A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window by Lemony Snickets
I. Introduction
a. Title
The title of my book report is " A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window". It is the third book of the series.
b. Author
The wonderful and talented personage who wrote this book is Lemony Snickets. He is a studied expert in rhetorical analysis, a distinguished scholar, an amateur connoisseur.
c. Brief Summary
The Baudelaire Children were orphaned by a fire. They were sent from one place to another, from relative to relative. In this installment, the children are sent to their new guardian, Aunt Josephine. Aunt Josephine lives in this hill above Lake Lachrymose. She is afraid of almost everything, and her only joy in life is grammar. The children thought that she was not going to be a good guardian but they had no other choice. The problem begins when Count Olaf, the children's worst enemy, pretended to be Captain Sham. He is still after the Baudelaire orphans since once he has the custody of the children, he will have their entire fortune. The children find themselves hopeless since Aunt Josephine and Mr. Poe did not believe them when they said that Count Olaf is after them again. Count Olaf, who was still pretending to be Captain Sham, scared Aunt Josephine away, and she ran far far away. The children saw a note saying that Captain Sham is now their legal guardian, and it was signed by Aunt Josephine. Suddenly, Klaus found several grammatical errors on the note thus concluding that Captain Sham just forged her signature. Klaus read the note again and realized that it was a secret message. The message pointed out a place, somewhere near Lake Lachrymose, and it was possibly where Aunt Josephine was. The children immediately went down the hill towards the dock. There, they realized that there was no way they could reach Aunt Josephine. Then, Violet remembered Captain Sham's business, sailboat rentals. They decided to steal one and they took off. Another problem arose- Aunt Josephine did not want to go back to Damocles Dock with them. She was afraid of the leeches that inhibit the lake. But she changed her mind of staying in Curdled Cave forever when one of the children told her that the cave was to be sold. She was so scared of realtors that she decided to come. A bigger problem was when the leeches started attacking the runaway boat of the four.
Heinrichs had previously worked as a journalist before becoming a full time writer and advocate for rhetoric. He utilizes illustrative examples to convey rhetorical concepts. Furthermore, chapter four reveals the most valuable logos and pathos tactic. Lastly, this book’s use should be continued in this course.
Foss, Sonja K. (1996). Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration & Practice (2nd ed.) Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc.
Longaker, Mark Garrett, and Jeffrey Walker. Rhetorical Analysis: A Brief Guide for Writers. Glenview: Longman, 2011. Print.
In The Rhetorical Situation, Lloyd F. Bitzer argues that what makes a situation rhetorical is similar to that which constitutes a moral action as he writes that, “an act is moral because it is an act performed in a situation of a certain kind; similarly, a work is rhetorical because it is a response to a situation of a certain kind”.(3) By defining the rhetorical situation in this way, Bitzer further contends that rhetoric is a means to altering reality. (4) It is through the use of discourse that one is capable of changing reality through thought and action. (4) Bitzer then elaborates upon the nature of a rhetorical situation by explaining that rhetorical discourse enters a situation when: providing a response to its state of affairs; rhetorical discourse is given significant presence by the situation; the situation exists as a necessary condition for rhetorical discourse to have effect; a rhetorical situation or event may mature or decay over time; the rhetorical situation invites the use of discourse to alter its reality; the rhetorical response given to the situation is appropriate; and the situation controls the response of the discourse. While Bitzer notes that these are parameters for a situation to qualify as being rhetorical, he further discusses three constituents that are present in any rhetorical situation prior to the presence and manipulation of discourse. (6) Exigence, audience, and constraints are seen to be necessary elements in a rhetorical situation for Bitzer. Exegince, “is an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be undone, a thing which is other than it should be”. (6) An audience whose members may function as mediators of change is required, as rhetoric alw...
“This Course prepares students for reading, research, and writing in college classes by teaching students to consider the rhetorical situation of any piece of writing while integrating reading, research, and writing in the academic genres of analysis and argument. This course is said to teach students to develop analyses and arguments using research-based content with effective organization, and appropriate expression and mechanics”. (1)
In this essay, I will be analyzing the Traditional method of rhetorical criticism and the Narrative method of rhetorical criticism.
Raymond Chandler, along with Dashiell Hammett, invented what is now known as modern detective literature. Chandler excelled in the art, creating "wise-cracking" cynical "private *censored*s," such as Philip Marlowe. Marlowe and Sam Spade are what shall forever be the standard Private eye with razor sharp wit, keen intellect, and the blatant disregard for authority. Philip Marlowe is the smooth talking yet sentimental private eye. Marlowe's sentimental side is what turned him into a real person, and not a "colorless narrator" as Sam Spade was often criticized as being by numerous critics. (Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler, 25-26)
The rhetorical analysis played a role in this, because I was required to use the various rhetorical appeals to compose a strong argument. Using the appeals definitely helped in trying to persuade the reader to acknowledge the opposing view.
The Baudelaires went to Lake Lachrymose to live with their Aunt Josephine, whom they didn’t know.
Palmer, William. "Rhetorical Analysis." Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, Writing, and Style. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2012. 268-69. Print.
The author’s main argument in “Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning-Making” is that rhetoric does not need to be complicated if writers incorporate certain elements to their writing. Downs further analyzed the elements that contribute to rhetoric such as symbols and signals, motivation, emotion, ecology, reasoning and identification. The author emphasized that writers can learn how to deliver their writing effectively once they are more aware on how rhetoric works. Downs constantly assures that rhetoric is quite simple and does not need to provoke fuzziness. Even though the term rhetorical is applied to everything, the author of the article made it clear that the “rhetorical” thing is situated. The example provided by the author in this article, further guides our understanding on what rhetoric
The AP Language and Composition course is purely designed to help students excel in their own stories, but more importantly, become more attentive to their surroundings. A conscientious goal, that would properly be attained through the collection of nonfiction paperbacks. Because of the purpose of this course and the current state of today’s children, one must undeniably agree that in selecting the “perfect book”, the overall idea of self-reliance would hold a prominent factor. This curriculum not only focuses on the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts, but it attempts to make students distinguish how the world plays with the dialectic of persuasion, also known as the art of rhetoric. In doing so, this course aims at making students aware
Olson, Annie. “An Introduction to Rhetoric.” Le Tourneau U, May 2006. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.
The author begins his argument by retelling the story of his youth to build his ethos but the results are poor as it presents more questions on how he is a credible source on this argument as his only evidence is his own story. However, through the same means his pathos is built as his anecdote conveys feelings in the audience, making them more willing to listen. Graff finally, gives a call to action to schools to use students’ interests to develop their skills in rhetoric and analysis, which reveals the logic behind his argument. The topic about how students are taught rhetoric and analysis brings interest but with an average argument only built on pathos, a low amount of logos, and questionable ethos it can fall on deaf
Mrs. Marian Forrester strikes readers as an appealing character with the way she shifts as a person from the start of the novel, A Lost Lady, to the end of it. She signifies just more than a women that is married to an old man who has worked in the train business. She innovated a new type of women that has transitioned from the old world to new world. She is sought out to be a caring, vibrant, graceful, and kind young lady but then shifts into a gold-digging, adulterous, deceitful lady from the way she is interpreted throughout the book through the eyes of Niel Herbert. The way that the reader is able to construe the Willa Cather on how Mr. and Mrs. Forrester fell in love is a concept that leads the reader to believe that it is merely psychological based. As Mrs. Forrester goes through her experiences such as the death of her husband, the affairs that she took part in with Frank Ellinger, and so on, the reader witnesses a shift in her mentally and internally. Mrs. Forrester becomes a much more complicated women to the extent in which she struggles to find who really is and that is a women that wants to find love and be fructuous in wealth. A women of a multitude of blemishes, as a leading character it can be argued that Mrs. Forrester signifies a lady that is ultimately lost in her path of personal transitioning. She becomes lost because she cannot withstand herself unless she is treated well by a wealthy male in which causes her to act unalike the person she truly is.