09/09/2017 Beaver Stadium Grounds
Addario employs realistic descriptions and dynamic discussion to transport readers to wherever she was traveling that day. In one specific instance during the chapter “Please Tell The Woman We Will Not Hurt Her”, Addario and her partner Matthew were encircled by gunmen in Garma. This section is filled with chaos, emotion, strife, and the sheer will to survive.
To exemplify such notions, Addario describes the situation in great detail, but includes her own thoughts also, contributing to the overall tone and mood of the chapter. For example, Addario mentions four journalist who died on the road between Kabul and Jalalabad after September 11th as the insurgents approach the mini van. By including this part of her thought process, Addario was able to inform readers of how dire the situation was and what exactly was going through her mind as she faced a near death scenario.
In addition, the dialogue used by Addario was also telling as the situation heightened during the chapter. Addario says, “We are going to die now”, as the men began to besiege their position. The aforementioned sentence was also its own paragraph to truly emphasize its meaning and need for alarm.
The descriptive language and dialogue was also very drawing to me as a reader. The writing in this section fast paced and led to further inquiry. I wanted to keep reading, I did not want to see something happen to Addario or even Matthew. I could not put the book down.
In my passion blog, I plan to utilize more anecdotes after completing this RCL blog. Initially, it never occurred to me to employ real-life stories into my passion blog; I was going to use my perspective as well as statistics and analysis to tell my story. Now I feel a stronger appeal to pathos by using real life events could make my writing not only more interesting, but more informative to the reader.
Hey Allie,
Great post! I completely agree with your observations in the change in Addario’s writing. I too felt that the shift in her tone really helped me as a reader better understand the urgency, and chaos with ensued after the attacks. I think that her use of anecdotes helped me also better connect to her story, by developing an emotional connection to her character. I think that by using anecdotes in your own blog, that you too will build the same relationship with your readers. I was actually planning on doing the same in my own blog! By using your own personal stories will really help you form a stronger narrative for women today. By maybe adding specific stories of when you felt more powerful as a woman, or when you felt you were discriminated against for your gender would help make your blog feel more personal. I look forward to reading more!