I chose to include the essay “Speaking in Silence” in my e-Portfolio because it examines a national memorial that makes a rhetorical statement about the important international question, “why does genocide happen?” Eisenman silently presents a strong answer to this question through the construction of his monument. However, the rhetorical statement that his memorial makes can only be heard and understood through experience. He uncovers his answer only to those who wish to understand and actively partake in the formation of his memorial’s message. When I visited the memorial, I was about fourteen years old, and though I understood the memorial’s message, I lacked the tools to discuss the rhetorical structure of its argument. Now after completing this course and researching the monument I am able to understand the structure of Eisenman’s rhetorical statement. In my essay I discuss the way that the sensitivity and controversy surrounding the memorial’s topic inspired his creation of a “silent” design, a design that does not denote the purpose of the memorial to the passerby. In my essay I also assert that memorial is structured to create a emotional rather than a logical response, implying that there is no rationality behind genocide and that it cannot be understood through logic, but instead through living emotion. When I was fourteen the memorial mad me sad, now it makes a strong rhetorical argument about the irrationality of genocide.
I had substantially revised this essay numerous times before my initial submission working to develop a strong central thesis. This time I focused my editing and revision on the feedback I received from my original paper. In light of this feedback, in my e-Portfolio version of my essay I have worked to strengthen the rhetorical terms used in my argument, and vary my word choice throughout the essay.
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