Sharon Daniel uses what Killingsworth refers to as "Association/Metonymy" when referring to the lawn of the prison. She says that it functions as a diversion, it is designed to establish comfort for anyone looking at it—to distract them from the prison itself, to make things seem okay (Daniel). But the irony comes from the reality of the prison: bad things happen there, and people are treated inhumanely because they are prisoners. The prison keeps people from seeing the inside happenings, but through "Public Secrets", Daniel hopes that people will be less distanced from the world of prison on the inside, which is a part of Killingsworth's trope of "Distance/Irony" (Killingsworth 131). He says that irony has a "moral force" (Killingsworth 132). In this case, Daniel uses the naive position of most people outside of prison to highlight the reality of prison life (Daniel).
Monday, November 4, 2013
How I See Tropes Working In "Public Secrets"
Sharon Daniel's "Public Secrets" uses many tropes in the introduction sequence. First of all, she says "under the gaze of the gun towers," (Daniel) which utilizes the trope M. Jimmie Killingsworth called "Identification/Metaphor" in his "Appeal Through Tropes" (Killingsworth 123). Killingsworth's idea of how "Metaphors...ultimately lead back to the body" is represented here (Killingsworth 126). Daniel personifies the gun towers by giving them a gaze. She says that people are to eyes as gun towers are to people looking out from them.
Sharon Daniel uses what Killingsworth refers to as "Association/Metonymy" when referring to the lawn of the prison. She says that it functions as a diversion, it is designed to establish comfort for anyone looking at it—to distract them from the prison itself, to make things seem okay (Daniel). But the irony comes from the reality of the prison: bad things happen there, and people are treated inhumanely because they are prisoners. The prison keeps people from seeing the inside happenings, but through "Public Secrets", Daniel hopes that people will be less distanced from the world of prison on the inside, which is a part of Killingsworth's trope of "Distance/Irony" (Killingsworth 131). He says that irony has a "moral force" (Killingsworth 132). In this case, Daniel uses the naive position of most people outside of prison to highlight the reality of prison life (Daniel).
Sharon Daniel uses what Killingsworth refers to as "Association/Metonymy" when referring to the lawn of the prison. She says that it functions as a diversion, it is designed to establish comfort for anyone looking at it—to distract them from the prison itself, to make things seem okay (Daniel). But the irony comes from the reality of the prison: bad things happen there, and people are treated inhumanely because they are prisoners. The prison keeps people from seeing the inside happenings, but through "Public Secrets", Daniel hopes that people will be less distanced from the world of prison on the inside, which is a part of Killingsworth's trope of "Distance/Irony" (Killingsworth 131). He says that irony has a "moral force" (Killingsworth 132). In this case, Daniel uses the naive position of most people outside of prison to highlight the reality of prison life (Daniel).
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Works Cited
ReplyDeleteDaniel, Sharon. “Public Secrets.” Vectors 2.2 (Winter 2007): n. pag. Web. http://www.vectorsjournal.org/projects/index.php?project=57
Killingsworth, M. Jimmie. “Appeal Through Tropes.” Appeals in Modern Rhetoric: An Ordinary- Language Approach. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2005. 121-135.