Textual Rhetorical Analysis

This three part article by Ngozi Adichie is talking about how social media is used for

publicly insulting others. She uses short stories from her life to appeal to ethos as she gives

examples.

As she writes she talks about how people are too scared to talk about anything face to

face, and go on social media to take a jab at you. She gave two specific examples of how she was

rudely and unjustly ridiculed by her former “friends”. Two authors had sent her readings that she

surprisingly accepted thinking she was being helpful. Adichie mentored them and made them

better authors. Little did she know they were going to turn on her and try to ruin her reputation

and what she stood for. In her article she states, “This woman knows me enough to know that I

fully support the rights of trans people and all marginalized people. That I have always been

fiercely supportive of difference, in general. And that I am a person who reads and thinks and

forms my opinions in a carefully considered way.” Adichie continues to talk about how she is

publicly criticized. Yet her critic not only is trying to get a raily out of her she is also using her

name to get it noticed. They wanted attention but the only way they could do it was by using her

name in order to get publicity.

The author choose to study feminism and was known for belivinng in feminism. She even

published many books. Such as novels Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006),

and Americanah (2013), the short story collection The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), and the

book-length essay We Should All Be Feminists (2014).

The writer's purpose during the whole essay was trying to inform people about what

famous people have to deal with. She says famous people are just ordinary people, having fame
does not deter them from having depression or feeling angered. Many people think having fame

means you are infinitely happy and have power. Although that may be somewhat true, the only

power they have is their influence and how they hold themselves to the public. Yet most people

do not know what fame brings omong popularity. When being liked by so many and having a big

following you have to watch everything you do. Because you are always being watched and if

you mess up one little bit you will be ridiculed to the max. Along with that people are always

trying to say things that are not true inorder to get some kind of publicity.

When the author wrote this, I think she was trying to inform and bring notice to others

that are in the same boat she is in. Her audience could be a random person but also more

importantly the two people that tried to sabotage her. I say this because the way she kept showing

the different emails she kept receiving. She is also trying to speak out to the younger generation

of people. How a lot of them are scared to share their feelings or posts because they don’t want

to be put in the spotlight and get bullied. As she states towards the end of her writing saying, “ I

have spoken to young people who tell me they are terrified to tweet anything, that they read and

re-read their tweets because they fear they will be attacked by their own. The assumption of good

faith is dead.” She goes to tell us her story by setting it up chronologically, starting with what the

problem was. How it affected her with her everyday life, what she did to resolve it and then what

she is doing to help others. She is clearly stating what she went through and how she is not the

only person that has felt this way. The message she put out there was do not try to appeal to

someone just because they seem nice. You can trust someone up to a limit or else all of your

fame and power will disappear as quickly as it had appeared.

She used a three part explaining her thoughts and ideas and throughout she used formal

and a lot of argumentative statements and quotes in her writing. For example when she said, “
But she has recently gone on social media to write about how she “refused to kiss my ring,” as if

I demanded some kind of obeisance from her. She also suggests that there is some dark, shadowy

‘more’ to tell that she won’t tell, with an undertone of “if only you knew the whole story.” She

did this to give the effect as if she was getting undermined. She is being blackmailed into doing

whatever she was told.