Songhua River
I grew up by the famous Songhua River in China. I could walk to the riverbank in only about five minutes from our house.The Songhua River is in Northeast China, flowing about 1,927 kilometers from Changbai Mountains through the Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. When I was little, the water in the river was very clear. You could see through to the bottom of the river, and you could also see a lot of small fishes and tadpoles swimming around in the shallow water. There was no sand on the riverbank, but all kinds of rocks—some were very smooth; you could walk on them with bare feet; others were very rough and sharp edged. Sometimes if we were lucky, we could find unique and pretty patterned pebbles.
Along the riverbank, there were thickets of willow trees, which were my favorite trees, planted on the riverside. The long wicker drooping towards the ground looked like shy ladies. In springtime, when the light green leaves came out, you could smell a gentle fragrance radiating from those trees, and when winds blew, all the wicker drifted around like fairies dancing in the air.
In the spring season, the water in the river was very cold because it had just thawed, and it had its highest flows when the mountain snow melted during the spring. However, during summer time, the water was very nice and cool; therefore, it was the best time to swim in the river. The river was also very dangerous. There were many unpredictable whirlpools hidden under the deep parts of the water. Swimmers lost their lives in those whirlpools every year. I never dared to go to the deep parts of the river because I was not a very good swimmer. Most of the time, I enjoyed lying on the lifesaver letting the river float me wherever it went, and at the same time, I listened to the nature’s band playing the most beautiful music—the chirping from the birds, the croaking from the frogs, the water flowing sound from the river and the rustling from the wind blowing in the woods.
Sometimes my friend and I took a large piece of cloth, and we each held one side of the cloth standing in the down stream of the river so the upstream water could come through our cloth. We could catch a lot of small fishes and clams just by doing that. Once in a while, we could catch big fishes as long as ten inches. Of course, at the end of the day, we usually threw them right back into the river.There were crowds of frogs on the riverbank during this season. Each evening, we could hear a very loud croaking from our house. Those sounds always made me feel at home and safe.
When fall seasons came, strong winds blew day and night, and then the river would became very unstable and turbid. That’s when kids kept away from the river voluntarily without our parent’s warning because during that season, the river looked filthy and unfriendly.
The river froze from late November until March. That was the time we ice skated, sledded and played tops on the river. Actually, the surface of the frozen river was not very smooth. Some areas were very rough and bumpy, but we still loved it. When I was little, the winter in the northern most part of China was very long and cold. The river truly brought us a lot of joy and happiness.
The Songhua River gave people who lived in that area both happiness and sadness. But to me, the river only reminds me of my childhood friendships and joy. Perhaps my picture of the river was not spoiled by the careless brush of loss and frustration. Perhaps, because I left my hometown, I can only think of the river with fond nostalgia, much like a person does after moving away from a troublesome sibling.
Clare Stratton
ReplyDeletemode of discourse:description
purpose: to remember her home, nastalgic, she's trying to discribe her home without becoming to sad about it
rhetorical strategy: definition- she is sort of describing what this river is exactly to her and as a result, she is "defining" it
Danielle Borst
ReplyDeleteMode of discourse: Description
The author uses a lot of imagery and similes to create a picture of her hometown, and specifically the river in it. She also seems to be using definition in order to give the reader a sense of what the river is in her mind and what it means to her.
Purpose: The purpose of this piece seems to be to allow the author to express her nostalgia in a positive way that won't turn into homesickness and to allow her readers to picture the setting that she is describing.
The mode of discourse is description. Eventhough the piece is told as a story, the majority of the work contains lengthy descriptions of the river combined with personal anecdotes. To create this mode of discourse she uses rhetorical strategies such as examples and cause and effect. She uses many examples of times she interacted with the river to help describe the river. Also, when describing how the river is affected by each of the different seasonal weather changes, she uses a cause and effect strategy.
ReplyDelete* The purpose was to allow the reader to see her veneration and love towards the river and the memories associated with it.
DeleteBrooke Hemze
ReplyDeleteThe mode of discourse in this piece is description. This is because the author is working to recreate the river in a way that the reader can picture. The author works to intricately describe every aspect of her experience with the river in such a clear way, so it is easily envisioned. I believe from the piece the author intends for us to understand a bit of her past, and be able to relate to something that was important to them.
This text uses the Description mode of discourse. I believe it is written in this mode because she is describing her life along this river. She does not mean to tell an exact story but rather uses lengthy descriptions of times her life was impacted by the river. The rhetorical strategy she uses is definition because she is telling us about the river as it changes by season and then she "defines" it according to its impact on her own life.
ReplyDeleteJason S
ReplyDeleteThe mode used is description.
The description of the river is central to the piece and although there are a few places where Rui Liu seems to narrate his childhood, the river in each of the seasons dominates the focus of the writing.
The purpose for writing this might have been to share some information about the river, but was probably mainly writing it in nostalgia and memory. A reader is likely to remember something similarly meaningful from his/her childhood and relate it to the way the river was enjoyed by Liu.
Mary Duyser
ReplyDeleteMode of discourse: Description-The author is trying to desribe to us how she felt about the river. She uses imagery and similies to create a picture of what the river was like and what you could do at the river. She tries to giver her readers a posible idea of what she felt and waht the river was to her personally.
Purpose: The purpose of this piece is to see how the author felt about her hometown and what it meant to her. She's trying to get her readers to understand why it is so important to her and to feel her homesickness.
Rhetorical Strategy: Definition-The author describes her whole experience as a child and tries to go into depth with her descriptions to make it feel moer real to readers.
Alie Knauss
ReplyDeleteDescription
Rui uses a ton of imagery, a lot of detailed descriptions. She seems super concerned with portraying all the little things she loved about her home/the river.
The purpose is to share and remember the river that she loved with others and also for herself
Although it's told in the form of a narrative, the mode of discourse is description. Throughout the length of the piece, Rui Liu describes her childhood home with nostalgic fondness, creating vivid images for the readers and allowing us to see what it was like. The author uses a lot of simile and imagery as well as very descriptive diction to captivate readers with the river in which she grew up by.
ReplyDeleteThe author's purpose for this piece is to reminisce in her childhood days and to share with her readers the connection she has with the river.
The mode of discourse of this piece is description. This is because the author is not telling a story about the river, she is rather describing it in detail. The author doesn't have an exact point to make by writing this piece other than to create a picture in the reader's mind of her childhood river. To create this vivid image of the river, she uses the strategy of analysis. She goes into extreme details and analyzes the river and her experiences with it by using the five senses. She breaks up her time at the river by describing each season, so divides her description up, so as to create a more vivid and complete picture.
ReplyDeleteThe author's purpose of this piece was to how something can hold deep meaning for one person and then mean somehthing completely different for another. She shows her complex feelings about the river by explaining that throughout her childhood it gave her comfort and excitment at times, but was forboding and uninviting at others. Yet, to others they just see it as a river.
DeleteAria Pedraza
ReplyDeleteMode of discourse: Narrative
Although the author uses descriptive strategies to build the image of her hometown, the mode of discourse would be narrative. This is seen through the extensive, almost time-line like review of the river( winter, spring, summer). The author does not choose to spend an elaborate amount of time on one subject matter, rather focuses on the details of the entire experience.
Amanda Babler
ReplyDeleteThe Songhua River piece uses description as its mode of discourse. The narrator uses a lot of imagery to describe what the river means to her as she reflects on her childhood. By doing this, the main rhetorical strategy used here is definition. She explains the good in the river, perhaps to ignore the bad things that the river may have brought to other people. The author does this to show how the river has impacted her life and have it seem relatable.
Jason Babcock
ReplyDeleteDescription
Narrates how the river, which is the central focus of the piece,changes throught the year.Ties into the authors life at points.
The purpose of this selection was mainly for the author to express nostalgia he/she felt to the reader. Through memories and expiriences, the reader is suppose to feel the same joy and admirration towrds the river that the author felt.
Nina Heyden
ReplyDeleteAlthough this piece includes many descriptive elements, the main mode of discourse seems to be narration, because the seasons give chronological order to the author's retelling of her childhood. The purpose of this piece is highlighted by the author in the very last paragraph, and seems to be that although many people have shared the river together, the way she remembers the river is mainly in fondness because she misses the place she once used to live. The author vividly describes the beautiful and joyful aspects of the river, and only touches on references to death and sadness. This piece shows the effects that rosy retrospection have had on the memory of her childhood.
Quinten Anderson
ReplyDeleteThis piece seemed like its mode of discourse was narrative at first but as I read it became apparent that the mode of discourse was actually description. Lui uses a lot imagery to describe her fond memories of her childhood as well as her love for the river. She goes through almost each season, describing her different experiences with the river in great detail. In writing about how she has only good memories of the river as a child, unlike everyone else who has both good and bad feelings for the river, she reveals her purpose which is to share her love of the Shangua River with the reader.
The mode of discourse in this piece is description. This is because it resembles journal, memoir, and poetry writing.
ReplyDeleteI believe the purpose of this piece is to describe the authors past and how much he/she loved it. Through precise examples and detail of the river, the true meaning of what the Songhua meant to the author is revealed. A revelation which I believe to be joy and easier times.
It is also noticable that the author wrote this for a thereaputic purpose. Potentially the author is wishing to return or simply to relive the past.
Joe Dillon
Joe Dillon