Rebekah Randall

Rhetorical Analysis: The Perfect Crime

“The Perfect Crime” by Peter Bozzo is the argumentative essay that was assigned as a class reading to help with the fifth and final project.  I think that this was assigned for us to read in order to make us hyperaware of what we are writing in our own argumentative essay.  In the essay, Bozzo is talking about the documentary Paradise Lost that covers the story of the town where three 8 year old boys were murdered.  According to Bozzo, the filmmakers wanted to keep their opinion of who they think killed the three boys private.  They said that by doing voice overs, it would share their opinion of who killed the boys thus leaving the audience to view the filmmakers opinions and not form their own.

In the essay, the way Bozzo talks about the use of using Metallica music in the story is very important.  He shows the connection it makes between the children’s corpses and the accused teenager’s families in plain language.  Most people would not have gotten that during a film because even though it can have a great impact on the meaning of the story, most people do not think about music and the action taking place connecting.

During the whole essay, it feels like Bozzo is taking only one side of the argument.  He shows his side and how he feels towards it a great deal whole barely showing the other side.  I feel that this essay can help me with my argumentative essay because I have learned that it is more important to give the facts of all sides to the argument while suggesting what side you take.

The Sims Medieval

"As games demand more and more attention in both public and academic

discourse, the need to understand what games are becomes

increasingly acute. Are games works of art? Are they rule-based systems?

Are they player-driven processes? Are they media? Are games

just for fun, or can they be as serious as life itself? Games are many

different things to different people and their societies and practices,

and, therefore, to different academic disciplines and practices."

This is an excerpt from the work by Kevin VanOrd.  He asks one question that really stand out to me.  He says: "Are games just for fun, or can they be as serious as life itself?"  This question stands out to me because I happened to stumble upon a Ted Talk video that was talking about gaming.  The video reminded me of this article.  In the Ted Talk, the lady is speaking about games and how gamers should actually play more gaming because it can help out in their real life.  Gaming takes serious concentration and it often stresses out the gamer.  People who are not gamers do not understand the reason gamers get so into their games but the gamer is not outside in the world while they are gaming, they are in the game itself.  They travel through another world, fight in battle, etc.  I believe in the Ted Talk video the lady was saying that gamers need to take gaming to the next level basically.  She believes the more that people play games, the more they can use the problem solving skills, etcetera in the real world, to help solve real world problems.

Comparing A Classmate’s Work

I really like how in Grayson’s project he writes out the games like he would be describing them in real life to a friend or someone he knows.  He uses the word I like its really happening to him.  This is a good technique and I feel like it probably made it easier to use dream interpretation on his “dreams.”  Another thing I liked about his project was how he had a different tab on his web page for each new subject.  One that stood out to me in particular was the archetype.  I really love the way he formatted this topic.  I like that he found so many archetypes in each of the video games he played. 

One small, kind of petty, thing that I did not like about Grayson’s project was the background.  For me personally, that bright blue color with a white font was very difficult to read.  I feel like for this kind of project when people are going to be reading on a computer screen, you should not always choose what you think is going to look best, but what will be easy for people to read.  I know people who are probably viewing this project are used to looking at smaller fonts from screens and games but I am not and it was really hard to look at.

In Eliza’s, to start, I really liked her webpage.  I think it was very ideal for this project.  It was a gaming project and the website’s simplicity suited the project.  Second, I like how she had each narrative on a tab and then she had sub-tabs that had things falling under each narrative or game.  However, maybe it was my computer or Internet connection, but every time I clicked on a tab it did nothing but show a video.

Short Story Analysis

            For my short story analysis, I read: “When I Look at a Strawberry, I Think of a Tongue” by Édouard Levé.  This “story” is a quite unusual one, that’s for sure.  Levé does not write like an actual story.  He uses short, abrupt sentences that kind of make the reading a little choppy feeling and he is all over the place.  However, it makes sense in his work.  As Levé, himself says in When I look at a Strawberry, I Think of a Tongue:

“I do not write memoirs. I do not write novels. I do not write short stories. I do not write plays. I do not write poems. I do not write mysteries. I do not write science fiction. I write fragments. I do not tell stories from things I’ve read or movies I’ve seen, I describe impressions, I make judgments.”

            In his work, Levé describes himself and the world as he sees things.  While reading, you really feel as if though you know, personally, whom Édouard Levé is.  You become entranced in the way he describes his life and what he sees and feels.  He is so open to who he is and he is not afraid to share with anyone who he is and I believe this is because he is not ashamed of who he is or how he thinks or what he feels. 

            In class, we have talked about being honest with the readers.

“I have not kissed a boy. I used to have sex with women my own age, but as I got older they got younger. I do not buy used shoes. I have made love on the roof of the thirtieth floor of a building in Hong Kong. I have made love in the daytime in a public garden in Hong Kong. I have made love in the toilet of the Paris–Lyon TGV. I have made love in front of some friends at the end of a very drunken dinner. I have made love in a staircase on the avenue Georges-Mandel. I have made love to a girl at a party at six in the morning, five minutes after asking, without any preamble, if she wanted to. I have made love standing up, sitting down, lying down, on my knees, stretched out on one side or the other. I have made love to one person at a time, to two, to three, to more.”

As weird as it is, Levé tells of every odd sexual activity experience he has had.  By using the detail of the places he is and what he does, it makes him seem more real and makes the reader know that he is being honest with the world, and more importantly, himself.

            This technique will definitely help me revise my memoir.  I’m sure in my memoir that I left some parts out.  I know that when I go back over to create the final draft of my paper, I will put in more details.  Details can often mean being more honest.  Adding in more details means you are opening up more to the reader and letting them see a little more into your life.

Architecture: Story Structure

            For my memoir, I employed the structure of “curiosity.”  In the very beginning of my story, I question things so simple as to why my mother’s minivan isn’t in the driveway.  I think this gets the reader to thinking and questioning this as well.  I asked questions throughout the introduction of the story then all of a sudden, I drop a bomb without saying what the “big news” actually was.

“His eyes were red and puffy.  “Dad, what’s wrong?” I asked. And I remember so clearly as to how he replied.  “Honey,” he began, “I don’t know if you’ll completely understand what’s going on but I guess you will find out anyways.”  My heart sunk, I knew what was coming next.”

In my story, I never told what my dad told me that day.   I think it leaves the reader to be curious what those words that hurt me so bad were.  It leaves the reader to wonder.  By moving on in the story, the reader does eventually figures out what I was told. 

“I decided now was not the time so I tried my best to act as normal as possible so no one would suspect anything.  The bus pulled up to my driveway that afternoon and I slowly walked off.  There was still no minivan in the driveway and I didn’t know if I’d even ever see it again.” 

The above passage from my story is the final few sentences in my story.  I employed the structure of curiosity here, too.  I leave the story open ended to make the readers wonder what happened in the end.  I wanted to make the readers want more, to want to come back and read the rest.