How I Bluffed My Way through College by Kate Harding - Article Example

Teacher’s Rhetorical Analysis of “How I bluffed my way through college.” INTRODUCTION Well-known blogger and writer Kate Harding in her essay “How I bluffed my way through college” dismisses the belief that one needs to read classics if one wants to become a writer. Harding’s purpose is to impress upon readers idea that school and college curriculum that includes assigned texts are not thrilling and worthwhile but merely a test of tolerance for boredom. She adopts satirical tone to convey her readers the idea that one can have a degree in English without reading quotations from Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby; even can get a Ph.D in English without reading Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick.” THESIS STATEMENT Kate Harding, in the article “How I bluffed my way through college”, in down-to-earth style and emphatic tone confesses that she majored in English without reading classics, and wonders whether it matters for anyone in becoming a successful writer. LOGOS, PATHOS, ETHOS Harding should have titled the essay “Why I bluffed” instead of “How I bluffed.” Using rhetorical device anaphora she tries to justify her act for not reading classics while her goal was to get a degree in English literature. Harding throughout the essay uses puns and anaphora as her principal rhetorical strategies. The article describes Kate Harding through the eyes of Mr. White, her English teacher and her mother; it also presents Harding’s version of herself. Harding uses these descriptions as evidence and reasoning (logos), utilizes them to explain why she bluffed (pathos) and concludes that she eventually became a successful writer without reading classics (ethos). ANALYSIS Harding begins her essay by dividing her schoolmates into two groups; one who adored Mr. White, the English teacher and other who despised (“How I bluffed” par. 1). She does not clarify the reasons, but readers can easily guess that Mr. White liked to give students plenty of assigned texts; the nerds adored him for it while the rest despised. Nevertheless, she acknowledges that Mr. White, among most adults, knew her best, and was able to describe to the point who she was: ““Kate will never be a cheerleader, but she has a genuine love of learning (“How I bluffed” par. 1).” The author uses antithesis as rhetorical strategy to describe her passion for learning, ‘She is never without a book; usually not the assigned text (“How I bluffed” par. 1).” Kate Harding uses her English teacher’s assessment as an ethical explanation to justify that even though she never liked the assigned texts, but she was always with books and she loved to learn. It is in another way to say does it matter reading classics to become a writer. Harding provides further explanation to justify her aversion towards assigned texts. She uses cause and effect rhetorical mode to explain why between seventh grade and B.A., she only did about a third of the reading assignments (“How I bluffed” par. 2). Then she admonishes her readers that it was not because she was a bad or lazy student, but she had a finicky nature (“How I bluffed” par 2.), which she later recognized as Attention Deficit and Hearing Deficit (ADHD) disease. Harding uses rhetorical strategies in the forms pun and simile, “reading past Page 3 of a book that didn’t immediately hold my interest felt like going to the zoo and being forced to watch the naked mole rats for hours (“How I bluffed” par. 2)” in order to explain that it was not her but the assigned texts were too dull. At the same time, she clarifies that not all readings were dull. She defends herself using metaphor. She elaborates “I knew how thrilling books could be, and I was appalled by the notion that the most ostensibly worthwhile reading — i.e., the kind we were assigned — should feel like eating my literary vegetables (“How I bluffed” par. 3). She further uses persuasive strategy to explain that she did not forget her responsibility of reading, “So I ignored my homework and let myself be effortlessly absorbed by, for example, Tom Robbins’ twisted sense of humor; Stephen King’s evocative descriptions and zippy, foul-mouthed dialogue; J.D. Salinger’s angsty, gifted teens (“How I bluffed” par. 3).” These are all attempts to ask the readers should she be blamed for not doing her homework as a student. At the same time, she understands that there will be readers who would blame her for wrongdoing; they will view her act as unethical perhaps like her mother “without a corresponding work ethic and tolerance for boredom — wouldn’t do a damned thing for me in college (“How I bluffed” par. 5).” She repeatedly clarifies that she had a genuine love for reading. However, real love for reading is not enough; one needs a college degree. Harding explains she knew it and had no choice but to get a degree. “After five years of competition and self-recrimination, I was suddenly indistinguishable from the diligent geeks and charming ass-kissers who’d made their parents proud all along (“How I bluffed” par. 12)”: she uses sarcasm to distinguish herself from other students who achieved their degrees by following the curriculum. However, her cumulative GPA 1.56 to some extent bothers her conscience. Nevertheless, she tries to refuse it, “I was now the proud recipient of an English degree — and I had never read the classics (“How I bluffed” par. 11).” Of course, pun remains her principle rhetorical strategy when her conscience is bothered, “My spectacular underachieving was a head-scratcher for all involved (“How I bluffed” par. 13). However, she tries to explain that her underachieving is not associated with being a lazy or party girl. Harding uses problem and solution rhetorical mode to speak with those readers who might think that she got a bad grade because she was a party girl perhaps with a rebellious character. She expands her appeal, “I was never a party girl or even that much of a rebel. I despised my body too much to pursue self-destructive sexual encounters (“How I bluffed” par. 14).” This section of the story from the rhetorical strategic viewpoint sounds more like an exaggeration. CONCLUSION The essay is written in the form of confession. Readers can quickly notice that Kate Harding as a student was afraid to be classified as a stereotype personality. We notice it when she explains why she did not like to read the assigned texts. The same is seen when she explains that she never wanted to be judged as a troubled teen. She advances her argument using emotions, passion, and sentiment. Her arguments incorporate description of her struggle with ADHD, untreated depression, body shame and her confession about being raped during the first week in college (“How I bluffed” par. 14-15). The use of puns and irony as rhetorical devices perhaps Kate Harding’s outstanding characteristics in pursuing her readers. The same is observed in her work “Fat, yes. Ashamed, no.” Kate has body mass index of around 34 and she wear a UK 18-20 size dresses; however, she says, “However, despite the health ministers belief that hearing the word fat from doctors would be a wake-up call to folks my size, Im personally not fazed by the F-word at all (“Fat, Yes. Ashamed, no” Par. 1). In “How I bluffed my way through college”, Harding pursues her readers that she was not that much of the rebel. However, “Part of me can’t stop wanting to try for a Ph.D. in English lit just so I could hang that degree on my office wall like the head of a bear I done wrassled and kilt with my own two hands. I won, you bastard. Not you. (“How I bluffed” par. 18)” just says the opposite. The same rebellion voice is heard in “Fat, yes. Ashamed, no.“: “Believe me, I would love to live in a culture where fat merely means having more adipose tissue than average, and in which that implies nothing about ones character. Thats why I shamelessly call myself fat, no matter how many people insist that both the word and my body demand some measure of embarrassment and apology” (“Fat, yes. Ashamed, no” par. 6). The rebellious character of Kate Harding cannot be ignored. However, for most of the readers Kate Harding successfully explained that, at this stage, the cumulative GPA 1.56 and a degree in English without reading classics does not matter. Works Cited "Fat, yes. Ashamed, no." the guardian.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2015 . "How I bluffed my way through college - Salon.com." salon.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2015 . Read More