Free Write: Rhetorical Usage

Everyone has read at least one book that they really enjoyed in their lifetime. Hopefully this favorite book has more words than pictures for most people. However, these books are often recommended to other readers who in turn enjoy these books as well. What makes one book stand out over another? Why do more teenagers read fiction about love rather than nonfictional biographies about the life of John Adams? A lot of this has to do with plot; that much is obvious. Personally, I would much rather read about a girl that falls in love compared to a book about John Adam's quarrel with Alexander Hamilton. However, we must also search in the way the information is presented. Biographies are meant to give out information in the quickest and most efficient way possible. Usually, they are not presented in a form that keeps a reader extremely entertained. Fiction stories would not be sold if they were not entertaining because the only value that comes from them is possibly a few new vocabulary words. If the plot is not presented correctly, nobody will find the book interesting and therefore there is no reason to read it. This compares to the biography's typically boring way of presentation, however; it still sells because it is historical, usually accurate, and the reader obtains some sort of useful information.
Rhetorical devices are often used in these best-selling books. Some typical ones used are bathos, clichés, diction, hyperboles, and similes. Bathos is used to invoke pity. In the fictional book about the teenager that falls in love either the main character/protagonist has usually had a bad life experience that stands out among the other characters. This experience is usually beyond ordinary and the reader usually cannot comprehend it. Therefore, the sad back-story of the character makes the reader feel pity for the character and makes the reader want to identify with the protagonist all the more. Clichés are sometimes used in the plot itself. What is more of a cliché than having two teenagers, one being a social outcast, another a popular football player, fall in love? This makes the reader feel happy for the social outcast and grateful to the jock and the book automatically has a decent chance at success. Diction is of course a way for an author to identify with its readers. Diction itself is just the use of words; however, the way diction/words are used is what makes it a popular device. If the book has its characters talk in the way the readers talk, then the readers identify with the characters more. Hyperboles are simply an overstatement. This is an example of imagery that helps the reader create a mental picture and again, identify with the story's characters more. A simile is the same thing but it compares two alike things to help the reader understand a situation. The commonality in all of these devices is the use of the devices to help the reader identify with characters. That is the key. The book about John Adams is just that, about John Adams so how can the reader relate. The history cannot be changed to help the reader understand it. However, fictional books can have a plot with millions of directions that the author can chose to help the reader identify with the plot, scheme, or characters. I believe that the use of rhetorical devices to help readers identify with stories is what makes most successful books successful.