Rhetorical Analysis Of Katherine Anne Porter's The Future Is Now '

936 Words2 Pages

In Katherine Anne Porter’s, “The Future Is Now,” the author develops her argument through the use of rhetorical devices, as well as varying points of view, which greatly help emphasize her argument. In the second paragraph she notices a siren going off outside her home, she then starts to wonder about all the different things the siren could represent. As she considers all the possibilities she notices a man across the street who is consumed by a table he is carefully building. She fails to understand how a person can be so absorbed by something that they fail to notice something so alarming surrounding them. The primary argument the author is trying to make is that it is more important to exist and cherish life rather than always worry about …show more content…

As she sat at her work table she, “was drawn away,” by the screeching sirens outside her window. In this example, the author uses the word “was” as an indicator of her recollection of the events of that evening. The way they quickly grasped her attention reveals how focused she was on these specific occurrences surrounding her. We also notice how she is reflecting on the bad things that happen in society, yet we find ways to overcome them in order to continue to live our lives. In the following paragraphs, we see the judgment she has towards people who fail to consume themselves within the events happening around them. More specifically, we see her judgment towards the young man across the street who is so dedicatedly working on his table and in fact she wonders why he takes, “all those pains to make it beautiful?” She fails to understand his outlook on life by presenting us with a rhetorical question that she herself could not answer in the very moment. She fails to understand why and how a person can cherish life so deeply when his surroundings consist of nothing but chaos. As we continue to read through her essay we come across a moment that changes her perspective on the idea that people can quite possibly live a life that is consumed in something they love rather than the fear of

Open Document