Rhetorical analysis of "Death of a Soldier" by Louisa May Alcott

The excerpt "Death of a Soldier," taken from Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott features various rhetorical strategies to create an appeal to emotion. She exhibits the compassion of the nurse for John, even in the face of inevitable death; she displays the altruistic mindset of John, and adds depth to her words by using analogies. She uses these tools in order to inflict a deep emotional feeling and an understanding of how awful the …

…of the reader. She shows the compassion of the nurse, to provide the reader with understanding of the atmosphere; she provides insight to the frame of mind of John, to show him as a person who is more than a tool of war; and she intensifies her emotional appeal with analogies, to deepen understanding for the events of the story. Ultimately Alcott amalgamates all these elements in an overwhelming effort to capture the reader's heart.