Connection between Plato's Cave Theory and John Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God:10/10/2014 John Edwards and Plato both used literary devices such as metaphors and imagery in their speaking. Plato is referring to a cave in his document, explaining that people are stuck looking at the cave and that they are so used to looking forward they never try looking at what is behind them. When someone does decide to turn around and see what is controlling the puppet show, the light blinds them and they turn right around because the light is to strong. In John Edwards sermon he explains very vividly that if you decide to stray away from God you will fall into destruction (Hell) and God will do nothing to help you because you betrayed him. Edwards and Plato both mention turning away and straying from the influence of others however in Plato's theory looking away may sting for a minute or so but will lead to something extraordinary, unlike what Edwards is saying that if you look away from God you will be stepped on by him and dropped into Hell. The language that Edwards uses is intimidating to his audience, which helps get his point across. reading what Plato had written does not reflect the same diction that Edwards does. Plato is simply stating his thoughts, he more or less is trying to push his idea upon you like Edwards. Both Plato and Edwards create this long and complex writing instead of just saying what they want to say. Edwards uses many complex sentences whereas Plato does use periods. Both speakers are trying to persuade the audience their point of view; Plato and looking away or John Edwards and not looking away. They may have different arguments but they use similar writing and structure to convey their argument,
Audience: It is hard to identify the real audience in Cotton Mather's Diary. Diary's are written usually for the author so they can write out their emotions or write down events of the day so they will always remember them. However, I believe that when people write, no matter if a novel, textbook, or diary... the author expects someone to read it. Maybe not in that moment but if someone were to read your diary then they could understand more about you (which could be another reason someone uses a diary). Mather's never enclosed the "Gentlewoman's" name in his entry; if the diary was just for him then it would not matter if he wrote her name because he already knows who it is. However if he intended that someone may read his diary then that could have been a reason as to why he never mentioned her by name.
Topic/Subject: The topic of the diary entries are apologies to the Lord, his family, the gentlewoman, and himself. He is constantly referring to how sorry he is to the Lord and he apologizes by fasting, crying, praying, and making the lord "the apple of my eye". I don't understand exactly what is going on because he is constantly contradicting himself; which makes sense because it's a diary and most of the time you write what you feel and your writing for yourself so it doesn't matter if you contradict yourself. However that doesn't make it less confusing for the reader to try and figure out his purpose. Mather's refers to Satan a couple of times when talking about the gentlewoman, almost like Satan has put her in his path to force temptation and sin unto him. Rhetor: Mather's credibility isn't really important because it's his own diary. There is a difference in writing in a diary than making a speech because the speaker doesn't need to be an educated, trustworthy, and respectful person to write in a diary as they may need to possess those qualities when making a public speech. However Mather's was a credible man to many because he was a man of the Lord as well as a Minister. Being a part of the church gave a person much credibility; usually more than other professions would have at the time. Questions and annotations:
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May 2015
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