Rhetorical Devices in Freakonomics

1319 words 6 pages
Lucy Dineen Ms. Remmey
Freakonomics Assignment August 2015
Argument: What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?
Based on Paul Feldman’s findings, the authors of Freakonomics argue that a person, who is faced with an efficient way to cheat, will not necessarily choose to. The data involved in Feldman’s accidental bagel study proves that not all humans are corrupt. However,
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However, people stay with these jobs because they have hope that they will one day rise in the drug pyramid scheme. 1. Alliteration- “...simple, convenient, comfortable and comforting-...” (Levitt/Dubner 86) 2. Rhetorical Question- “And who better to sell it than thousands of junior members of all those street gangs like the Black Gangster Disciple Nation?” (Levitt/Dubner 110) 3. Euphemism- “But most gangsters were, as the cliche assures us, two-bit gangsters.” (Levitt/Dubner 109) 4. Imagery- “The project comprised three sixteen-story buildings made of yellow-gray brick… It was late afternoon in early winter, nearly dark outside.” (Levitt/Dubner 90) 5. Allusion- “... he became known as the Johnny Appleseed of Crack.” (Levitt/Dubner 108)

Argument: Where Have all the Criminals Gone?
Even though expert criminologists determined that future American crime rates would rise, this was not the case. Crime rates actually went down over the next few years. There are many possible factors contributing to this, including the economy. However, the authors argue that this is not the case. The legalization of abortion highly contributed to this drastic fall. Less unwanted children, the less crime there will be. 1. Irony- “Madame Ceausescu, known officially as the Best Mother Romania Could Have, was not particularly maternal.” (Levitt/Dubner 116) 2. Allusion- “...”our Athenian period”

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