Thank You, Old Rabbit

In terms of voice between the profiles of Mr. Rogers and Roger Ebert the one that formed a stronger connection to me was that of Mr. Rogers. Tom Junod constructs a voice here that allows the reader to become very personally involved with his narrative. Instead of simply giving us a story about the experience he had with Mr. Rogers he brings it home by reflecting on how it made him feel. The voice comes off as someone who has come to terms with their own insecurities and is willing to open their mind to the reader like a book. The beginning story of Old Rabbit captivates the reader into wanting to find out exactly what this has to do with Mr. Rogers. These personal touches cause the reader to find a slight investment in the story that they might not have had otherwise. Once he gets into the actual profiling he does a good job of structuring the story in such a way that continues to bring Old Rabbit in at periodic times to help pull the reader along. That’s not to say that a day in the life of Mr. Roger’s is boring. In fact, once Tom begins relating Mr. Rogers’ routine and emphasizing a slow, gentle tone to emulate Mr. Rogers the voice finds a new way to captivate the reader. It’s very easy to slip into the narrative and begin to feel that Mr. Roger’s voice is talking to you.

            One thing that the voice reveals about Mr. Roger’s is the amount of structure that goes into his daily life. Tom uses structure in the essay to help reader’s understand Mr. Rogers a bit better. This can be seen in the way that Tom allows the sentences to become long, at one point an entire sentence becomes a single paragraph, and the way that the sentences craft the story simply:

            ONCE UPON A TIME, a long time ago, a man took off his jacket and put on a sweater. Then he took off his shoes and put on a pair of sneakers. His name was Fred Rogers. He was starting a television program, aimed at children, called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. He had been on television before, but only as the voices and movements of puppets, on a program called The Children's Corner. Now he was stepping in front of the camera as Mister Rogers, and he wanted to do things right, and whatever he did right, he wanted to repeat. And so, once upon a time, Fred Rogers took off his jacket and put on a sweater his mother had made him, a cardigan with a zipper.

The story begins with once upon a time and then as he begins to tell the next part of it he repeats that phrase. In this way he helps the reader to discover more about Mr. Roger’s personality. The voice and the content here go hand in hand to make it clear exactly what is happening. Every day Mr. Rogers goes through the same tasks in a manner that could in a way be described as obsessive. The words here seem very precise and particular so they are in fitting with that manner. They also seem as if they are the beginning to a children’s story, something spoken to a child before they begin to fall asleep. The profile does a good job of using voice to relate who Mr. Rogers is. It even sticks to this structure when in the end we are gifted with the knowledge of Tom's great revelation with Mr. Rogers. Here repetition is used in the form of the unfolding of the Old Rabbit narrative that we have received throughout the profile.