Rhetorical Analysis Of The Good Daught
Rhetorical Analysis of “The Good Daughter”
In the personal essay, “The Good Daughter” by Caroline Hwang, the author describes her incident with a Korean woman which made her question her own identity. Her parents came to America two years before she was born, so she knows only a little about her native Korean culture. Although she considers herself an American, deep down she also feels obligated to keep her Korean heritage. She uses rhetorical devices of ethos, logos and pathos throughout her essay to appeal to the readers about her situation where she believes she is torn between her and her parent’s dream.
She uses ethos to support the incident in the dry cleaning shop to establish her creditability as a Korean-American to the readers. When she recognizes the woman in the dry cleaning store as a Korean immigrant, she bows in the traditional way. By mentioning it in the essay, readers assume she learned some of her native culture from her Korean parents. However, by mentioning she was mispronouncing her name for her whole life, it becomes self-explanatory to know her true cultural identity is that of an American. Because her parents always treated her as an American, she never thought she would have to worry about her true identity in life. To support this claim she mentions her mother replying “Big deal”, when she questioned her mother about her mispronounced name. This gives a logical explanation to her true identity as an American.
In America, people have freedom to do whatever they want with their life. People are regarded as individuals and there is limitless possibilities in this land of opportunity to become something of our own creation. This is not true about most of the Asian countries. People in Asia prefer collectivism over individualism. When the author tries to connect these thoughts to her life, it is clear she feels disappointed in front of her parents. She mentions dropping out from grad school, and also mentions how she can’t imagine
In the personal essay, “The Good Daughter” by Caroline Hwang, the author describes her incident with a Korean woman which made her question her own identity. Her parents came to America two years before she was born, so she knows only a little about her native Korean culture. Although she considers herself an American, deep down she also feels obligated to keep her Korean heritage. She uses rhetorical devices of ethos, logos and pathos throughout her essay to appeal to the readers about her situation where she believes she is torn between her and her parent’s dream.
She uses ethos to support the incident in the dry cleaning shop to establish her creditability as a Korean-American to the readers. When she recognizes the woman in the dry cleaning store as a Korean immigrant, she bows in the traditional way. By mentioning it in the essay, readers assume she learned some of her native culture from her Korean parents. However, by mentioning she was mispronouncing her name for her whole life, it becomes self-explanatory to know her true cultural identity is that of an American. Because her parents always treated her as an American, she never thought she would have to worry about her true identity in life. To support this claim she mentions her mother replying “Big deal”, when she questioned her mother about her mispronounced name. This gives a logical explanation to her true identity as an American.
In America, people have freedom to do whatever they want with their life. People are regarded as individuals and there is limitless possibilities in this land of opportunity to become something of our own creation. This is not true about most of the Asian countries. People in Asia prefer collectivism over individualism. When the author tries to connect these thoughts to her life, it is clear she feels disappointed in front of her parents. She mentions dropping out from grad school, and also mentions how she can’t imagine