Rhetorical Analysis Of His Last Game By Brain Doyle

Words: 679
Pages: 3

Shuniecha Jones
English 101
Mrs. Mazaheri
24, September 2014

A Game to Remember Brain Doyle's " His Last Game" written originally for the Notre Dame Magazine is a prime example of rhetoric. In this essay Doyle aims to convince his reader's that the memories you make will one day no longer exist. "What happens to what I remember? You remember it for me okay?" Personal anecdotes, ethos and appeals to emotion are techniques Doyle skillfully uses to create a strong and compelling essay. Doyle's essay in a sense is about the essence of life as it passes by and will you be remembered, were you influential, and did you matter are all questions that arise in his essay?

Opening with a personal anecdote describing a trip to the pharmacy that went astray. He establishes the essay to be a narrative that is very personal from the beginning. Doyle's brother is ill though not directly stated the reader can come to the conclusion by the end of the essay
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He begins focusing on the aspects of the memory and how his brother wins a bet concerning the winning basket. "…and my brother said he has one last basket in him, and I said I bet a dollar it’s a shot from the corner and my brother said no…"Personal stories like this one also lead us to believe that Doyle's brother is extremely ill. Quickly and discretely Doyle's brother makes a statement about how he has very little time left, " "They are not going to do any good….One less thing for the family to do afterward." Afterward illustrating after he dies. Though not very obvious Doyle uses pathos to project a sense of sorrow or remorse towards his brother, with statements like "afterward, last game, one less thing to do, you remember for me" all depicting that this will be one of the last memories Doyle and his brother will