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Examples Of Rhetorical Language In Persepolis

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Rhetorical language is used to persuade and appeal specific audiences. War is an inevitable part of history. Ishmael Beah was in Sierra Leone's war and he talks about it in his memoir A Long Way Gone. Marjane Satrapi lived through Iran’s 1980 cultural revolution and her experiences in her graphic novel Persepolis. These two authors use rhetorical language to communicate the characteristics of revolution. Rhetorical language in Persepolis is dialogue through pictures. Pathos is established when you see war shown through explosions, dead bodies, and cultural change. Through rhetoric Marji is thrown into war when her neighbor’s house is bombed and she realizes that her mother might be inside. In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael’s mentality is that “‘My squad is my family, my gun is my provider, and my protector, and my rule is kill or be killed’” (Beah 116). This metaphor shows how war has become his way of life. It is a survival psyche, kill or be killed. War changes things, as they become more important to you. There was never …show more content…

Soldiers literally had keys on necklaces because they thought that when they died they would have the key to paradise, heaven. The veil symbolized suppression by a new regime, a regime about conformity. The effects of war caused Marji to be separated from her family twice, as she moved to Europe for a better life. In Beah’s memoir he is alone talking out loud and asks “‘Is there an end to this madness, and is there any future for him beyond the bushes?’” (Beah 45). Ishmael is separated from his family and is speaking the effects of war. He wants this war to end so he can have a future to look forward to other than full-blown war starring him in the face. Marji wanted to make all these changes from the length of the veil to a way that the elderly population does not have to suffer. Ishmael and Marji both had to look within themselves to rise and fight against the revolution in their respective

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