Although, Kinneavy may see many different genre categories in the text "One day, Now Broken in Two" by Anna Quindlen--I do not see a set genre for the whole text. This text, which speaks about the events that happened on September 11, 2001 seems to have a mixture of three different genres. I see the following three genres blurred together to make one text: memorial, reflection, and persuasion. I believe that Quindlen shows these three genres very explicitly. Memorial is shown throughout her writing, one example is when she says, "The American People used their own simple routines to muffle the horror they felt looking at the indelible loop of tape--the plane, the flames, the plane, the fire, the falling bodies, the falling buildings." This excerpt describing 9-11 illustrates the way memory comes into play in the text. She also uses reflection with her own experiences, and with her family, "September 11 is my eldest child's birthday." Lastly, I see persuasion many times in Quindlen's writing; this is obviously shown here, "We are people of two minds now, the one that looks forward and the one that unwillingly and unexpectedly flashes back." By using the term 'we,' she is putting herself into the equation, but she is also telling her audience how they feel or how they should feel about the past and present.
Just like the many genres, this text also shows more than one of Kenneavy's 'Basic Purposes of Composition' principles. First and far most, Quindlen's text is quite referential--I believe that Kinneavy would agree with this. He describes this principle as "Discourse dominated by subject matter (reality talked about) is called referential discourse" (301). The piece is definitely driven by the subject of 9-11--that is the basis of the whole text. Kinneavy splits this referential standard into three parts: exploratory, which asks questions; informative, which answers questions; scientific, which proves the answer. Looking at Kinneavy's definitions of these three categories, I would determine that this text could fall under any category. Quindlen asks many questions in this article, which could cause this article to be exploratory, "Who are we now?" She is asking who we are as United States citizens. She also answers these questions, "We are people whose powers have been challenged by the revelations of the careful planning..." Although, this article does not show nearly as much of the scientific side of things--Quindlen does prove her answers, at least as she views them. She also brings in the optimist's, pessimist's, and the realist's views to prove her point. Although, Kinneavy may not agree with my thought here, I can view this text as also having scientific qualities.
From what has been said, it can be thought that Anna Quindlen writes quite a referential piece, I can also say that her piece is quite persuasive. Kinneavy says persuasive discourse is "discourse which focusses on eliciting a specific reaction from the decoder and is dominated by this request for reaction emerges as persuasion or rhetoric" (301). Although, I feel that the persuasiveness of Quindlen comes second to her referential style, she definitely has a persuasive flair to her writing. You especially see this in the very last sentence when she states, "That is the way we have to live, or we cannot really go on living at all." She is swaying the audience to go on living in two parts after the 9-11 attack, to remember 9-11, but know that September 11 is still a normal day on the calendar.
Lastly, with such subject matter, it is important to take a look at Quindlen's audience. She is certainly talking to American citizens. This article would not be effective if it was read by someone who lives in another country. Although, they may feel for the United States--they will not be able to relate to the actual 9-11 attacks. Quindlen relates to her audience by putting herself in her writing, by using the term 'we' instead of 'you,' and by being an American herself. This scenario makes Kinneavy's triangle very easily put together, we have the encoder, who is Anna Quindlen, the American, the decoder, which is the readers--also Americans, and the reality, which is 9-11.
In conclusion, it is easy to see that "One Day, Now Broken in Two" follows two of Kinneavy's key principles, referential and persuasive. This proves that his strategies are not static, in fact, there are many genres that could fit into all of his standards. We can also conclude that this article would not be nearly as powerful if read by a non-U.S. citizen, it needs to have an audience that can relate to the reality that it is speaking of.
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