Rhetoric Study

"She didn't believe Mark had any syndrome. His mind was just sorting out the chaos of the injury. Every day left him more like his old self. A little patience, and the cloud would lift. He'd already come back from the dead; he would come back from this smaller loss. She was who she was; he'd have to see that, as he got clearer. She took the setback the way the therapists told her to, one baby step in front of the other. She worked on Mark, not pushing anything. She walked him down to the cafeteria. She answered his strange questions. She brought him copies of his two favorite truck-modding magazines. She encouraged and reinforced his memories, vaguely alluding to family history. But she had to pretend not to know too much about him. She tried once or twice; any claim of intimacy led immediately to trouble" (61).

Within this passage, Powers uses several rhetoric strategies to achieve a single, over-all effect.

The string of short sentences that starts off the paragraph serves to show Karin's state of denial towards Mark's condition. Because they are brief and to the point, they help to show how her thoughts are rushed and clumped together, just like a person who is frantically trying to deny something they don't want to believe.

Just following this are two metaphorical statements about how "the clouds will lift" and the way Mark had "already come back from the dead". These add to the impression of Karin's denial by reinforcing her hopes that Mark is and will be perfectly fine, despite what the doctors had told her about his mental condition.

Repetition is also included quite a bit in this section showing all of the things that she does for him and how she is trying everything to help him improve. Again, the repetition drives home the idea that Karin is determined to make Mark get better and disprove the doctor's statements.

This entire passage is used to display Karin's determination for helping her brother, while also showing the futility of her efforts and how her relationship with him remains unchanging, leading "immediately to trouble" when she makes an attempt.