Revision for Stylistic Analysis: The Unbelievable Truth of not Studying

The article, I’d Rather Be Studying: The True Story of Sara Bellum by Prof. John Pease, tackles college student’s poor studying habits. It’s about a woman named Sara Bellum who was a freshman at the University of Maryland in 1983. She was a smart and bright woman, but collegiate social life distracted her. Instead of studying for tests, she made social life her main priority. She concentrated on being popular, going to parties, meeting new people, and neglected her studies. During midterm’s week, Sara panicked; she had no idea what to do and had a midterm the next day. She tried to study the day before the test in the library, but instead of studying, she chated with people. Sara woke up early, but to no avail. She buckled under the pressure and panicked during the midterm. She asked to go the bathroom and ended up fainting, hitting her head on a chair and the ground. The impact from the chair and the floor killed Sara instantly.
To tell this tragic story. Pease uses several literary and rhetorical devices including, metaphors, asyndeton, anaphora, and motives directed toward the reader. Even punctuation such as quotation marks are used to make the article more intriguing in his tale if bad study habits’ deadly consequences. Without using these different types of rhetorical devices and figures of speech, the article might not have been as interesting for the readers.
The first figure of speech he uses is metaphor, which is used to compare two unlike things. Pease replaces many colloquial words for a more fancy and abstract ones, such as when Sara learns the library , “is a holding pen for a milling crowd of hundreds of students looking for dates” (Pease Paragraph 4). Pease compares the library to a holding pen, which suggests a singles-bar meat market. Pease conveys that the library is used more for hooking up than studying. By using a metaphor, the author helps the audience, through this analogy, get a feel for the library’s atmosphere. Another metaphor is his use of “flushed.” “Sara woke the next morning flushed with anxiety” (Pease Paragraph 5). Even though it is just one word, this word replaces several colloquial words that could have been used such as “embarrassed”, “ashamed.” “Flushed” suggest a more artful visual of Sara. With the help of the metaphors, he helps the reader understand and relate to Sara’s feelings.
The second technique he uses is parallelism, is a schemes of balance . This is often found in the order to grammatically equivalent items in pairs or series. Parallelism, uses words, phrases or clauses to make connections. For example, “She had meant to study. She was going to study. She wanted to study” (Pease Paragraph 5). In this quote, Pease uses the “she had,” “she was,” “she wanted” for emphasis, with a staccato rhythm. This makes an important point to the audience want to study and to urge Sara to study. This helps draw the audience into Sara’s plight and perspective.
The third technique, anaphora, is a scheme of repetition, namely a repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence. In the repetition of the following examples, it uses the ability to engage with the audience about what is happening and why this is a very important point in the story: “Why? Why didn’t I study?”(Pease Paragraph 7). This quote is presented at
the beginning of the paragraph, then repeated at the end. This implies an important question that echoes in Sara’s and readers’ minds. By using this technique, the author adds weight to the moment. Anaphora is also used in this article as a colloquial way to relate to the audience.
The fourth technique is Motives Focused on the reader. Pease only uses motives focused on the reader once in this article which is “Oh rats” (Pease, Paragraph 8). This quote gives, the phrasing in the sentence a direction, using Sara’s reaction to her not studying and how she is doomed and cannot do anything about it. “Oh rats” is a common expression people use in difficult situations to avoid foul language or to convey being trapped or confused, not knowing what to do next. The audience can relate to this concept because it is commonly used in every day conversations.
The punctuation of quotation marks are used throughout the article indicating that there is a conversation taking place between two or more people. By using quotation marks, the reader tells the audience this block of text is important. For example, “She’s dead!”, “No”, (Pease, Paragraph 9) is quotation marks that indicate a student gasped. It also gives the audience a sense that the character or characters are communicating something important. It also creates a more colloquial vibe and creates dialogue. Without having these quotes in his article, it would be difficult to understand the author’s meaning.
The purpose of this article, is the tragic event for not studying , Pease gives the audience a better understanding of this article by using different literary and rhetorical devices, as well as punctuation marks. By incorporating all of these techniques, the writer helps the audience grasp his intended messages. The author is also able to make a connection with audience – – namely college students. The idea of poor study habits is the theme of the article, and readers can get a perspective on the difficulties students face when attending college and trying to balance many things all at once. Without using these techniques or devices, the article would be less interesting for readers and make less of an impact. The author knew exactly who his audience was, so he targeted college students and ensured the story reflected college students’ point of view. Pease knew exactly how to make this article come to life.