Rhetorical Analysis
Introduction
This paper gives an in-depth critical rhetorical analysis of The Way to Rainy Mountain. It does this by focusing on the purpose, audience and context in which it was written. The Way to Rainy Mountain is a folklore which written by Scott Momaday and published by the University of Mexico Printing Press in 1967. It gives an account of the history of the Kiowa community. It traces its origin, movement, development, beliefs, traditions, and the challenges it faced as a result of its interactions with other people. It creates a picture on the history of the community during the ancient times at Montana area, its war times and the interactions with the United States of America (USA) before their eventual settlement at Rainy Mountain in Oklahoma. On the other hand, it explores the life experiences of Scott. Here, the author describes his parenthood, early life, education, career and life experiences relevant in this context. This is done using a mix of stylistic devices aimed at ensuring that the message is delivered to the target audience.
Analysis
The Way to Rainy Mountain is an invaluable folklore which gives a lot of information regarding the history of Kiowa. Besides, it combines it with that of the author. Hence, it makes it clear to trace and understand the ancestry of the author in relation to his tribe. In this book, Scott uses combination devices which enable his work to come out very strongly. This is evidenced in the way he used a blend of voicing. Meaning, he understood the fact that he was giving parallel accounts of the history of his ethnic group along side that of his.
I would like to say that the use of myths and oral traditions is appropriate for this kind of work. It was actually a unique literary material which tends to sensitize the reader on the cultural aspects of this community. As it is known by historians, oral tradition was the best way of preserving history especially during the pre-history period. In this regard, Scott was right for choosing to adopt this strategy I his writings. A part from giving appropriate, accurate and relevant information, it involves the participation of the community whose history is being analyzed. This is because it is only through these traditions that the readers can learn about the way these people valued land. Meaning, it helps to involve the concerned people to contribute to the reconstruction of their own history.
In addition, Scott uses historical commentary as a source of information in this folklore. Just like the oral traditions and myths, they enable him to deliver his message to the target readers. Meaning, it becomes easier for him to analyze different aspects of the culture and historical transitions these people underwent in the process of their progress. This is very instrumental to the readers since it blends the information got from other voices. As a result, they comprehend the folklore in a better manner.
In his coverage, Scott uses his poetic memoirs. This is a very resourceful voice which unveils the family background of the author. It gives a first hand information about the kind of family in which he was brought up and the ay his interactions with his immediate society influenced his life. Hence, it creates a sense of reality to the readers because they get an opportunity to comprehend the autobiography of the author right from his childhood to adulthood. This voice makes the story more interesting because it contains information which everyone can identify with. The accounts of his life challenges can act an eye opener to the readers. It can enable them to embrace the quality of determination and hard work. Just like the Scott, they can learn to be persistent in their activities. For instance, even if things were so difficult for him, he managed to go through his education before eventually becoming a university professor. This voice is motivational and can inspire the readers who are the main target in the folklore.
The other aspect adopted by Scott in his writing is the use of a variety of genres. This includes the poetic memoir, history and folklore. As already highlighted, they can be depicted from the voices used. They make the story more valid and sound because of the way they give finer details of the text. They can be a good example of how authors can use a variety of devices to communicate their themes in a peculiar manner. This makes it be more detailed on various aspects of the history of the Kiowa people. It goes beyond the ordinary narration to extend into analyzing the origin, traditions, beliefs and the conflicts that they had to endure s a result of their interactions with other communities. Therefore, the way Scott presents this work can be very instrumental in helping people to not only understand more about Kiowa, but to acquaint themselves with the history of the world in general. It is a typical example of understanding what underlies the history of different people especially their interactions and how they can influence them. For instance, Scott clearly demonstrates how the interactions between Kiowa and their neighbors resulted into cultural diversities particularly when they adopted the art of sun and horse dance from the Crows whom they extensively interacted with.
However, I would like fault Scot for complicating his work. I would like to rally behind a series of scholars who have criticized his work on the grounds that they are discombobulating. Surely, the use of different voices makes this folklore to be extremely difficult to understand. This is given that they are presented from different view points. Hence, it may be so ambiguous since some readers may not actually interpret and correctly correlate what each of them is talking about. This explains why some people prefer to focus only on one of the voices at a time while reading. This, as they claim, can help them to deal with the ambiguities in the book.
Conclusively, I would like to commend Scott for writing this story. It is an invaluable text which sensitizes the readers on the history of the Kiowa people. His literary styles demonstrate his prowess in writing. In deed, the text can be instrumental in teaching students English composition writing skills. At the same time, it can be used by the teachers in a proper organization of the structure of their classroom teaching. In this regard, I would like to agree with Kenneth Roemer for commending Scott for his brilliant work. It is true that ‘the use of three different writing approaches can be a better tool in handling writing styles and unfamiliar subject matter in the classroom.’
