In the article Washington Versus America, Douthat clearly is upset about the concentration of wealth in DC, and uses a war metaphor, negative adjectives, and statistics to appeal to the common American.
Knowing that most Americans know about The Hunger Games, Douthat alludes to it in his essay, and relates our own capital to the capital in the story. The Capital is the only wealthy district in the movie, while the districts are poor. This comparison makes readers want to rally against our own capital in the same way Katniss does. His word choice also labels the government as the enemy. The government is
"gilded", "inside the Beltway bubble," and full of " armies of lobbyists and lawyers..." These simple labels stick into any reader's mind and make them feel the government is corrupt and privileged. To prove his claims, Douthat includes details about just how rich DC is. He states that" 7 of the 10 richest American counties in 2011 were in the Washington, D.C., region." and that the city has grown dramatically since 2002, while the rest of the country has declined. Details like this offer some proof for his claims instead of just accepting what Douthat says. His diction, detail, and slight use of figurative language appeals to the common American and convinces them that the governement has too much wealth.
You had some really good ideas and examples in this post, but I think you could have elaborated on them a bit further. I also noticed a few sentences that could have been a bit clearer. For example you said, "The capital is the only wealthy district in the movie, while the districts are poor" (paragraph 2). Having read the book and seen the movie, I understand that you meant the capital is rich and the other districts are poor, however without this background knowledge the sentence is very confusing.
ReplyDeleteThis article seems really interesting. The parallel that is drawn between The Capital in the Hunger Games and our actual capital of Washington D.C., is something I hadn't thought about!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I agree with Kelsey that although you make some good points in your close-reading ("This comparison makes readers want to rally against our own capital in the same way Katniss does. His word choice also labels the government as the enemy."), you don't go into enough detail about these ideas.
I agree with Daphine and Kelsey in that elaborating on your points would be a great idea. You seem to have a lot of great thoughts, but you don't really give yourself much room to expand on them. Also, I think that if you want to make a comparison to something else, in this case The Hunger Games, you might want to provide a tiny bit of background, just in case people don't understand what you're alluding to. Overall, I think you have some great ideas, but you really have to share them more.
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