TOW #15- You to Still Die One Day

The Onion, as we know it, is meant to lighten the mood, to spread laughter, and perhaps to emphasize the atrocities that fill the lives of the average American.  When I came across this article, I wasn't exactly attracted to the title; "You To Still Die One Day".  It's a Sunday afternoon, right before midterms, not especially a time that I want to spend thinking about when my life is going to end.  However, my love for The Onion was stronger than this haunting title, so I gave it a read and surprised myself.  The Onion had almost outdone itself by taking the most melancholic topic imaginable and allowed the audience to laugh at themselves and find a bright spot in their day.  The author, who was unnamed, used devices such as allusion and intelligent sarcasm to alleviate the wonders of the typical human being, by proving that everyone has thought about dying, no matter how positive they are.

By using allusions, the author successfully makes the audience laugh without seeming like that's what they want to do.  Throughout the article, and even in the subtitle, the author alludes to the fact that everyone thinks about death too much, by repeatedly saying that they "...wondered it perhaps you had momentarily forgotten about that-- forgotten that one day, you will be dead for all of eternity."  And if in a conversation, someone would probably say, wow, thanks for bringing it up.  Everyone knows that they will die someday, and most people probably try to forget about it.  But this article makes it impossible for us to forget about it, with allusions to thinking about death in every paragraph.

Articles on this website are popularly ridden with intelligent sarcasm, something that makes The Onion stand out among other "news" providers.  This article uses it to entertain the audience and make them feel a little better about their death obsession.  Through the article, the author always references to "sources" or "experts", who obviously are neither of the two.  These sources and experts all verify our nightmares that "...everyone you've ever known and loved is going to die, too..."

By writing about death and how unavoidable it is, The Onion allowed their audience to perhaps forget about death and laugh a little.

http://www.theonion.com/article/you-still-die-one-day-52183