Henry Chen

Professor: Christen Enos

ENGW 1111: First Year Writing
Rhetorical Analysis

An Engulfing Fireball in a Water Park

What was supposed to be a fun waterpark party quickly turned into chaotic hell. On June
27th, 2015, an explosion occurred incident in Taipei Formosa Fun Coast Water Park, setting
hundreds of people on fire as they later suffered from burns1. Many believe that the explosion
was caused by the colour powder that was used in a rave party in the water park2. The reason
being that the powder mainly contains colouring and mainly cornstarch that is considered to be
highly flammable3. When the incident happened, nearly 500 people were injured and burned4.
The CNN news article All her skin was gone: Horrific aftermath of fireball at Taiwan water
park was written by Jethro Mullen on June 29th to inform the readers about an incident of an
explosion at a waterpark that happened in Taipei, Taiwan. The article mainly targeted audiences
who are regular CNN viewers or adults who are interested in international news. The news
article not only succeeded in informing the readers about the horrendous incident, but also
succeeded in bringing out emotions of shock, horror, disgust. Most importantly the article allows
readers to sympathize with the victims and their families. Through the use of various literary and
persuasive devices such as logos, pathos, and ethos, the article allows informs their readers of the
grotesque and graphic explosive incident in Taiwan.
1 Mullen, Jethro. "Horrific Aftermath of Fiery Blast at Taiwan Water Park - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News
Network, 29 June 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/>.

2Mullen, Jethro. "Horrific Aftermath of Fiery Blast at Taiwan Water Park - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network,
29 June 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/>.

3Mullen, Jethro. "Horrific Aftermath of Fiery Blast at Taiwan Water Park - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network,
29 June 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/>.

4Mullen, Jethro. "Horrific Aftermath of Fiery Blast at Taiwan Water Park - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network,
29 June 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/>.

Henry Chen
Professor: Christen Enos
ENGW 1111: First Year Writing
Rhetorical Analysis

The articles tone mainly consists both elements of informative article and persuasive essay as
the author utilizes a combination of literary and persuasive devices. Through this the author
induces sympathy, horror, and shock from the readers towards the victims bringing light to the
severity and gruesome incident. The tones brought emotions from the readers mainly through
word choice such as huge fireball engulfed partygoers or sudden burst of flames creating
shock and running for their lives, creating both horror and fear through the use of imagery as
the readers as theyre able to visual the scene. The verbs engulfed and sudden burst
dramatizes the scene as the words hold a desperate connotation.

The headline: All her skin was gone: Horrific aftermath of fireball at Taiwan water
park5 holds a blunt, serious tone which in effect hooks the audience into reading the article.
The blunt tone of the quote contrasts with the graphic and grotesque image the reader visualizes
from reading the quote, therefore shocking readers. This whole quote creates an even more vivid
image by providing more detailed descriptions of the victim. Moreover in utilizing pathos, it
provides a graphic depiction of the victim, which in effect shocks the audience of the gruesome
incident . The same quote also appears later in the article All her skin was gone. her hands
were shaking and she kept calling for me - her mother said, according to Taiwans
Central News Agency6. This quote uses pathos by showing the pain of the daughter with all
her skin was gone and fear with her hands are shaking through the use of first person narrative.
5 Mullen, Jethro. "Horrific Aftermath of Fiery Blast at Taiwan Water Park - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News
Network, 29 June 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/>.

6 Mullen, Jethro. "Horrific Aftermath of Fiery Blast at Taiwan Water Park - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News
Network, 29 June 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/>.

Henry Chen
Professor: Christen Enos
ENGW 1111: First Year Writing
Rhetorical Analysis

In doing so, audiences are able to understand what the victims mother experienced and felt on a
deeper level, eliciting a sense of sympathy from the reader.

The next paragraph starts with the sentence, Hsueh, 17, was among nearly 500 people
injured. Here, the article uses logos because it states the name and age of the victim and the
total amount of people injured. By providing personal information of the victim, this creates a
personal relationship between the reader and the victim. In the same sentence after that the
author used A huge fireball engulfed partygoers Saturday night at a seaside water park out
Taipei, Taiwans capital. By using an analogy to the fire, the article illustrates an image of a
large fire covering the victims as if they cant escape from. The personification of the fireball
which engulfed partygoers this suggests that the fire was something that the victims could
not escape from, emphasizing the victims inability to escape from the incident.

Although the article frequently used pathos, logos can also be found throughout the
article. For example, Hospitals in the area are battling to cope with the high number of
burn patients from the disaster. Li Pei-yun, a 20-year-old woman who suffered burns to
90% of her body, died Monday, said Chung Shan Medical University Hospital. The first
sentence brings the suffering state of many victims to a further extent through the use of word
choice. Battling to cope and high number of burn patients strongly states that there are
an abundant amount of people who are struggling and trying to recover or even survive. The
second sentence starts with a name and age which appeals to both of logos and pathos to the
reader because the facts are shown (logos) and giving the name and age makes audience feel
more personal and related to the victim. Later, most appeared will not only be logos because of

Henry Chen
Professor: Christen Enos
ENGW 1111: First Year Writing
Rhetorical Analysis

the facts stated which is burns to 90% of her body and died monday, but it also show
mainly pathos because it already makes readers more personal by her information and it also
states the death which can be shocking to many people. The sentence ends with who provided the
information which gives credibility to the readers.

On the next paragraph, it starts with the first sentence leaning towards pathos from a
transition from the previous paragraph with others are still clinging to life This is creating
further and deeper pathos connection to the readers with one victim passing away (from the
previous paragraph) and the rest of the victims are still struggling to keep their lives. Following
by Of the 494 people injured, 393 are still in hospitals, and 221 of those hospitalized are in
intensive care units; the author uses cold hard facts to provide the imagery of the horrific
reality. These are a few examples of many repetition describing how much the victims had to go
through; the repetition is shown throughout the whole news article indicating that the author
highlights the severity of the explosion and to inducing readers to feel sympathy towards the
victims. Another example is shown under the section of Plastic Surgeons working around the
clock The critical cases include Chu Li, who had just turned 18. She suffered third-degree
burns over 80% of her body, her father said, breaking down in tears as he described her
injuries, according to CNA. Again, the author shows similar writing style by stating the name
and age linking the readers to the victims and mentions the percentage of burned of the victims
body. With a percentage of 80%7, it points out strongly of the severity and urgency of the
victims situation.

7Mullen, Jethro. "Horrific Aftermath of Fiery Blast at Taiwan Water Park - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network,
29 June 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/>.

Henry Chen
Professor: Christen Enos
ENGW 1111: First Year Writing
Rhetorical Analysis

Besides the article featuring a written piece on the incident, the website also features a
variety of media such as exclusive pictures and videos from the incident. The video starts of with
a clip presumably taken by a bystander. The video shows an abrupt explosion, followed by an
appalling scene of hundred of people running around while on fire. The video creates a deeper
understanding by providing clips taken by local Taiwanese bystanders, allowing the audience the
view the incident through the bystanders eyes. Another media used in the article is picture and
the second picture out of the seven photo is personally the most appealing one. This picture
featured is a photo taken while burned victims waited for care and assistance. This picture
connects to the reader's emotion the most because the picture is taken through the eyes of the
bystander. The face of the surrounding people in the picture highly express the concerns and the
shock from the explosion. Rather than focusing on an individual person, the photo captures the
entirety of the situation such as the crowdedness of the scene and how everyone is preoccupied.
In doing so, audience is able to sense the urgency of the situation and the chaoticness of the
scene. The contrast between the bright blue inflatable floater and the mass of people draw the
readers eyes toward the victim laying in it. By seeing this, the reader is able to visually grasp the
desperateness of the victims as they lay on floaters awaiting their turn to get help or get treated.

Moreover, the author included the possible reason for the large size of explosion to incriminate
the organizer, Lu Chung-Chi. A large quantity of it [Packet of coloured powder] appeared
to have been shot out over the crowd as part of the special effects just before the midair
explosion. The author included this under the subtitle of event organizer apologizes creates a

Henry Chen
Professor: Christen Enos
ENGW 1111: First Year Writing
Rhetorical Analysis

suspicion from readers towards the organizers as if the organizers are guilty or not careful of the
partygoers safety.

The ending sentence of the article Colored powder is also thrown around liberally
during the Indian festival of Holi, as well as at color-themed running events held around
the world suggests to the readers that similar dangers may occur in the future as well. While
the article mainly emphasizes the horror and devastation of the explosion, it simultaneously
emphasizes that similar dangers may arise. By stating so, the article raises awareness of the
dangers of colored powder as it was not only used for this particular event, but for many others.
Therefore questioning the safety of future events that use colored powder.

Overall, the news article was effective in informing CNN readers about the incident
through various perspectives of the victims and people involved. Through the use of mixed
media such as videos and photos accompanying the text, readers are able to experience the
dreadful incident visually through footage and photos captured by local bystanders and local
Taiwanese news. Furthermore, the use of literary and persuasive devices was effective in terms
of providing an in depth narrative of the event as well as eliciting feelings of sympathy from the
audience.

Word count: 1523

Source

Henry Chen
Professor: Christen Enos
ENGW 1111: First Year Writing
Rhetorical Analysis

Mullen, Jethro. "Horrific Aftermath of Fiery Blast at Taiwan Water Park - CNN.com." CNN.
Cable News Network, 29 June 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/>.