Rhetorical Analysis of Why We Travel by Pico Iyer

Why We Travel by Pico Iyer is a great essay that gives a platform for rhetorical analysis to understand the strategies and devices that have been used by the author to make the writing appealing and meaningful to the readers. The essay justifies various reason why we should travel. The author, Pico Iyer is a great writer who has experience in writing issues relating to travel. He uses strategies that make the readers have the urge to continue reading the text without boredom. Among the devices, he uses include narrator presence, listings of various justifications for an idea, historical and geographical inclusion in the essay to ensure that the readers have a better understanding. Therefore, in the essay, Pico Iyer has demonstrated to have the relevant skills to use rhetorical devices that make the writing attractive and clear.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The essay uses an active narrator. Iyer acquires the role of the persona in the essay to explain the importance of traveling. He uses his daily experiences to explain the problems that human beings face in their daily activities. It is these challenges and tiring work that makes people plan for travels as a method of refreshing their minds. The narrator being the persona in the essay makes the readers trust the information presented in the writing since it is first hand (Thomas). Some reported writings might cause doubts among the readers since they may feel that an error could have occurred in the process of transferring the information. First person writing also makes the readers have a personal relationship to the situation being described and thus a close understanding (Iyer). For instance, when Iyer states "We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate," the readers get personal to the statement since the writer uses "we" a term that also seems to include the reader.

The author is conversant with the strategy of diversifying the approach on the field of travel. He seems to understand that different readers may need a different justification of why we travel and thus the writer has applied several reasons to ensure that any reader finds the essay appealing depending on his or her situation ("Why We Travel By Pico Iyer - A Paraphrastic Reflection"). For example, the writer knows that some people may travel so that they can get peace and put things in line. In such a case, the author may justify the situation through the use of varying situations. For example, he states that "We travel to find ourselves." Also, he stated that "we travel to lose ourselves (Lenz)." Furthermore, he also stated that we travel to open our hearts and learn about the world because the news platform does not give all available information (Iyer). The author also used other instances in the explanation of why we travel. Therefore, he aimed at ensuring that everyone finds a reason to continue reading the essay since one or more circumstances may relate to his or her daily experiences or current situation. If the author had only given one reason why we travel, some of the readers would have lost interest in the essay since they may feel that it was not meant for them. For example, if he stated that we travel to get relieved from stress we are undergoing, then people with no stress will not find the reason why they should travel. Thus, it is important to include various approaches to ensure that various people are attracted to the readings.

The essay also involved various geographical inclusions all over the world. The author described various places in the justification of why we should travel. For example, the essay notes, "And we travel to fill in the gaps left by tomorrow's headlines: When you drive down the streets of Port-au-Prince, for example, where there is almost no paving, and women relieve themselves next to mountains of trash, your notions of the Internet and a "one world order" grow usefully revised. Travel is the best way we have of rescuing the humanity of places and saving them from abstraction and ideology (Iyer)." The explanation makes the reader have the interest in visiting Port-au-Prince to understand the way of life of the women. Additionally, it creates a practical application of the life of human being so that they can believe that such things happen. An essay giving facts without the exact geographical locations makes the readers feel that the narration is a myth or a product of hearsay. Iyer ensures that he severally gives a geographical connection to the statement he gives in the essay to make it lively and easy to relate. Another instance of geographical inclusion is where he records, "I find that I always take Michael Jordan posters to Kyoto, and bring woven ikebana baskets back to California; I invariably travel to Cuba with a suitcase piled high with bottles of Tylenol and bars of soap and come back with one piled high with salsa tapes, and hopes, and letters to long-lost brothers." Thus, this gives a clear image that Iyer was a traveler and thus his writings are taken more seriously by the readers.

Iyer also used metaphors to make essay clear and related to daily activities. For example, he closely described the issue of traveling in relation to love affairs. He stated, "For if every true love affair can feel like a journey to a foreign country, where you can't quite speak the language, and you don't know where you're going, and you're pulled ever deeper into the inviting darkness, every trip to a foreign country can be a love affair, where you're left puzzling over who you are and whom you've fallen in love with (Iyer)." In the explanation, it is clear that Iyer closely associated with a journey to another country with a good feeling of love. Many people know how it feels to be loved or to love, and thus they can understand the experience on has when he travels to a foreign country. Iyer has chosen this relationship since it is common to very many people. Additionally, he also used similes to makes the reader understand the concepts of traveling. For instance, he states, "And all good trips are, like love, about being carried out of yourself and deposited in the midst of terror and wonder." An essay without close interrelation with the daily experience of men may be boring and thus the reader may quit reading it. Moreover, it may seem to a fictional story that seems not to be educative but only a type of entertainment. Therefore, it is reasonable to appreciate the efforts of Iyer to use both metaphors and similes as a method of helping the readers easily understand concepts.

The author of the essay also used historical information to explain the concepts of traveling. Iyer ensured that he severally used past information that is known to various people to enhance the understanding of the readers. It is evident that people started traveling for various reasons a long time ago. Since people are conversant with several past travels, the author uses some of the common ones to ensure that the readers have a close connection. For example, he writes, "In the mid-19th century, the British famously sent the Bible and Shakespeare and cricket round the world; now a more international kind of Empire is sending Madonna and the Simpsons and Brad Pitt. And the way in which each culture takes in this common pool of references tells you as much about them as their indigenous products might (Iyer)." The statement shows that the author appreciated history and linked it to show that the reasons for traveling in the past days is the same as the current ones. Only slight changes may occur due to the changing world.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is appropriate to acknowledge that Pico Iyer is a great author who understands the importance of using different devices and strategies to make the readers understand the concepts presented in the essay and also have the urge to continue reading it. In the essay, Why We Travel, Iyer uses various styles such as historical concepts, geographical connections, metaphors, and similes among other concepts that may be used to make writing more meaningful. Therefore, the organization of the essay and its setting is appropriate to the readers since it focuses on broad reasons why we should travel.

Works Cited

Iyer, Pico. "Why We Travel | - Pico Iyer Journeys -". Picoiyerjourneys.Com, 2000, http://picoiyerjourneys.com/index.php/2000/03/why-we-travel/. Accessed 22 Oct 2018.

Lenz, Sophie. "Pico Iyer: Why We Travel and Where is Home." Tedxvienna, 2013, https://www.tedxvienna.at/blog/pico-iyer-why-we-travel-and-where-is-home/ Accessed 22 Oct 2018

Thomas, Jack. "The Importance Of Narrators". Prezi.Com, 2013, https://prezi.com/crlfykf8hndt/the-importance-of-narrators/. Accessed 22 Oct 2018.

"Why We Travel By Pico Iyer - A Paraphrastic Reflection". Lison Travels To Ghana, 2012, https://lisontravels.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/why-we-travel-by-pico-iyer-a-paraphrastic-reflection/. Accessed 22 Oct 2018.