Essay, Research Paper: Paper A

Paper A
Hide your pets; the hunters are coming, by Robert Reno, is an essay that takes a humorous look at deer hunting. Reno begins by creating a scenario that describes the ramifications a toy manufacture would incur if it had sold a toy that caused a multitude of casualties as the deer season has brought on. Reno continues by stating that reports are already flowing of human accidents and fatalities (A15). Several reasons why we tolerate deer hunting are given. Reno then questions if there is a better portrayal of colonist today than that of a deerslayer (A15). The evolution of the hunter s attire and what methods are used to enhance the hunter s aim are also covered. Hide the cows and goats season, is the expression that Reno says livestock owners use in referring to the hunting season (A15). A couple of common laws concerning deer hunting are humorously reviewed. Reno then closes his essay by noting that he is looking forward to enjoying some venison with his friends but not their tall tales.
Surviving Deer Season, by Castle Freeman Jr., is an essay that takes a humorous viewpoint on the precautions people take for the deer-hunting season. Freeman begins by describing a southeastern part of Vermont that he moved to, as a dairy community long past by (20). He recalls reading a variety of stories about the different seasonal activities of the people, depending upon the season, yet hardly ever came across
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any stories that cover the respected tradition of deer hunting even though the custom was abominable. Freeman continues by remembering a morning in November and the sight of his neighbor s herd of cows that had the word COW painted on their hide s (20). A brief and unfruitful conversation with the neighbor is covered and the experience of Freeman s first day of the deer-hunting season is given. He writes about his observations of people and pets that wear brightly colored clothing as a precaution during the hunting time. Freeman warns the outdoors type, though it is hard, to think twice and then stay home (20). He notes the fact that there are numerous preparations to be made for winter, without the additional deer hunting precautionary measures to be taken (20). Freeman closes with burden of thought that weights on the non-hunters mind.
Reno writes about deer hunting from a humorous aspect. He makes a joke of the deer hunters literacy by suggesting that country dog owners should not only label their dogs as such but also provide additional protection for their pets by attaching a recording device that says, Don t shoot, I am a dog (A15). Freeman also takes a humorous approach when writing about the protective measures people take during the deer season. Freeman, as well, pokes a little fun at a hunter s ability to read. After observing that his neighbor s marked herd had survived Freeman stated, After all, no deer hunter who could read would shoot a COW (20). Reno s essay covers from the laws of deer hunting to the ludicrousness of the custom, while Freeman focuses mostly on being safe during the hunting season. The essays are similar because they both take a humorous approach in addressing issues surrounding deer hunting. Both essays mention
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the labeling of dogs and that people should not stray into the woods during the deer-hunting season.
The humorous approach makes the primary aim of Reno s essay literary. Reno humorously describes beer and bourbon as wildlife-attracting and aim improving potions used by hunters (A15). Reno continues by comically defining a law that prohibits hunters from using a moving vehicle as an aid while they shoot wildlife from a public road as they must not careen down a public highway blowing away animals from the open window of a registered motor vehicle (A15). Freeman s description of himself makes the primary aim of his essay expressive. Freeman characterizes himself as an apprentice observer of the precautions people take for the deer-hunting season as I have become a close student of the lengths to which people go each year on the eve of deer season to provide a margin of safety for themselves (20).
Reno s secondary aim is referential. Reno is informative when he notes the high rate of human casualties suggest the deer are getting their revenge (A15).
Reno also informs the reader of a law that restricts deer hunting to the daylight hours as [hunters] must not hunt after sunset or before sunrise (A15). The secondary aim used in Freeman s essay is literary. Freeman employs humor when he details the precautionary preparations people make for the deer-hunting season as paint the cow, flag the dog and pray for the cat (20).
Both authors use the descriptive mode in each of their essays. Reno also employs the classification mode, while Freeman adds the narrative mode. Reno uses the descriptive mode when describes State hunting laws as elaborate bureaucracies and
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Government s heavy hand (A15). Freeman also employs the descriptive mode when he details the color of hunter orange as a hideous toxic color that resembles the untimely bloom of an evil flower (20). Reno s essay uses the classification mode when he compares and contrasts the evolution of a deer hunter s attire from early times of buckskins to today s apparel of bright orange and camouflage (A15). Freeman uses the narration mode when he describes the events that happen the first day of deer hunting. He begins in the morning as just before dawn when he heard the first shots fired off throughout the woods, to late morning as by eleven where the shots rapidly came in succession of each other (20).
Both authors employ the literary aim and descriptive mode well. Reno s essay makes good use of the referential aim and Freeman s essay provides good usage of the expressive aim. To evaluate these essays there were certain criteria I looked for. When employing the literary aim I expect the author to exhibit entertaining humor. Reno is entertainingly humorous when he describes the cutting-edge scopes and their usage by hunters as high-tech garbage that make it easier to tell a doe from a Shetland pony (A15). Freeman employs entertaining humor when he describes how the cows survived as they hugged the earth fearfully, like Tommies at the Somme (20). When employing the referential aim I expect the author to provide information. Reno is informative when he tells about the law that does not permit nighttime hunting of deer as laws as you must not hunt deer after sunset or before sunrise (A15). When employing the expressive aim, I expect the author to share his or her own life experiences in the essay. Freeman describes the first sign he saw that signaled him that the deer-hunting
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season was close at hand as I observed an uncanny thing: on the nearest of his animals the word COW had been painted with whitewash letters two feet high (20). In the descriptive mode of writing I expect the author use vivid details. Vivid details are employed by Reno when he recalls his friends story of the ideal kill of a model deer as a 10 pointer, having a perfectly symmetrical rack, and was meticulously gunned downed as, with such precision that he [the deer] collapsed right in front of the butchering shed (A15). Freeman uses vivid details when characterizes the sounds of gun shoots as a fusillade worthy of Antietam (20). Reno s and Freeman s essays are entertaining.