Anaytical Roughdraft

Mat Brown

Prime Directive Textual Analysis

Eng Comp 1010

The Prime Directive uses the world of Star Trek to show ironic similarities between the events in Iraq and the adventures of Starship Enterprise from the Perspective of a man who has dressed up as Captain James Kirk, the main protagonist of Star Trek. The man, who shall be referred to as Kirk, takes the reader on a trip in the processes of what has been going on in his own life as he attempts to escape the reality of his lonely situation.

The tone is set at the beginning of the paper when Kirk brings the reader to see that he hates staying home because it allows him to think on the aspects of his life in a more pessimistic way. This is seen as the author chooses to give us a description of his home as being bare and devoid of anything that might stand out or make things comfortable for himself. The tone of ironic loneliness is consistent throughout the paper. Kirk spends most of the time away from home around people who he can socialize with yet he seems to be set apart inside his own mind by his cynical attitude he has. He realizes his jaded mindset and this is shown by the fact that he would rather be around the company of other’s where he can’t think of the mind wracking things that bother him in day to day life, yet somehow he finds himself faced with something else. He is supposed to be Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise yet to everyone else he is only “one of those guys who die.” He may look to be the courageous man that is the captain, but it doesn’t show because he is an admitted coward, and he knows nothing about the character he is supposed to be.

This attitude of passive disposition to the world around him spans from the day before to the day of Halloween. Kirk uses this time as another excuse to keep away from the depressive state of his house. It is so barren that every little thing seems to creak louder from the emptiness that is his home while his wife is gone. The author’s choices of words give the story a sarcastic air that brings the focus down to the irony of what he is thinking relative to the world around him.

I have these questions to as you if you comment on this draft.

1. Was it clear?
2. Did you understand my point?
3. Was it good?