I decided to write a rhetorical letter for my blog post this week. I was inspired by these rhetorical letters written by an Urdu short story writer, Saadat Hasan Manto. I read a few of his short stories and didn't like them because they were kind of erotic and violent. I looked him up and came across someone's blog about the author. I read the few "letters" written by the author that have been translated and I thought they were quite witty and they changed my opinion of the author entirely. I was having a really bad day, so those letters definitely raised my spirits. So here's my own version of a "letter" based off of actual events. I want to see if anyone can figure them out they should be quite obvious. I am going to post the link to the blog I found after I write the letter; but I ask that you please refrain from reading that blog until you've read mine because that will ruin the whole blog. I want you to keep in mind that I am writing these letters as a person from a different country altogether.
Dear Uncle,
I heard about the twins and I'm deeply sorry for your loss. Events like that really have a way of bringing people closer together; for when one dies a part of everyone dies with it. I'm sure you have already heard of what happened here. What happened on 7/11 was being compared to the same event that took place for you. I watched the news and I was devastated by the impact and how reckless people seem to be becoming now a days. I heard that some people are planning on building a mosque and the controversy that's going on about it. I think it's ridiculous that people are having such an argument about it. There really shouldn't be such discrimination and prejudice directed towards one ethnicity because not all Muslims are terrorists. I hope my regards and prayers reach you safely and I hope in time that some day people will be more accepting of others and less judgmental.
Your niece
I'm pretty sure that letter was obvious enough as to what I was talking about. If you didn't understand the reference of 7/11 you can try to look it up. Just type in Bombay 7/11 and you'll understand.
Here's the link to the blog about those rhetorical letters written by that author mentioned in the beginning.
http://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/2006/07/saadat-hasan-mantos-letters-to-uncle.html
i just wrote a comment but i odn't think i actually clicked post... oh well. i really like the concept of a letter and i think you wrote a really good one. you were sympathetic, understanding, and even had some optimism by talking about people coming together. I'm sorry for what happened and i hope things have gotten better!
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