Michael Fuchs

Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric

Room 10
The author uses a scene she is familiar with, such as the Irish coast, and describes it
in great detail with the assumption that her general audience is not as familiar with it as
she is. Using language such as, an angry, gray, churning sea, the kind that spits waves at
the rocks and threatens all the time to burst the barrier of the coastline and engulf the
entire country beyond it in water. However, in using what is familiar to her to tell her
story, she is creating a way for the audience to relate to her. Tying in a familiar feeling of
being far from home at Notre Dame in ones dorm, she creates a sense of the same
emotions she felt having to leave her home in Ireland. She says, As I sit here in Ryan Hall,
the nicest dorm on the Notre Dame campus, I can't help but notice the sea's absence. This
line can cause a reader to think about what it is they are missing in a new, different place
from the home in which they likely spent the first 18 years of their life.

Jesus and J-Lo
Perhaps unlike the previous narrative of Room 10, this story may be more difficult
for an audience to connect with, however the primary themes can be relatable. The author
has a lot of experience with this discomfort surrounding his name, both personally and
with others. He uses the latter, and the large number of nicknames people have used, to
introduce his later flashback and the theme of struggling with faith. Most individuals
reading this narrative can feel sympathetic, understanding what it is like when someone
gives you a nickname you didnt want, as well as later sympathizing with the parental
tension where a parent wants you to do something you do not wish to do. By using these
Michael Fuchs
Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric

more global themes, Nwadiuko is then able to introduce the idea of him struggling with the
name as well as his faith to a certain extent, perhaps less global of a theme.

Together We Shake
In this narrative, the author is describing a personal experience that emotionally
meant a great deal to her. When she speaks of shaking or seeing the depth in the eyes of the
children at the school, she tries to convey this emotion to the audience. It is possible that
the audience my have a more difficult time empathizing with the author here as many
readers may have never been in a situation akin to that of Dan Feng. Additionally due to a
cultural gap that may exist between the author and the audience it may be even more
difficult to fully comprehend the situations that are being described within the narrative.
The audience must rely to some extent on personal connections made based on the story,
unlike the other narratives where these types of connections are more obvious.