Writing a Rhetorical Analysis Paragraph Using the SIEL Method

What is the SIEL Method? S State your claim. I Illustrate your claim by citing examples. E Explain the example (the effect the writer is trying to establish) L Link the example to the claim.

Let’s apply this strategy! S : State the claim: In “How It Feels to be Colored Me,” Zora Neale Hurston uses figurative language effectively to convey the confident persona of an African American woman who embraces her identity. (claim is underlined)

Look for examples to support the claim. I: Illustrate the claim with examples that include textual evidence. Examples: Metaphor: “I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept” Include the example in a statement: For example, Hurston asserts that she is “a dark rock surged upon” when she is “among the thousand white persons.”

Next, add an explanation. E- Explain the example. In this metaphor, Hurston maintains that she remains stalwart and confident “when covered by the waters” of discrimination and misunderstanding she often experiences within white society.

Finish this “chunk” of analysis by linking the example to the claim. L- link the example and explanation back to the main claim. For Hurston the water that threatens to overwhelm her merely “reveals [her] again,” suggesting her identity emerges intact and strong, perhaps even molded and polished by her experience.

Now, we’re ready for another example. Hurston also describes how she “saunter[s] down Seventh Avenue . . . feeling as snooty as the lions in front of the Forty-Second Street Library,” this simile revealing an attitude of superiority and confidence as she affirms how the “cosmic Zora emerges.” In this example, the explanation is tacked on as an absolute phrase.

Link example to the main claim. Failing to see her race as a detriment, Hurston envisions herself as a part of something larger, acknowleding she is a member of the human race as she declares with confidence that she is a“fragment of the Great Soul.”

One more example! Hurston also sees her race as an advantage, referring to the world as her “oyster,” a metaphor that suggests she sees opportunity and promise in her future.

Explanation with more textual evidence: Rather than subscribe to the attitudes of the “sobbing school of Negrohood,” Hurston refuses to “weep at the world,” choosing instead to get “busy sharpening [her] oyster knife.”

Link to the main idea. In this metaphor, Hurston further establishes her ambitious and self-reliant persona, as she is pro-active in striving to uncover the pearl of opportunity she knows is within reach if she will use the tools given to her.

Add a concluding sentence. Through her effective use of figurative language, Hurston transforms the meaning of “colored,” a term intended to discriminate and makes it synonymous with vivacious, “adventurous,” and bold.