Ben G.

The Monuments Men

            There are three main components to writing in order to make its rhetoric successful: A communicator, the message, and its intended audience. It is a challenge for many authors to correctly use these components, and be able to write an interesting novel that grasps the reader’s emotions, and draw them into the story. However, the novel The Monuments Men correctly and effectively uses all three components to give a message to its readers, which tells the story of 15 men who travel throughout the frontline in Europe during WWII in an attempt to retrieve precious stolen artwork. Robert M. Edsel, the author of this novel uses rhetoric to appeal to its readers emotions, and be able to connect with its readers in other ways. This is a great feat considering it’s a daring challenge to write a story that takes place in the second world war, and be able to get a younger audience to understand the hardships many people endured during the war. With Robert M. Edsel’s powerful writing style, he is able to draw in audiences of all ages to try and take a glance at a story of men trying their best to preserve history’s most important art-work, while fighting the biggest war seen in history. All of these components that are used in The Monuments Men make it possible to tell the story in a movie-like quality, and make it evident that this novel is a perfect example of a good use of rhetoric.

One large component to an effective rhetoric presentation in literature is the message that the communicator is portraying. There are a few messages that are evident when reading The Monuments Men, but the most prominent one is that once any item, or building with historical significance is destroyed, it will have an impact for hundreds of years to come. From an important piece of artwork that translates the cultures of its time period, to a synagogue that has been in use for hundreds of years, this book shows the importance of preserving pieces of our history to benefit people of all races, age groups, and backgrounds because they can all see a part of their history with these artworks. The men and women who are trying to protect these historical pieces are not only saving it for their peers to enjoy, but for the generations to come.          

The Monuments Men is able to draw its readers into getting a feel of the struggles of many men during World War Two. By an effective use of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, the novel appeals not only to art connoisseurs interested in a novel about a struggle over the world’s art, but also people interested in a war novel. When reading this novel, you are thrown into the perspectives of the men who travel around looking at different structures, examining damages, and trying to find where artwork was stored by Nazis. It gives a real time display of the Allied advancement on the frontlines, and descriptions of many of the battles fought. The novel makes use of violence, soldiers feeling homesick, and how the war impacts the civilians who live in these European cities. This makes it possible for the author to effectively describe the terrors of war throughout the book by giving small details throughout the novel, which makes you understand the gravity of the situation that the Monuments Men are in. 

The Monuments Men is a novel that takes a lot of time to read with its grand total of 426 pages. However, with its interesting story that it presents, the novel seems to fly by as you become more and more intrigued with all of its characters’ personalities and traits. The story evolves from character to character, and from each piece of the puzzle that is solved in the mystery of where the famous pieces of artwork at being stored by the Nazis. The rhetoric that is being used in this novel produces a wonderful story of war, political conflicts, and a treasure hunt that takes place over the European continent. It has a powerful messages that informs many people of the importances of art, and the reason why it needs to be preserved for future generations.