Comparing Feature Articles

Although all three are feature articles, there a couple of differences between “Heeeere’s Conan”, “The Cost Conundrum”, and “JA”. To begin with, I would have to mention that both “Heeeere’s Conan”, and “JA”, were articles written about other people. In the first of the two, they honor the great Conan O’Brien during his last weeks in the Late Night Show. Over the past years he has become a major icon in American television, winning the hearts of people all across the U.S. The article was dedicated to him and to the legacy he will be leaving behind. “JA”, although also written honoring another person, possessed a very different tone. The author had a much more intimate relationship with the person he wrote about (which was called JA). The author states in the following words, just how important JA was to him and to the people around them: “Wherever he is, JA dominates his surroundings. With his crew, he picks the spots to hit, the stores to rack from; he controls the mission. He gives directions in the car, plans the activities, sets the mood. And he takes everything a step further than the people he's with. He climbs higher, stays awake longer, sucks deepest on the blunt, writes the most graffiti. And though he's respected by other writers for testing the limits -- he has been described to me by other writers as a king and, by way of compliment, as "the sickest guy I ever met.””(Kevin Heldman). As you can see, there was a lot admiration from Heldman’s part towards JA."

Not being an American, and never having watched The Late Night show in my life, I have to say that the JA article gave me a much stronger emotional impact than “Heeeere’s Conan”. Like I said, the bond that the author of this article had with JA was extremely deep. It was easy to notice how much this man Idolized and respected the figure he wrote about. And although the author of the Conan article did portray O’brien as an American Hero, there wasn’t nearly as much emotion and intimacy between the two.

“The Cost Conundrum” was completely different from the two previous articles. It involved the health care cost in America, emphasizing on a little town called McAllen. While this article didn’t really catch my attention, it helped me understand the variety of feature articles. What it was trying to do, basically, was give an impact on its audience using facts and statistics. In terms of rhetoric, the two previous articles put pathos into use, while this one had allot of logos. The author did seem concerned about the message he was trying to give, but as a reader, I didn’t really feel its matter of importance.