Deconstructing the prompt and the example paper...

Page 2: Don't force rhetorical strategies and devices; treat that section as an encouragement to try a variety of techniques. Because of the nature of the assignment, most of you will probably use anecdotes and/or allusions to literature or current events/history, etc, but also consider rhetorical questions or repetition or parallel structure or metaphors. 

Let's go through O'Rourke's essay and see what she is doing in each paragraph, and how she explores the topic of grieving from several different angles.