Shame: Rhetorical Analysis
Distinguished activist and comedian, Dick Gregory, in his essay, “Shame,” crafts a story of the first time he remembers feeling ashamed. Gregory’s purpose is to share with his readers the story of how he learned the real meaning of shame, and how it has gone on to affect his life. He achieves this purpose through the use of strong imagery, negatively connotative diction, and the use of figurative language. Dick Gregory makes use of strong imagery throughout his essay, often describing in great detail his life as a young boy growing up in an impoverished family. Gregory's use of details such as when he describes the day he learned the meaning of shame. He states, “It was on a Thursday. I was sitting in the back of the room, in a seat with a chalk circle drawn around it. The idiot’s seat, the trouble-maker’s seat.” (paragraph 4). Gregory’s use of imagery puts the reader into the situation Gregory was in as a young boy, and allows them to better understand just how humiliated Gre...