Ethan Hauser's article The Total Agony of Family Time describes the emptiness he feels during the holiday season. Though he wants to believes it is in fact the "most wonderful time of the year," Hauser has always found that this time period to be very forced and insincere for him. He and his family always seem to just go through the motions of the holidays instead of really feeling the excitement. He describes it as a time "when the gulf between what you want and what you get is the widest."
The article starts with a description of the train ride down from New York City to Pennsylvania. Hauser describes it as a mundane commute he has taken every year since college, and along the way, he can see others paying visits to their families as well. He then dreams about the fun they must be having or the traditions they might be returning to this Christmas, and how his family celebrates the holidays so differently. This imagery paints a very disheartening picture, a stark contrast to the usual upbeat of this time of year. I'm sure many of Hauser's readers are puzzled as to why he doesn't enjoy seeing his family as much as they do, or feel the same excitement as they do.
As the article progresses, there is a change in the voice of the author. At first, Hauser opens the article in a more mature tone, using phrases like "[ I must try] honoring traditions," or "[I could] find ways to cope with the holidays," suggesting that even though Hauser doesn't want to visit his family and deal with the tension, he will be mature about the situation. However, later, his tone changes, and he seems to regress to his teenage state, using monosyllabic words to reply to his parents like "fine" or "out" in response to questions like "how have you been?" or "where are you headed?" He also says he sleeps in until noon or leaves the house for extended periods of time to avoid talking with his family too much. This change in syntax shows the effects that returning home has on Hauser.
At this point, readers are probably thinking that Hauser is a pessimistic cynical man, void of the Christmas spirit. How could anyone hate Christmas this much? However, at the very end, Hauser reveals that he and his family are Jewish, and ever since he has remembered, he has been jealous of those who participated in Christmas traditions, like the tree, Santa, and a turkey roasting in the oven for Christmas dinner. The large emphasis of Christmas culture portrayed in media and practiced by the majority in our country have withered away Hauser's holiday spirit. By this lack of details, Hauser plays at his audience's emotions, causing them to sympathize with him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/the-total-agony-of-family-time.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
The topic that you choose is really interesting. And the way that your essay starts with the beginning of the article and progresses to the end is nice for the reader because we haven't read the article. When the author was traveling to visit his family, what was the weather like? Foster's talked a lot about weather and how that translates. Was it stormy or gloomy? In the second paragraph, you could talk more about syntax or make a separate paragraph for it. I really liked how you talked about the "lack of details" that he holds back that is the missing puzzle piece to the article.
ReplyDeleteYour syntax paragraph was very well executed, I thought. A+ for you! You introduced the claim of the paragraph, supplied evidence and a warrant of the initial syntax, then evidence and warrant of the concluding syntax, and gave an explanation as to why this shift occurred. My only suggestion would be that you should probably elaborate on what sort of "effect" this change in syntax indicates. While it's implied that his tone shifts from mature and moderate to sullen and curt, I think that you should be explicit about this to make sure your reader totally understands what "effects" you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteVivian,
ReplyDeleteYour whole essay as a whole flows very well. In the first paragraph you don't really have a thesis statement which left me unsure how you were going to talk about the author's use of DIDLS in the article. You did a great job elaborating on all the examples especially in the sytax paragraph like Michaela mentioned. One thing you didn't really talk about was the authors purpose for writing the piece which i think would have been great to talk about at the end of your post around where you were talking about how the author was playing with the audiences emotions. By talking about the author's purpose it really reenforces your understanding of your article and is a great way to end the essay with a strong conclusion. Great Work Vivian!