Outside Reading: Column

The Rules : Time-Tested Secrets for Getting and Keeping a Job in this Economy

By: Alison Rosen

As enlightening as the title leads you to believe this column will be, it’s really just about a good laugh. Rosen creates a light atmosphere and a joking tone, using a persona crafted to be someone who can be trusted for advice, like a coworker, or friend.

The syntax that she uses adds to this persona because she uses series of questions to create a sense of a conversation, as though the reader is being badgered by the persona into making confessions about their workplace. This acts to actively engage the reader and has them examining their job.  The diction that she uses creates the persona, she uses common conversation words, easy low level language that makes the persona read like the reader is discussing these secrets face to face. This works to disarm the reader and encourages them to be more open to the joking message.

In general I think this persona makes the joking tips easier to laugh along with because it is like playful banter between coworkers, it works well to deliver the tips and make it clear that these are not actually supposed to be put into practice. I like the column and I think personally it was funny and it appealed to my sense of humor. The funniest thing that was mentioned in the column was to have an egg timer with you at work, so that you can make sure to hang up on your boss after three minutes, after all you need to get back to ignoring your work.

The persona is a strength, in that it is able to deliver the message more effectively. Although it makes an excellent vehicle for the jokes it is also a weakness because someone going into the column actually looking for tips would not only be disappointed by the information, but would also not be in the mood for lighthearted banter, and so would most likely have a poor response to the column.

This would definitely not be an appropriate persona to create on an AP essay because by definition this persona is not trustworthy. The joking tone is the worst way to address the AP essay because it is self defeating. A writer who does this would not be very convincing while trying to answer a prompt effectively, and it would be impossible to come across as a reliable source of information, since it would be difficult to determine whether or not the writer was serious.