Aisha Tarin
Mr. Soeth
English 3AP
January 26,2011


REHUGO Analysis - Essay

A. Title: "In Search of the Good Family?" Author: Jane Howard

B. Jane Howard's thesis is about how all human beings need a family. It doesn't have to be the family you were born into, it could be anyone you feel is supportive and always there for you. Everyone needs a family or support group that is understanding, it is believed it will help you live a happier life.

C. Evidence:

a.Howard uses ethos and pathos to support her argument. Howard uses ethos throughout her essay to give her argument credibility. For example Jane Howard mentions Kurt Vonnegut, Jr author of the fictional novel Slapstick in her essay. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. establishes ethos because he has a quote from his book supporting Jane howards argument saying, "human beings need all the relatives they can get - as possible donors or recievers not of love but of common decency." Vonnegut helps support Howard's argument by having the same idea that family is the most imortant people in a persons life.

b. Howard also uses pathos that way readers are emotionally connected to her essay. Jane Howard mentions pathos when she talks about how more and more people need to be comforted in her essay she states, " More and more I realize that everybody, regardless of age, needs to be hugged and comforted in a brotherly or sisterly way now and then." Many people can relate to this quote because at one point in there lives they must have felt the need of comforting but there was no one there to do so. That is why Howard believes family or a support system is important to live your life.

D. Rhetorical Strategies:

a. Throught her essay Howard compares and contrasts families to clans, tribes, and untitarians. For example Howard says, "The trouble with clans and tribes many of us were born in is not that they consist of meddlesome ogres but that they are too far away." This compares and contrast our families to meddlesome ogres but that our family members whether they are nice or not don't live close to us so it causes you to find people other then your blood to be your family so they are able to help you at your time of need.

b. Another rhetorical strategy used is rhetorical questions. An example of a rhetorical question used in this essay is, "What can such times teach us about forming new and more lasting tribes in the future?" Without answering the question you can understand the point the question is trying to make by saying instead of dwelling over a lost friendship or family member you can learn from your mistakes and form new family members.

E. MLA Citation
Shea, Renee Hausmann., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin. Afuses. "In Search of the Good Family?" The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric. Boston, MA: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2008. Print.