Rhetorical Analysis Of Rebecca Walker

Rhetorical Analysis of Rebecca Walker In Rebecca Walker’s “Putting Down the Gun” presents a compelling claim, but upon further evaluation, the author struggles to provide sufficient evidence to support her argument. Her book describes gender roles and how they are starting to affect her and her son’s life. Walker believes that men struggle due to the expectations put on them. She disagrees with society, placing roles on children. Despite this, there are both positive and negative aspects to her writing style that contribute to the overall impact of her message. She has good and bad parts in the way she writes as a speaker, the way she addresses the audience, and the type of tone she sets.

Rebecca Walker highlights both effective and ineffective

A good example of this is when Walker can establish a connection with her audience by speaking to them in a relatable way. For example, she opens the essay by describing “The idea for this book was born one night after a grueling conversation with my then eleven-year-old son. He had come home from his progressive middle school unnaturally quiet and withdrawn, shrugging off my questions of concern with uncharacteristic irritability.” a statement that grabs the reader's attention with such a personal experience that many others can relate to. She uses interesting and academic language such as “grueling,” “unnaturally,” and “uncharacteristic” to describe the moment which really makes the article the more interesting. On the other hand, Walker addresses the audience as all mothers and their sons, which seems to appeal strictly to a small audience, but she also generalizes at the same time. This part of the text explains, “My beautiful boy and every other mother’s beautiful boy had essentially boiled down to two options: fight actually in sport, or fight virtually on the computer.” I am sure many readers have begun to question Walker’s authority within her writing and her lack of evidence to back up these harsh claims. Walker alienates her audience as she writes, making it seem that only boys can enjoy sports and videogames and that they are

Within certain parts of the article, Walker establishes an academic and reflective tone which convinces the readers and audience even more. This tone helps readers to understand the seriousness of the issue being discussed without overwhelming them with emotion. For example, she writes, “the conversation I planned to have with the head of my son’s school about the need for a comprehensive, curricular interrogation of the contours of masculinity; the way girls find themselves drawn to more “traditional” displays of masculinity.” Her academic language and reflective tone in this sentence help to highlight the gravity of the issue. She may seem calm and collective within this part of the writing, but other times the tone in her writing seems unreasonable and based off emotions as readers see her write strictly off anecdotes and present strong opinions. Within her writing she states, “Tell him that who is authentically is not enough; tell him that he will not be loved unless he abandons his own desires and picks up a tool of competition; tell him that to really be of value he must stand ready to compete, dominate, and, if necessary, kill, if not actually then virtually, financially, athletically.” She is expressing how sports and videogames are motivating young boys to kill and fight. This tone in her writing seems unreasonable and based