Rhetorical Analysis

The story, The Man Who Walked through Time, by Colin Fletcher, is depicting a situation where he takes over the role of a non-existent Indian. Fletcher is trying to experience things the same way the Indian man used to. Fletcher lets the audience see this by using rhetorical devices such as word choice, tone, and descriptive examples. In Fletcher s style of writing he sometimes makes the reader think that he is actually experiences some of the same things that the Indian experienced.

Fletcher, at first makes the reader believe that he actually lives in the dwelling. Choosing such sentences as, I climbed back to my pink apartment house, unpacked, and settled in, (Fletcher 81, 2000), this helps the reader to understand that this is no ordinary apartment. By using the word climbed, to describe how he got to his apartment, tell s the reader something. Certain words that Fletcher uses lets the reader know that in most points of his writing he is only assuming. Assumption is another rhetorical concern for the reader. Of the four little rooms, one of the center pair was so small that I felt sure it had been built for a child, (p 81). The way Fletcher says he feels sure, is an indication to the reader that Fletcher is assuming that the room was built for children. The cubical showed every sign of having been built for a man just about my size, (p 81). Again Fletcher is assuming that the cubical was built for a man of his size. I dwelt in my cliff dwelling for twenty-four hours. And, hour by hour-conscious of my vast ignorance, yet curiously confident-I began to focus on my cave dweller more sharply, (p 82). In this sentence Fletcher reassures the reader that the man knows he s not really experiencing anything with the Indian. We know this because he tells the audience that he is aware of his own ignorance. By choosing those words, Fletcher lets the reader know that the man is imagining being with the Indian.

Fletcher has an expository tone. Throughout the essay Fletcher tries to explain to the audience what it must have been like to live like an Indian. There are very few factual statements in this writing. Fletcher makes many assumptions and gives his opinion to try to explain to the reader what it must have been like to live in a cliff dwelling. By only assuming he does a pretty good job of making the reader believe.

The descriptive examples that Fletcher uses really let s the audience picture it. Throughout the writing when the man speaks of events, he explains in great detail. first I pictured him building his home. I saw him chipping patiently away at the roof of the cave, so that there would be headroom when he sat up in his cubical, (Fletcher 82). Just by reading that sentence the reader can almost picture an Indian chipping away at the roof of his cubical. I lay in our little cubical and called out to his wife through the partition, I confirmed that we lived-he and I in a natural echo chamber, (Fletcher 83). The way Fletcher describes the echo chamber, and how when you burp it echoes, almost makes the reader want to burp and make their own echo. Also the way the man described a war like situation using defense mechanisms that just come with living in a dwelling, lets the reader almost picture the war itself.

In conclusion, the way Fletcher chooses his words and sentences help the reader see the situations. Fletcher s tone and descriptive examples of certain circumstances makes the reader want to believe that that was the way the Indians lived in the dwellings. Fletcher does a great job of making his audience believe.