The Use of Language in the Critical Thinking - Essay Example

A) My high school teacher Samuel John became my guardian angel and our family friend by sheer co-incidence. My mother was critically ill and was admitted in a hospital for emergency treatment. My father and brother were away then. Though our financial situation was reasonable, I could not arrange enough funds for a surgery that the doctors prescribed. I could sense our nest was in storm and I was the one to do something to save it. I tried to reason with the authorities so as to pay the fees after the surgery. But the emotional drizzle failed to move the rock. I was walking out of their office when someone called me from behind: “Hey Joe, what are you doing here?” I looked back to find Mr. John walking towards me. I told him about the situation, and he listened to me attentively, asking for even the minute details before saying: “Joe, I am a member of the management advisory committee here.I will deal with this.” “Bare you sure. Is it not a risk?” “Listen Joe, I like to take some risks in life, especially when it is for a good cause.” My eyes welled up with tears as I realized how the tumultuous climate changed, and the peaceful sun rose above chaos. In a matter of seconds the surgery took place and everything went well. Mr. John was by my side when I saw my mother coming to consciousness. “Mom, this is Mr. John, my English teacher. He helped us through this” And the first words from my mother were to Mr. John. “Thank you very much Mr. John for being our beacon of light. I was worried that my son was alone at this difficult time, and now I am sure that we are never alone.” “You’re right. We are never alone. We are here for each other.” John said, all smiles. This remained an experience so deeply engraved in my mind for the years to come, influencing my attitudes to the general condition of human existence. B) It had been a challenge to make good use language in the critical thinking passage above. The effective usage of language is capable of enhancing the argumentative aspects. I adopted a metaphorical approach to make the critical aspect of the essay interesting and pertinent. The most important factor regarding the effective representation of critical thinking had been the use of language and its diversity. The metaphorical elements could be brought in only through a preconceived, thoughtfully embellished language. I made use of the concept of climatic references that affect a bird’s nest to describe the event of my mother’s illness that affected my family. Without saying too much, it creates the desired effect. My position as the only responsible person at home at a crucial time because my father and brother were not available could be expressed well through this metaphor. The metaphor of a “guardian angel” applied to Mr. Samuel John, which appears first in the narrative, becomes very relevant in the situation where I say that “our nest was in storm”. When I describe my attempt in vain to persuade the hospital authorities to carry on the surgery with the assurance that the fees could be paid later, I make use of yet another metaphor that relates to climatic conditions. I say that the “emotional drizzle failed to move the rock”. I believe this conveys the idea that my efforts were unsuccessful in moving the authority’s decision. It would not have made a better impact if I just gave a literal description of what happened. When the crisis is solved, I describe the situation as follows: “…the tumultuous climate changed, and the peaceful sun rose above chaos”. Finally Mr. John is seen as a “beacon of light” by my mother. All these metaphors work together and create a very good effect throughout the passage. Language had empowering and restricting effects on the narrative as a whole. While conceiving the elements of the narrative, the most challenging factor was the necessity to limit it to a specific word count. The event described is something that had a profound effect on me in a personal level. It could in fact be considered a personal epiphany. When one tries to recount such an incident, it is possible that the narrative becomes wordy. What one feels strongly about the incident may not seem significant to readers. Therefore, it had to be kept in mind that the interest of the readers should be maintained through elements of identification. The use of metaphorical description became relevant in this context. By making use of a general metaphor and supporting it with various individual metaphors related to it, a specific mood could be created. However, this was not an easy process. When one thinks of a major metaphor in the narrative, one has to structure the writing in such a ways that all the events are concomitant to that metaphor that the writing does not seem forced or contrived. One also has to use words that are easily understood by the common reader. Otherwise, the whole idea may not be communicated well. These restrictions could be overcome by the immense possibility language provides to connect with the readers through vivid imagination. The seemingly simple narrative passage had to serve a persuasive function as well. I tried to present the incident as an example of human togetherness. It concludes that people are never alone if we could stand for each other in times of crises. The entire passage revolves around the theme and comes to this natural conclusion. This is also made possible by the strong metaphors that run through the narrative. The use of climatic references brings in the image of natural solutions to general crises where each element of Nature works towards it. The cyclical nature of life could also be represented through the allusion to nature. The hard phase in my life was enough to break my spirit, but the natural course of events and the timely intervention of a fellow being make a great difference to it. This idea could be achieved within the word limit only with the help of using some effective metaphors. Overall, the writing could remain terse and persuasive with the help of the metaphorical references. The critical thinking that lies beneath the entire passage helps it in being effectively persuasive. The seemingly neutral descriptions in the beginning turn out to be valid persuasive elements in the conclusion because the narration is based on critical thinking. Read More