The essays titled this old house and fish cheeks are very interesting in terms of the manner in which they convey the message intended by their respective authors to the audience. The essay this old house takes more of a rather detailed and vivid description in order to bring the author’s message home. In this particular essay, the author seems very interested in ensuring that the audience develops a clear mental picture of the house in question. The description is very vivid and comprehensive that it leaves little to imagination. The author focuses on the minute details of the house in order to ensure that all the senses of the audience are fully engaged with the exact description of the house.
This makes it rather easy for the audience to develop a mental picture of exactly what the house looks like from its entirety as a large structure to the very minute details of the house that the author brings out. The essay fish cheek on the other hand seems to employ the use of rhetorical questions to fully engage the senses as well as the mental disposition of the audience. The author uses these rhetorical questions very strategically. The author uses them to ensure that the audience places themselves in the shoes of the main character. This enables the audience to get a firsthand look at exactly what the main character is going through both emotionally and psychologically. In other words, the author uses them to bring the audience directly into the essay or rather into the world of the main characters in the essay. This enhances understanding of the essay as well as ensuring that the interest of the audience in the essay remains unshaken as they experience the various dilemmas that the characters in the essay are going through.
In terms of structural organization the essay fish cheeks is well organized. The essay begins with a simple statement that more or less tells the audience exactly what the essay is about. The opening sentence of this essay lets the audience into the world of the essay and gives the audience a glimpse of exactly what the essay is about while at the same time maintaining an element of suspense. This opening statement of this essay is “I fell in love with the minister’s son the winter I turned fourteen.” This single statement is very significant in terms of the structural organization of the essay. This is because the statement serves as a preview of what is to come. The audience is left with questions like will the minister’s son reciprocate the love that the main character has for him and whether or not society will allow this relationship to flourish. This single statement thus creates a mountain of suspense and intrigue that more or less will guarantee that the audience reads on. The author is also very consistent in terms of the presentation of the sequence of events that follow this opening statement all the way to the climatic conclusion. The author employs an element of chronology in this essay and makes sure that the sequence of events that build up the essay are logically arranged in the manner in which that occurred. This creates an element of linearity for the audience, as the audience is able to transition smoothly from in event to another while at the same time paying close attention to the happenings in the essay and their relevance to the greater essay.
In the essay, this old house the author employs the use of flashbacks as a stylistic style of writing. This style is very effective with reference to the purpose of the author, which is to move the audience from one period to another while at the same time maintaining an element of entertainment and intrigue. Thus, the author is able to effectively move the audience back and forth in time in order to reveal more information about the main characters and the general plot of the essay. This is very important in terms of the entertainment aspect of the essay. This ensures that the audience is at all times experiencing an element of mental rush due to the various elements of time travel and jumping from one period of time to another as intended by the author of the essay.
Structurally speaking these two essays are more or less arranged in the same manner. This is because they all have a main underlying plot that the entire essay is built around. This plot can either be self-acceptance and appreciation of one’s culture as is in the case of fish cheeks or a journey to find oneself as is in the case of this old house. Both essays begin with an introduction that aims at giving the audience a glimpse of exactly what to expect in the whole essay. These various introductions are very useful because they capture the attention of the audience at a rather early stage and ensure that the audience will be interested in the rest of the essay. After the introduction, follows the body of the essay. In the case of these two essays, they have bodies that serve the purpose of expounding on the opening or rather the introduction of the respective essay. The bodies carry the entire storyline with reference to the main characters in the essay and exactly what respective authors wish to convey about their respective characters. After the body the essays conclude in a final paragraph which bring the plot of the entire essay full circle. In terms of the essay fish cheeks the storyline comes full circle when the main character finally learns to appreciate her Chinese culture and stop being ashamed of her culture just to impress the son of the minister. The conclusion thus has a lesson that the author intends to convey to the audience. This lesson is learnt because of the happenings of the body of the essay, which culminated in the realization of this very valuable lesson. In the conclusion, the intention of the author in writing the entire essay therefore becomes very clear.
The style employed in the essay fish cheeks is far much more superior to that employed in this old house. This is because the essay fish cheeks has an element of simplicity to it.as a result the audience is at a better position to easily relate to the happenings in the essay and fully understand what the author wishes to bring out in the essay. The element of chronology in the essay also ensures that the audience does not get lost.
References
Fish Cheeks | Amy Tan | Article/Story/Poem/Essay | Red Room. (n.d.). Fish Cheeks | Amy Tan | Article/Story/Poem/Essay | Red Room. Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://redroom.com/member/amy-tan/writing/fish-cheeks
Reflections: This Old House. (n.d.). The New Yorker. Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/07/09/070709fa_fact_sedaris
