Rhetorical Analysis
In Corn-Pone Opinions written by Mark Twain, a well-known novelist, who expresses his mindset on the society of the late nineteenth century and reveals how the world revolves around conformity. Throughout his piece, he uses a series of rhetorical devices to help effectively verify his argument, some of these being anecdotes and rhetorical answers to broad questions. Anecdotes can grab the reader's attention immediately and this is exactly what Twain did by including it right away in the beginning. He explains the ideas of his childhood friend and refute it with his own points that he created as he grew up. In a way this anecdote also shows his argument in a subtle way because his idea was not inspired by his own mind but because of another human being. This demonstrates that even Twain's ideas on conformity are not at all original and he is also self-dependent on everybody else. In addition, Twain also uses rhetorical answers in paragraph 12 where he responds to extremely complex questions with a simple answer. This helps persuade the reader of his point because it proves how such puzzling questions about humans can be easily resolved through a mere idea that Twain states in his work.
Opinion Piece
In a way I do agree with Twain's ideas on conformity, but to a certain degree. I do agree that people have this natural instinct to be self-dependent on others ideas and always follow what the majority does. However, I don't think that everybody is incapable of thinking for oneself. I believe that there are two types of people in the world: the majority and the minority. Twain saw the world the way he did because it is something that practically 99% of the population did. I believe that ideas come to life because of the minority; someone out there sparked it and because a good amount of people agreed to that idea, eventually becoming the norm in society. That one person might not be recognize and remembered in history books, but he/she was still the first to utter the words that changed people's viewpoints on a particular idea.
I agree with your idea that people follow conformity to a certain degree and there are two types of people; the ones who think for themselves and people who are just simply followers. Do you think Twain would've changed his mind if he had lived in the world today?
ReplyDeleteI liked how your analysis highlights the irony within Twain's own text. I think your professional diction and refreshing ideas made this post very exciting to read.
ReplyDeleteI agree to your response to your opinion on Mark Twain's "Corn-Pone Opinions" because i thought of the same thing. I want to add on by saying that Twain thought that people only conform without because they lack the ability to "read its literature." People are capable of think for themselves, but only with a partial view.
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