I Know It's Just Perfect When I Caught Up Rhetorical Analysis

This excerpt from an e-mail of an American soldier contains numerous amounts of rhetoric language. This specific soldier wrote this letter as to show his friends and family what his living conditions are like in Iraq. Starting off the e-mail, it is apparent that this soldier’s attitude of his experience in this country is poor and bitter. His sarcastic comment, “You know it’s just perfect when you slap your chest and cough from the dust cloud you kicked up”, demonstrates his harsh experience so far and the bitter tone to this passage. In this letter, it is like the soldier is making a list of things one might do in order to get a sense of what it is like in the war. However, these “steps” are most likely used in a figurative manner and not

He states, “the smell, snoring, and social graces…”, relating a kennel full of pugs to his tent mates. These words are attached to negative connotations since he links the habits and characteristics of a pug to his fellow soldiers. This clearly shows that this soldier does not enjoy staying in the tent. In the following paragraph, the writer explains hygiene and warmth. He states, “It gets freakin’ cold here at night.” This choice word “freakin’” is a slang expression and further goes into detail of his uncomfortable time here. Concluding his e-mail, the soldier says that he is not even able to talk about his “latrine experience”, or the bathrooms there. The only statement he says about this experience is that, “...after the first time, I went back to the tent and felt like either crying or lighting myself on fire to remove the filth”. This line is extremely powerful since it shows that this soldier was very disgusted by this encounter. He even includes the rhetoric device, hyperbole, when stating that he wanted to light himself on fire after going to the outhouse. This sickened soldier probably said this in an exaggeration to make war-life in Iraq seem even worse than it already