Tow #10 - Here’s What Your Part Of America Eats On Thanksgiving

In his article “Here’s What Your Part Of America Eats On Thanksgiving”, Walt Hickey employs the rhetorical devices of humor and statistics in order to achieve his purpose of explaining a recent poll to his audience.  In this article, Hickey tells his audience about a recent poll that explained the different types of Thanksgiving foods that are eaten around the country and how they differ from region to region.  This was merely an informative, light-hearted read that was meant to be almost like a fun fact; there is no deeper life meaning to this article.  However, that doesn’t mean that Hickey didn’t utilize rhetorical devices to help achieve his purpose.

Hickey creates a funny article to establish a light-hearted tone and make the audience laugh since this is a piece about the holidays and he doesn’t want to burden his audience with dry, boring, or melancholy tones.  Hickey’s humor is mostly just concerned with a few short sentences that make the reader laugh.  He writes, “Meanwhile, New England is losing its mind over squash, with 56 percent demanding it on their table, compared with only 18 percent of the nation as a whole. This is, by far, the most confusing finding of this whole pursuit. Did Gronk endorse squash or something?” (Hickey 1).  This allusion to the NFL and a pop culture icon in Gronk makes the reader chuckle to themselves.  Another example is when he says, “Still, after dessert, the nation unites around that most American of traditions: buying shit” (Hickey 2).  The use of blunt and unexpected language makes the reader laugh out loud after reading this sentence.  Again, the use of humor is designed to simply keep a light tone in the article and have some fun.

One a more serous note, Hickey uses statistics to convey his point.  Since his article is centered around a recent poll, it is obvious that he uses statistics from this poll in his article.  BY incorporating specific stats, he creates credibility in his work as well as allows the stats to speak for themselves.  The numbers tell the story, and Hickey simply puts in a few words here and there to make it cohesive and attractive.