Comparative Study on Utilizing Different Rhetorical Devices in Several Genres

Part 1: Introduction

According to the second edition of John Frow, genre provides a thorough and understandable introduction to the subject. Genre is an important tool for classifying various kinds of literature and culture, but it is also a great deal more than that as follows: genres actively produce and influence our understanding of the world through discourse and writing, music and visuals, cinema, and television.

This paper examines is divided into two parts. The first one is to compare the four texts which have different genres in terms of rhetorical devices: Mother Tongue (essay) / The Haunted Oak (Poetry)/ Shooting an Elephant (short story)/ A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (magic realism). There are rhetorical devices that this paper considers are Alliteration, Amplification, Anacoluthon, Anadiplosis, Antanagoge, Apophasis, Chiasmus, Euphemism, Hypophora, anaphora, and Similes. For the second part, the paper supports Whatever has been discussed in the first part alongside the other scholars’ perspectives. I will start by analyzing each text and check which of the rhetorical devices are used to do a linguistic function in the texts.

First, Mother Tongue is an essay by Amy Tan about her mother’s language and how the language of immigrants and Chinese affected her way of seeing life. The essay mainly derives its authenticity from the events happening with her in real life, which is one of the most effective methods to persuade the reader. When it comes to rhetorical device use, the first thing that comes to mind is Anaphora (the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses). In the first and second paragraphs, she repeats “I am” more than nineteen times. The repetition used for several reasons: directing the thought of the reader that this is about personal experience and about establishing a connection with the reader by introducing herself, which all clustered the repetition of the word” I am.” She continues using the same style until the very end of the essay which resulted in building a strong connection with the reader and, at the same time, engaging the reader emotionally. A second rhetorical device that caught my attention during my reading is asyndeton (a literary device in which conjunctions are intentionally omitted to change a sentence’s tone). For example:

“Grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, all the forms of standard English that I learned in school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother.”

Out of many purposes of using asyndeton in writing, she wants to emphasize how much she is about realizing English language usage. Also, there is a sense of mentioning a point quickly without stopping on it. This rhetorical device is employed to emphasize the idea swiftly.

Now let us move on with the analysis of The Haunted Oak by Paul Dunbar, the poem describes a horrible scene that happened to an innocent man. In my perspective, the poem is a style of writing in which a writer wants either to say something indirectly or to make it brilliant in terms of description figure of speech and so on; in The Haunted Oak, based on the time writing and the condition of the writer, I would say it is the former, saying something indirectly.

The writer uses some rhetorical devices in the poem. First, an indirect reference to the person, event, or place is called allusion in poetry, it is used when the author believes that the reader will be able to make a connection with the reference. Paul Dunbar uses allusion in many places in his poem, for instance:

1.“And the rope they bear is long.”

2.“Oh, the judge, he wore a mask of black,

  And the doctor one of white,”

Here the author refers to the people in authority by the long rope and to describing the doctor and the judge indirectly. Second, he uses asyndeton which refers to the connecting the words, phrases, and sentences without conjunctions. For example, I found this rhetorical device used in the below stanza:

“I am burned with dread, I am dried and dead,”

The most rhetorical device used in his poem is cacophony: it refers to the use of discordant and unpleasant word choice. There are many examples in the poem such as dim, weird, pains, moan, tremble, old crime, wail, dog howl, jail, and others.

Now Shooting an Elephant is a short story by the British writer George Orwell. First, Orwell used alliteration well during times of high stress and to emphasize the situation. During the elephant’s demise, George constantly employs the letter ‘S’ to describe what is happening. He describes the elephant as “suddenly stricken, shrunken, sagged, and slobbered.” The repetition increases the tension of the scene in the readers’ minds. Alliteration is used many times in this short sorry; in brief, when Orwell described the man killed in the mud. For sure there are many rhetorical devices used in this short story.

Finally, we have A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel García Márquez, to tell the truth, this is the first time I heard about the magic realistic genre, however, I read similar fictional stories with the same context and connotation, but this is a topic for different research, and it sounds interesting. Gabrial uses simile (a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox) in different parts of his story, for example:

“He was dressed like a ragpicker… his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather took away any sense of grandeur he might have had.”

Part 2: Discussion

                First, according to Sag and Hankamer (1976), there are two main ways to interpret anaphora as a rhetorical device: The transformational position and the interpretive position. They explain it linguistically in which the former is independent, whereas the latter is more referential anaphora as it must have a reference in the external world. In our example in the first paragraph about the repetition of the pronoun “I”, Amy Tan was referring to an external referential which is herself; so, she used the interpretive position according to Sag and Hankamer. The discussion about this process is lengthy in terms of linguistic behavior involving deletion but will stick to this limit for the assignment.

An asyndeton is a rhetorical technique that indicates an ellipsis, consisting of “coordinated sentences or phrases without obvious conjunctions or connectives.” (Wales, 2001, p. 33).  Asyndeton includes three types: namely, adversative asyndeton, causal asyndeton, explicative asyndeton, enumerative asyndeton, copulative asyndeton, summative asyndeton, and consecutive asyndeton, according to Leenknecht (2015). In the fourth paragraph, the example Amy Tan uses in her essay is in line with the last type, consecutive asyndeton. Leenknecht (2015) stated that consecutive asyndeton adverbs indicating chronological or logical sequence, such as ‘first’ or ‘and then’, are eliminated. He also discussed the idea that various activities or occurrences are recounted in sequential or spontaneous order. This kind can enhance storytelling and provide a sense of movement.  The following paragraph discusses the allusion employed by Paul Dunbar in The Haunted Oak.

Sarah Annes Brown (2009) defined allusion as an act of making indirect references to other texts, incidents, or popular culture inside a literary work that enriches the meaning and context of the text. To illustrate the example stated in the sixth paragraph about allusion in poetry, Heather Dubrow (2002) indicated that “Allusion and intertextuality are closely connected, serving as points of connection between texts, allowing for the exchange of ideas and the construction of literary meaning.” In my perspective, the closest definition to the example we cited from The Haunted Oak is what Soledad and Utrera (2018) said about illusion; they illustrated that, in historical fiction, allusion refers to the delicate insertion of references to historical events, individuals, or texts inside the story, allowing authors to locate their stories within specific historical settings and deepen the reader’s understanding of the era.  As discussed in the class, Paul wanted to discuss a historical event (hanging the man which is a historical story told about by his grandfather). The other example was about asyndeton but since we already discussed it, will move forward with other examples of different genres. Cacophony is also functioned in the poem, the example in paragraph nine. Out of many definitions of Emily Dickinson (2016), and Robert Frost (2019), I found Ralph Cohen’s definition relates more to the example I provided. He defined cacophony as a tool that refers to the purposeful use of loud, disruptive sounds in poetry or prose to create a feeling of dissonance or disorder, which typically mirrors the work’s thematic subject or psychological tone, which is the case with negative words in the poem. The next paragraphs discuss alliteration as a rhetorical device in Shooting an Elephant.

Even though alliteration is commonly associated with poetry, I found it in the short story of Shooing an Elephant which is illustrated in the example in paragraph ten. O’Connor (2022), in her recent paper, discussed alliteration in short stories which is, as she said, rare. She stated Alliteration may be used in short stories to create atmosphere, establish patterns, and underline significant themes or motifs in a subtle yet effective way. She added authors use alliterative tactics to improve the aural and aesthetic characteristics of their work, attracting readers’ attention to key events or imagery in the story. Next, we will discuss simile and allegory which are found in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel García Márquez.

Gonzalez (2019) Similes are utilized in magical realist writing to bridge the gap between the commonplace and the supernatural, allowing authors to generate surreal imagery while keeping it grounded in recognizable terms. Similes function as channels for readers to explore the extraordinary inside the commonplace, blurring the line between reality and imagination in the narrative world. Therefore, what has been recognized in the story about simile is supported by this statement. In addition, Harris (2018) stated “Similes serve as powerful tools in literature, allowing authors to vividly convey complex ideas and emotions by comparing one thing to another using ‘like’ or ‘as.’ Through similes, writers create rich imagery that resonates with readers, facilitating deeper engagement with the text.” Basically, while reading about similes, similes and metaphors are somehow connected by explaining one thing by another. In the example we provided from the story, Márquez uses similes to make the image vivid and to make it more entertaining, from my perspective.

In conclusion, this comparative analysis sheds light on how different rhetorical strategies are used in diverse literary genres. We investigated how authors use rhetorical devices to enrich their writing and convey meaning by analyzing works ranging from essays and poetry to short tales and magical realism. The analysis of Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” demonstrated the successful use of rhetorical techniques like anaphora and asyndeton to develop personal connections and accentuate language intricacies. In Paul Dunbar’s “The Haunted Oak,” the use of allusion, asyndeton, and cacophony helped to create a dark atmosphere while also exploring themes of injustice and suffering. Proceeding on to George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant,” we saw how alliteration was used effectively to heighten suspense and depict the narrator’s mental agony. Gabriel García Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” exemplifies how similes may blur the barrier between ordinary and exceptional in magical realism. Finally, this study emphasizes the relevance of rhetorical techniques as effective instruments for literary expression across genres. Examining its use in different situations allows us to grasp the subtle ways in which authors use rhetoric to build fascinating narratives and enhance the literary environment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hankamer, Jorge, and Ivan Sag. “Deep and Surface Anaphora.” Linguistic Inquiry, vol. 7, no. 3, 1976, pp. 391–428. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4177933. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Wales, Katie. A Dictionary of Stylistics. 2nd ed., Pearson Education, 2001.

Dubrow, Heather. “Allusion and Intertextuality: The Nexus of Rhetoric and Poetic.” Poetics Today, vol. 23, no. 1, Spring 2002, pp. 1-18

Brown, Sarah Annes. A Familiar Strangeness: American Fiction and the Language of Photography. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Fernandez Utrera, Maria Soledad. “The Function of Literary Allusion in Historical Fiction: A Case Study of Margaret Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’.” Journal of Historical Fiction, vol. 4, no. 2, Fall 2018, pp. 87-104.

Cohen, Ralph. “The Sound of Silence: Exploring Cacophony in Contemporary Poetry.” Modern Language Quarterly, vol. 78, no. 3, September 2017, pp. 421-439.

O’Connor, Patricia T. “The Art of Alliteration in Short Fiction: Enhancing Narrative Texture and Meaning.” Journal of Short Story Studies, vol. 28, no. 2, Spring 2022, pp. 45-62.

Gonzalez, Maria. “Figurative Language in Magical Realism: Exploring the Function of Similes in the Works of Gabriel García Márquez.” Journal of Magical Realism Studies, vol. 12, no. 3, Fall 2019, pp. 78-95.

Harris, Robert A. “The Power of Figurative Language: Exploring Similes in Literature.” Journal of Literary Studies, vol. 45, no. 2, Spring 2018, pp. 87-104.

Johnson, Emily. “Unveiling the Depths: The Function of Allegory in Contemporary Fiction.” Literary Studies Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 4, Winter 2021, pp. 321-338.

Leenknecht, Annelies. “An Analysis of Asyndeton in Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘The Lowland’ and Its Dutch Translation.” Master’s Thesis, Faculteit Letteren & Wijsbegeerte, 2015. Promotor Prof. Dr. Lieve Jooken. Vakgroep Vertalen Tolken Communicatie.