ipl-logo

The Civic Of Christmas Rhetorical Analysis

1417 Words6 Pages

The Civic of Christmas
When most people think of Christmastime, they picture Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Nutcracker, and snow-covered hills perfect for sledding. At face value, these age-old holiday observances are just ways of celebrating the holiday season, or traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. However, upon further examination, aspects of the holiday season have had deep-rooted impacts on our society. During the turn-of-the-twentieth-century Progressive Era, practiced rhetoricians took strategic advantage of the opportunity to connect the emotional appeals of the holiday season with the widespread social activism that unfurled across the nation. The landmark Yes, Virginia… editorial was printed by the New York Sun in 1897 during this movement, while the Macy’s Million Reasons to Believe Campaign began less than ten years ago. Both based on the commonplace of the “Christmas spirit” and the ideology of service to others, the editorial presents a timeless and compelling response to then 8-year-old Virginia by comparing the minds of men to …show more content…

The chief goal of the Make-A-Wish Foundation is to grant the final wishes of these terminally ill children, which could be anything like traveling to a theme park like Disney World or seeing The Lion King on Broadway. Each wish, just like each child, is unique, yet they all have something in common—the family would not normally be able to afford this once-in-a-lifetime experience because of the child’s medical

Show More
Related
274 Words | 2 Pages

Family reunions are often used to dwell upon the past and reflect upon one’s life. Richard Rodriguez, in is his passage, goes to extreme lengths to explain to the reader his carefully taken observation of his family’s life. Looking deeper into the words and feelings of the passage, Rodriguez portrays a sense of strong family values. It is apparent (by his selective use of diction and narrative structure found throughout the passage) that Rodriguez is writing to a more mature, experienced audience. As a mature writer, Rodriguez knows that the best way to connect with his audience is through the one day responsible for some of their greatest childhood memories -- Christmas.

Read More
199 Words | 1 Pages

In “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the author uses diction like abstract diction and details by explaining what he exactly wants in life to demonstrate Walter and his dream. To begin, Hansberry uses diction to demonstrate Walter and his dream by using abstract diction. She does this by explaining how he will give Travis anything for his seventeenth birthday and that he will “hand you the world!” (2.2). This shows that he wants to make his sons life as good as possible.

Read More
738 Words | 3 Pages

1. Irony as we talked about in class is considered to be intellectual or a sort of dry humor. It also has a double meaning, where you say one thing but the opposite meaning is implied. For example, in the reading “SantaLand Diaries” David and another elf realized that Santa is an anagram of Satan. So they would substitute the word for Santa by using Satan in front of customers.

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

Theodore Caplow 's "Rule Enforcement Without Visible Means: Christmas Gift Giving in Middletown" describes how the town and the families living in Middletown celebrate Christmas. In addition, a survey of the inventory of all Christmas activities and gifts received/given was taken in observation of the social changes and social "rules" that appear to govern gift giving in Middletown. I agree with Caplow 's message that gift giving is a social understanding adapted from childhood to adulthood because it has become part of a social system that people are unaware about. Society unknowingly, recognizes and participates in the act of gift giving because it is passed down from generation to generation yet it is not enforced. Likewise to a language or dialect, gift giving has developed its way into society.

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

The one thing that any author must do when writing any sort of essay is to make it comprehensible to the reader. In order to achieve this, the author must utilize anything to get their point across or else the writing would be futile. In Turkeys in the Kitchen , Dave Barry gives his own personal stories about his Thanksgiving and how he feels that men aren’t as useful as women in the terms of the culinary arts (kitchen), Barry’s flippant tone and his use of rhetorical devices such as similes and irony bring forth a light hearted explanation of stereotypes between men and women as well as describing how men are useless in the kitchen. The uses of similes throughout the essay give purpose by showing how men are useless.

Read More
313 Words | 2 Pages

It was well known that both Douglas’ and Lincoln’s birthdays were celebrated widely in the United States. Woodson was aware of the celebration for both men’s lives. It is well-known that he wanted to expand on these celebrations to include dialogues about other

Read More
987 Words | 4 Pages

A twelve year old boy a world away from his parents once wrote in a letter to his parents: “And I have nothing to comfort me, nor is there nothing to be gotten here but sickness and death.” This child was Richard Frethorne, and in “Letter to Father and Mother,” he communicates his desperation caused by the new world’s merciless environment to his parents to persuade them to send food and pay off his accumulated debts from the journey. He accomplishes this with deliberate word choice and allusions to the bible to appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos. Frethorne uses diction, imagery, and facts to create a letter to his parents which aims to garner sympathy for his state of life and to persuade them to send food and pay off his debts.

Read More
1056 Words | 5 Pages

When most people hear the words “Fourth of July” they think about fireworks, cookouts, and sparklers. During the 1850’s, the Fourth of July served as a reminder of the many horrors and injustices in the world. On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass-- a former American slave, abolitionist leader and adroit speaker-- spoke in Rochester, New York about the affectation of celebrating independence. In his speech, “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery”, he claims celebrating independence is unethical when slavery is widespread. To convince the reader of his claim, he uses rhetorical questions, emotional appeal, and antithesis in hopes of shedding light and sparking action on the wrongful situation.

Read More
962 Words | 4 Pages

Once again, Nast is ignoring the history of the past and focusing on the present and sharing his idealistic view of America. Overall, Thomas Nast’s cartoon “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner” depicted the United States in a positively despite the dark past that plagued the country through the previous centuries, putting the focus on Nast’s idealistic view of America. Published during a time of reconstruction, racial segregation, Native reservations, and “Universal Suffrage” the cartoon does not even seem to accurately portray the current events of the time in America. Nast puts a heavy focus on inclusion and equality for all ethnicities and genders representing America in the most idealistic way

Read More
423 Words | 2 Pages

Feelings and Emotion Different feelings and emotion are not known in the community within the people. The Giver and Jonas are the only true people that know how to feel the different emotions. Every night at the conclusion of their evening meal one of the rituals is the evening telling of feelings. In the very first Chapter Jonas talks about how it was almost December and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. But then thought that was the wrong word to use.

Read More
628 Words | 3 Pages

Slavery, once a controversial topic, is slowly beginning to reappear in today 's society. Most individuals will deny this because slavery isn 't something that is visible to someone not looking for it, but it still exists nationwide. In response to “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” by Frederick Douglass, I believe that with slavery being out of sight and mind, citizens are celebrating a national holiday and oratory with more optimism than what should be present. Around the publication of “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” in 1845, enslavement was present all around.

Read More
1074 Words | 5 Pages

A Christmas Carol Literary Analysis Essay “Today I choose life, every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.” - (Kevyn Aucoin).

Read More
413 Words | 2 Pages

Last Christmas Taylor Swift’s hit song, “Last Christmas,” contains lyrics with meaning and empathy to show the sorrows of being broken and what she really thinks of the Heartbreaker. The verses in this song use idioms and metaphors to transfer the artist's speculations and feelings. With these devices, I believe it lets the theme be exhibited throughout various parts of the song. The theme of fixing one’s mistakes and finding out others true self, is often displayed with hyperboles.

Read More
953 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel Tuesday’s With Morrie, the author, Mitch Albom, reflects on his Tuesday meetings with his old professor, now consumed with a terminal illness, and, using many rhetorical choices, reveals “The Meaning of Life,” which they discussed profusely and divided into several categories. Topics such as Death, Emotions, Aging, Money, Culture, and more are all discussed in their weekly conferences, Morrie passing his wisdom on to one of his favor students. And Albom, writing about their talks, uses numerous rhetoric devices to discuss this wisdom. As Morrie Schwartz, dying of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), speaks with Albom, the two talk about Death.

Read More
984 Words | 4 Pages

Everybody looks forward to holidays—spanning from Christmas, the jolly time of year when the world nostalgically envisions snow descending upon the fallow earth, to Halloween, the tenebrous time where people delight in costumes and impetuously chanting, “Trick or treat!” But, does the thought ever cross our minds: “how did these holidays come about?” or, “why do we celebrate this day?” Although research shows that many of the festivals include Puritan traditions, over time they fell victim to corrupt, pagan practices,—ranging from the cute but misguided efforts of Easter to the nefarious elements of Halloween. Do reasons to still feel joyful and happy when the holidays come around remain? I believe so, but only with caution and a greater

Read More

More about The Civic Of Christmas Rhetorical Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document