Thursday, October 7, 2010
A Twisted World
I enjoyed reading this persuasive essay, it was not only unique but it was also well written and interesting. The way he used reducto ad absurdum (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reductio+ad+absurdum) was extremely intelligent. Writing persuasive essays in this format can be really risky but if they are done right like in this essay, "A Twisted World" in the book Embracing Writing, it can be a really good essay. Writing about serious (and usually boring) topics such as politics can get old, and dull really quickly. However in this piece James uses humor, by writing about the notion of putting celebrities in charge of the United States. He did this to prove that even though we may be facing hard times it could most definitely be worse, and instead of being serious he had fun with the topic. This made reading the essay and writing about it a lot more fun, than if it was just a typical persuasive essay about politics.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I completely agree with you. I loved reading this story because it was fun. It was humorous, therefore interesting and so relateable that it kept me, and any reader engaged. I think that what I liked most about it, was that through his humor, there was an underlying truth about human nature and how we are all too quick to judge each other, yet we all don't want to be judged ourselves.
ReplyDeleteBut, as you mention, the technique he uses is so well done, and tricky to do. But, it does have its reward in the end. By making the story humorous, and fun to read, he invites readers in and to keep reading. Then, when they reach the end, and read the last few serious lines, it makes the moral or point that he is trying to get across, so much more powerful and effective. It was like that "Oh..." moment- that realzation of human judgement we all do.
It was certainly well written.
I like how you do your own bit of research regarding the technique the writer is using. nice work.
ReplyDelete