Rhetorical Analysis of McPhee’s “In Search of Marvin Gardens”
By: Amber Kuhlman
Monopoly has been around since the 1930’s. Skill and patience are needed
to conquer your opponent. John McPhee is one of the few people with the skills
and patience that allow his opponent and him to easily finish a single game in
under a half-hour. While playing a single game of monopoly, he contemplates
his next move before he even starts. He realizes that some monopoly properties
are more valuable than others are and could help him win the game. So how
does John McPhee choose to visualize the properties as he does?
This analysis is over a piece of literature from the nonfiction book Pieces
of the Frame, which was published in 1975 in New York by Farrar, Strauss and
Giroux. This book is 308 pages long, but the passage “In Search for Marvin
Gardens” is 15 pages long.
I will form a comprehensive examination of McPhee’s “In Search of
Marvin Gardens” using narrative criticism. I am using narrative criticism
because it will allow me to show why McPhee chooses to visualize the properties
of the monopoly game through aspects such as setting, characters, narrator,
events, temporal relations, casual relations, audience, and theme. First I will take
a look at the setting and tell how the setting is created and how it changes
throughout the passage. Next I will at the characters in the passage and explain
how they are presented. Third, I will look at the narrator and see how he affects
the story. I will then look at temporal relations and casual relations. Next I will
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see what type of audience was this passage wrote for. Finally I will what the
major theme of the narrative was, and what this theme means.
In McPhee’s “In Search of Marvin Gardens” there is more than more
setting. The first setting is the real world setting in which John McPhee and his
friend play games of Monopoly. In this setting McPhee and his friend play over
a thousand games of Monopoly over the years. This setting is not highly
developed or detailed. For the second setting John McPhee daydreams about
what the Monopoly properties would look like if a town actually existed. When
playing an actual game with his friend whenever he passes or lands on a
particular monopoly he describes the surrounding. He starts by going down by
Vermont Avenue and points out the crumbling buildings and the shattered glass.
McPhee points out that dogs run up and down the street and yet no people are
heard or seen. Next comes St. Charles Place. Hotels, buildings, and mansions
once lined the streets, but now all are torn down. A few streetlights shine upon
the empty lots.
Illinois comes next, where two story buildings line the streets, and is
home to the African American population. Indiana Avenue is where the railroad
is a vital part to survival. The people of this area seem to think that the railroad
is the only way to travel. They quickly discard anyone who uses any other
means of transportation. On Kentucky Avenue most of the retail shops and
business are located.
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Pennsylvania starts the journey back towards the sea. The Hotel Astoria is
located here. Between Pacific and Boardwalk the Aristocrat and Colton Manor
hotels have blinking vacancy signs. Boardwalk is the home of the Holiday Inn,
which has twenty-three stories.
The main characters are John McPhee and his friend that play Monopoly
together. Both the main characters portray the trait of being clever. While
playing a game of Monopoly, both characters are very quick and precise. They
finish many games under a half-hour, showing that cleverness is needed to win
in such a short period of time.
The narrator is John McPhee, who is also one of the main characters. He is
presented directly to the audience. He is the one that is in search of Marvin
Gardens and he directly tells the audience what to see or hear. McPhee holds all
the power in deciding what he wants his audience to see.
The events that take place include McPhee and his friend playing
Monopoly over a thousand times over the years. Another event that takes place
is as McPhee plays Monopoly and he goes around the board, he visualizes
walking through a make believe city that is set up like the Monopoly game.
The temporal relations happen over many years as they compete against
each other. In the second setting, the temporal relations happen over about a
day.
The casual relations are the causes and effect relationships that are
established in the narrative. One obvious cause and effect relationship is when
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McPhee lands on a property on the Monopoly board, he visualizes in his head
what that property in contrast to others would look like. For example, McPhee
goes down by Mediterranean and Baltic, which are the primary avenues of the
ghetto. Most the buildings are vacant and toxic wastes overrun the streets.
The audience that McPhee intends to read this passage, is people who are
interested in the game of Monopoly, and people who are very imaginative.
The overall theme of McPhee’s “In Search of Marvin Gardens” is the
Monopoly game itself and how McPhee chooses to visualize the properties as he
does.
McPhee chooses to visualize the Monopoly properties as actual city streets
and avenues. He uses vivid description to make his audience
feel as if
they were part of the city. His setting creates a scene that shows the vacant
rundown building to the high dollar house developments.
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