Monday, September 5, 2011

Rhetorical Analysis

In this piece of writing Iulia O. Basu uses the Logos method to analyze the meanings of Madame de Beaumont's Beauty and the Beast and Angela Carter's The Tiger's Bride. Basu makes note of the different roles the "Beautys" play in respect to the role of her "Beast" and compares the pieces of writing accordingly. Basu draws a parallel of the roles of "Beauty" and "Beast" and roles in society as women and as men and the level of passivity and dependence women have to men.
The another effectively uses the compare and contrast method to show the ways in which these texts are different from each other and the ways the same concepts are illustrated. The most common way Basu does this is by finding quotes from the text and from those pieces, draws a conclusion to the meaning. I noticed that Basu often had long quotes that could be thoroughly analyze to prove a point to the audience. Basua is very consistent with how the two pieces are analyzed, by talking about De Beaumont's then to Carter's and back again to De Beaumont's. She also uses a wide range of vocabulary to establish her point without making the text lose meaning or seem informal.
The difference between the two "Beautys" is Basu's main point in this piece. De Beaumont's Beauty is described in a warmer and friendlier manner than Carter's Beauty. Basu does a really good job of explaining why De Beaumont's Beauty was seemingly more gracious than Carter's because De Beaumont's took her father's place in the Beast's presence out of love and respect and compassion with her father, whereas Carter's Beauty was traded off to the Beast by her father.
The transitions between comparisons were very obvious and easy to distinguish without taking away from the writing itself. For example, it is clear when Basu concludes that De Beamont's novel that Beauty was the civilizing agent in the relationship and where Carter's Beauty is subject to the Beast who is well-aware of his "beastliness" and his amount of control or power.
Some of the things I've noticed from these academic essays is that many of them do not necessarily following the writing guidelines that I grew up with. For example, the length of these paragraphs are much longer than the acceptable five sentences that I was taught growing up. But, I actually like that paragraphs aren't always just five sentences because I don't feel like anything of importance could be accurately discussed in such a small paragraph. 


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