Taking care of aging parents is often compared to the first years of raising a baby. The common opinion is that since our parents spend so much effort to provide us with everything necessary during out helpless years as children, we are to be responsible and provide equal quality of care to our elderly parents. The article called “Daddy Issues” written by Sandra Tsing Loh describes the author’s ordeals handling her very old, yet rather tough father. In her article, Tsing Loh employs irony, satire, and sarcasm as the main rhetoric devices that help her apply to the readers’ emotions such as sympathy and compassion since the subject of her writing is very complex, so the author is in need of deeper understanding.
Tsing Loh’s “Daddy Issues” begins with a short description of a real life situation where she accidentally expresses her true feelings about the burden she is to carry taking care of her old father: “I WAAAAAAAANT MY FATHERRRRRR TO DIEEEEE!!!” (par. 1). The author makes a shocking claim that is a great attention grabber. After winning the reader’s interest Tsing Loh makes several references to the articles of other authors facing the problem of providing care to weak and seriously ill family members. This way, after employing pathos in the very first lines of her writing, Tsing Loh uses logos, or the appeal to reason, to persuade her readers that the situation she describes is common and has been addressed by other writers before. Further, the author moves on to vivid descriptions of her multiple troubles taking care of the aged parent; this helps her gradually gain more and more understanding and compassion from the readers. For better comprehension and likability, her writing is filled with humor expressed through three different rhetorical devices.
One of the means of adding humor to one’s writing is irony that is referred to as the technique of using words to express something other than what they typically mean (“What Is Irony?” par. 5). Tsing Loh’s description of standard beginning of a story about troubles with aged parents commonly shared by her coworkers is very ironic: “Elderschadenfreude is the subtle frisson of the horror tale that always begins so simply (“Mom slipped in the shower—at first she said it was nothing”) but makes listeners raise eyebrows, nod knowingly, begin microwaving popcorn” (par. 26). The author’s last phrase (“begin microwaving popcorn”) is casually inserted into the list of normal reactions of the 40 to 50-year old audience to a story about an elderly parent in an accident to emphasize that even though they raise eyebrows and “nod knowingly”, they treat such stories as entertainment that is going to last for a while (hence the popcorn). Another case of irony is in tune with the first one; it is the last line leading to the main story that says, “prepare to enjoy” (Tsing Loh par. 26). The irony here is the hint that even though the story is generally bitter and quite dire, the audience is still going to enjoy it, as love for gossip about someone else’s troubles is a common vice.
Apart from irony, there is another technique that targets people’s vices. This technique is called satire that is referred to as a rhetorical device employed by the writers and speakers for the criticism of the irrational and inappropriate behaviors of individuals (“Satire” par. 1). Tsing Loh’s use of satire can be found in the following sentence: “with their habit of taking buses everywhere and a shared love of Dumpster diving, they could star in their own reality show about thrift” (par. 27). Clearly, this statement was designed to expose the author’s father and his wife’s frugality turning into obsessive avarice as they got older. This statement could be also viewed as euphemism where Tsing Loh finds a more sophisticated way (“could star in their own reality show about thrift”) to describe how illogically greedy the old couple has become. Satire describing something that is quite sad in reality is used by the author to demonstrate that the irrationality and stubbornness of her elderly parent has made Tsing Loh stop taking him seriously, at the same time appealing to the reader’s compassion. Another case of satire is the part when the author speaks of “The Call” that refers to the phone call about their parents getting hurt in some ways. This event is described as a terrifying moment because it serves as a breaking point of an adult turning their life in an ongoing caregiving for years, possibly decades. The satire here is the feeling of horror surrounding The Call; it is both humorous and dramatic reminding the readers that midlife is not as carefree and relaxed as everyone expects it to be.
Finally, another way to employ humor as an appeal to the emotions of a reader is sarcasm, the technique that relies on the play with literal meaning of the words turned upside down. An excellent example of sarcasm is the following sentence: “What a fun life they’re having—my father believes some of the more sturdy renters can pitch in and “help shower” him. Best to think twice before renting a room off Craigslist!” (TsingLoh par. 34). The neighbors’ “fun life” was not fun at all as in reality they were regularly terrorized by a couple of elderly people. The author employs sarcasm to make the story more interesting and enjoyable for the readers. Quite a subtle use of sarcasm is the part of the story when Tsing Loh believes her father to be dead, calls her sister and they both find themselves “sad … and yet oddly at peace” (par. 29). This technique is quite complex as the sarcasm becomes visible only after the author points out that her father turned out not to be dead, but simply dehydrated. The sarcastic twist is designed to make the reader go through the feeling of peace Tsing Loh experienced thinking that her parent had passed away just to discover that in reality the troubles were just beginning and feel even more compassion for the author’s never-ending ordeals.
To conclude, sharing a rather dire and sad story that made the author wish her father was dear, Tshing Loh manages to make her readers guiltily laughing and feeling sympathy for her. This incredible effect is achieved through the use of such persuasion technique as pathos (or appeal to emotions) and three rhetorical devices such as irony, satire, and sarcasm. The story told by the author could easily be transformed into a heartbreaking and very dramatic scenario, but the author preferred using humor which helped her achieve an even more powerful result and make her readers see the helplessness of Tsing Loh, realize how ridiculous the situation was, and empathize reading every line.
Works Cited
Satire. Literary Devices. 2014. Web.
Tsing Loh, Sandra. Daddy Issues. 2012. Web.
What Is Irony? DailyWritingTips. 2010. Web.