Weekly Response #9

“Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Step towards Rhetorical Analysis” by Laura Bollin Carroll was about rhetoric analysis. In rhetoric, language and images are used to persuade the audience, and the ability to evaluate it is called rhetoric analysis. Understanding the rhetorical analysis is important to make informed decisions and conclusions. Carroll also mentioned that if we are unable to make rhetoric analysis then we are a mindless consumer and it’s easy to fool us. In her essay, she also mentioned how we continuously analyzed people and the environment around us. Based on our past experience and observation, we are quick in making a judgment. I had a similar experience regarding her viewpoint. This incident happened when I was going back to my country a few months ago. In an airplane, my seat was near to the window and I was waiting for the person next to my seat. After a few minutes, a 35-40 years old Arabic guy sat next to me. Just looking at his appearance, I thought he would be rude and aggressive. But soon after the plane departed, he asked where I was from and where was my final destination. I was a little confused about whether to answer him or not. I replied to his question and ask the same question for him. After having a short conversation with him I came to know that he was traveling back to Dubai to meet his sick mother. Then he started showing the picture of her mother and started crying. He continued telling the struggles she made to raise him and make an independent man. It was 12 hours flight and throughout the flight, we were having some sorts of conversation. Surprisingly, when the plane was just about to land, he handed me a book and requested me to accept it as a gift. Then I realized that we should not make a quick judgment just based on the appearance. Therefore, just based on the observation we should not make our rhetorical analysis.