Unit 1 Reflection

So far, the most helpful assignment was analyzing Tim O'Brien's "How to Tell A True War Story" on our own and analyzing its rhetorical strategies further in class. Analyzing the piece in depth on my own not only allowed me to form ideas about the rhetorical strategies, but also find the themes and other characteristics of literary analysis that O'Brien portrayed. Although this class is focused on rhetorical analysis rather than literary analysis, the literary aspects of the piece helped me identify and understand the rhetorical aspects that were discussed in class. For example, O'Brien's juxtaposition between light and darkness is a rhetorical strategy, but with my own literary analysis of the theme and meaning of the story, I can identify this juxtaposition to symbolize goodness and evil. Although we practiced these analyses for other pieces (like Pablo Picasso's Guernica), the lessons I learned from "How to Tell A True War Story" made the most memorable impression in my mind because we spent the most time on it.