Rhetorical Analysis Of Orange Is The New Black

How does being sentenced to prison affect someone later in his or her life? Many people pose the question, but they have yet to form an immutable response. Oscar Wilde once said, “one of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be”, this quotation engenders the philosophy of prison, which consists of one being held responsible for his or her wrongdoings. The book Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman explores how a once drug money launderer goes to jail for a crime which she committed almost a decade earlier. At the time she committed the crime, she considered herself lost and naive in regards to her life. Throughout the book, the audience witnesses Kerman’s struggles and how she ultimately overcomes them in order to better herself for the future. After examining the book, one can see that Kerman uses many rhetorical elements in her writing such as ethos,

Kerman effectively conveys her story to her audience while also sending a message about the war on drugs and faults in the federal correction system. She uses this position to input her own ideas and show how her opinions have changed with experience. For example, when she started getting involved with the drug world, she did not know the harm that she was doing to all of the people who did the drugs she helped smuggle the money for. During her time in jail she reflected on all of the bad things she did and she realized how much harm she probably caused all of those people she provided the drugs for. From this change in opinion one can see the views of Kerman that sets the tone of the book. The overall tone Kerman sets in the book is optimistic. Kerman enforces the idea that things happen for a reason, and a person will learn and benefit from good or bad things happening in his or her