Section 2:

Caleb has been home since 2006, way more than enough time for Brannan to catch his symptoms. The house, in a subdivision a little removed from one of many shopping centers in a small town in the southwest corner of Alabama, is often quiet as a morgue. You can hear the cat padding around. The air conditioner whooshes, a clock ticks. When a sound erupts—Caleb screaming at Brannan because she’s just woken him up from a nightmare, after making sure she’s at least an arm’s length away in case he wakes up swinging—the ensuing silence seems even denser. Even when everyone’s in the family room watching TV, it’s only connected to Netflix and not to cable, since news is often a trigger. Brannan and Caleb can be tense with their own agitation, and tense about each other’s. Their German shepherd, a service dog trained to help veterans with PTSD, is ready to alert Caleb to triggers by barking, or to calm him by jumping onto his chest. This PTSD picture is worse than some, but much better, Brannan knows, than those that have devolved into drug addiction and rehab stints and relapses. She has not, unlike military wives she advises, ever been beat up. Nor jumped out of her own bed when she got touched in the middle of the night for fear of being raped, again. Still.

The author makes multiple types of claims in the long paragraph. One type of claim made is a categorical claim. Talking about how Caleb sometimes swings in the middle of the night and how the news is a trigger and when a clock ticks and a air conditioner whooshes. These are all symptoms of how a person might react with PTSD. The author also makes a comparative claim when they say this PTSD picture is worse then some but better then those that have drug addictions. Another part to the comparative claim is when it says the wife unlike other wives has not been beaten up. The author makes an illustrative claim when they say their dog who is trained to help soldiers with PTSD has to alert Caleb by barking or jumping on his chest to calm him down. This is done to show just how severe and sad Caleb’s case is.

“Sometimes I can’t do the laundry,” Brannan explains, reclining on her couch. “And it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m too tired to do the laundry,’ it’s like, ‘Um, I don’t understand how to turn the washing machine on.’ I am looking at a washing machine and a pile of laundry and my brain is literally overwhelmed by trying to figure out how to reconcile them.” She sounds like she might start crying, not because she is, but because that’s how she always sounds, like she’s talking from the top of a clenched throat, tonally shaky and thin. She looks relaxed for the moment, though, the sun shining through the windows onto her face in this lovely leafy suburb. We raise the blinds in the afternoons, but only if we are alone. When we hear Caleb pulling back in the driveway, we jump up and grab their strings, plunging the living room back into its usual necessary darkness.

The author makes this paragraph one big attributive claim as well as a Illustrative claim.The author gives a idea of how Brannan really feels and how she acts by using her words. The author also writes this to make the audience feel sympathy for Brannan. She talks about all her struggles in the paragraph and how she can’t even do certain everyday life things some days. This is done to make the audience feel bad for Brannan and maybe better understand the struggles of dealing with someone who has PTSD.

The Vineses’ wedding album is gorgeous, leather-bound, older and dustier than you might expect given their youth. Brannan is 32 now, but in her portraits with the big white dress and lacy veil she’s not even old enough to drink. There were 500 people at the ceremony. Even the mayor was there. And there’s Caleb, slim, in a tux, three years older than Brannan at 22, in every single picture just about the smilingest motherfucker you’ve ever seen, in a shy kind of way.

This paragraph has multiple types of claims. One claim type is a credibility claim. The claim is made when the author said even the mayor was at their wedding. Another claim made is a numerical claim. This is made when the author says there were 500 people at the cermony. The final type of claim made in this paragraph was a factual claim. This is made a few times when it says Brennan is now 32 and when Caleb was three years older then Brannan at 22.

Now, he’s rounder, heavier, bearded, and long-haired, obviously tough even if he
weren’t prone to wearing a COMBAT INFANTRYMAN cap, but still not the guy you
picture when you see his “Disabled Veteran” license plates. Not the old ‘Nam guy
with a limp, or maybe the young legless Iraq survivor, that you’d expect.

This whole paragraph is a evaluative claim. Talking about how Caleb is different now and how he is bigger, heavier, but he is still tough. It also makes a comparative claim. This is made when the author says Caleb is not the guy you picture when seeing disabled veteran license plates. He’s not the old Nam guy you’d expect.