Rhetorical Analysis Of Susan Sontag's Allegory Of The Cave

Theroux uses dashes multiple times throughout his piece to add in small, trivial details that resemble side comments with hints of humor in them. The dashes visually draw the reader’s attention to the details, and despite the triviality of the details, the comments are effective in humanizing Theroux. The subtle humor in the remarks, such as his comment on his mother’s frugal tendencies, conveys his light hearted personality. In the end, this makes readers feel as if they are having a conversation with the author, as he casually narrates a story with the dashed comments being conversational interjections. The illusion of a conversation induces a feeling of kinship between the author and reader.
Theroux’s use of rhetorical strategies strengthens

Similarly, Susan Sontag’s On Photography provides a modern version of Plato’s teachings, prompting the audience the question the candidness of photographs. Her essay discusses how photography limits one’s understanding of the world, and she strengthens her argument through the use of rhetorical devices. Sontag demonstrates a thoughtful tone, which enhances her credibility. At the beginning of the passage, she acknowledges the importance of photos in preserving culture and their irreplaceable role in society. Despite her insistence of the limitations of photography, she does not discredit the its importance, and she establishes how she has objectively analyzed both sides of the argument, making her appear to be reflective and sensible to readers. Instead of taking an extreme position in which she denies photography of its function in society, she makes the claim that photography simply has limitations, and she references historic events, such as the roundup of Communards in 1871. This demonstrates that she has done thorough research before developing her conclusion, making her tone appear thoughtful rather than unjustifiably

For instance, she cites iconic dates, in which photographs drew public attention, such as incidents in “1840’s, “1871”, and “1930’s”. By choosing to include the dates of events and notable time periods, she exemplifies her knowledge of the history of photography and establishes how her claims are based on factual research and analysis of previous events. Rather than speaking abstractly about the social implications of photography, she references specific events, which strengthens her argument, since factual evidence is more difficult to refute due to its objective