Rhetorical devices

Here, we look at the rhetorical devices that Rachel Cusk uses in her article "Mothers and teenagers: a modern tragedy"

By rhetorical devices we mean language features that make a commun.ication (written or spoken) appealing, that help engage the receivers and keep them focused on the message of the text. Their purpose is to convey meaning and to persuade. Here are some of the most important rhetorical devices Rachel Cusk uses in her article:

The author makes several analogies through similes and metaphors when she compares people and attitudes to other situations: “Sometimes I feel it has displaced me as the navigator of our lives; it has become her compass.” (ll. 17-19)

In this example, the mother is associated with a navigator and the laptop with a compass. Other relevant examples are:

“…her temper instantly rises, like mercury shooting up in a thermometer.” (ll. 23-24);

“…I’m forcing myself on her, like an insistent hostess forcing food on her guests.” (ll. 34-35)

“They talk about their fathers, usually with an experimental air o...