Rhetorical Analysis: The Crack-Up

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Mark Brackett, the director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, gives us some strategies in dealing with our emotions. Brackett introduces a series of steps in recognizing, understanding and regulating our emotions. His idea of “R.U.L.E.R” is a list of steps that should be followed when it comes to our emotions. R-recognizing emotions in self/others, U-understanding the causes and consequences of emotions, L-labeling emotions accurately, E-expressing emotions effectively, and R-regulating emotions effectively. This is a great checklist to follow when it comes to one’s emotions as well as the emotions of others. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s essay, “the Crack-Up,” explained his journey of assessing his depression and dealing with his emotional…show more content…
She describes how her mother speaks “broken” English and how others look down upon her for it. Tan says that she sometimes had to translate for her mother in public places even when her mother spoke in English because her English was hard to interpret. Others viewed her mother as not having general intelligence because she was not able to clearly state what she wanted. This example shows how general intelligence can often be misunderstood. Her mother was intelligent and her thoughts and emotions were there even if the public could not see them clearly. Tan says that when she was younger she had to talk on the phone for her mother because the person on the other end of the line would not be able to understand her. The way Tan describes her mother in the background while she was on the phone shows her mother’s emotional intelligence. She had anger and passion that was obvious, however, it was not reflected because her lack of English knowledge. Her emotional intelligence could not be displayed, and this affected the view of her general intelligence. This article shows a great correlation between the two types of…show more content…
She discusses how helpful journaling can be in order to manage overwhelming emotions. Journaling can be a huge relief for many people that suffer from some sort of emotional illiteracy. According to Jacobs, in a journal, you can clarify, release, organize and soothe your feelings. Journals provide flexibility for approaching and understanding our emotions. The ability to write down the thoughts and ideas that could be troubling can provide a distancing from them and an ability to see them from a different perspective. Fitzgerald turned to writing lists of various things which helped him keep his mind off of his depression. Rather than dwelling on his negative thoughts and feelings, he turned his mind to other things and in time he got better. “And then suddenly, surprisingly, I got better.”

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