Other People's Secrets By Patricia Hampl Summary
Rhetorical Analysis Essay
"Other People's Secrets" by Patricia Hampl is a reading about the publishing of her first collection of poems being published and the dark secret her mother kept hidden that is realeased in one of those poems. In the reading, the main point made by Patricia Hampl is whether or not it is someone else's right to tell someone else's secrets. In the reading, her mother does not want her to publish a certain poem because it releases the secret that her mother has epilepsy, something her mother has kept hidden for much time and does not want out. Hampl's main claim is that is that her mother's secret is an unreasonable reason not to publish the poem. Hampl's approach to the situation is pretty wry and sarcastic, almost as if she didn't care …show more content…
whether the feelings of her mother were hurt or not. The whole reading is basically a claim of should you or shouldn't you really tell the secrets of your family or not, and is it your right if you do? Hampl's response of "Why not?" when her mother says that she can't publish the poem is evidence of her approach in that she isn't very caring to her mother's feelings or sympathetic to the fact that her mother wants this secret kept hidden.
She claims she can tell this secret cause that what she does as a writer. And as a writer, that is what they get to do and " get away with it." Hampl even claims that it is called courage when a writer does such. Hampl also claims that she didn't feel her mother deserved to be so upset about the poem being published. Her mother is so upset by the belief that if it were to be released that she is an epileptic, she will lose her job and then everyone will also know that she had to cross the Iowa/Minnesota border in order to marry because Minneosta refused marriage licenses to epileptics. She argues consistently with her mother, changing the points of the subject in claiming that she wouldn't feel this way if it were say diabetes and that it is ridiculous that anyone would fie her over her medical condition. Hampl then claims that her mother is right and that if she wanted she could the poem from the book. Her reason behind this claim is simply to reverse the
argument on her mother, and make her mother rethink her stance. She states this and how the poem is the best in the book all to make her mother think about it and let the poem be published. After her mother thinks it over and decides it should be in the book and published, Hampl then claims a feeling of self-righteousness and feels like she is a hero. Her reason behind this claim is that she is liberating her mother of this secret and her mother will no longer have to deal with the burden of having to hold in the secret. She also claims that she never thinks that her mother is doing her a favor or making this huge sacrifice for her daughter. She in fact thinks that she is doing her mother the favor by "unlocking her from the prison of the dank secret where she had been cruelly chained for so long."
"Other People's Secrets" by Patricia Hampl is a reading about the publishing of her first collection of poems being published and the dark secret her mother kept hidden that is realeased in one of those poems. In the reading, the main point made by Patricia Hampl is whether or not it is someone else's right to tell someone else's secrets. In the reading, her mother does not want her to publish a certain poem because it releases the secret that her mother has epilepsy, something her mother has kept hidden for much time and does not want out. Hampl's main claim is that is that her mother's secret is an unreasonable reason not to publish the poem. Hampl's approach to the situation is pretty wry and sarcastic, almost as if she didn't care …show more content…
whether the feelings of her mother were hurt or not. The whole reading is basically a claim of should you or shouldn't you really tell the secrets of your family or not, and is it your right if you do? Hampl's response of "Why not?" when her mother says that she can't publish the poem is evidence of her approach in that she isn't very caring to her mother's feelings or sympathetic to the fact that her mother wants this secret kept hidden.
She claims she can tell this secret cause that what she does as a writer. And as a writer, that is what they get to do and " get away with it." Hampl even claims that it is called courage when a writer does such. Hampl also claims that she didn't feel her mother deserved to be so upset about the poem being published. Her mother is so upset by the belief that if it were to be released that she is an epileptic, she will lose her job and then everyone will also know that she had to cross the Iowa/Minnesota border in order to marry because Minneosta refused marriage licenses to epileptics. She argues consistently with her mother, changing the points of the subject in claiming that she wouldn't feel this way if it were say diabetes and that it is ridiculous that anyone would fie her over her medical condition. Hampl then claims that her mother is right and that if she wanted she could the poem from the book. Her reason behind this claim is simply to reverse the
argument on her mother, and make her mother rethink her stance. She states this and how the poem is the best in the book all to make her mother think about it and let the poem be published. After her mother thinks it over and decides it should be in the book and published, Hampl then claims a feeling of self-righteousness and feels like she is a hero. Her reason behind this claim is that she is liberating her mother of this secret and her mother will no longer have to deal with the burden of having to hold in the secret. She also claims that she never thinks that her mother is doing her a favor or making this huge sacrifice for her daughter. She in fact thinks that she is doing her mother the favor by "unlocking her from the prison of the dank secret where she had been cruelly chained for so long."