English 1 Web students,
For your “Reading as a Writer” Response #2, compose your own rhetorical analysis of Pollan’s text “Why Bother?”
In your rhetorical analysis, focus on the following parts of his text:
1. What is the meaning of the title “Why Bother?” Why do you think the author chose it? What is he trying to tell us, his audience, in this title?
2. Who is the author? What authority does he have to write on this subject? Is he an expert? If not, how would this knowledge affect your reading and interpretation of his text?
3. What is the main idea of this text? Explain why he focuses on this main idea to develop his text.
4. What is the purpose for writing “Why Bother?” What is Pollan trying to achieve? Is the text purely informative, or is he trying to persuade you of doing something?
5. Who do you think Pollan’s audience is? Explain.
6. What do you think is the tone of this text? Is it informative, persuasive, funny, angry, passionate, sad, annoyed, apathetic, etc.? Explain how you figured out his tone.
Helpful Hints: this is an informal argument, in which Pollan takes a specific position on a controversial issue in the first half of his text, and he then attempts to propose a solution in the second half of his text. Go through my lecture titled “Rhetorical Analysis”
