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A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries A Gun By Linda Hasselstrom

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What would you do if you needed protection and no one would help you. Respected poet, essayist, and writing teacher, Linda Hasselstrom wrote an essay about how she protects herself when no else will. This essay, A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun, was originally published in Land Circle (1991). This essay was meant to provide reasons on why she chooses to carry a gun vs other means of protection. Hasselstrom effectively uses rhetorical devices through out her essay to draw in her readers convince them of her argument. She uses personal stories (pathos) well to pull on readers’ heart strings, as well as using word choice to portray a fearful mood. The first thing the author talks about in this essay is the conflict of whether or …show more content…

For example In this essay one device that Hasselstrom used is word choice. Word choice has a large impact on how the reader feels about the essay. Word choice sets the mood of the story and can make the reader uncomfortable which allows for the reader to feel com thing and connect to the essay. For an example during the essay Hasselstrom told a story about her and some of her close female friends going camping. They felt uncomfortable about comments some men in the campsite next to them were saying. These men were making comments about things they want to do to the women after it gets dark outside. The women quickly turned and tried to receive help from the campsite rangers, the rangers heard the comments the men were making and still said to the women “don’t worry girls, They are just kidding”. Using the word kidding implies a light mood which contradicts the situation. The women were genuinely scared and moved their campsite by themselves to somewhere they felt more comfortable. The word choice here makes the reader question what the rangers were thinking which allows for the reader to be scared and not know what will happen next since the rangers didn’t seem to care. Word choice can effect the mood to make it lighter but it can also make the mood uneasy and not settle well with the readers. Hasselstorm used this effect in the following quote, “raped and beaten anyway”. The word

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