http://calitreview.com/2526
Review of The novel, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Reviewed by Elinor Teele
1. Diction: Teele makes evident what she thinks of the novel in general. She uses words like Interesting, problematic, and unsurprising to describe her thoughts on the novel. Teele also describes what she thinks of mankind and our tendencies. She uses the word "hesitate" when describing what people think of the thought of authors incorporating civil rights in novels. The diction Elinor Teele uses in her review give the overall tone of interest, but certain aspects could be questioned due to human nature.
2. Details: Teele describes what she thinks of the characters, describing her thoughts on different facts from the novel. You can tell by her word choice of "silently shielding the fat little girl from her mother's verbal abuse," that she feels sorry for the little girl and believes Mae Mobly, the one silently shielding the girl, is a much better person than the girls mother. Teele continuously shows her hostility towards the white women in the novel associating words and phrases like "queen bee of the white hive," "scatterbrained white trash, and "witches," with the prejudice white women in the novel.
3. Language: Towards the end of Teele's review, she poses some rhetorical questions about the relationship between characters and about the novel. "Is Minny with her outlandish catchphrases just another version of Mammy, updated for more sensitive times? Even if stories haven’t been told, is it fair for an outsider to tell them? What would Hattie McDaniel, who worked as that $7 maid before making it to Hollywood, think of this book?" (Teele). These rhetorical questions are asked to make readers think.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteWell, I like your analyzation of each rhetoric of literature; they make complete sense, especially the diction; it has made me actually want to go read this book! Also, I agree with your commentary on the language. This book review uses a lot of rhetorical questions, which do in fact make me think about what the true intentions and meanings about the true meanings of this novel.
Just one thing- I assumed that we were supposed to write essays over this, not just point out three ways to analyze literature and then analyze it. I might be mistaken, but if I'm write, I'd suggest fixing that!
Erin
Once again: Hello. I think your analysis of the detail in the review are dead on. I like the way you looked at diction, and how it affects the tone of the piece. Im not sure if your language section is looking at the right aspect by discussing the rhetorical questions used in the review, but i think youre correct about why she does use the questions. In general, i think you could have maybe elaborated a little, but very good.
ReplyDelete-Nico
Hey Kelly! Nice job on this one! I really agreed with all the points that you made when you talked about the details Teele uses to describe the book. I thought that your paragraph about language was kind of short, since it only contained about two sentences of your own analysis. You could add something about the specific things that it makes the reader think about rather than ending it how you did. I also think that for the next close reading assignment, you should try and do it in an essay format just for practice!
ReplyDelete- Nikki