"Shame" Rhetorical Analysis

"Shame" by Dick Gregory Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Famous comedian and activist, Dick Gregory, in his narrative essay, “Shame” recounts his experiences of facing shame and poverty as a young child. Gregory’s purpose is to emphasize the hardships and struggles of poverty. Gregory achieves his purpose by employing the rhetorical devices of imagery, details, and repetition.
            Gregory directs the use of imagery to describe Helene Tucker, a girl Gregory was in love with. In paragraph 1, Gregory describes Helene as “a light-complexioned little girl… She was always clean and she was smart in school…I loved her for her goodness, her cleanness, her popularity”. Gregory uses imagery to highlight Helene’s admirable attributes, but Gregory, himself, contradicts Helene’s qualities. Gregory uses imagery to compare himself with Helene, Gregory was not smart, clean, or popular like Helene. The difference in their characters symbolizes their difference in economic status. Gregory was poor while Helene has a family that provides for her.  
            Gregory elaborates on his shame by the use of details. Gregory uses details to express how he faced shame at school. Gregory wanted to donate money to the Community Chest, but he did not have the money. In paragraph 20, his teacher responds, “We are collecting this money for you and your kind, Richard Gregory. If your daddy can give fifteen dollars you have no business being on relief….We know you don’t have a Daddy…”. Gregory starts to cry and realizes the shame he felt being in poverty. This detail also serves to emphasize the shame Gregory felt when the teacher broadcasted to the entire class that Gregory does not have a father. The humiliation Gregory felt led him to express everything he ever felt shame about. Gregory’s use of specific details effectively illustrates the shameful events of his past and the amount of shame he felt.
Gregory enlists the use of repetition in his essay. Gregory effectively utilizes repetition to explicit his struggles of dealing with shame. In paragraph 5, Gregory declares, “I was pregnant with poverty. Pregnant with dirt and pregnant with smells... pregnant with cold and shoes that were never bought for me, pregnant with five other people in my bed and no daddy in the next room, and pregnant with hunger”. Gregory uses repetition to highlight all his struggles having to grow up in poverty. Through repetition of “pregnant”, Gregory shares his helplessness. Due to poverty, he couldn’t live a better lifestyle or the one he hoped to have. He couldn’t be clean, have new shoes, and a nice home. Repetition allowed the author to establish his disgust towards the conditions of his impoverished lifestyle.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared his envisionment of a “Great Society”. The “Great Society” called for the elimination of poverty and racial injustices. During this time, children were deprived of life’s essential needs. Children could not afford to have education, shelter, healthcare, and clean clothing. Poverty can steal children their chances to showcase their talents and mind. Poverty can trap children with limited windows of opportunities.  Poverty can fuel anger and shame.


Comments

  1. Jacky QiuNovember 26, 2017 at 8:31 PM

    I like how you kept on topic and how each of your examples helped emphasize the authors purpose, for example when dick was pregnant with poverty so he was also pregnant with hunger. You also explained how your quotes help support the authors claim which made your essay easy to follow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 28, 2017 at 5:26 PM

    I liked the fact that you included repetition as a rhetorical device in your essay. You included the example of him repeating what he was pregnant with.This showed that he put emphasis on the fact that he was poor and without a father to go with the theme of shame.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 28, 2017 at 6:40 PM

    i like the differences described between Helene and Gregory through adjectives. I also like the conclusion which adds depth to the essay

    ReplyDelete

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