A Secret Lost In The Water Analysis

It is said that fiction is an essentially rhetorical art and that the author tries to persuade the reader towards a specific view of the world while reading. This is evident in both short stories, A Secret Lost in the Water by Roch Carrier, and He-y Come on Ou-t by Shinichi Hoshi. Although through A Secret Lost in the Water, Roch Carrier displays how fiction is an essentially rhetorical art better than Shinichi Hoshi in He-y, Come on Ou-t (awkard sentence), Shinichi Hoshi demonstrates it better through the use of prognosis. Furthermore, by utilizing the characters, such as the farmer from A Secret Lost in the Water, and the use of symbolism such as the hole from He-y, Come on Ou-t, it is evident that the author makes an endeavour towards persuading

When the narrator failed to find water with the alder branch, the farmer, disappointed about how children do not accept what is passed on to them, takes back the branch. “And he took the alder branch from my hands.” The alder branch can be interpreted as the spirit and gift of his father. When the farmer takes back the branch, it is as if he had lost the gift that his father had gave to him forever. The author does this to allow the one to reflect on the parental relationship. The author is able to manipulate the reader’s feelings of guilt which allows the writer to be able to persuade the reader of his view. The author concludes the short story with this quote which adds to the impact or guilt it may have on the reader. In the novel He-y Come on Ou-t, the author symbolizes the hole as a way to persuade the reader. After the business had expanded, many people decided to throw their unwanted possession into it. “The hole gave peace of mind to the dwellers of the city. They concentrated solely on producing one thing after another. Everyone disliked thinking about the eventual consequences.” The hole can be interpreted as a symbol of humanity's ignorance towards the environment and how humans are oblivious to consequences. Although the people of the story were given a temporary solution (the hole) to the problem, they had pushed away the eventual consequence as it gave them a peace of mind. The author is trying to convey the message that we need to start thinking about how one’s actions can affect the future by manipulating fear to the reader. Shinichi Hoshi and Roch Carrier utilizes symbolism to show how Fiction is essentially rhetorical