The Future Is Now by Katherine Anne Porter (193)

I was nothing short of intrigued after reading the title to this essay. By stating that the future is now, it contradicts the basic order that our society lives upon. The present is considered what is going on now and the future is something going on later. The title to this essay is a paradox but after further reading the essay, it actually makes sense.

Katherine Anne Porter published this essay in 1950, which is a post-WWII world. In this essay Porter takes a moment to sit back, observe, and realize where we as mankind are in the history of Earth. Porter continuously goes back to the atomic bomb, which serves as a symbol for mankind's deliberate inclination for self-destruction. She comes to the conclusion that life isn't worth doing for the future but for doing for right now.

Katherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, an essayist, and a political activist. After reading Porter's essay I truly believe that her intended purpose for this essay was to open people's eyes up and give them a whole new perspective on our society. This essay was intended for anyone that currently lives in our society. She wants people to change how they're living, and how they few such things as war and nuclear bombs. She brings the point up that we invent weapons of mass destruction to use on our enemies yet we get shocked by the amount of deaths that happen by the monster we created.

Aside from creating a paradoxical essay, Katherine Anne Porter also used some other Rhetorical Devices. Porter uses a few allusions altogether in one sentence. "How much of this are we to believe, when with the pride of Lucifer, the recklessness of Icarus, the boldness of Prometheus and the intellectual curiosity of Adam and Eve..." (196). The whole introductory to that essay can also be viewed as an anecdote. Porter starts the story off with a personal anecdote that took place at her workplace. In conclusion, I do believe that Katherine Anne Porter accomplished her intended purpose with this essay because after reading it, I am now definitely thinking about our society in a different way.

 I felt that Ferris Bueller's wise words really helped simplify the message that Katherine Anne Porter was attempting to convey. (Found on Pintrest.com)