Rhetorical Analysis of "The Body in Room 348"

The story written by Mark Bowden, “The Body in Room 348,” is about a true crime that happened in Texas and the victim was Greg Fleniken. The story is effective because the style Bowden uses is a very informational and descriptive one. In the first three paragraphs are very engaging and it feels as if Bowden was actually there describing every little detail. Greg was “lounging, smoking, snacking on a Reese’s Crispy Crunchy bar, sipping root beer, and watching Iron Man 2” (Bowden 1). Bowden does a great describing the scene and setting up the story. Later in the night as Greg finishes his conversation with his wife “Greg was struck from nowhere with real and shattering blow. A blow so violent it would blind a man with pain. He managed to get off the bed and move toward the door before he fell, legs splayed and face-first. He probably was dead by the time his face hit the green rug” (Bowden 1). Bowden uses great words like shattering and splayed to enhance the story and also leaves the reading guesses, thinking, and wondering what happen to Greg. It seems very sudden and does not make sense.

Bowden tells the story in way that gets the reader reading more because the plot gets more descriptive and more interesting once they get closer to an answer of what happen. The detective on the scene was Scott Apple “a short and very fit man with graying hair that he wears combed straight up in spikes” (Bowden 1). Bowden gives a good sense of how Apples looks and the description can get a good imagine in the readers head. Apple gathers information but very slowly and ends up leading to nothing mostly because they thought cause of death was a severe beating, which is later proven wrong. Bowden slowing gives information and slowly leads up to the climax, which is when they finally figure out that Greg was shoot and this come from the help of a private detective named Ken Brennan who was hired by Greg’s wife. Once they figure that out the rest is easy and they catch the killer who was next-door and accidental shoot a gun, which ended up hitting Greg. The killer was Mr. Steinmetz who was sentenced to ten years in prison.            

Bowden does a great job telling this story and since it is real he has to be very descriptive and accurate. He keeps the reader engaged and does not try and fly through all the information in the story. He describes all the character very well as well as the setting and plot. It is not easy writing about a crime but the story had good imagery and detail: writing about a crime require a lot and Bowden gets everything spot on.