REHUGO-Essay Analysis

Quinci Woods

Mr. Soeth

English 3 AP

January 26, 2011

REHUGO: Analysis-Essay: “In Search of the Good Family”

A. “In Search of the Good Family” by Jane Howard

B. “In Search of the Good Family”, Howard illustrates her position of how important it is to be in a family. She describes what a family is and why someone would need one, “Call it a clan. Call it a network, call it a tribe, call it family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one” (283).

C. “Wishing to be friends, as Aristotle wrote, is quick work, but friendship is a slowly ripening fruit” (283). Howard appeals to ethos by quoting what Aristotle says about the topic of friends and family. This helps her argument to be stronger to refer to a credible source. Another piece of evidence she uses is appealing to pathos by why friends and family is precise in life; “If blood and roots don’t do the job, then we must look to water and branches, and sort ourselves into new constellations, new families” (283). A reader can relate to this statement since it is reality. When family do not do the job, friends can.

D. Howard uses classification and division when she describes the characteristics that are common in different types of families. The affect of classification and division is how Howard groups different little things into one classification. “Good families have a chief, or a heroine, or a finder…” (285). The topic sentence of the different paragraphs tells what the characteristic is and elaborates upon it. Another rhetorical strategy she uses is exemplification, “’If you’re voluntarily childless and alone,’ said the other Helen, who was from Pennsylvania by way of Puerto Rico, ‘it gets harder and harder with passage of time. It’s stressful. That’s why you need support systems.’” (284). Howard gives an example to support her evidence of how important it is to have a support system. It connects with the audience when a quote from someone else’s point of view connects with the author’s.

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