1999 Rhetorical Analysis Essay

 Passage 1 

 Passage 2

        Vast and primeval, unfathomable, unconquerable, 

        bastion of cottonmouth, rattlesnake and leech, mother 

        of vegetation, father of mosquito, soul of silt, the 

        Okefenokee is the swamp archetypal, the swamp of 

        legend, of racial memory, of Hollywood. It gives birth 

(5)    to two rivers, the St. Maryís and the Suwannee, 

        fanning out over 430,000 leaf-choked acres, every last 

        one as sodden as a sponge. Four hundred and thirty 

        thousand acres of stinging, biting and boring insects, 

        of maiden cane and gum and cypress, of palmetto, 

(10)  slash pine and peat, of muck, mud, slime and ooze. 

        Things fester here, things cook down, decompose,

        deliquesce. The swamp is home to two hundred and 

        twenty-five species of birds, forty-three of mammals, 

        fifty-eight of reptiles, thirty-two of amphibians and 

(15)  thirty-four of fish--all variously equipped with 

        beaks, talons, claws, teeth, stingers 

        and fangs--not to mention the seething galaxies of 

        gnats and deerflies and no-see-ums, the ticks, mites, 

        hookworms and paramecia that exist only to com-

        pound the misery of life. There are alligators here, 

(20)  bears, puma, bobcats and bowfin, there are cooters 

        and snappers, opossum, coon and gar. They feed 

        on one another, in the sludge and muck and on the 

        floating mats of peat they bury eggs, they scratch 

(25)  and stink and sniff at themselves, caterwauling and 

        screeching through every minute of every day and 

        night till the place reverberates like some hellish zoo. 

        (1990)

        Okefenokee Swamp, primitive swamp and wildlife 

        refuge in southeastern Georgia and northern Florida, 

        is a shallow, saucer-shaped depression approximately 

        25 mi wide and 40 mi long and covers an area of 

        more than 600 sq mi. Lying about 50 mi inland from 

(5)    the Atlantic Coast, the swamp is bounded on the east 

        by the low, sandy Trail Ridge, which prevents direct 

        drainage into the Atlantic. The swamp is partially 

        drained southward into the Atlantic by the Suwannee 

        and St. Maryís rivers. The Okefenokee Swamp 

(10)  includes low, sandy ridges, wet grassy savannas, 

        small islands (called hummocks) surrounded by

        marshes, and extensive "prairies," or dark water areas 

        covered by undergrowth and trees. Vegetation is 

        dense in the swamp and includes giant tupelo and 

(15)  bald cypress trees festooned with Spanish moss, 

        brush, and vines: where sandy soil is above the 

        water, pine trees predominate. Meandering channels 

        of open water form an intricate maze. Exotic flowers, 

        among them floating hearts, lilies, and rare orchids, 

(20)  abound. The swamp is populated with diverse and 

        abundant wildlife, with about 175 species of birds 

        and at least 40 species of mammals, which include 

        raccoons, black bear, white-tail deer, bobcats, fox, 

        and otter. Alligators are also present. 

        (1988)