O Brien On The Rainy River Rhetorical Analysis

This quote is from O’Brien the author himself admitting that he couldn’t be brave enough to leave his country and that he was embarrassed of what he was trying to do. So, he told himself that he would go to war, kill and maybe die because of the embarrassment idea he made. The idea of this quote is to explain what he feeling/confusion between what he’d do. Should he go to war? Or should he leave his loved ones and country behind.?

A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, surrounds the cities of Paris and London during the late 1700’s. The novel takes place during the French Revolution, a period of social and political upheaval in France and England. While peasants died in the streets from hunger, aristocrats had more money and power than they knew what to do with. A Tale of Two Cities describes, in detail, the poverty of the time period, as well as the struggle of a people able to overcome oppression. The novel is largely based off of occurrences Dickens experienced during his childhood. Throughout the novel, the audience is able to infer what the author’s personal feeling towards the revolution is. This is shown through the personification of the guillotine, a tone of uncertainty, and use of violence through oppression. Therefore, the speaker is expressing his view on the revolution, while also predicting the resurrection of France.

In the short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, the main character Tim O’Brien gets a letter notifying him that he has been selected for the draft; he is affected by this emotionally, physically, and he faces a moral dilemma because this war goes against what he believes in. Immediately upon receiving the letter O’Brien thinks, “I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything. It couldn’t happen. I was above it” (1003). At this moment, O’Brien is going through remorse for himself. He does not think that he should be forced to fight in this war when he does not believe in what they are fighting for. O’Brien believes that the war was unjust because “certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (1002).O’Brien

In the book “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien admits to killing only one man during his war career, and relays it in the chapter “The Man I Killed”. In this chapter, O’Brien surveys the mangled body of the Vietnamese man he has just murdered, and desperately attempts to humanize the dead man as a coping method for his guilt. The chapter embodies a unique, and extremely detailed repetitive writing style which serves as a symbol of O’Brien’s scrutiny over his irrevocable action.

In Equiano's personal slave narrative, "The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African", Equiano flips the idea that the African people are backwards and barbaric, thus ripe for slavery, by demonstrating his personal exceptionalism through his literacy to show that it is truly the white people who are backwards and barbaric through their own hypocrisy. This reversal that Equiano demonstrates in his slave narrative shows that the savagery of African people exists as a misconception and makes the reader fully grasp the need to abolish slavery and any inequality present.

The soldiers in the Vietnams war were there for different reasons, some soldiers were forced against their will and some were there by choice. Because of that, each soldier has their own thoughts about the war, O’Brien has interpreted that “The twenty –six men were very quiet: some of them excited by the adventure, some of them afraid”. This clearly shows how the men

Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

Regret is a powerful emotion that has the ability to scar someone for the rest of their life. Moments of regret can come from relationships, self-made decisions and life changing events. The idea of regret also applies to “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh and “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien. Although these two literary pieces are very different in many ways, both authors describe the experience of the Vietnam War as a time of regretful decisions that negatively impacted people of both the American side and the Vietnamese side. Both authors tell a story about a character that recalls of flashbacks of the war, where they grieve over the past decisions that have affected them for the rest of their life.

“That’s what stories are for. 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” (36). The Things They Carried is a captivating novel that gives an inside look at the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War through the personal stories of the author, Tim O’Brien . Having been in the middle of war, O’Brien has personal experiences to back up his opinion about the war. In The Things They Carried, O’Brien reveals his view on war through telling his readers how the Vietnam War had no point, was emotionally devastating, and displaying that there is no purpose in war unless the soldiers know what they are fighting for.

In the story he explains that he wants to go to Canada because he does not want to be killed in the war and Canada is the safe place. The author mentions how he thinks it is unfair that he has to go fight in a war that he disagrees with. The other option the author faces is to go fight the war in Vietnam. He is very afraid to disappoint his family and friends because it would be obvious if he ran away and he would never be able to go back. He saw himself as a coward because he was embarrassed. This is evident when Mr. O’Brien says, “I would go to the war – I would kill and maybe die – because I was embarrassed not to,” (pg. 57.) In the end the author realized what he must do and went back home, so he could fight in the Vietnam

Award winning writer, George Orwell, in his dystopian novel, 1984, Winston and O’Brien debate the nature of reality. Winston and O’Brien’s purpose is to persuade each other to believe their own beliefs of truth and reality. They adopt an aggressive tone in order to convey their beliefs about what is real is true. In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston and O’Brien use a variety of different rhetorical strategies and appeals such as parallel structure, pathos, and logos in order to persuade each other about the validity of memories and doublethink; however, each character’s argument contains flaw in logic.

The line between rational and irrational thought is often blurred for some more than others. Usually when we cross this line into irrational thought our brain will let us know that what we are doing isn’t within reason. While many believe that Christopher McCandless was crazy and his ideas were ludicrous; I believe that he saw the line between rational and irrational thought very clearly, and that all though some of his ideas may have seemed crazy to some, he carried them out in sane body and mind. Chris was an extremist, a radical youth with different ways of thinking, and often we as a society tend to identify someone as crazy when we cannot comprehend the reasoning behind why a person would do something. Chris was not crazy, but he was

‘’I was a coward. I went to the war’’ Pg187. In the short story, ‘’On The Rainy River’’ by Tim O’Brien, The protagonist faces a difficult life decision, he did not want to conform to society the way others wanted him to. He wanted to keep his personal beliefs. Tim O’Brien does not want to conform no matter how vital it is that he should. If he does not conform, he will lose everything including his personal beliefs, on the contrary, if he does conform he risks his life. Conforming in any way, shape or form has consequences, usually ending with losing something. Tim realizes this when he has to chose between himself and others. This could also be a form of peer pressure. Tim has a desire to live a normal life; work and play, a family someday,

Throughout the novel Tuesday’s With Morrie, the author, Mitch Albom, reflects on his Tuesday meetings with his old professor, now consumed with a terminal illness, and, using many rhetorical choices, reveals “The Meaning of Life,” which they discussed profusely and divided into several categories. Topics such as Death, Emotions, Aging, Money, Culture, and more are all discussed in their weekly conferences, Morrie passing his wisdom on to one of his favor students. And Albom, writing about their talks, uses numerous rhetoric devices to discuss this wisdom.

In “What We Are to Advertisers” and “Men’s Men and Women’s Women” both Twitchell and Craig reveal how advertisers utilize stereotypes to manipulate and persuade consumers into purchasing their products. Companies label their audience and advertise to them accordingly. Using reliable sources such as Stanford Research Institute, companies are able to use the data to their advantage to help market their products to a specific demographic. Craig and Twitchell give examples of this ploy in action by revealing how companies use “positioning” to advertise the same product to two demographics to earn more profit. Craig delves more into the advertisers ' plan by exposing the science behind commercials. Advertisers are able to create content based on