http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/hard-sell/?ref=opinion
A brush with celebrity is often well remembered. However, substitute "celebrity" with "publicly adored, eccentric, genius" and the encounter would surely be locked in ones head forever. This is the case for the author of this article, Dick Cavett, when he works with Steve Jobs. His use of language, imagery, and syntax help establish his voice as he describes his relationship with the apple computers icon and the meaning he derived from it.
Cavett starts the piece the kind of short, choppy, sentences that are oft used by authors to place emphasis on the sentence's subject. He simply states "The “guy” was named Steve Jobs. Turned out he was reasonably bright." While these were two short simple sentences, they also serve as a microcosm of the entire article. Everything that can be gleaned from this article can be seen in those sentences, and Cavett showed us that through his use of syntax. He also has a habit of putting his most important sentences at the end of his paragraphs, like when he poses the rhetorical question " Could I have invented the apple computer?" while exploring the thought that maybe " the right stimulus awaken previously dormant skills in us all".
The next literary technique that Cavett uses to breathe life into this piece is his language. He skillfully and simply uses rhyme in a detail to evoke the classic image of an Mac computer, describing it as "White, upright". His mix of conversation between him and Jobs, self reflection, and related details seamlessly blended together help establish his voice through language, even if he does strike me as someone seeking to ride Jobs' coattails, seeking to boost his own reputation through his association with Jobs.
Detail is used superbly throughout this piece, especially in the form of anecdotes. He references his dream to live an arboreal life style in order to establish a perceived connection between himself and Apple's other found, Steve Wozniak. The whole article itself relies on details, little things that the author remembers about his now long passed encounters with the mythical man. He takes these details, including little bits of his conversation with Jobs, or Jobs sending him the newest apple product whenever it was released to, to support this argument that Jobs was a essentially good man, and doesn't deserved to be cast as a man who had a "dark, nasty, tyrannical side."
Dick Cavett recalls his interactions with Steve Jobs, writing that he believed him to be a good man, using the literary techniques of diction, imagery, and language.
Doug, to start off, I thought you chose a good article to do your close reading on. For me, it is sometimes difficult to find something with strong voice that I care enough about to write something meaningful on, but I think you succeeded with this one. The criticism I have about your analysis is that it seemed to be done pretty quickly. While your beginning to seemed to be well thought out, I felt like you got a little bit lazy by starting off the paragraphs by simply stating what technique you're talking about. It might be more effective to organize the essay by something other then the author's techniques to communicate your message to the audience better.
ReplyDelete-Nikki
I like this essay, and the piece you chose for it, but you do focus on what techniques you are trying to find in the piece rather than make this essay a little more interesting to read. Your conclusion was once again a little short, it really only need one or two more sentences added on. Over all I like this essay a lot because it did interest me, but next time I would focus less on the DIDLS you were looking for.
ReplyDeleteI really like your introduction to this close reading--it really drew me into the topic. Your descriptions of the literary techniques are also very well thought out, and I can tell you put some time into your analysis. One thing to say, though, is that if you're going to do a conclusion in essay form, you might want to put a little more than just one sentence. There's so much more you could wrap it up with!
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