Rhetorical Analysis in Non-Fictions Work

“Ripping children from parents will shatter America’s soul” is a newspaper submission by Viet Thanh Nguyen that appeared in the Washington Post in 2018. In the presentation, the author condemns the American government for separating children from their parents seeking asylum at the border. Nguyen feels that the act is despicable and deserves all the condemnation by everyone in society. In the article, he writes, “The intent of this law is punitive” (Nguyen), a statement which highlighting his displeasure with the leadership of America. This easy will consider the article “Ripping children from parents will shatter America’s soul” by Nguyen to discuss various rhetorical perspectives used by the author to pass his message to the readers.

The article begins with a flashback, where the author mentions his childhood days while living in Vietnam. The United States had sent its soldiers into Vietnam for a reason not known to Nguyen at the time, but he only understood that if he stayed in the crossfire long enough, he would have lost his life. Therefore, he, together with his parents, sought refuge in a shelter hopeful of getting sponsors to get them out of that life. However, the Good Samaritans available gave him a difficult decision to make, it was either he stayed back or faced the possibility of separation with both his siblings and parents.

The author then connects his past to the present by mentioning the words of the attorney general. The attorney general purports that asylum seekers at the border should not try to cross into America. If they did, they faced the possibility of separation to caution others to abandon the idea of coming to the United States to seek asylum. Nguyen positions himself as a man who speaks for the silent majority at the border, and he believes that through the inhumane acts, the United States is slowly losing its soul.

In section three, Nguyen warns that the policy of separation is moving in the wrong direction as politicians are continually using it to advance selfish agendas. Nguyen also touches on how the element of separation has existed for a long time by mentioning the policies passed during Obama’s administration. It was during Obama’s regime that laws arose to separate children from their undocumented parents. Besides, Clinton’s administration acted tough to reduce crimes and drugs in the street, and in the process, many individuals went to jail, leaving behind young children.

Rhetorical Analysis

The article portrays an element of empathy in most of the ideas discussed in different paragraphs. Nguyen begins with a subtle discussion of the days he was younger while residing in a warzone. He writes, “To leave, we needed American Sponsors, but no sponsor was willing to take my entire family” (Nguyen). Nguyen makes use of a compelling plot to evoke a sense of pity and emotion to the reader as they read along, as such emotions work to make the reader make proper conclusions. He also highlights the aspect of the plot to the different types of audiences that read his work, as he seems like a man who is talking to everybody but also addresses some imaginable authority responsible for softening their stance, and change the situation at the border immediately.

The term “we needed American sponsors to leave” brings an element of synonymy (Nguyen). He tells the authorities that if these people do not get into America, they will lead miserable lives in their own countries, reminiscent of what he could have gone through had he stayed back in Vietnam. As the article progresses, he touches on past leaders that played a role in creating the situation at the border. Finally, he continues to narrate his own story by including his poor mother, stating that she worked back in Vietnam to provide for his entire family. The author uses a circular narrative to evoke feelings of empathy to the reader to advance his plot and make a convincing discussion.

The aspect of the pattern of repetition has manifested itself in the text, as the author stresses the element of separation in different paragraphs. In the second paragraph, the author shares the attorney general’s sentiments by writing, “and that child will be separated from you as required by law” (Nguyen). The attorney generals words stress the term ‘separate,’ a word widely repeated in other paragraphs. In section three, the Nguyen writes, “You are either for separating, or you are against it” (Nguyen). This second quoted statement also highlights the stress the author has put on the term ‘separate’ that forms the purpose of the article, to caution on the dangers of separating young children from their parents. Besides, the repetition creates an ethos appeal; the author quotes words of both a senator and the attorney general to achieve a strong position to convince the reader of the situation at the border. The attorney general and the Senate form the most notable figures in America’s political construct; therefore, the use of a pattern of repetition works to remind the reader of the purpose of the article.

Nguyen uses a different number of figurative speeches to make his work more appealing and give it additional entertainment to associate it with the readers. For instance, in paragraph one, he describes an event using the words “howling with fear” (Nguyen). The statement creates a degree of fear to give the reader an emotional understanding during separation.

Basing on the work of Nguyen, we have notable forms of language that work to stress the aspect of separation and its effect on asylum seekers. The authors try to use their own experience to explain an important issue that touches the society as a whole. The metaphor mentioned is a form of evidence to highlight fear, which children undergo when separated from their parents at the border.

Conclusion

The author has portrayed his message with the type of rhetoric styles he has employed in his work. Therefore, a rhetoric analysis of the paper highlights different methods, such as figures of speech, patterns of repetition, and the flow of the work, which form a crucial part in understanding the message the author, is trying to give to the audience. The author talks about the child separation aspect that creates the exigence of the work multiple times, and the author laments how the actions of the attorney general worked to compel him to remember those moments in Vietnam where a war ensured. Those with the will to help could only accommodate one member of his family. As such, the author has accomplished his purpose in the article.

Works Cited

Nguyen, Thanh. The Washington Post. 19 May 2018. Online. 28 January 2020. <www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ripping-children-from-parents-will-shatter-americas-soul/2018/05/18/21>.