Josiedie Quiba
Mr. Soeth
AP English 3/Period 1
27 January 2011
REHUGO Analysis: Reading - Essay
A. “In Search of the Good Family” by Jane Howard
B. The author’s argument is that it is difficult to live without the company of a family or a clan. We need a family because we need people who are there to look out for us all the time. We need people who will stand by our sides and back us up even when we make unwise decisions. They not need to be blood-related to be a family; instead, they have to be there for each other when they are needed the most.
C. Evidence:
a. Howard uses ethos to establish her trustworthiness and to support her argument. For example, Helen from Pennsylvania said that “it gets harder and harder with the passage of the time. It’s stressful. That is why you need support systems.” The quote implies that it is complicated to live alone and gives a reason why we need a family to be our support systems. Furthermore, Howard also points out that “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”
b. Howard also uses pathos when she discusses how we need someone to comfort and love us. For example, “More and more I realize that everybody, regardless of age, needs to be hugged and comforted in a brotherly and sisterly way now and then,” which is precisely saying that we truly need a family or a clan to support us. We need a family to be there for us when we are sad and have fun with us when we are glad.
D. Rhetorical Strategies:
a. Howard uses parallelism and repetition to make her essay more definite and influential: “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” This is where she also points out that not only do some people need to have a family, but that everyone should also have one. Furthermore, using these rhetorical strategies in her introduction successfully grabs the readers’ attention.
b. Howard also uses definition in her essay where she evaluates ten characteristics that define a family and explores the meaning of a family: “1.Good families have a chief, or a heroine, or a founder . . . 2. Good families have a switchboard operator . . . 3. Good families are much to all their members, but everything to none . . . 4. Good families are hospitable . . . 5. Good families deal squarely with direness . . . 6. Good families prize their rituals . . . 7. Good families are affectionate . . . 8. Good families have a sense of place, which these days is not achieved easily . . . 9. Good families, not just the blood kind, find some way to connect with posterity . . . 10. Good families also honor their elders . . .” She also explains the purpose of a family by providing specific details that help readers understand what she is trying to convey.




MLA CITATION:
Shea, Renée Hausmann., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin. Aufses. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric. Boston, MA: Bedford/ST. Martin’s, 2008. Print.