http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/opinion/the-tarnish-of-the-electoral-college.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
This editorial discusses several ways that the author thinks the electoral college is a terrible and undemocratic way to choose the country's executive. The author uses many literary techniques in this editorial to emphasize their point. They effectively used diction, syntax, and figurative language to create and emphasize meaning.
When reading this article, there were many examples of pejorative diction found that show the author's true feeling on the subject. For example, in the opening paragraph the author states, "this archaic system..." to talk about how old the electoral college system really is. The use of the word archaic makes the whole thing seem very old and outdated. If the author would have replaced it with another ordinary word, such as "old" than it would not have created such a strong meaning. Another example of this was when the author said, "...the system continues to calcify American politics," using the word "calcify" to show how the author thinks the electoral college restricts politics. Again, if replaced by another word, it would not have the same effect on the reader.
The types of diction that the author used did indeed help emphasize the meaning of the work, but so did some of the ways she formed her sentences, otherwise known as syntax. There were a few short sentences in the editorial, and although there were few, they were powerful. For example in the first paragraph the author wrote, "They were right, but they were ignored," about Democrats complaining about this system. Since the sentence is so short, it brings a lot of meaning and emphasis to it. It makes it much more powerful, than if the author was to write a long sentence about how they were ignored. Long sentences make it harder to get the point across, and the reader often loses interest in the topic. With this shorter sentence about how the Democrats were ignored, it gets right to the point with great meaning.
Lastly, the author used figurative language to show how things are more in favor of the Democrats now. For example, in the second paragraph, the author writes, "Now the demographic pendulum is swinging toward the Democrats." Of course there is no actual pendulum that is swinging towards them, but this is a creative way the author used to get across the point that the Democrats have more of the upper hand now about how the system should be.
All in all, the author of the editorial used many literary techniques to get the point across about the electoral college. Everything from the diction to the emphasis on the shorter sentences in the editorial create meaning and engage the reader.
I really liked your analysis of the diction. I liked that you explained how the pejorative diction helped the author to convey the meaning of the article. I thought that you could have elaborated your analysis on the syntax and figurative language a little bit more. You talk about how the syntax affects the meaning of the sentence, but it doesn't really talk about about how the syntax affects the meaning of the piece as a whole.
ReplyDeleteFor figurative language, I thought you identified it, but you didn't have warrants for your claim. I didn't really understand how the figurative language helped to show how things are more in favor of the Democrats. There also wasn't a connection to the message of the piece as a whole.
I think you had really good ideas in your essay! I think the words you chose to analyze in you diction paragraph were really great. I especially liked that you chose to analyze the word calcify. It is a really creative word to use on the authors behalf and like you said really helps show the author's views about the electoral college. You have a very thorough analysis of diction however you seemed to be lacking on your analysis of figurative language and syntax. This show to me that your are probably constraining yourself to the time limit which is a good thing to practice, however I think that it would be helpful if you elaborated in these two areas a little more as your paper was definitely diction dominated. I agree with Natalie that your analysis of figurative language didn't really connect to the paper as a whole. You say how "the author used figurative language to emphasize how things are more in favor of democrats now". This does not directly tie into your thesis and it leaves the reader rather confused.
ReplyDeleteHey Mehar, sorry for taking so long to comment, I was having issues with my computer...First of all, I like your introduction, as it's short, sweet, and to the point. I would rethink saying "create" in your thesis, however, as they don't actually create meaning, they just further enforce a point. Anyway, I really liked how in your diction paragraph you not only explained the pros of them using the diction they did, you also explained why a different word would have been less impactful. I'd never thought to do that before. I also liked how you led into the next paragraph, incorporating information from the first and leading it down into the second. I don't think you need to explain what syntax is, though, considering the rhetorical situation. You also mention at the end that "Long sentences make it harder to get the point across," but you don't add an example. Lastly, I'd add a conclusion; however all in all the essay was very good and you did a great job of getting your point across :)
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