Analysis

Our analysis of Laurie Ashner and Mitch Meyerson’s “Parents Who Love in a Living Hell” interview is inspired by the rhetorical pentagram model. Below you will find a short overview of the main points in our analysis.

In what follows, we will look at the topics of the article – Billy’s behavior and how Billy’s parents react to it.

We will present the writer and his position on the topics of the article, as well as the way he relates to his target audience.

We will also examine the reader – the potential readers of the text and the writer’s target audience. 

We will analyze how the writer uses language tools to achieve his intention. We will look at the choice of words, the sentence structure, the writers’ tone, and at how the writers appeal to the audience’s emotions, trust, and reason.

We will discuss the circumstances of the interview, looking at the circumstances described in the interview and at the historical circumstances referenced there.

Lastly, we will consider the writer’s intention to share his point of view on his son Billy’s behavior and on his family, and connect it with the language tools he uses, the circumstances, and the topics of the interview.

You can find the full analysis in what follows.