass -
ReplyDeleteI liked reading what you wrote, not only on the getting-all-the-requirements-completed-so-I-don't-have-to-work-as-hard-as-an-evaluator basis, but also on the hey-this-is-actually-fun-to-read basis. I like how you took me (the reader) through your analysis of the piece, even coloring it with your own voice - esp. when you say "nothing that would particularly stay with me for a long time."
So, nice work. :)
Aisling
Pass!
ReplyDeleteYour analysis is quite thorough and covers all the bases. In fact, it goes above and beyond the requirements. This analysis was excellent because it brought in the critic's (your) thoughts and reactions as well. There's not much I can suggest to improve this piece. Excellent job!