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Kevin Draeger Assignment 2a Rhetorical Reflection Section HB McGough October 4, 2013 Maya Lin Between Art and Architecture

e Maya Lins essay, Between Art and Architecture, was originally published in 2000 in her book, Boundaries. The piece was written for her fans and describes her motivation for designing the Vietnam Memorial the way that she did. However, even with a change of audience and purpose, Lin s well-crafted essay does not lose effectiveness. In her essay, Lin explains how the names on the Memorial Rotunda at Yale struck a deep emotional chord inside of her. Whenever she passed the names, she had the urge to reach out and touch them. Lin wanted the Vietnam War Memorial to replicate this feeling for others and at the same time honor those who died in the war. The purpose of her essay is to describe this motivation to her readers. Before the release of the essay, many had wondered about her motivations and process, as she had kept relatively quiet about the topic due to the inevitable politics surrounding the memorial of a controversial war. Lins biggest intended audience for her essay is her fans, who had these questions about her process and motivation. Those who appreciate her architectural work are most likely to pick up the book that she calls an extension of my artwork (Lin). Those reading the book probably have some admiration for or interest in her works. College students reading her essay in Convergences, on the other hand, may not have even seen any of Lins work prior to reading the essay. It is unlikely that the students reading the essay from the textbook are established fans of Lin. There is a good chance that they have not even heard of her. Thus, they are a very different audience than the one she was initially writing for, which was made up of her admirers and those interested in architecture. With the book in a new context, the purpose of the essay also changes. The new purpose of the essay is to demonstrate the power of a name rather than to demonstrate Lins motivations for her design of the monument. The new audience is just as receptive to this message as Lins original audience was to her description of her motivation. Lins artful description of how the names on the Memorial Rotunda made her feel creates a strong emotional link with her audience, whether it is her established fans or college students. Telling her personal story with strong verbs and vivid imagery, she draws in the audience, and from there she has the ability to make the statement she wants to make. The audience is receptive to her statement about the sense of the power of a name (Lin). Thus, even though the context and purpose has changed, the effectiveness has not.

A talented writer can draw in any audience, such as Maya Lin does. She successfully draws in both her intended audience and her new found audience with a change in context. Her writing is effective in both cases, because she makes a strong emotional appeal that resonates in the hearts of all people.

Works Cited Lin, Maya. Between Art and Architecture. Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. Ed Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 60. Print.

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