Roxane Gay's Rhetorical Analysis: Bad Feminist

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Camille Yates Dr. Paige ENGL 1113 21 April 2023 Rhetorical Analysis Essay Unit #2 Bad Feminist is a book written by American writer Roxane Gay published in 2014 that became a New York Times Best Seller. Gay exemplifies her “bad” feminist traits and contrasts them with her “good” feminist traits. The purpose of this formal essay is to broaden the definition of what a “feminist” actually means. Many women do not fall underneath the certain opinions of what “feminist” would be. Gay discovers her definition of what a feminist is by utilizing her use of rhetorical appeals and elements that ultimately successfully contributes to her purpose in writing Bad Feminist. Gay reveals many rhetorical elements in her book such: topic, audience, context, the writer and culture. Roxanne Gay is from Omaha, …show more content…

Gay makes use of careful structure when she states, “I want to be strong and professional, but I resent how hard I have to work to be taken seriously” (Gay 373). Gay shows cause and effect of the world. From Gay’s perspective she receives the effect of never being taken seriously when she works hard. Gay mentioned Maxi Dresses and states, “For years I pretended I hated them, but I don’t (Gay 374). Gay exaggerates the word “years” because to convince the audience she is a “bad feminist” but still a feminist. Gay mentioned that she is a baby fan, and wants to have a baby but understands the consequences of slowing down work. For example, maternity leave to spend more time with the baby and being a mom. Gay expresses that when she says, “I am willing to make certain compromises (not sacrifices) in order to do so- namely maternity leave” (Gay 375). Gay makes a logical argument that she will compromise but not sacrifice for having a baby. Ultimately Gay makes use of her logic in reasoning with conversational topics that she makes clear her stance on