Rhetorical Style Analysis
Rhetorical Style Analysis
“Smart” Appliances
In the article “In a battle of wits with kitchen appliances, I’m toast (Dave Barry) (LoL)”, by Dave Barry, he explains how lazy we as a society have become. He gives imagery examples of how much we depend on “smart” appliances and that we as a society have lost the ability to think and do simple task for ourselves. Barry uses the elements of humor, irony, mockery, and bathos to appeal to the emotions or pathos of the reader.
When one first grazes upon the title of the article, one might find it humorous, since it contains the abbreviation “LoL” which stands for, laugh out loud, this intrigues the reader to keep on reading the article because they automatically assume that it will be funny and interesting. A different way that Barry uses humor is when he says “…and appliances will be ‘smarter than most of their owners.’” (par. 2). Barry uses this example to remind us as readers that we truly might have lost our ability to think by ourselves and rely too much on our “smart” appliances. Barry uses the tactic of humor throughout the article to keep the reader intrigued by using examples like,
Listen manufactures: We don’t NEED a dishwasher that we can communicate with from afar. If you want to improve our dishwashers, give us one that a sense when people leave dirty dishes on the kitchen counter, and shouts at them: ‘PUT THOSE DISHES IN THE DISHWASHER RIGHT NOW OR I’LL LEAK ALL OVER YOUR SHOES!’ (par. 3).
Another example Barry uses of humor is when he is describing, “…as for a scale that transmits our weight to the gym: are they NUTS? We don’t want our weight transmitted to our own EYEBALLS!” (par. 5) Along with using humor Barry also uses Irony in his article to grab the reader’s attention. Barry uses irony as another rhetorical element in his article. He opens with the sentence, “Recently, The Washington Post printed an article explaining how the appliance manufacture plans to drive consumers insane”. By opening
“Smart” Appliances
In the article “In a battle of wits with kitchen appliances, I’m toast (Dave Barry) (LoL)”, by Dave Barry, he explains how lazy we as a society have become. He gives imagery examples of how much we depend on “smart” appliances and that we as a society have lost the ability to think and do simple task for ourselves. Barry uses the elements of humor, irony, mockery, and bathos to appeal to the emotions or pathos of the reader.
When one first grazes upon the title of the article, one might find it humorous, since it contains the abbreviation “LoL” which stands for, laugh out loud, this intrigues the reader to keep on reading the article because they automatically assume that it will be funny and interesting. A different way that Barry uses humor is when he says “…and appliances will be ‘smarter than most of their owners.’” (par. 2). Barry uses this example to remind us as readers that we truly might have lost our ability to think by ourselves and rely too much on our “smart” appliances. Barry uses the tactic of humor throughout the article to keep the reader intrigued by using examples like,
Listen manufactures: We don’t NEED a dishwasher that we can communicate with from afar. If you want to improve our dishwashers, give us one that a sense when people leave dirty dishes on the kitchen counter, and shouts at them: ‘PUT THOSE DISHES IN THE DISHWASHER RIGHT NOW OR I’LL LEAK ALL OVER YOUR SHOES!’ (par. 3).
Another example Barry uses of humor is when he is describing, “…as for a scale that transmits our weight to the gym: are they NUTS? We don’t want our weight transmitted to our own EYEBALLS!” (par. 5) Along with using humor Barry also uses Irony in his article to grab the reader’s attention. Barry uses irony as another rhetorical element in his article. He opens with the sentence, “Recently, The Washington Post printed an article explaining how the appliance manufacture plans to drive consumers insane”. By opening
Cited: Barry, D. (2005). In a battle of wits with Kitchen Appliances, I 'm toast (Dave Barry) (LOL). Maimi Herald, 2.