the beginning

Throughout even the first few pages many issues of that use rhetoric are used. The phone call that Oedipa receives from Peirce in which he uses different voices he tries to dissuade her from guessing that it is he. The doctor that Oedipa is seeing tries to persuade her to use the drugs that he is testing on housewives. He tells her that he wants to use her, and the image of the Uncle Sam posters that say, "I want you!" pops into her mind, which in itself is rhetoric. When Metzger shows up he is using Oedipa's sight to be influential and sway her into thinking that he is a man of business, but also one of sexuality. He convinces her to have sex with him by using rhetoric to influence her thinking by making it appear that he is sure that the people in the movie they are watching will not die. He makes a bet with her even though he knows that they will since he was in the movie. The Paranoids use rhetoric in their songs to try to reach people emotional and connect with them. Oedipa uses rhetoric in her own mind when she recalls the painting in Mexico of the damsels that are in the tower. She identifies with them and envisions herself as the damsel with Peirce as her rescuer back when they were in love. The first two chapters were themselves rich with rhetoric, and my favorite chapters. They were intriguing because of all the imagery that was created and the emotions that were being manipulated within them.