AP English 11
August 1, 2011
Road Warrior SOAPSTone
Road Warrior is an essay describing the typical obstacles an average person encounters. Dave illustrates the many scenarios that cause him to rage. He presents these observations in a considerably exaggerated and sarcastic manner. In this way it keeps the readers interests and gives an example to what a typical person would recount these situations as. But towards the end, the subject isn’t just an essay expressing the many things that aggravates him but also pointing out that the general public gets agitated over everything, which in some cases result to unnecessary violence that can be easily avoided if people were more calm and collective.
Throughout the entire essay he was expressing his opinion in a captious but realistic approach, which would identify it as a critique. By presenting his paper in this aspect he can expose all the faults he sees so similar minded individuals can also relate to him. Road Warriors does specify the time or location but one can infer the essay’s time of creations is likely written after an encounter with “road rage”. Dave capitalizes certain phrases in his essay to emphasize his frustration, as if he was venting to someone about it. There aren’t any details as to where it was written. He doesn’t state anything about the occasion in general at all.
Dave’s audience really ranges from adolescent to the elderly. He mocks minors by referring them as “testosterone- deranged youth “ giving minors a negative connotation and also assuming all teenagers are crazy drivers and they’re the ones tailgating and cutting him off. Motorist are also mentioned, he bashes on them by alluding motorist belong to a cult where driving on the right is forbidden, exaggerating the fact that they drive on the left. He ridicules these types of people to point them out and to inform those individuals of their actions. The author’s general audience for this essay is anyone looking for something fun to read. It is shown by his explicit use of exaggeration and mockery, which is interesting and attention-grabbing making it entertaining to read. Since it’s amusing to read it’ll attract people who are looking for this genre.
Overall lesson of Road Warriors is to address there are many things that will anger a person and that we can avoid unnecessary violence if we could all stay calm. The last couple sentences he states “My point is there are many causes for rage in our modern world, and if we’re going to avoid unnecessary violence, we need to “keep our cool”, he explicitly states his intent for the essay, people get infuriated for a number of reasons but by staying calm everything will work out. Throughout the whole essay he talks about different type of rages. First he states road rage which is really common, the parking lot rage also common, but he eventually gets down to Automated Telephone Answering System Rage, from that point it’s noticeable he’s trying to convey that just about anything can aggravate someone .
The speaker is easily identified as Dave Barry; the author of this essay. I can assume that Dave is very sarcastic and humorous in telling his stories, since he refers to his encounters with a number of drivers as “moving at the speed of deceased livestock” and many of the other examples he give to describe the many category of drivers. I imaged him a male around their late twenties around his early thirties based on the fact that he perceives himself as the few “good “drivers out there , for someone to consider themselves experienced they’re required to have a generous amount of experience as well. He also characterize himself as a typical American; angry at just about everything. Since he’s an accomplished communist I can assume he makes more than average.
Dave articulates an amusing and entertaining attitude about the variety of rages one can experience in Road Warriors. These attitudes are expressed by his excessive use of capitalization, punctuation and sarcasm. By capitalizing different phrases I can see that he’s trying to make a point and by expressing himself in a humorous and cynical way makes it intriguing to read. His attitude towards the essay makes it easier to see it in his aspect since the audience can relate and to also make a statement about the different types of people that drive poorly. From have a interesting tone people can relate to it and will find amusing since he mocks just about everyone be includes in this essay.