Rhetorical Analysis
The Estrangement A mother is such a complex figure to think about. Mothers are expected to be loving, caring, sweet, but also firm and disciplinary. As seen around the world, mothers share different values and beliefs on raising their children. Many believe that the way a mother cares for her child molds the child into a certain adult. In ways, mothers have a power over their children that, as kids, are hard for our brains to grasp. In the article, The Estrangement, written by Jamaica Kincaid, thoughts on her mother are revealed and accessible to analyze. She shares her story about her mother/daughter relationship and throughout her story, The Estrangement, shows an underlining argument of the reality of the biased views children have towards their mothers. Jamaica Kincaid was born in 1949 in a hospital in Antigua. She moved to the United States at age 16 where she went to school at the New School for Social Research and Franconia College. Her jobs include being a staff writer for the New Yorker, teaching classes at various colleges and writing papers for The Rolling Stone, The Paris Review and other publications. The Estrangement was written in 2008 and appeared in an issue of AARP, a magazine about health and relationships. Jamaica Kincaid reveals in The Estrangement her complex relationship with her mother. In the short essay, Kincaid talks about past experiences with her mother. She reveals the last time she talked to her on the phone, three years before her death. She explains how other people thought of her mom as selfless and generous but none of these traits were ever showed to her as a child. After listing out all of these past experiences Kincaid then talks about herself as a mother. She recounts how, now as a mom, she, too, has her complex relationships with her children. The Estrangement is written using pathos and one can sense a slight bitter, resentment taste in the author’s voice.
In The Estrangement, one gets the idea that Kincaid’s
In The Estrangement, one gets the idea that Kincaid’s