Final Exam

Every form of writing that we examined as a class over the past several months – the open letter, the personal essay, the memoir, and the auto-ethnography – demonstrates one or more concepts of rhetoric and/or composition employed by the authors that had written them. For instance, in a graduation speech given by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College, he unmistakably makes use of pathos, ethos, and logos in order to establish his message. Despite his assertion that he is not “giving you moral advice, or saying that you are supposed to think this way” it is clear that the “you” in this larger context is indeed meant to actively choose what to think about. David Foster Wallace submits, “You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.” Without a doubt, this is an example of the ethos that he utilizes. In his description of the day-in, day-out routine of visiting grocery stores after far too many hours spent in work meetings and sitting through traffic, he includes details that are painstakingly accurate, causing the listener/reader to experience real and visceral dread (pathos). But this is not the only time that he provokes emotion from the audience, as his harsh truth that “most suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger” is raw and alarmingly personal, or so it seems in hindsight. Finally, I would contend that the entirety of David Foster Wallace’s speech is laid out in a logical format to provide justification for the conscious effort to live with an acute awareness of the lives of others, and to choose attention and discipline over the worship of meaningless and inconsequential undertakings (logos). His writing inspired me to incorporate logos, ethos, and pathos into my own open letter as well, and therefore attempt to create a logical counterargument in response to a blog post written by Lori Alexander. I also attempted to incorporate pathos by sharing with her and the others reading my piece the more raw pieces of my past, and include ethos in the form of Biblical truth.

Sandra Cisneros’ work “Only Daughter” is short, but nevertheless had a powerful effect on me. She tells of feeling erased by her father, but seeking his approval, of hoping to be recognized as his only daughter, but acknowledging his lack of understanding her desires. Her essay serves as an example of a nonlinear structure; specifically, by bringing in the appropriate context to illustrate her idea, the structure of her piece began to create itself. Cisneros filled her personal essay with the necessary components of the story she wished to tell, and in turn the form was created without a five-paragraph structure or a controlled design that includes specific aspects. She sums up her past in an overview of her experiences when needed, and gives specific examples and details when they work to show, not tell. While writing my own personal essay, this is something I strove for as well. I presented brief overviews of my past when it was necessary, such as only quickly explaining my previous experiences with inconsiderate roommates, and delved into detailed accounts when it was most effective, such as specific experiences that make my current roommate situation the best I can imagine.

While writing a memoir, it becomes necessary to carefully examine a particular event/slice of life and how it had affected the individual and influenced her in such a way to become the person that she is now. A memoir can also transcend a particular and personal experience in order to speak universally to the reader, so that they might relate in some way. This was the case in Janet Burroway’s “Embalming Mom,” a memoir written about the author’s then recently deceased mother. She incredibly exemplified the concept of a dual-perspective, as she considered specific events from the position of having already lived them and reflected back on them. She also allowed herself to write stories that are not entirely accurate to what happened, but that better capture her personal truth, or how she understands her mom and the memory overall. This memoir affected me greatly, both personally and within my writing. Having lost my own mother, I understood her perspective intimately; moreover, having been impacted by how much I could relate, it was helpful to understand how a personal experience could be made into something universal. This was my attempt in my memoir about spending a semester of my undergraduate career in Oregon. Although the experience is personal to me, I hoped that the reader might understand something about having to leave someplace that felt like home, and the draw of one day being able to return to a place that held a promise to be waiting for them.

Finally, there is the auto-ethnography. It is a style of nonfiction narrative that explores a curiosity of the author’s, or a fruitful question based on the writer’s relationship to the inquiry. It can and often does incorporate both primary and secondary resources to use as evidence, and can be written from the perspective of either a member of the target group studied or as an outsider, someone hoping to understand new viewpoints and discover something novel. In Jennifer Lunden’s “The Butterfly Effect” she does an incredible job weaving in and out of her personal experiences and the plight of the butterflies. Largely due to deforestation and habitat loss, as well as global warming, the monarch butterflies are quickly dwindling in numbers. Lunden’s love for the butterflies allowed her to draw from personal experiences with them as a child, and to craft a poignant message with a sense of urgency. Jennifer Lunden’s example of writing on a topic that intrigued and interested her was influential on my own choice of topic for the auto-ethnography – namely, a discussion on womanhood in the modern era. I write from a member of said group, and worked to give my personal perspectives while also learning more from others that have spoken out on the concept of gender.