Rhetorical Analysis Of Personal Narratives

Rhetorical analysis of text or any literary work can help to understand better the message conveyed by the author and assess the style and technique used by the author. At the same time, the rhetorical analysis is always focused on two domains of the analysis of a text: textual and contextual. In this respect, the rhetorical analysis of personal narratives, such as diary, is particularly noteworthy because such rhetorical analysis helps to get insight into the mind and soul of the narrator to feel his or her emotions, thoughts and feelings. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the given text, which is a sort of diary, where the narrator depicts her recovery from an illness in the course of several days using detailed description of her encounters, thoughts, feelings and emotions.

The author of the text is a female, a girl, probably a teenager, who is growing up and who suffers from an illness. However, her illness seems to be related not only to her physical health but also to her psychological health. What is meant here is the fact that the narrator uses the diary to share her thoughts, feelings and emotions with someone or, at least, to express all her thoughts and emotions. She does it with the purpose to understand herself that is the problem for her because she cannot understand all her emotions and feelings that overwhelm her and because of which she probably suffers not only psychologically but also physically. This is the characteristic typical for a teenager, whose personality is in the course of its formation. Therefore, it is possible to presume that the narrator is a teenage girl. In addition, her narration is closely intertwined with John, a doctor who treats her and attempts to help and in relation to which the narrator probably has quite controversial feelings. In such a way, diary becomes the means to understand herself through expressing her thoughts and emotions on paper.

In such a context, the audience of the author is indefinite. To put it more precisely, the diary is rather destined to the narrator herself than to anyone else. However, probably, the narrator hopes secretly that someone, for instance Dr. John, will read the diary someday. Alternatively, the author probably intends to share her experience with other people who are in the similar position and who have similar problems. Nevertheless, as the author of any diary, the narrator is more concerned with her own self and her writing, which resembles some brief notes, are mainly oriented on herself and one day she will probably use it to understand her true feelings and to understand herself.

The narrator writes her diary at the moment of her illness, when her physical and psychological forces are on the edge and she is about to be exhausted. The diary becomes a sort of cure for her, a sort of remedy which helps her to recover through understanding of herself and through detailed analysis of her feelings and emotions on a daily basis. In fact, the diary appears at the moment of a profound psychological crisis of the narrator and probably she suffers from solitude and misunderstanding from the part of her family and friends. In such a situation, her diary becomes her remedy and her salvation. Remarkably, that Dr John encourages her to write that proves the positive effect of writing the diary on physical and psychological health of the narrator.

The entire text is a diary that conveys a detailed description of the life of the narrator day after day. The narrator dwells upon key events and strongest feelings and emotions she experiences in the course of a few days described in the diary. The narrator suffers from an illness which is not only of physical but also psychological nature. Throughout the diary, the narrator attempts to uncover her internal world and to understand herself. As a result, every day described by the narrator is a step toward understand of actual feelings, needs and wants of the narrator. In other words, it is a way to self-discovery and revelation of the true self of the narrator.

The author uses skillfully logical reasoning as she appeals to the authority of reputable doctor, John, who is a friend of the narrator. At the same time, the detailed description and notes made by the author makes the entire diary a sort of documentary where facts only are noted. On the other hand, the narrator manages to intertwine her logical arguments and facts with personal feelings and emotions. She conveys her thoughts and emotions invoked by different events occurring in her life in the course of time described in the diary. The narrator makes the diary very personal that is a characteristic of any diary. Such personalization contributes to the audience involvement in the life and into the inner world of the narrator. Readers can hardly keep from being sympathetic with the narrator and her sufferings. This is probably the major goal the narrator wanted to meet through such personalization of her narration. Moreover, personalization and genre of the narrative makes the dairy a sort of confession where the author looks for a confidant and a reader becomes a confidant, who reads through the diary and gets involved in the turbulent life of the narrator.

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the rhetorical analysis of the given text helps to understand not only actual, textual message but also the contextual message, the background of the written text. What is meant here is the fact that the rhetorical analysis uncovers the extent to which the text is personal to the narrator because the text is a diary, where the author conveys her personal experience, feelings and emotions, whereas readers become confidants, who feel sympathetic with the narrator. At the same time, the rhetorical analysis reveals the full extent to which the text is important to the narrator as a form of self-expression and the means to understand herself.