preview

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Decent Essays

January 13th 2012 AP English Rhetorical Analysis Essay #3 Final Draft Every individual has traditions passed down from their ancestors. This is important because it influences how families share their historical background to preserve certain values to teach succeeding generation. N. Scott Momaday has Native American roots inspiring him to write about his indigenous history and Maxine Hong Kingston, a first-generation Chinese American who was inspired by the struggles of her emigrant family. Kingston and Momaday manipulate language by using, metaphors, similes, and a unique style of writing to reflect on oral traditions. The purpose of Kingston’s passage is to reflect upon her ancestor’s mistake to establish her values as an American …show more content…

Finally, the files of people who walked in a zigzag direction across their land, represents how they ruined and destroyed their crops and livestock during the raid. This quotation represents how Kingston used the occasion of when they disturbed her ancestor’s home to kill her aunt as an example of one of her aunt’s mistake. She uses this mistake as a reminder of the establishment of her good morals in America. Despite that both passages use the same rhetorical devices, they establish their purposes using a different style of writing and a different tone. Momaday’s tone was convivial while Kingston’s tone was more stern yet entertaining. Momaday’s style of writing was archival because he spoke often of his grandmother while Kingston style of writing was collective because she spoke of her Chinese village to explain how everyone conformed in the same way. The author’s different styles of writing attract different audiences. Momaday uses a historical approach to storytelling while Kingston uses a personal and social approach. Both authors engage their readers by using metaphors, similes, and an individual style of writing. Yet they use these rhetorical devices to make different points and to draw different conclusions from the past. Ultimately, these rhetorical devices convey the oral traditions in each passage that provide the history of different cultural

Get Access