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Rhetorical Analysis

Nhi To
Mr.Cook
Honors ELA
11/13/14
When reading short stories, there are many different kinds of rhetorical devices that
help influence the plot or the purpose of the story. For example, in The Lottery by Shirley
Jackson and Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, they both
show examples of rhetorical devices such as irony and symbolism. These devices affect the
tone of humor and fear, and it reveals the authors purpose of entertainment.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, it is about how a community comes together for
their annual lottery. The purpose of this lottery is unknown, but the crowd gets together
and stones are collected for this event. Jackson shows irony by explaining, They still
remembered to use stones (Jackson 7). There was irony shown in this part of the plot
because when thinking about lotteries, it is usually a good event. Unfortunately, in this
story, being in this lottery has the risk of being killed.
Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, is about how
the main character shares his life with the audience about his teacher when he was his
apprentice. Irony is being shown when the narrator says, I was the one who had twisted
up his luck again...I was dying of indigence in the midst of paradise (Garcia-Marquez 278).
This part of the story shows irony because while the apprentice was getting hurt and was
in pain, he gains a power that helped him get revenge on his teacher. This is ironic because
the narrator was on the verge of death, but now lives forever, using revenge towards his
dead teacher.
The Lottery has two main objects that shows symbolism. One object is the lottery
box, and the other object was the stones. Jackson writes, Lottery in June, corn can be heavy
soon (Jackson 5). The lottery box symbolizes sacrifice because the community does this
event annually.The lottery box relates to the symbol of the rocks because in the story,
Tessie Summers, one of the characters, gets them thrown at her. Jackson concludes, and
then they were upon her (Jackson 7). The rocks can symbolize the gods from above. Since
they were upon her,The rocks makes it seem like the gods were coming to take Tessies
life away so that the sacrifice can be made, which is where the symbol of the lottery
comes in.

In Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles, the rabbit was used to portray a gain in
power. In the story, Garcia-Marquez says, and then it happened, as if in a dream. The
rabbit not only revived with a squeal of fright, but came back to my hands (MarquezGarcia 279). The rabbit symbolizes a gain of power because as the narrator was being
abused by his teacher, he gained a power that lets him revive people and even animals back
to life. With that, the narrator was able to get revenge on his teacher in the end.
The consistent use of irony and symbolism produces a tone of fear and humor. In
The Lottery, fear and humor is shown by a lottery that sacrifices peoples lives. The story
also has humor to the tone because this community is so strange, they even have kids,
unintentionally, kill a living person by throwing rocks. In Blacaman the Good, Vendor of
Miracles, shows humor and fear by ending with a vengeful act that will last for eternity. It
has a humourous tone because the narrator got his revenge in such an awful way, it makes
the teachers death seem questionable if it was really fair or not.
Because of the two tones, humor and fear, they help readers see what the authors
purpose was and why these stories were written. The Lottery and Blacaman the Good,
Vendor of Miracles shows the purpose of entertainment. In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson
includes many different tones from different characters to show how the plot progresses.
As the names of different characters were being called for the lottery, tension rises. In the
end of the story, Tessie Summers name was called. Since it is a lottery, people would
expect that she won a unique prize. Unfortunately, it is a lottery for death. Because of the
tone that Jackson chooses for the plot, the characters show the entertaining purpose of the
story. In Blacaman the Good, Vendors of Miracles, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez shows the
entertainment purpose by his run-on sentences. He has many sequences of events

happening one after another. Because of that, it builds up plot and description of what will
happen next. This makes the story sound entertaining because after an event passes, the
narrator still has more to say after his next point.
After reading through these two stories, it is good to have rhetorical devices in
narratives. The symbolism and irony help create the effect of tone in the stories in this case.
The tone also has an effect on the narratives because it reveals the authors purpose,
whether it was to inform, entertain, or even persuade. Jackson and Garcia-Marquez both
create a very humourous and fearful tone by using irony and symbolism. The tone also
helps reveal the authors purpose, which is entertainment.

Works Cited:
Garcia-Marquez, Gabriel. Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles. Collected
Stories. Ed. Gregory Rabassa and J.S Bernstein. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers, 1984. 272-282. Print.

Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. The Lottery and Other Stories. New York:
Farrar, 19991. 291-301. Print.

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