Outside Reading (Editorial #1)

October 10, 2010
By Verlyn Klinkenborg

My Missing Barber: A New Norm

     Throughout the piece “My Missing Barber,” Verlyn Klinkenborg reminisces upon the days when he could go to his personal barber. Using precise personal examples and explanatory rhetoric, Klinkenborg gives the audience reason to believe that some of the most insignificant traditions in life are some of the most important ones, too.
     Klinkenborg uses the passage of time in this editorial essay; adopting a certain flow with his language that allows the reader to understand how the events he describes have happened. He creates this mood with such phrases as “one day,” “the years passed,” and “not long ago” at the beginning of each of the plot-related paragraphs. These expressions help give the reader this sense of time that helps put the editorial into perspective. In the last paragraph especially, but throughout the entirety of the piece, Klinkenborg also uses repetition of the phrases such as “you have” and “you want” to personalize this piece for the reader. With this phasing technique, he forces the reader to put themselves in his situation; which we all have been in, one way or another. Not necessarily with the change of a barber, but possibly the routine coffee run or friendly banter with a next-door neighbor.
     The editorial itself uses some of the most basic rhetoric techniques to make this essay the fantastic piece that it is. In the second paragraph, Klinkenborg uses stylistic syntax to convey a sense of forceful action. He creates short sentences (which he does four times in this one paragraph) such as “It was a partnership” to help support the reminiscent tone of this essay.
     Overall, this essay has many strengths in terms of both plot and language. In regard to the plot, Klinkenborg elaborates and uses his own emotions and reactions to the essay’s events to help make his point; that it is difficult to make a simple change in life. Along with his stellar explanations of the plot, Klinkenborg also structures this piece with specific language techniques such as repetition, along with modern cultural examples that bring the reader into the piece and allow the reader to compare the piece to their own lives. There are very few weaknesses in this essay. If anything, Klinkenborg could have asked some rhetorical questions, but really, it isn’t necessary to do so in this lovely simplistic essay. I could easily see this as an AP essay because of its strong narrative voice and its story-like structure.