Senior Portfolio Workshop 2017

I think that “Exhortation” is a very effective and engaging story for a few reasons. First, the story is able to put a lot of imagery into the readers’ head that is not actually present in the narrative of Todds’ email. This is because we are aware of an audience which Todd is speaking to. We are able to imagine what the workers reactions to this email will be, which adds to the humor of the piece. This is especially true when Todd begins to pick on a specific member of the team, praising him for one great day and then openly discussing his depression. The readers can imagine the embarrassment he must feel as he reads the email and is aware that everyone in his team are reading it too. The email also has a great shift in tone from inspirational and professional to something that unravels into what seems to be a nervous breakdown on the part of Todd, which is both humorous and intriguing (why is he so nervous?). There seems to be a metaphor going on and the “shelves” are not really shelves but something else. It is never clear what work they are really doing but it becomes clear that Todd is afraid of the consequences of not doing a successful job.