Rhetorical Analysis - "My Dad Tried to Kill Me with an Alligator"
What defines who you are? Is it the choices you’ve made? If so, how did those choices affect you? How can you affect your future and the future of others?
In, “My Dad Tried to Kill Me with an Alligator”, the author, going by the name of Fat-Tart, reminisces about the day he
recognized his father’s roundabout way of showing affection, that day being the very same day he was forced into a dirty swamp infested with American Alligators. The story shows off the author’s attention to detail and creativity with his vivid and colorful descriptions of otherwise
ordinary events and objects (boat rides, creatures, swamps, etc.) combined with his distinct humor for a memorable experience. The author tells a story from his youth, when he and his brother go on an adventure without their reckless father. After losing a valuable fishing rod, the boys find themselves in a precarious situation trying to get it back.
The story is intended for anyone who had quirky parents who were odd and hard to understand from their perspective. By showing the audience how he treats his daughters by taking them on adventures, Fat-Tart portrays that parenting styles, however odd they are, can affect us, such as how his father influenced him to live an adventurous lifestyle despite the danger it clearly presented. The author makes use of Ethos early in the story, as the author tells stories revolving around certain creatures such as “giant blue catfish”, ones who would eat and kill divers in the river along the swamp they were heading for. Fat-Tart sarcastically dismisses the stories as rumors based on the unanswered questions many would have if they actually believed them such as, “Who were the divers? Why were they there? Why has no one looked for them?”. Fat-Tart’s knowledge of these stories and debunking them shows his honesty and trustworthiness by ridiculing the obviously faked stories for the audience, as well as connecting him to the setting, all while adding background details and staying on track with the story. The author uses Logos by using his experiences in the story to describe how they changed his lifestyle and way of thinking. He openly admits had his father not been the dangerous, knucklehead, non-book-reader he was, he would have missed out on some of the best moments in his life. He explains that the danger his adventures put him through taught him a valuable lesson about life and safety and how it took over his previously fearful self.
The last part of the story provides some thoughts on how we approach a certain aspect of life which many might judge as “wrong”. He takes his daughters closer to a mysterious creature that frightens them promising: “I won’t let it hurt you guys.”, showing that while he is not quite as reckless as his father by hiding their adventures from his wife, he’s still providing the same kind of love to them in an effort to help them conquer their own fears. The author uses humor and pity to develop Pathos in many aspects of the story. He gives the audience hilarious descriptions of rumored creatures and monsters in the waters and makes a few biblical allusions to the Book of Job, likening the alligators to the water-monster Leviathans and his brother and himself to Abel and Cain. His humor brightens up what would normally seem like dark moments from a horror story, such as going limp to please the thing trying to eat him, creating a pee force field to save himself from the things lurking beneath the water, or his father threatening alligators with a stop sign. In contrast, his descriptions of himself and his family paint him as an outcast, he’s the target of constant bullying by his brother for his weight and hobbies. His brother is the one who gives him the ridiculous nickname “Fat-Tart”.
He has little to no interest in his family’s insane adventures other than to gain approval from his father. The bullying and desperation for approval create a sense of pity for Fat-Tart and provide some insight as to how he really saw his family before his realization. The story, using that realization, shows us that the people who raise us shape our future in their own crazy ways, leading to diverse lifestyles and choices by everyone that intertwine and make up this crazy world of ours; and as our pasts change how we live, we help shape the future of others for better or worse.
In, “My Dad Tried to Kill Me with an Alligator”, the author, going by the name of Fat-Tart, reminisces about the day he
recognized his father’s roundabout way of showing affection, that day being the very same day he was forced into a dirty swamp infested with American Alligators. The story shows off the author’s attention to detail and creativity with his vivid and colorful descriptions of otherwise
ordinary events and objects (boat rides, creatures, swamps, etc.) combined with his distinct humor for a memorable experience. The author tells a story from his youth, when he and his brother go on an adventure without their reckless father. After losing a valuable fishing rod, the boys find themselves in a precarious situation trying to get it back.
The story is intended for anyone who had quirky parents who were odd and hard to understand from their perspective. By showing the audience how he treats his daughters by taking them on adventures, Fat-Tart portrays that parenting styles, however odd they are, can affect us, such as how his father influenced him to live an adventurous lifestyle despite the danger it clearly presented. The author makes use of Ethos early in the story, as the author tells stories revolving around certain creatures such as “giant blue catfish”, ones who would eat and kill divers in the river along the swamp they were heading for. Fat-Tart sarcastically dismisses the stories as rumors based on the unanswered questions many would have if they actually believed them such as, “Who were the divers? Why were they there? Why has no one looked for them?”. Fat-Tart’s knowledge of these stories and debunking them shows his honesty and trustworthiness by ridiculing the obviously faked stories for the audience, as well as connecting him to the setting, all while adding background details and staying on track with the story. The author uses Logos by using his experiences in the story to describe how they changed his lifestyle and way of thinking. He openly admits had his father not been the dangerous, knucklehead, non-book-reader he was, he would have missed out on some of the best moments in his life. He explains that the danger his adventures put him through taught him a valuable lesson about life and safety and how it took over his previously fearful self.
The last part of the story provides some thoughts on how we approach a certain aspect of life which many might judge as “wrong”. He takes his daughters closer to a mysterious creature that frightens them promising: “I won’t let it hurt you guys.”, showing that while he is not quite as reckless as his father by hiding their adventures from his wife, he’s still providing the same kind of love to them in an effort to help them conquer their own fears. The author uses humor and pity to develop Pathos in many aspects of the story. He gives the audience hilarious descriptions of rumored creatures and monsters in the waters and makes a few biblical allusions to the Book of Job, likening the alligators to the water-monster Leviathans and his brother and himself to Abel and Cain. His humor brightens up what would normally seem like dark moments from a horror story, such as going limp to please the thing trying to eat him, creating a pee force field to save himself from the things lurking beneath the water, or his father threatening alligators with a stop sign. In contrast, his descriptions of himself and his family paint him as an outcast, he’s the target of constant bullying by his brother for his weight and hobbies. His brother is the one who gives him the ridiculous nickname “Fat-Tart”.
He has little to no interest in his family’s insane adventures other than to gain approval from his father. The bullying and desperation for approval create a sense of pity for Fat-Tart and provide some insight as to how he really saw his family before his realization. The story, using that realization, shows us that the people who raise us shape our future in their own crazy ways, leading to diverse lifestyles and choices by everyone that intertwine and make up this crazy world of ours; and as our pasts change how we live, we help shape the future of others for better or worse.
Reflection
This assignment was a Rhetorical Analysis for the story "My Father Tried to Kill Me With an Alligator". The story follows two brothers who go on a fishing trip inside an alligator-infested swamp, losing an expensive fishing rod in the process, and the problem of getting it back. The story reflects upon itself as the author notes how much his adventures and his crazy family have imprinted on him and his own parenting style, despite his protests back then.