Close Reading: The Case For Optimism by Bill Clinton
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2125031,00.html
In this article, Bill Clinton is striving to inspire and reassure his readers that there is hope. He has a great deal of information to communicate, but needs to come off as approachable and not overly-intellectual.
In the introduction, his tone is informal, "Forget what you may have heard...." (Clinton 40). This diction, with its cheesy, cliched connotations, is more appropriate for telemarketers than a former president. Mr. Clinton is aware that his incredible intelligence and wealth could alienate readers, so he uses this phrase to prove he doesn't take himself too seriously. Later, he describes Haiti as "one of the poorest places on the planet" (Clinton, 40). This alliteration emphasizes the levels of poverty, and the explosive consonants provide a sense of intensity.
The details used in this article are chosen to be easy to understand, and create an emotional impact. Everyone hates when politicians just rattle off a stream of statistics, so Clinton picks the ones that make sense to an average person, "Rwanda has only 633 physicians to treat a population of over 10 million" (Clinton 40). This appeals to our pathos, logos, and ethos. By giving us an exact number rather than a percent, it individualizes the struggling doctors, who obviously cannot take care of 10 million people. The individualization also helps us sympathize with their predicament, and opens us up to have concern for the inconceivable millions who have no access to medical care.
One syntactic pattern used often in this article, is the 'if...then' structure. "If there were no possibility of failure, then there would be no room for success", "If sustainable energy were bad economics, then Costa Rica wouldn't be the richest country in its area" (Clinton, 42). This is very familiar to anyone who has ever studied 6th grade science. Also, this construction is very straightforward. Even if it may seem a little elementary, this repetition is positive because it keeps the concepts clear and logical.
Mr. Clinton keeps his article accessible to readers with friendly syntax and casual diction. He uses strong details to involve the readers emotionally, and not bog them down with too many facts. His use of rhetorical devices is overall excellent.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of this article is very accurate. I read an article similar to this where the writer obviously had reconstruct her ideas in order to appeal to everyone, not just those who are gifted as reading statistical laden information. Your comment on the the If, then structure also struck a cord with me. In AP Bio we have to use that for our lab report thesis, and I tend to think of it as a very dry way to express an idea, but in the context of your article, I think it works nicely. Clinton wasn't trying to write a moving piece of art, but rather get his point across effectively, and that structure does just that.
Erin Donahue
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI read the article and I agree completely with you especially on the tone and how you explain it as cheese and dumbed down. A lot of politicians do that to appeal to the voters. But i think you could be more specific when analyzing and give more examples to help support your argument! Other wise good explanation of the examples!
ReplyDelete~Emily Mackson
Emily, you did a great job analyzing this article. I think you did a very good job of getting your point across and using details and examples from the article to prove your points. I personally think that politicians have to use easy to understand examples so that everyone they are trying to appeal to can understand them. Good job!
ReplyDelete-Marie