Rhetorical strategies Essay Essay Example for Free

Rhetorical strategies Essay EssayAll can relate to that one special time of the year, Christmas, when whole families unite and spend hours continuously sharing stories, making memories, and of course, opening presents What happens though, when all of the sentimental value of Christmas is replaced solely with physical value, the gifts? What would Christmas be like then? Richard Rodriguez takes the readers by one of his annual Christmases and brings to light, through his thoughts, the disconnect that exists between himself, his siblings, and his parents. Rodriguez chronological presentation of events with flashbacks, short, abrupt sentence structure, light-hearted attention to detail and concerned tone contribute to suggest his worried attitude toward his family.Rodriguez builds a maven of the lacking sentimentality through the syntax, using short, abrupt sentences to show how the familys Christmas is just a nonher thing done every year and not a special time. These short, abr upt sentences are down to the basics. There is no fluff just like there is no sentiment in Christmas. This style of syntax mirrors the sentimentality of the family. It is nothing but another stop. The room grows uncomfortably warm. The talk grows listless. The family has finished the business of opening gifts and they are ready to move on to their following(a) event.Rodriguez adds little detail at first to create a lighthearted mood associated with the positive parts of Christmas. So youll have to buy me soft victuals and put a blue wig on my head. Later in the prose, Rodriguez selection of detail is wasting diseased to show the physical items that have taken oer in place of sentimental things. a shiny mink jacket, where expensive foreign cars idle sharply. Details like these are used throughout the here and now half of the passage to add to the loss of sentimentality within the family.Rodriguez uses dialogue throughout the passage to add effects and to helpthe reader to underst and what the seed is experiencing. Rodriguez uses interesting punctuation, parenthesis, to represent his personal thoughts as well as background conversation, where he uses both parenthesis and quotations. (we have to get up early tomorrow), (sad that we are all going home?). Rodriguez personal thoughts are crucial in helping the reader understand the narrative.Rodriguez use of short, abrupt syntax, specific use of details, and interesting punctuation in the dialogue makes the narrative of his annual family Christmas become much deeper with an underlying worrisome, concerned tone and an emphasis of the loss of sentimentality of not only family Christmas but of family as a whole.