Read This Article!
"Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Eighteen" by Marc and Angel may seem like just another self improvement article, but it is much more than that. Not only does this piece apply to my specific age group, but the author also uses certain advices that the reader can actually understand and apply to their daily lives. It's hard to draw the literary elements from this article because much of it is not just one solid piece, instead the format contains an introduction which then becomes a list. So I'm going to try to evaluate this piece as much as possible and see where I can go from there.
Marc and Angel's usage of a realistic scenario in the beginning of the piece was a great way to set a strong base for the reader and help them connect to the idea of the article. This certain scenario enabled the reader to have a clear imagery of the conversation between the author and the teenager, mostly because this kind of situation occurs quite often in the society we live in. Other than enhancing the imagery, the diction of the article plays another role in setting the mood and tone. Marc and Angel uses words pertaining to positive tones including "accept, embrace, commit, love" that emphasizes the encouraging and optimistic mood that they use to try to inspire the reader. The authors also avoid the usage of large and complicated words in order to reach out to a larger range of an audience, especially teenagers.
I'm not exactly sure if this falls under syntax, but I just wanted to recognize the impact that the formatting had on the article. Marc and Angel's way of portraying their ideas through composing a list-type article not only emphasizes each point in an organized arrangement, but it also makes it easier and more interesting for the reader. The ideas and advices made are further elaborated through a paragraph that follows each bolded topic sentence. This catches the reader's attention and encourages them to read further on and to reflect on their own personal connections with the article.
*Note: This is not one of my best interpretations of an article. I'm not exactly sure why, but I actually found this article really challenging to try to pull apart. I'LL DO BETTER NEXT TIME I SWEAR.
Despite your disclaimer at the end, it seems like you did alright. You identified three techniques, like we're supposed to, and explained how the author used the techniques. You didn't tie them back to an overall meaning, but you said yourself that the article was difficult to analyze. The imagery part of your argument was also a little bit weaker than other parts, but I know that it's hard to find techniques in articles like this. Your argument for diction was very well done, though. I'm also not sure if what you identified as syntax actually is syntax, but you did a good job of explaining the effect that this possible syntax creates. Your later close reading is definitely better than this one, so it's great that you're improving!
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