1st/2nd AP LANG/ENG 1101
**TTTC MAJOR WRITING ASSIGNMENT CLASSWORK OVER THE NEXT FOUR DAYS/*HW DUE NEXT MON. 11/2:*
Now that we've started SEMESTER WEEK#12 (!!), PACE YOURSELF over the NEXT SIX!!! (6!!!) NIGHTS/wkend and complete the following (*this DRAFT is for an initial completion GRADE AS WELL AS A REWRITE GRADE, SO DO NOT TAKE THIS FOR GRANTED!!*):
- Using the PROMPT SHEET given to you in class and gone over TUES. 10/27-FRI. 10/30, choose ONE (1) chapter from the text that strikes you as significant thematically and rhetorically (use of the rhetorical appeals/CHOICES) and:
- complete a TYPED (*or WRITTEN--BUT NOTE!!! ---> THIS ESSAY NEEDS TO BE TYPED UP ASAP FOR YOUR LATER-FINAL EXAM ESSAY TURN-IN), MLA-STYLE RHETORICAL ANALYSIS MULTI-PARAGRAPH (4 for this one, please) for this one chapter (*THAT'S x1 FOUR (4)-PARAGRAPH **FULLY COMPLETED** ESSAY DRAFT, KIDS!)
- PLEASE EITHER SHARE WITH ME as a Google Doc TO PRINT FOR YOU AND/OR HAVE TYPED/PRINTED HARD COPY, BY YOUR 1st - or 2nd block CLASSTIME MON. 11/2 OR I WILL COUNT OFF LATE POINTS!!!
- ANDD!!!! ----> IN ADDITION TO YOUR PROMPT SHEET, USE THIS GUIDING QUESTION FOR YOUR WRITTEN ANALYSIS: **In the chapter "---," *HOW (*and what) does O'Brien use literary elements/language choices/techniques to appeal to his readers and convey his argument/point(s) in each chapter?
- **use the "The Death of ETHOS/PATHOS/LOGOS" guide sheet given to you in class TUES. 10/27 (RHETORIC SECTION/*also linked on the CLASSROOM POST) to help you craft your sentences to convey your analysis >> I CHALLENGE YOU TO USE AT LEAST ONE OF THE SAMPLE STATEMENTS/IDEAS WITHIN YOUR ESSAY DRAFT!
******GREAT/MODEL** SAMPLE RHETORICAL ANALYSIS FOUR-PARAGRAPH ESSAY RESPONSE TO GUIDE YOU (LINE OF REASONING [LoR] example/explanation CHOICES highlighted)****
**PRETEND THIS IS A DOUBLE-SPACED ESSAY w/CORRECT PARAGRAPH SPACING !** ---->
NAME LAST NAME
Mrs. Krieger
AP Language
-- October 20--
The Things They Carried: "Spin” Rhetorical Analysis
Throughout Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam War narrative, he reminds his readers of the importance of storytelling in a world where nothing remains perpetual, where life and truth are finite. For instance, in the chapter “Spin,” O’Brien states that he is a forty-three year-old writer holding on to a passionate obsession for war stories. (THESIS/MAIN IDEA): Using repetition and his authoritative voice and style, author/narrator O'Brien draws his audience into the ethos-evoking world of a ‘true war story,’ seeking to convince readers of the raw truth and intensity that must come with the territory.
Indeed, the importance of narrative writing comes though in its ability to immortalize—to bind—time forever. However, also for O’Brien, stories will never replace the memories of actually having been there to experience a scenario, namely the grim realities of war. As he writes about his violent past, it “turns into a kind of rehappening” (32). O’Brien potently lives in his past, yet he still says “…I should forget it. But the thing about remembering is that you don’t forget…” (33). Here, the repetition of the word “forget” rhetorically reminds readers—and civilians—of the heavy burden that comes with memories of war, thus evoking a response from readers to remind them that O’Brien speaks credibly and authoritatively about this volatile subject.
As O'Brien writes, his quick, fragmented tales of days before, during, and after his platoon flow with sorrow and regret. Astounding readers with his narrative authority as both author and speaker, he uses persuasion in his tales through gruesome scenes of terror and violence—whether physical or psychological. O’Brien’s claim that “stories are for joining the past to the future…Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story" validates the importance of preserving memories through the art of storytelling, even if they are violent and uncomfortable at times (38). Most peculiar, though, are his pleas that, at times, the war was not all death and pandemonium; at times came peace—but peace tempered with subtle mental chaos. For example, as G.I. Norman Bowker lies under the stars on a calm night, he longs for his father to write him a letter telling him that it is acceptable to come home without medals—an indication of the heavy internal conflict Bowker carries amidst the physical chaos of combat. Bowker's frustrations in this chapter serve to strengthen O'Brien's credibility and his narrative revelations about the disjointed and intense nature of war and combat.
Indeed, O’Brien’s ability to tell his war stories unflinchingly grips readers with intensity. Through both repetition and narrative techniques that evoke an ethos-reaction, The Things They Carried exhibits the quality of “joining the past to the future”: a penchant that O’Brien himself so intensely strives for within his own narrative (34).
Work Cited
O’Brien, Tim. "Spin." The Things They Carried. Mariner, 2009.
