Ethan Hauser creates a sardonic tone about the family coming to visit for the holidays with his use of diction, detail and imagery. His low opinion of going to visit his parents comes across very strongly in "The Total Agony of Family Time," as the tittle suggests.
The word choice in this article describes activities that are supposed to be enjoyable with family as torture. While travelling home, Hauser judges what everyone else at the train station plans to do while making them seem unpleasant. The traditions in everyone's homes almost seem forced according to Hauser, such as "the numbing appeal of Law and Order marathons." To imply false cheer even more, he describes boring activities in ways to seem interesting, so as to imply even activities like "explor[ing] the many pharmaceutical choices modern medicine provides," otherwise known as staring at the medicine cabinet, are more fun because he won't have to talk to anyone. This darker humor made me laugh because I can relate well to his negative attitude towards talking with family. When asked questions about how he is doing, Hauser also responds with short, unhelpful answers like I do.
When Hauser is too fed up with his family to stay in the house with them, he goes out to the bar. His uses excellent imagery to capture the mood of the bar. It isn't a very homey place at all, and even though it is a place to escape from family for a moment, Hauser's imagry describing the place isn't positive. The bar has "too many TV's and too many bright lights." The harsh lighting of the place is jarring for the reader. He doesn't even have a clue what teams are playing on the TV, which makes the reader see even more how he doesn't belong at the bar.
Hauser may seem like a Scrooge for most of the article, but his details at the end shed light on why he is this way about family time at the holidays. In his childhood, he never got to have a Christmas Tree because his family is Jewish. His brother didn't have a problem with not having a tree, so he didn't have anyone to share this sadness with. Leaving out this detail until the end of the article was done on purpose, because most readers (myself included) assume that he celebrates Christmas and that is why he is visiting his family. The humor felt in the rest of the article dies down with this somewhat cynical and sad ending just because of one small detail.
I think I have done the same article as you here! I agree with the points you made throughout this post. Next time, I think you should use some more examples for diction because that area seems to be lacking a little. But your other examples like imagery are great. Also, don't forget to add the link to the article!
ReplyDeleteHaha it's ironic that you and Aishwarya chose the same article! It makes my job easier, since I have to read less articles. First off, make sure to not use the word "I" or "me." You're supposed to be writing a formal analytical essay, which means you can only use third person pronouns (except in quotes). Anyway, I would say structure is the main thing that is lacking in your essay. It almost sounds more like you're writing a story. You should have three body paragraphs (one on details, one on diction, and one on imagery) with clear topic sentences, examples, and warrants. You also need a conclusion to tie everything together. Finally, you might want to make your introduction a little longer. Try to include a few more sentences about the article before getting to your thesis.
ReplyDeleteExcellent analysis of the tone - I always forget that!
ReplyDeleteSometimes you would make a good point, like "While travelling home, Hauser judges what everyone else at the train station plans to do while making them seem unpleasant." but not back it up with specific evidence from the text. I thought your organization was effective and interesting, but I agree with Haley that you need to wrap it up with a conclusion. Good article!