Sample Rhetorical Analysis 2

Sample Summer Rhetorical Analysis

Cynthia Ozick, “The Seam of the Snail”                                                                   

            Cynthia Ozick uses imagery and personal stories to illustrate the differences between her and her mother’s form of excellence. She is able to show the contrast between herself and her mother vividly because the subject is something she knows very well. What can one know better than their own life? Ozick is very self-aware, admitting her own flaws and struggle for perfection. She also recognizes that her mother’s life was lived fully and that it had its own form of excellence. She understands that she will never be like her mother; she is too concerned with the trivial things and perfect details to live lavishly. She is the snail, trapped inside the confinements of flawlessness.

Ozick uses stories of things her mother did when she was growing up to make the character seem familiar and endearing. A reader of this essay will relate to the differences between Ozick and her mother, a woman who, “…thought herself capable of doing anything, and did everything she imagined. But nothing was perfect” (302). For example,
she would fix a wonderful dinner in no time at all, but the place settings would be a little off. The plentiful examples of the things her mother did give Ozick’s readers a clear picture of her mother, as does the descriptive language used throughout the essay. She describes her mother as, “endlessly leafy and flowering” and herself as, “a pinched perfectionist” (303). The similes and descriptions make this essay more engaging and memorable.

Ozick uses the metaphor of the snail to describe herself in a way that makes a lot of sense. She references what the ancients believed about snails: how they work so hard that they wear themselves away until they are completely gone. Ozick does this in her writing, leaving behind a trail of ink in her perfect sentences. The contrast of her and her mother is made complete with the mention of the snail’s seam-where its very essence oozes out. This is as opposed to her mother’s seams, which were never quite perfect, but hidden underneath her elegance and optimism. The strange thing is, Ozick is able to tell this story because of her painstaking efforts for perfection in her writing. This essay, full of images and rich language, is the result of the miniscule things that Ozick so cared about and her mother ignored.