The Ethnic Theory Of Plane Crash Rhetorical Analysis Essay

778 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Plane crash creative story

Why do planes crash? Most people answer this question with statements revolving around the plane having mechanical issues; this is rarely the case. In “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes,” Malcolm Gladwell shows how communication, or lack thereof, plays a much larger role in crashes by making an appeal to the reader’s emotions, also called pathos, via imagery, syntax, and storytelling.
Gladwell makes a pathos appeal in the first paragraph of the essay using imagery by painting a picture in our mind of the daily routine for the Captain of Korean Flight 801. He allows the reader to relate to the captain by saying things such as, “he went to the gym for an hour, then came home and studied the flight plan” and “he napped and ate lunch.” The normalcy of all these things makes it appear Gladwell isn’t doing much to emotionally affect the reader, but the regularity …show more content…

He preludes the use of dialogue by using syntax that foreshadows the devastating plane crash. He uses long drawn out sentences to set up the scene but then ends the paragraph with one abrupt, disgruntling sentence: “But it’s too late.” This sentence brings emotions of doubt before the reader even begins reading the dialogue. The dialogue begins with a conversation between the captain, first officer, and first engineer. They are confused and wondering how they missed the approach. Just as the captain says, “Go around,” the ground proximity warning system kicks in and states “one hundred feet.” As this system kicks on the reader gets the feeling that this is the beginning of the end and a sense of hopelessness sets in. Gladwell quickens the buildup of emotion by using syntax and continuing the countdown of the warning system from “fifty” to “forty” to “twenty” and then “[the sound of initial impact].” This final string of sounds causes the reader to be more deeply moved and feel as if they can almost hear the crash happening.

Show More
Related

  • Comparsion of Throughout the Fate Is the Hunter and The Right Stuff

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    Handling and operating an airplane comes with great risk, but these risks that are present are handled with very different attitudes and dealt with in different ways depending on the environment the pilots are in.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Journey Into Night By David Sedaris

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people have issues with flying. Some are nervous that the plane might not make it to its destination while others think of flying as an overpriced, uncomfortable, and unpleasant experience. Than there are those who can afford to make their flight experience much more luxurious which are the passengers flying in business class or in first class. These are passengers that get the champagne in the plastic glasses and the chairs that stretch all the way out. David Sedaris is able to paint this picture of entitlement and lack of comfort throughout his article “Journey into Night.”

    Read More

  • Seminar

    2151 Words  | 5 Pages

    How does Gladwell develop exigency and purpose throughout these two texts? Explain how this relates to the essay as a whole.

    Read More

  • Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    Typically, a novel contains four basic parts: a beginning, middle, climax, and the end. The beginning sets the tone for the book and introduces the reader to the characters and the setting. The majority of the novel comes from middle where the plot takes place. The plot is what usually captures the reader’s attention and allows the reader to become mentally involved. Next, is the climax of the story. This is the point in the book where everything comes together and the reader’s attention is at the fullest. Finally, there is the end. In the end of a book, the reader is typically left asking no questions, and satisfied with the outcome of the previous events. However, in the novel The Things They Carried the setup of the book is quite different. This book is written in a genre of literature called “metafiction.” “Metafiction” is a term given to fictional story in which the author makes the reader question what is fiction and what is reality. This is very important in the setup of the Tim’s writing because it forces the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about the story. However, this is not one story at all; instead, O’Brien writes the book as if each chapter were its own short story. Although all the chapters have relation to one another, when reading the book, the reader is compelled to keep reading. It is almost as if the reader is listening to a “soldier storyteller” over a long period of time.

    Read More

  • Summary of Boyle's Friendly Skies

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    T. Coraghessan Boyle’s “Friendly Skies” is the story of Ellen, a woman who is trying to get to get to New York to be with her mom, but has trouble doing so due to several delays. First, the plane has mechanical problems, this is followed by a pilot claim that they have lost their slots for takeoff. When the plane finally leaves LAX, the engine catches on fire, so emergency landing is required. When back at the airport she is only able to get a non-direct flight that stops in Chicago. While on this flight, Ellen reminisces about heartbreaking details of her past, so she takes prescription medicine with alcohol to try and diminish her pain. Eventually, a nervous man who had annoyed Ellen for hours, threatens to kill everyone because he is not happy with the airline service. With her built up frustration, Ellen picks up a fork and stabs the man repeatedly, which helps in restraining him long enough to land in Denver. The central idea of the story is that even a calm and constrained person can have an irrational outburst of emotion if his/her feelings are repressed.

    Read More

  • Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer

    964 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tone is set in this chapter as Krakauer uses words to create an atmosphere of worry, fear, and happiness in McCandless’s mind. “The bush is an unforgiving place, however, that cares nothing for hope or longing”(4). McCandless is on the path of death, which creates worry and fear for the young boy. “He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited,” (6). Alex is very excited and care free, which Krakauer used to his advantage in making the tone of Alex’s mind happy. The author creates tones to make the reader feel the moment as if the readers were sitting there themselves. Krakauer uses dialogue and setting to create the mixed tones of this chapter. As one can see from the quotes and scenery the author uses tones that are blunt and are to the point to make the reader feel as though the emotions are their own. Krakauer uses plenty of figurative language in this chapter. He uses figurative language to support his ideas,to express the surroundings, and tone around the character. To start the chapter he uses a simile describing the landscape of the area, “…sprawls across the flats like a rumpled blanket on an unmade bed,” (9). This statement is used to make reader sense the area and set the mood for the chapter. The use of figurative language in this chapter is to make a visual representation in the readers mind. “It’s satellites surrender to the low Kantishna plain” (9).

    Read More

  • The Hour of the Star

    1818 Words  | 4 Pages

    It should be mentioned that the story uses a myriad of figurative and metaphoric imagery. Throughout the novel the narrator injects his own views, often leading the reader to a deeper questioning of the story as it unfolds. He frequently speaks about what would happen if the main character were to do things in a different way. Also, through the interjection of varying levels of foreshadowing the reader gets a sense of where the story is headed. At one point the narrator says “…were I to t...

    Read More

  • Mary Roach Chapter Summaries

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chapter 5: Mary Roach explains the deaths caused by aircraft crash disasters. After having discussions with injury analyst she gains knowledge and makes notes. She publishes a book for others to know human remains can be evidence theses disasters.

    Read More

  • Cultural Baggage Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    Everyone has an ethnic background, whether it is Chinese or European, we all come from somewhere. Barbara Ehrenreich has come to the conclusion in her article “Cultural Baggage” that the race and religion of our ancestors should not be what defines us. While she agrees that everyone has different roots, she shows the reader that you do not have to be defined by your roots and that the traditions do not have to be followed.

    Read More

  • Ethics in Aerospace

    2166 Words  | 5 Pages

    Safety in the ethics and industry of aerospace technology is of prime importance for preventing tragic malfunctions and crashes. Opposed to automobiles for example, if an airplane breaks down while in mid-flight, it has nowhere to go but down. And sadly it will often go down “hard” and with a high probability of killing people. The Engineering Code of Ethics states first and foremost that, “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.” In the aerospace industry, this as well holds very true, both in manufacturing and in air safety itself. Airline safety has recently become a much-debated topic, although arguments over air safety and travel have been going ...

    Read More

  • Incredibly Close Grief

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Published in 2005, Jonathan Foer's fiction novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close takes it's readers on an intriguing journey into the life of a boy named Oskar Schell. The novel follows the nine-year old as he travels around all of New York City in search of secrets behind a mysterious key and the connection it has to his father, Thomas Schell, who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. On his journey, Oskar accumulates many friends who aid Oskar’s grief as he aids them with theirs. As Oskar’s story blossoms, so do those of his Grandfather and Grandmother, who co-narrate the story with their grandson. These three narrations come together to introduce and develop a theme of grief. All characters within the novel grieve over something. They grieve of the loss of a father, a son, a sister; they are grieving over a marriage that lacks love; they are grieving for solutions that can never be resolved. Foer uses an assortment of characters to acknowledge a theme of grief that is slowly eliminated by Oskar’s uplifting spirit.

    Read More

  • In Another Country of Hemingway

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...is story, Hemingway brings the readers back the war and see what it caused to human as well as shows that how the war can change a man's life forever. We think that just people who have been exposed to the war can deeply understand the unfortunates, tolls, and devastates of the war. He also shared and deeply sympathized sorrows of who took part in the war; the soldiers because they were not only put aside the combat, the war also keeps them away from community; people hated them as known they are officers and often shouted " down with officers" as they passing. We have found any blue and mournful tone in this story but we feel something bitter, a bitter sarcasm. As the war passing, the soldiers would not themselves any more, they became another ones; hunting hawks, emotionless. They lost everything that a normal man can have in the life. the war rob all they have.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis of Crash the movie

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    "It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    He has a good sense of writing as he makes research interesting, attracting readers to keep reading. To illustrate his opinions, Gladwell uses various evidences: Einstein Evidence, Example Evidence, Fact Evidence and Undocumented Evidence. Those evidences make his statements strong and convincing. For example, Gladwell writes the story of the ethnic theory of the Korean plane crashes happened before 1999. Without Gladwell’s discovery, how many people can relate a country’s cultural legacy with its plane crash? Gladwell doesn’t show his discovery directly, instead, he starts by telling a real story of Korean Air flight 801 which turns out to be a disaster. Next, he lists a series of plane crashes that have one thing in common─all of these disasters are happened on Korean airplanes. Gladwell patiently waits the moment when readers become curious, and then he jumps out to give the explanations. This makes his viewpoint impressive to readers and also instructive to future researcher because Gladwell’s discoveries are based on the real historical

    Read More

  • Essay On Ethnic Identity

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    Heterogeneous cultural groups have evolved into distinct racial groups that individuals misrecognize as natural instead of a social construction. Historically, people did not primarily identify according to race, but rather ethnic group, language, and kinship. Ethnicity is the identification with an ethnic group based on language, religion, historical experience, geographic isolation, kinship or race. Race is phenotypically dissimilar groups in some sort of long-term unequal power and/or economic relationship where the dominant group justifies its position through some kind of legitimating ideology. Although, race has no biological reality, it is culturally real and operates as a principal identity at local and national levels. The United

    Read More

More about The Ethnic Theory Of Plane Crash Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Open Document