Rhetorical Analysis Of Russell Baker's The Plot Against People

Russell Baker is one of America’s most distinguished humorists and political satirists. Baker graduated John Hopkins University in 1947 and afterward wrote for the Baltimore Sun and the New York Times. Also, Baker received two Pulitzer awards, one for a commentary and the other was the first volume of his autobiography. But for this analysis, we look at “The Plot Against People” where Baker insinuates that “the goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately to defeat him,”. The audience is those who read editorials on New York times in 1968 and anyone who is interested in satirical pieces. Furthermore, Russell Baker presents amusing scapegoats explained through rhetorical devices for the mistakes we encounter during our daily lives. To Baker, all objects have an agenda to make the life of human beings a living hell. Baker targets those looking for a satirical and entertaining piece on explaining daily phenomena in a comical way The author starts out by classifying certain objects by their functionality and that ultimately these object’s purpose obstructs people from being happy. Baker establishes a relationship between objects and people where inanimate objects have a willful desire to destroy all human beings. To

Baker holds his head down as the ambiguity of not being to control the object around is sad to him. As far as humanity is concerned we’ve could conquer anything until there’s a time where we are suddenly powerless and vulnerable to daily phenomena we can’t control. But, Baker says there’s a peace in knowing we are powerless and at least we are aware of the position and our ignorance. Bakers use of pathos shows us this outcome, conceptually can be alluded to a lot of things that man can’t control but has the power to dictate what happens to us. Sure, the objects are trying to ruin our lives but that doesn’t mean humans can’t live on, we must be able to accept and move