Point Of View Essay Essay

The speaker makes an announcement for the performance of the little students on a song. The children have started to line up. Their innocent faces and actions charm their way into the audience’s hearts, and their little mistakes remain forgotten amidst their excited faces. One cute little kid drops his prop, and while trying to pick it up, he falls down. A smile spreads across the face of everyone in the audience, as they appreciate the efforts of the kids. The teachers continue to guide their students throughout the performance. The girls are dressed in attractive pink frocks with pretty doll-like white shoes while the boys are dressed in black three piece suits with a bow on their collars. The girls are wearing white hats provide a unique contrast with the purple umbrellas in their hands as a prop.
The speaker in a not-so-excited tone announced the upcoming performance of the kids of the nursery class. Suddenly, the stage area becomes a battlefield as teachers run around to arrange the students in their proper formation. Some kids stumble in their efforts to take their positions and in this process, confuse the other kids as well. Some teachers shout instructions at the top of their lungs, and their yells can be heard despite the loud music. The audience members crane their necks to see the performance, or rather, the chaos on the stage. Although the dresses of the girls and boys are attractive, the purple umbrellas do not go with the whole look of the performance, and it seems to be a bad choice.

Rhetorical Analysis:

While writing positively about the event, I made use of adjectives like ‘innocent’ and ‘excited’ in order to highlight the perspective of the kids rather than an outsider viewing them objectively. Although the mistakes are also pointed out in the positive paragraph, they have been covered by underlining the delight and the excitement of the students. The use of adjectives has therefore played a pivotal role in making the paragraph sound positive. While writing negatively, the mistakes of the students have been pointed out like a scene of “chaos”. In the very beginning, the stage is referred to as a ‘battlefield’, thus setting a negative outlook towards the entire performance. While the kid who stumbles is referred to as cute in the positive paragraph, it is known to add to the confusion in the negative paragraph. This is therefore just a change of perspective. While it does look adorable to see a little kid falling while trying to grab his prop, it does cause a mix-up on the stage. However, by highlighted the good part of the incident, the negative part can be ignored.
In the positive paragraph, the teachers are seen to be guiding the kids throughout the performance. This means that they are leading the kids in and out of the stage and are helping them form lines and other arrangements. However, the teachers in this process are shouting instructions to their students, which is highlighted in the negative paragraph, thus making the whole performance sound disorganized and not a pleasant sight. The shrillness of their shouts is further emphasized by writing that they can be heard even over the loud music. This irksome feeling created by the mentioned shouts and yells engenders an uncomfortable feeling in the reader, thus ruining the impression about the performance.
In the positive paragraph, the dresses of the girls and boys are described with attention to detail in order to make them sound more attractive. However, in the negative paragraph, no attention has been paid to describe the dresses of the kids. Rather, the paragraph ends with calling the color of umbrellas a “bad choice”. By paying no heed to the beautiful dresses adorned by the kids, the paragraph does not let the reader become involved in the colors and appreciate them. Rather, they just call the umbrellas to be seemingly out of tune with the performance. Therefore, lack of detail has been used in order to create a different effect. The same umbrellas are referred to as providing a “unique contrast” in the positive paragraph, without pointing out any opinion regarding the contrast. The reader is left to decide for himself whether the contrast would look good or not. Not only does it spark the imagination of the reader but it also does not outrightly tell the reader what to think about the colors of the dresses and the props.

Reflection:

I have learned that by just changing or eliminating a few words or details, a description can be transformed from positive to negative or vice versa. This writing technique can be used to manipulate the thoughts of the reader especially in news reporting. A newspaper that is pro-government can make an event sound in favor of the government while a pro-opposition newspaper can do the same. However, it is more likely to leave the audience confused.