After having been told by Gilles Peress that one day her boyfriend would cheat on her, Adarrio finds the emails that bring the foreshadowing to fruition. The scenes thereafter where she struggles with depression and the realization that Uxval had never loved her is especially vivid. Adarrio had loved him so wholly that she had even put her career on hold when it could be reaching new heights. She becomes incredibly depressed as she sees all that she is missing in the Middle East because she could not escape the intoxication of love. This scene is particular vivid and compelling to me because it reminds me of a song by, Kenny Chesney, called, “Being Drunk is a Lot Like Loving You”. Just as the song goes, she loved till she stumbled, and she loved till she fell. When the feeling of love (being drunk) was gone, she was left with the crippling depression (the hangover) and it hurt like hell. Addario makes excellent use of pathos to truly convey how heartbroken she is. Through the use of a flashback, Addario gives the reader insight into the fleeting nostalgia she feels when reminiscing about how great her life once was and she was doing what she loved, chasing stories in South Asia. After Uxval leaves her, she is reduced to being unable to eat anything and sustains herself off water and juice. Most readers can empathize with the feeling of being on top of the world to hitting rock bottom, which just adds to her clever use of pathos. The use of flashbacks to evoke pathos could be used in my speech about civic life as I tell an anecdote, so quintessentially American, that most of the members of the audience can relate or share the same emotions regarding said experience.
Matt, I think you were able to identify Addario’s techniques very well and express them in your writing in a coherent and intelligent manner. I also commend your connection to the music by pulling in your personal experiences and knowledge to further connect to the writing (and not a bad song choice either). However, I would’ve liked to hear more about how you would employ these techniques into your own writing- and that being your passion blog, not just your artifact speech. You may have slightly misunderstood the last part of the prompt, which required you to touch on your passion blog. Either way, still consider this before you write your next passion blog because I think Addario’s techniques that you addressed could seamlessly fit into your blog!