Garbage

Stephen Henderson’s main rhetorical strategy is sarcasm. Some may say that sarcasm isn’t so much of a strategy as it is a writing style, however, in this case I believe that Henderson used (juvenile) sarcasm as his argument against the Detroit government.

The first real use of sarcasm in the article was three paragraphs in, after informing the readers of the hideous crime that the residents had committed. “The nerve! It was time for a crackdown.” The use of this sarcasm shows the foolishness of the city for fining the residents for their trashcan crime rather than dealing with real disgusting issues like burned down houses that could be breading bacteria.

“The context of the Quades' trouble seems an indictment of some terribly misplaced priorities, awful service delivery, and rampant dysfunction.” This may not appear to be sarcastic off the bat, however when the extensive vocabulary that the author suddenly uses is analyzed, the line can be seen in a sarcastic light. The author speaks in relatively simple terms throughout the entire article. The sudden change of vocabulary comes off as an offense to the city of Detroit who makes light of actual crimes and then destroys a senior citizen’s good name because of trashcan confusion.

“Let's start with the fact that their house and block are an oasis in an area that is just a disaster.” This sarcastic line is something that any onlookers in Detroit can sympathize with. There are so few decent places in Detroit to live, and because of that the City goes after them?
“So while there's no apparent move afoot to deal with the squatters or the fires or the trash, at least the trees will be nicely pruned.” This final example just goes to show that the city of Detroit simply doesn’t have their priorities straight. Henderson uses sarcasm to make sure that his readers see how ludicrous some of the things they do really are.