Rhetorical devices

Anecdotes

The most important rhetorical device in Bibi van der Zee’s article “A feminist’s guide to raising boys” is the anecdote. Throughout the article, van der Zee uses many personal anecdotes from her everyday life with her sons, drawing attention to the difficulties of being a feminist mother of boys, while keeping the audience engaged at the same time.

Many of the anecdotes provide insight into van der Zee’s life with her family. For example, she mentions a conversation she has about the #MeToo movement where she had trouble getting the rest of the family to accept her arguments and see the issue from her point of view:

At one meal, when I tried to explain to a table of men and boys why #MeToo was a necessary act of mass civil disobedience, how the ideal of a rule of law actually shielded white men and protected the status quo, how most women who are assaulted never get justice, it all fell apart. The meaning of rule of law was explained to me. I lost it and walked away in tears. (ll. 52-56)

The personal anecdote shows the difficulties of discussing such topics while at the same time pointing to the need to talk about these issues.

Most of the other ane...