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Page 248: "Booth shot Lincoln on Good Friday, the day commemorating Christ's crucifixion. By the next day Lincoln was dead. How stupid was Booth?"

Evaluation

Expanding on a very common comparison between Lincoln and Christ, Sarah Vowell uses the lengths of her sentences to make the quote more matter of fact and absolute to show the effect of the date.

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Page 145: "How specific the criticisms were. A young man was told he didn't read enough and that he 'skims things.' A guy's guy was picked on for his masculinity because 'there is not woman enough about him.' Though my personal favorite is the New Englander who was taken to task for his 'too frequent mention of Vermont'"

Evaluation

This passage is an excellent example of Vowell's humor. Not slapstick, but obvious enough to the point of where it keeps building. It makes the section, and passage, enjoyable.

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Page 116: "One partygoer in particular seemed drawn to them. He picked them up, held the hands in his own, and asked the host to whom they belonged. And when he heard that they were the hands of Abraham Lincoln, the man, Edwin Booth, silently placed them back upon the shelf"

Evaluation

By revealing Edwin Booths name only at the very end, Sarah Vowell builds the suspense and makes the situation seem mystic, as if you are either the hands or Booth himself and either is revealed by the host

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Page 166: "Ballot initiative to preserve the building approved by Washington citizens, 1983. Razed, 1984"

Reflection

The inscription of the plaque is something that i would do. While it not necessarily is a victory in the truest sense of the word, as long as the plaque still stands, there will always be a dig at the authorities who tore it down.

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Page 224: "I spend most of my free time indoors around people who talk about politics or entertainment"

Reflection

I mean. Yeah. Thats pretty much me, except add in going around town and stuff.

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Page 249-250: "Am I paranoid, or does the Easter Service's powerful combination of a major Christian religious holiday celebrated on the National Mall in a patriotic shrine at the deep fond center of the American heart make the event the perfect target for a terrorist truck bomb?"

Rant/Rave

Sarah Vowell understands that the pretense for the invasion of Iraq was just cover for the US to engage in imperialism, but yet she falls into the trap of fearing a terrorist attack at all times, even though unlikely it is. She realizes the secret action the government takes yet she buys into their propaganda.

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Page 159: "Every plaque, no matter what words are inscribed on it, say the same magic informative thing: Something happened!"

Interpretation

What Sarah Vowell is trying to say about plaques is that no matter the topic, just the mere background knowledge lifts a veil to another time period, where things are vastly different, and Sarah, of all people, enjoys that more than anybody else considering that she wrote a book doing just that

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Page 126: "On wall street stands the building that got Garfield killed"

Interpretation

A common theme throughout Assassination Vacation is that small events trigger larger events, and create a downward spiral towards history. What Sarah was saying here is that the customs house was responsible for being one of the events, one of the first stones in an avalanche, that buried Garfield

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Page: 130-131: "With a century and change between the 1880 convention and now, I'll admit i rolled my eyes at the ideological hair splitting...even if those votes had gone to Gore, perhaps those citizens might have spent their free time in the years to come more pleasurably"

Rhetoric

Vowell direct compares the issues of that time to the more recent controversy, directly establishing a link between Nader and the factional republicans

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Page 91: "...John Wilkes Booth is not buried here at Green Mount..."

Evaluation

It is an example of great writing in how she details the rumors of Booth surviving. the way Vowell words it makes it interesting and like a spin-off story, of its own. That's part of her writing style, she adds in extra side stories that  fill the gaps from one figure to the next, it helps the book flow better.

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Page 209: "I don't know what surprised me more about this town and its statue-that McKinley could be 'fun' or that anyone alive was thinking about him at all"

Basic

Another moment where Vowell doesn't put things into perspective, does she really think that McKinley is only thought about by her? Early on she claims that people who assassinate presidents have a hero complex, but it is apparent that she is the same when it comes to "keeping historical figures alive"

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Page 251: "I've been under the impression that every time I come to the Lincoln memorial, I'm cheating death.Because the whole time I stand around reading his speeches, searching his eyes, I feel like I'm bringing Abraham Lincoln back to life"

Interpretation

In the opening quotes of the book, Sarah Vowell quotes saying that she keeps people alive in her head, and following her comparison of presidents and religion, her books are the bible, she is making a comparison between the Lincoln memorial and something like the Jewish Temple, where god, or in her case Lincoln, resides

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Page 90: "...how much the two Marylanders had in common"

Rant/Rave

Again, i find it odd that in a book that delves so deep in its subject matter continues to make so comparatively benign and superficial comparisons, the similarities between Poe and Booth are readily apparent but insignificant

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Page 80: "Remembering that little drainage ditch Mudd and Arnold dug into the concrete floor, I turn looking south. Near here, on the far side of Cuba...six hundred prisoners...are...incarcerated at the US base on Guantanamo Bay"

Rhetoric

Vowell connects the treatment of US prisoners in the past to US treatment of prisoners in the present to draw a line to connect the injustices that she believes are going on. She uses her rhetoric to have the audience connect terrible conditions at the fort to the base.

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Page 76: "Now that I had snapped out of my momentary exoneration of Mudd, I ask Mike if he has formed an opinion regarding Mudd's innocence or guilt in the assassination"

Rant/Rave

I find it slightly annoying how Sarah Vowell goes back and forth between with her opinion on topics and people. Its annoying here as it is with her opinion on Emma Goldman

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Page 82: "...Booth the John Brown fan charmed himself into the Grays' company, bought a uniform, all so he could see his hero breathe his last"

Interpretation

With this comparison, Sarah Vowell compares Booth to Brown. What she is saying is that violent extremists tend to have similar heroes and find community in one another and that the are similar

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Page 131 "Garfield encouraged his fellow republicans to look past the present hubbub and think about their common goal"

Reflection

I always have hated these arguments, they are a cheap way to sidestep solid arguments and problems that a group has. During the 2016 election these types are arguments incredibly pissed me off, as just like Garfield who secretly appointed corrupt officials, a candidate in the recent election also tried to shoo away criticism by arguing for a common goal, which is made me so invested into the issues of state.

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Page 74: "The mention of black vomit cheers me up. It makes the pale green yogurt i threw up this morning on the boat seem comparatively festive, a thought that causes my mind to momentarily wander to Chicago and fond memories of Saint Patrick's Day and kelly-colored beer"

Interpretation

A lot abut Sarah Vowell is revealed through quotes like these, it shows how she thinks. Unlike most people she thinks in long lines of reasoning and jumps around between topics. Understanding her helps you understand how the book is laid out as well.

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Page 28: "Mary Surratt's D.C. boardinghouse, where John Wilkes Booth gathered his co-conspirators to plot Lincolns death, is now a Chinese restaurant called Wok and Roll"

Reflection

I have actually been to Wok and Roll before and it is honestly legitimately cool to be in a place where that history had taken place, there is a connection that you can feel, to me it wasn't spiritual, but i could still empathize with the emotions that must had been felt i that room, even over a plate of Hibachi Chicken.

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Page 106: "I can't stop myself from blurting out, 'Little Giant'"

Basic

Is Sarah Vowell aware of how funny and embarrassing it is for her to always one- up and "correct" children's knowledge of the world, throughout the book so far, it has been a running theme for Vowell to make sure people know exactly how much she knows about history

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Page 16: "Given what that sign says about the reflection pool reflecting American moods, and given that the current mood is on the edgy side what with all the new coffins being buried every day in the Arlington National Cemetery behind the statues back, a freaked out Lincoln gaping at the current government might look a little more true"

Interpretation

Sarah Vowell says that America is her religion, and she compares it to Christianty. Like Christianity, where once you convert a piece of God lives inside of you, a piece of Sarah's god lives inside of her, but Sarah influences her god to, it is a reflection of her, and she projects her distaste for the Bush administration onto Lincoln, and that is what this quote represents.

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Page 1-20: The entirety of the first reading

Rant/Rave

Based on what had been discussed about her, I had a preconceived notion that Sarah Vowell was an obnoxious, uptight, condescending limousine liberal that I would absolutely hate. She is absolutely all of those things... but I have to admit, I love her writing style and cant find it in me to even slightly dislike her. She is surprisingly funny and while disagreeable sometimes, she expresses her ideas charmingly.

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Page 222: "The way Riis remembered making Roosevelt's acquaintance in the first place is a likable anecdote...Roosevelt sent Riis a note that simply said how can I help?"

Rhetoric

Vowell uses stories to build a connection between the figures that she describes in her book to the audience. By making them relatable, Vowell draws the audience in closer to her narrative and makes the audience more invested.

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Page 15: "A pilgrimage needs a destination. For medieval Christians, that was usually the cathedral of Saint James in northern Spain. This tour of the assassinations of the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley ends up at the Lincoln Memorial because that's where I'm always ending up. It is the closest thing i have to a church"

Evaluation

Vowell's writing is exceptionally good in this quote in how she builds up her analogy farther; the phrasing legitimately does make it more believable that she personally believes this, which otherwise would be very hard to wrap your head around.

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Page 13: "Assassinations are your Kevin Bacon. No matter what we're talking about, you will always bring the conversation back to the president getting shot"

Basic

How does someone become so enamored with the assassinations of presidents? Seriously. While Vowell has proven so far that the assassinations an provide insight into other aspects of the times, the victims, or the perpetrators, being so fascinated so much with the actual murders does seem odd. Maybe she was introduced into her hobby by a friend? Or possibly she found a conspiracy dug a little too deeply into it. Nonetheless, it is a question that needs answering.

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Page 7: "I am only slightly less astonished by the egotism of the assassins, the inflated self-esteem it requires to kill a president, than I am by the men who run for president. These are the people that believe they can fix us."

Reflection

I deeply understand wondering what kind of person it takes to think that they can change people, firstly and foremost because I am a person who thinks that they can change people, and even society, with even some of its grievances and issues. When you stop to consider what this means about yourself as a person, you inevitably come to the conclusion that you are in fact a naive idealist, and even that you may have a hint of a messiah complex. BUT, with all of this considered, some naive fools actually do end up making a difference and causing a change, and even if there is only a tiny chance of that, some people will jump at that chance. Including me. The naive egotistical idealist.

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Page 24: "Even though the mall is a pretty safe place, I've read way to many pulpy coroner novels with the first sentences such as 'I spent a long afternoon at the morgue,' so I'm feeling a little mugable"

Rant/Rave

Although she is an excellent interesting writer, Sarah Vowell is very wierd. She claims that she doesn't have an obsession with death, yet she writes things like this, and even though she's probably lying to herself, the weirdest part is that she even thinks like this to herself.

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Page 224: "Matt, am urbanite with the woods in his heart, is the most Teddy Roosevelt-like friend I have"

Basic

Although I haven't read her other books, are all of Sarah Vowells books about assassinations? I cant imagine that with all of the presidential comparisons, and assassination references, that her other books are too different, it just seems like to long of a leap.

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Page 11: "Jesus and Lincoln, Moses and Jefferson can seem so long gone, so unbelievable, so dead"

Rhetoric

Vowell uses the juxtaposition and alternation of the saints of her religion and of another, Christianity, and to elaborate on to build up her (very) extended metaphor of her pilgrimage. Not only does this serve to lengthen her analogy but the wording of the sentence mixes the two religions together to allow the audience to see Sarah Vowell's perspective more.

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Page 31: "Powell had tried to shoot Fredrick Seward, but his gun wouldn't fire. So Powell pistol-whipped him instead..."

Evaluation

Sarah Vowell, along with being able to give an amazing amount of detail through writing, can write with a punchline. The Seward sequence shows that, as with stand-up comedians, timing is the key to comedy, and Sarah Vowell has the timing down.

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Page 66: "On today's voyage of the Yankee Clipper II I am a celebrity of seasickness, famous on board as the first person to throw up, and then as the person who has thrown up the most"

Basic

Why does Sarah Vowell write things like that in the book? Most authors when writing about something like assassinations would want to build themselves up as a reliable source that is strong and knowledgeable. I guess part of the answer is that Sarah Vowell isn't like other authors, so she doesn't mind as much that the audience doesn't look up to her.

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Page 191: "My sister is writing a book about our trip and i bet she is going to put you in the McKinley chapter"

Rhetoric

Vowell's style is a mix of many different components, but one of the most important aspects, is the humor dotted throughout. The humor of Vowell's sister saying that the waylaying driver will be in the book, in the book, is a perfect example of how Sarah uses the real life events to break up the history and add more flavor to it

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Page 65: "This is where my grandfather paradox turns into the grandfather paradox paradox: to prevent my great-great-grandfather from dong wrong, I myself become a vigilante taking justice into my own hands, shooting somebody because I disagree with him"

Rhetoric

By bringing up the grandfather paradox and turning it into another paradox Sarah Vowell compounds problem after problem with vigilante justice, even theoretic ones, to make it sound less appealing, and to convince people that it is wrong, even if for the right reasons.

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Page 82: "Where could Booth have gotten the fantastical idea that committing political murder would be greeted as an act of heroism? ...he got that cockamamie notion from the North"

Basic

Why does Vowell has the idea that every act of violence is equal to another? If attacking someone stopped someone else from being killed, then why is that bad? She compares Booth to Brown, but fails to find a difference between someone who fought against slavery and someone who fought for.

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Page 160: "One witness to the event, who was at the station to see off his his boss, was Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln, son of the late president"

Rant/Rave

There are some people who are just unlucky, and Robert Todd Lincoln, I believe, is one of those people. Some people are just bringers of death even though they don't mean it. Someone similar to this is Edgar Allen Poe, whose entire group of loved ones died from Tuberculosis

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Page 84: "It pains me that, like Reagan, faced with the profundity of death my first conscious impulse was to act like a smart-alecky partisan jackass"

Reflection

I know what it is like, like Sarah Vowell to be a smartass after being in an accident. I, like her, was in bike accident where i passed out, and when I woke up, i asked if i at least did a cool trick when i flew off my handlebars.