Rhetorical Analysis
Cody Todacheene
Mr. Elphick
ENGL 111-020
September 30, 2013
Analyzing "Facebook in a Crowd"
Modern society has advanced into the age of technology, in which people rely on cell phones, music players, and even communicate through social networking. Facebook is the leading social networking site, and is the basis for Hal Niedzviecki's essay "Facebook in a Crowd". Two rhetorical devices do support the argument that is presented later in the essay, and they are humor and pathos appeal. Niedzviecki also uses a narrative form of writing to tell a story about a man with a near seven-hundred online friends on Facebook, but he does not know any of them. Facebook has become an issue for some people, and that becomes a personal issue for the narrator, that develops the argument being expressed throughout the essay.
Humor plays a big role in Niedzviecki's description of events with the social site, Facebook. In the introduction, not much can be said about the narrator, other than that they are a working person, with almost no time to do anything. However, some humor comes along when the narrator says, “. . . 700 “online” friends. Not bad,” (958). The narrator does feel disconnected with the current affairs in their life, so the Facebook party does allow them to make adjustments to those issues. A feeling of optimism shines through the narrator’s words as they prepare to meet at least twenty new friends. After the optimism, the narrator: “headed over to the neighborhood watering hole and waited. And waited. And waited” (959). From the fifteen ‘attending’ and the sixty people “maybe attending’, only one arrives. Humor, irony, and pathos appeal fall into one line by the end of the evening as the narrator says, “Seven hundred friends, and I was drinking alone” (960).
Pathos appeal can be defined as the emotional form of story-telling, in which there can be a relation and connection between the reader and the writer. Niedzviecki does use the pathos appeal to better
Mr. Elphick
ENGL 111-020
September 30, 2013
Analyzing "Facebook in a Crowd"
Modern society has advanced into the age of technology, in which people rely on cell phones, music players, and even communicate through social networking. Facebook is the leading social networking site, and is the basis for Hal Niedzviecki's essay "Facebook in a Crowd". Two rhetorical devices do support the argument that is presented later in the essay, and they are humor and pathos appeal. Niedzviecki also uses a narrative form of writing to tell a story about a man with a near seven-hundred online friends on Facebook, but he does not know any of them. Facebook has become an issue for some people, and that becomes a personal issue for the narrator, that develops the argument being expressed throughout the essay.
Humor plays a big role in Niedzviecki's description of events with the social site, Facebook. In the introduction, not much can be said about the narrator, other than that they are a working person, with almost no time to do anything. However, some humor comes along when the narrator says, “. . . 700 “online” friends. Not bad,” (958). The narrator does feel disconnected with the current affairs in their life, so the Facebook party does allow them to make adjustments to those issues. A feeling of optimism shines through the narrator’s words as they prepare to meet at least twenty new friends. After the optimism, the narrator: “headed over to the neighborhood watering hole and waited. And waited. And waited” (959). From the fifteen ‘attending’ and the sixty people “maybe attending’, only one arrives. Humor, irony, and pathos appeal fall into one line by the end of the evening as the narrator says, “Seven hundred friends, and I was drinking alone” (960).
Pathos appeal can be defined as the emotional form of story-telling, in which there can be a relation and connection between the reader and the writer. Niedzviecki does use the pathos appeal to better