Rhetorical Analysis Of Travel With Charley: In Search Of America By John Steinbeck

Ever had the experience reading a novel when you become so absorbed and just ‘get lost’ in the writing? Or you're turning the pages so fast when you look up the house has gotten dark around you, and you realize you've been squinting to see words? This feeling is largely attributed to the rhetoric that the writer uses. Rhetoric is used to give writing depth and dimension. It subtly gives ordinary words a feeling, thus affecting the message of what is written. It adds the emotional punch and resonance of detail that sometimes words alone can't do. Award winning author John Steinbeck uses a variety of rhetoric in his excerpt from Travel with Charley: In Search of America . This non fiction memoir was written in 1962 as eighty-five year old Steinbeck toured 40 states with his poodle in the early 1960’s. The trip encompassed about 10,000 miles, roughly following the outer border of the United States. This was a journey for him to reconnect and get to know the country on a personal level. In the chapter, he describes his brief homecoming to his hometown,

After living away from home for nearly 20 years. He visits a bar from his youth and converses with the locals only to find out that his childhood friends and acquaintances had died. This mirrors a death within himself that he unwillingly accepts. He develops an apprehensive and bitter attitude and becomes critical of his surroundings. However he eventually realizes that his disappointment is futile and cannot change what has become of his beloved hometown. Perhaps his memories of home have been romanticized in his memories which makes it increasingly difficult for him to accept that the city is continually changing. In this chapter Steinbeck uses historical and biblical allusions as well as diction to appeal to the audience's emotions or pathos and to convey his feelings towards an unyielding acceptance of