An author can make or break a novel through the rhetorical devices they use or forget to use. If they are able to captivate their audience then their writing will be considered good. That is why most authors use rhetorical devices to please their audience and critics. Ernest Hemingway, author of A Moveable Feast, uses this same strategy throughout this memoir published by his second wife. In the first chapter, “A Good Café on the Place St-Michel”, Hemingway's use of descriptive imagery and sensory details is accentuated to clearly display his need for a secure sanctuary from poverty stricken post war Paris. The way he writes is somewhat convoluted but incorporates many epithets to control the audiences thoughts. Throughout this personal reflection he talks about his won struggles as a poor unpublished artist trying to support his family. …show more content…
In the first page of the book there is a glimpse of life in Paris. He acknowledges how the dunks crowd around an “evilly run cafe” and recounts how poignant “the sour smell of drunkenness” is to show that the overall mood of the citizens is dismal (Hemingway 6). By giving his audience this description, Hemingway allows them to easily picture Paris through not only imagery but sensory details like the smell of drunkenness. By using this rhetorical strategy the audience can envision the smell and taste of sour milk or the sweat of an NBA player during the fourth quarter to fully understand how far into depression Paris as a whole has fallen. He does this because he wants to control the thoughts of the readers. With the end of World War I people turned toward alcohol to ease their sufferings of pessimism and cynicism. Knowing the background of the time period helps the readers notice that people were struggling with shell shock and not having a purpose to their