My Writing Mentor: Rick Reilly
In the essay by Rick Reilly, “Strongest Dad In the World,” Reilly tells us about a
father, whose son is disabled. This boys name was Rick Hoyt, he was in a wheelchair. Rick’s fathers name was Dick. It all started when Rick was about nine months old, a doctor had told Ricks parents to put him in an institution. His parents refused. When Rick was about eleven years old, his parents took him to the engineering department at Tufts University. They asked if there was anything to help their boy communicate. “No way,” they told his parents, there was nothing going on in his brain to do be able to do anything. Rick’s parents weren’t buying it. They tested the belief of Tufts University. They told Rick a joke that would determine whether there was something wrong in his brain. The turnout was, there was in fact, a lot going on in his brain. They then rigged him up to a computer to help him communicate.
After a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident, his school held a charity run for him. Rick had told his father that he wanted to take part in the run.
His father disagreed but eventually changed his mind. Dick pushed his son five
miles through this charity run. Rick confessed to his father that running made
him feel like he wasn’t disabled anymore. Rick changed his father’s life with
that confession. After their experience, Dick took his son to over 200 triathlons. They soon got noticed, and gave speeches around the country about their experiences. Rick and his son, both felt as if they somewhat helped each other. He had received this amazing feeling of not being disabled. Rick saved his father's life, by keeping him healthy. Rick ended on taking his father to a father’s day dinner. That night Rick wanted to give his father a gift he could never buy. He wanted his father to sit in the chair and push him for once.
In Rick Reilly’s writing, I would say that he uses irony than anything else.
In “Strongest Dad In the World”, he gives us certain examples of irony on some
points in his essay. He gives us small portions of the story where he will describe an action, or the way someone said something. Rick has a great way of drawing pictures for his audience. For example, in this essay when he was making fun of Dick, when his son first told him he wanted to run. ““Yeah, Right” Says Dick. How was Dick, a self-described “porker” who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles?” In this small portion of the essay, Rick describes Dick as a “porker”. He also gives us a little background on our character so we can understand him easier.
One of the writing strategies that Rick tends to use often is sarcasm. In
this essay he didn’t use it as much but in some points he did. He likes to make
fun of his characters, as well as himself sometimes. To start off his essay, he
talks about how he personally tries to be a good father. “I try to be a good
father. Give my kids Mulligans.Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take
them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.” It seems that in
this quote he’s a bit harsh on himself, when comparing himself to Dick. Another
part where sarcasm is used is when he again, makes sort of a joke about Dick.
“How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike since he was six
going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon?” Again, Rick makes fun of
Dick, for the kind of promising to do something that he might have not been
ready for.
I feel that Reilly is a great writer and my peers without question should
read his books. More so when they want to take on a more humorous way of
writing, they should use him as a mentor. Reilly tends to write in a more
sarcastic way. He’s different. He jokes around in his essays, and wants one to
enjoy his writing in an amusing way. Reilly enjoys writing about the kind of
people who aren’t very good at a sport, but put their heart and soul into it. He
also writes about athletes, and how it all happened. Reilly gives us stories
about people we’ve never heard of, and the amazing tasks they’ve accomplished.
If humorous writing is what you’re searching for, Rick Reilly is definitely
someone to consider.
father, whose son is disabled. This boys name was Rick Hoyt, he was in a wheelchair. Rick’s fathers name was Dick. It all started when Rick was about nine months old, a doctor had told Ricks parents to put him in an institution. His parents refused. When Rick was about eleven years old, his parents took him to the engineering department at Tufts University. They asked if there was anything to help their boy communicate. “No way,” they told his parents, there was nothing going on in his brain to do be able to do anything. Rick’s parents weren’t buying it. They tested the belief of Tufts University. They told Rick a joke that would determine whether there was something wrong in his brain. The turnout was, there was in fact, a lot going on in his brain. They then rigged him up to a computer to help him communicate.
After a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident, his school held a charity run for him. Rick had told his father that he wanted to take part in the run.
His father disagreed but eventually changed his mind. Dick pushed his son five
miles through this charity run. Rick confessed to his father that running made
him feel like he wasn’t disabled anymore. Rick changed his father’s life with
that confession. After their experience, Dick took his son to over 200 triathlons. They soon got noticed, and gave speeches around the country about their experiences. Rick and his son, both felt as if they somewhat helped each other. He had received this amazing feeling of not being disabled. Rick saved his father's life, by keeping him healthy. Rick ended on taking his father to a father’s day dinner. That night Rick wanted to give his father a gift he could never buy. He wanted his father to sit in the chair and push him for once.
In Rick Reilly’s writing, I would say that he uses irony than anything else.
In “Strongest Dad In the World”, he gives us certain examples of irony on some
points in his essay. He gives us small portions of the story where he will describe an action, or the way someone said something. Rick has a great way of drawing pictures for his audience. For example, in this essay when he was making fun of Dick, when his son first told him he wanted to run. ““Yeah, Right” Says Dick. How was Dick, a self-described “porker” who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles?” In this small portion of the essay, Rick describes Dick as a “porker”. He also gives us a little background on our character so we can understand him easier.
One of the writing strategies that Rick tends to use often is sarcasm. In
this essay he didn’t use it as much but in some points he did. He likes to make
fun of his characters, as well as himself sometimes. To start off his essay, he
talks about how he personally tries to be a good father. “I try to be a good
father. Give my kids Mulligans.Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take
them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.” It seems that in
this quote he’s a bit harsh on himself, when comparing himself to Dick. Another
part where sarcasm is used is when he again, makes sort of a joke about Dick.
“How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike since he was six
going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon?” Again, Rick makes fun of
Dick, for the kind of promising to do something that he might have not been
ready for.
I feel that Reilly is a great writer and my peers without question should
read his books. More so when they want to take on a more humorous way of
writing, they should use him as a mentor. Reilly tends to write in a more
sarcastic way. He’s different. He jokes around in his essays, and wants one to
enjoy his writing in an amusing way. Reilly enjoys writing about the kind of
people who aren’t very good at a sport, but put their heart and soul into it. He
also writes about athletes, and how it all happened. Reilly gives us stories
about people we’ve never heard of, and the amazing tasks they’ve accomplished.
If humorous writing is what you’re searching for, Rick Reilly is definitely
someone to consider.