In " Going T o The Movies", Susan Toth uses the style and structure of classification to convey its purpose by grabbing the attention of the audience. In order to get her point across she classifies the dates she went on as well as herself to prove that they are different and to show that each date can be classified. She first begins to classify her dates by who pays when they go to the movies. She begins with Aaron who is a "dutch treat" which means that she has to pay for herself. while the other dates she has are the same or pay for themselves.The pupose of her writing who pays for what is that she wants to show how even though she has gone on plenty dates they are not all the same. These men all fall in diffrent categories. Another way that she shows this is by showing us (the readers) the same date with different men and herself. the way that she is with them weather it be touching or not touching,buying snacks or not , or even paying for things.The reason i feel that this essay is so unique is because she shows classification by having the same dates at the same plays and just showing how different each date is.
Showing posts with label going to the movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label going to the movies. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Classifying to elighten
Anyone can classify or categorize; people do so in their daily routines at school or the workplace. Categorizing with style, though, is something only a few can do. Susan Allen Toth's "Going to the Movies" is a perfect example of this. She classifies the different elements that make up going on a movie date- the type of guy, type of movie, and the interaction between themselves- and uses 3 different dates to represent different categories of movie dates.
Toth doesn't only point out the positives attributes that these 3guys have, she also discusses their downsides. With the exception of Aaron, who doesn't appear to have any good date qualities, Toth points out what these guys do during the date, avoiding bias. A perfect example is Bob, "Inside the theater Bob will hold my hand when I get scared if I ask him. He puts my hand firmly on his knee and covers it completely with his own hand. His knee never twitches"(Toth Paragraph 5). At this point, many readers would think that she would simply keep listing all the positive things that Bob has, but in the next paragraph she addresses how Bob refused to stay for one more drink after a movie because "relationships tend to move too quickly".
Toth does the same thing with the other guys, listing their characteristics and what sets them apart from each other. For example, while Bob likes to watch more documentary-style movies about war, poverty, and other social problems, Sam likes to watch entertaining movies. Again, Toth starts to describe several things about Sam that make him interesting, but then she plays the cards down as explains how he has another girlfriend Duluth. Toth is trying to say that there is no perfect match, up to this point.
In her last paragraph, Toth describes how she sometimes goes to the movies on her own and watches romantic films. Instead of categorizing what she does at the movies, she categorizes what the characters do in the romantic movies- "They smile at each other, I smile at them, I feel they are smiling at me." Toth puts herself in the female character's role in the movies, wishing that it was her living the dream. Toth is trying to convey how a perfect date is only seen in movie films, not in real life.
Toth categorizes all the 3 guys to somehow represent three different kinds of men in America. By explaining what each men does, Toth shows the reader how men do both good and bad things, in the dates. This way, categorizing the actions does the job of telling the whole story instead of her having to explain how she doesn't like the guy. Since, to Toth, there is a right way to do things (most likely what people do in the romantic films she watches on her own), Toth is showing how most guys don't do enough to make her completely happy.
Toth doesn't only point out the positives attributes that these 3guys have, she also discusses their downsides. With the exception of Aaron, who doesn't appear to have any good date qualities, Toth points out what these guys do during the date, avoiding bias. A perfect example is Bob, "Inside the theater Bob will hold my hand when I get scared if I ask him. He puts my hand firmly on his knee and covers it completely with his own hand. His knee never twitches"(Toth Paragraph 5). At this point, many readers would think that she would simply keep listing all the positive things that Bob has, but in the next paragraph she addresses how Bob refused to stay for one more drink after a movie because "relationships tend to move too quickly".
Toth does the same thing with the other guys, listing their characteristics and what sets them apart from each other. For example, while Bob likes to watch more documentary-style movies about war, poverty, and other social problems, Sam likes to watch entertaining movies. Again, Toth starts to describe several things about Sam that make him interesting, but then she plays the cards down as explains how he has another girlfriend Duluth. Toth is trying to say that there is no perfect match, up to this point.
In her last paragraph, Toth describes how she sometimes goes to the movies on her own and watches romantic films. Instead of categorizing what she does at the movies, she categorizes what the characters do in the romantic movies- "They smile at each other, I smile at them, I feel they are smiling at me." Toth puts herself in the female character's role in the movies, wishing that it was her living the dream. Toth is trying to convey how a perfect date is only seen in movie films, not in real life.
Toth categorizes all the 3 guys to somehow represent three different kinds of men in America. By explaining what each men does, Toth shows the reader how men do both good and bad things, in the dates. This way, categorizing the actions does the job of telling the whole story instead of her having to explain how she doesn't like the guy. Since, to Toth, there is a right way to do things (most likely what people do in the romantic films she watches on her own), Toth is showing how most guys don't do enough to make her completely happy.
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