Beauty and Rhetoric(Sandy’s Letter)

Sandy letter is not just an ordinary letter from a soldier to his loved one back home. The letter is not about the military battles, officers, enemies, or any thrilling part of the war in Vietnam. The letter is a rhetorical observation by a soldier. He has described the beauty of a red flower at a place where war and death are the most common. This, according to the author, is the most valid reason why the letter represents as a rhetorical letter. The subject of this letter is indeed beauty. Beauty seen in a beautiful red flower that alters the state of mind do the soldier. When the soldier sees the flower and it’s perfect view, for that moment being, he forgets about the war or any other action that was taking place in his mind prior to that feeling or emotion. The letter is rhetoric in a sense that it describes beauty through one’s own conscious. The existence of Sandy’s letter is an evidence of rhetoric being expressed throughout personal experience. His internal communication (of seeing the flower) became external when he wrote the letter to his aunt. By sharing his experience, he transcended the aesthetic in him to the reader of his letter:his aunt. When she read the letter, she felt the same way when Sandy wrote it. According to Aristotle Rhetoric, human beings give more preference to things that are different from the rest. And in Sandy’s case, the flower without any thorns gave him that feeling because he was surrounded by death and war. Also, Nietzsche’s argument describes Sandy’s situation when he saw the flower. The beauty that Sandy experienced was always there and always will be because there is beauty in Everyman’s heart and soul. Man himself creates the notion of beauty and experiences it whenever he wants to. Just like Sandy decided to experience that moment of beauty when he saw the thornless flower.