A Well-Presented Subject: Using Anecdote to Dramatize the Subject

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 Analyze 
Use the basic features.

In “The Telescope Effect,” Vedantam begins his causal analysis with an anecdote, a story about an actual event. Vedantam could have summarized the anecdote about Hokget in a sentence or two:

A dog was stranded on a ship adrift in the ocean, and after an outpouring of concern, the dog was ultimately rescued.

Instead, he gives readers a brief but dramatic narrative about how Hokget got stranded (in pars. 1–3) and rescued (par. 5).

ANALYZE & WRITE

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Write a paragraph or two analyzing how Vedantam uses anecdote and examples to support his causal analysis:

  1. Reread paragraphs 1–3 and 5, highlighting the details that help to dramatize Hokget’s story. What feelings do these narrative details evoke in you as a reader? Given his purpose, why do you think Vedantam would want to arouse readers’ feelings at the beginning of his analysis?
  2. Reread paragraph 7, contrasting the detail Vedantam provides in telling Hokget’s story with the concise way in which he presents the example of the genocide in Rwanda. Why do you think Vedantam says so much about Hokget’s story but so little about the Rwandan genocide?

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