Serial is a podcast that first premiered in 2014 and quickly became a cultural phenomenon. The podcast, produced by Sarah Koenig, is a spin-off of the radio program This American Life and tells the story of a 1999 murder case in Baltimore, Maryland. The story is told through a series of episodes, each one delving deeper into the case and the investigation. The podcast uses a variety of rhetorical devices to create suspense and engage the audience.
Sarah Koening is the host of the podcast Serial, a story that follows the murder of teenage Hae Min Lee and her alleged murderer Adnan Syed. Koening put herself out into the world with the serial podcast in 2014, and once the podcast was finished it ended up being worth twenty-five million dollars. Even though Sarah deliberately says throughout the podcast that she is pursuing this case for her own curious reasons, she really wants us to listen for her own personal gain. She demonstrates this want for fame, money, and views by effectively making the case a narrative rather than an expositive story, through her author's craft and use of rhetorical devices, and her constant use of cliffhangers at the end of each episode.
“You can’t just go into your car and leave. It’s going to take a few minutes. So it’s just a really tight window of time for this to have taken place.” Adnan Syed (Serial Podcast Episode 5: Route Talk). Nonetheless, narrator of Serial, Sarah Koenig and producer Dana Chivvis make a successful endeavor at recreating the route it would’ve taken Syed and Hae to get to Best Buy.
The most difficult thing an author can do when telling a story, is attracting an audience, and maintaining the audience’s engagement. In Serial, while telling the story of Adnan Syed, Sarah Koenigs attracts the audience with her purpose which is proving that Adnan Syed was wrongfully convicted and isn't completely guilty. Sarah maintains the attention of her audience by using emotional, and logical appeal, while also establishing credibility. In other words she uses the rhetoric made up of Pathos, Logos, and Ethos.
This description of the sounds is giving the readers a look at what will be happening later in the
Adnan Paper Adnan Syed was eighteen years old when he was accused of murdering his ex girlfriend Hae. Hae was the same age as Adnan and they attended the same school. There are many pieces of evidence for whether he is guilty or not. These pieces of evidence can be both positive and negative in his case.
HOOK. The podcast Serial is narrated by Sarah Koenig and is a story about a boy named Adnan who was trialed and deemed guilty to have murdered his ex-girlfriend Hae back in January 13th, 1999. He was accused to have choked Hae to death, but there was no trace of physical evidence left behind. The main things Adnan was held guilty for was motive and Jay’s statement of Adnan killing Hae and asking him to help bury her. Jay was only an acquaintance of Adnan.
The podcast represents a missing girl in Cold Creek. It was through a podcast that the reader first learns of a missing girl: “An investigation of Sadie was declared a runaway by local law enforcement” (9). In the podcast West McCray is the one who is hosting, and he is the one who is reporting the story. West McCray gets a call from Earl, who is an older man who was going to work and he saw a school burned down. In the school, Matties body was found and she was dead.
Serial is a true-crime podcast narrated by Sarah Koenig. In this podcast, Koenig goes through the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, and whether Adnan Syed, Lee’s ex-boyfriend who was convicted of the crime, is guilty of Lee’s murder. As she narrates the podcast, Koenig presents evidence to support both views and offers her opinions as she navigates through the evidence. In the podcast, Koenig’s narration is clearly biased toward Adnan Syed’s innocence. In the podcast, Koenig shows a clear bias towards Adnan Syed’s innocence, as she did not accurately portray Asia McClain’s letters, did not fully evaluate the other potential suspects, did not objectively evaluate Jay Wilds’ witness statement, and had outside influence.
By appealing to the audiences’ emotions, Koenig is able to grab the listener’s attention and make the audience feel for Adnan, “ I’m explaining all this just to say that, the simple fact that he was found in Lincoln Park, for a lot of people that alone made Adnan look innocent. ‘What’s a nice boy like you doing in a park like that?’” Koenig makes sure to reference the fact that Adnan was viewed as a kindhearted guy, who would never do anything to hurt someone, multiple times throughout the podcast. She uses quotes from his friends and family to prove this, each admitting how fond they were of Adnan. This taps into the listener’s emotions, making it harder for us to believe that this kid, who everyone views so highly of, is capable of committing first degree murder.
Throughout Serial (a podcast discussing the love story between two teens from Baltimore in the 1990s), Adnan Syed is interviewed by Sarah Koenig as her goal is to find out who really killed Hae Min Lee as she deeply investigates
I believe that “I Stand Here Writing” by Nancy Summers constitutes as a literary narrative. The strongest evidence is Summers’s use of personal stories which are scattered throughout the text. She includes a couple stories about her schooling, life as a mother, and her career as a teacher. In fact, Summers uses these narratives to convey a deeper message about the skill of writing. The best example of this is when Summers expresses how she came to love the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and how she used Emerson’s ideas to set the tone for the rest of the passage.
The Serial podcast is a suspenseful exploration into dramatic scenarios in which host Sarah Koenig shares the story of a murder in Baltimore, Maryland. This is a murder case podcast is about a young boy named Adnan, who supposedly killed his ex girlfriend named Hae. Sarah Koenig decided to take on the case years after the conviction. Adnan Syed's conviction was overturned in 2016 after the podcast led to doubts about his guilt.
Finally, I would like to look at a podcast called Serial. The first season of Serial follows the murder of a high school senior Hae Min Lee in 1999. After searching for six weeks, her body is found buried in the local park. Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan, is arrested and charged with her murder. However, Sarah Koenig, host of Serial, believes there is something fishy about the case from the start.
Once the reader begins to question the lack of explanation surrounding the event, a suspenseful tone beings to grow. Due to the unexpected
