The author, a sports writer named Rick Reilly, seeks to impart the reason why he has chosen to resign to all of his fans as well as highlight the emotional journey that has led up to his retirement.
Growing isn’t easy for everybody. Some people have it easy and are able to live a normal life. That however was not the case for Rick Reilly; he grew up with a drunk of a father that used to abuse him. Which resulted in Reilly developing a need to be a better father to his children than his father was to him. This serves as the basis for why Reilly thinks that it is his time to resign. In other words, being a better father is more important to him than his career. To convey that fact Reilly uses a series of rhetorical strategies to persuade the reader into seeing things from his point of view. He uses the appeal pathos to elicit an emotional response from the reader, allowing the audience to be more emotionally invested. The author draws out emotions such as sympathy and sadness to achieve this effect, by using poignant diction such as, “terrifying,” “trembling,” and “temper”. …show more content…
He uses an analogy comparing his messy hair to his behaviour; to make it possible for anyone to picture it. The immediate effect of this is on the audience because it allows the audience to better understand how bad Reilly was in his younger days. As well as how much he has improved which will help in understanding why he has decided to resign. To elaborate, it helps by causing the audience to realize that Reilly now knows that value of having a good father in one’s value. He now knows that by having a good father he wouldn’t have to learn all life’s values such as respect from strangers. This adds to purpose by unlocking another reason why resigning and being there for his kid is his most important priority, being that he doesn't want his kid to have learned life’s values from