Mary Rogan Blog

Mary Rogan has a very distinct writing style. It is current with the use of pop culture, witty and gets the information across in a way that is easy to understand by way of clever analogies. Like all writers, she has some bias in her writing. The great thing Mary Rogan does however is not being overly forceful of her opinions. She also provides as many different sides to the story as possible. As a reader, you don’t feel like you are being pushed in a particular direction.

Mary Rogan uses pop culture references to give life to her pieces and make it easy for the reader to conceptualize what she means. For example, in her piece A Little Bird Told Me, she uses an abundance of familiar icons such as Planet of the Apes (to compare the apes ability to speak to Alex the parrot), a Nerf football (to describe the size of Alex) and the move Rain Man (to compare how Alex sounds like Dustin Hoffman). In The Greatest Scientist of Our Time, Rogan masterfully uses pop culture references in her analogies. She compares Penninger’s haircut with that of Sideshow Bob from The Simpson’s who happens to have ridiculous and instantly recognizable hair. She relates the work Penninger has done in medicine to that of a miracle like in the Wizard of Oz where Dorthy clicks her heels and says: “There’s no place like home”. In the same piece, she describes Gerrard and Jarvis as “Time Square before Giuliani turned it into Disney World,” which is fairly accurate. Mary Rogan’s use of pop culture not only makes her writing relevant but also easier to understand.

In terms of literary devices, Rogan uses crude examples of analogies and metaphors. Instead deep similes and metaphors, she describes Alex the parrot as a Nerf football. This subtle and sometimes crude humour is definitely part of her style. She is often very witty and blunt and isn’t afraid to use foul language. The way she describes Penninger when he was a child is great. “Josef’s four, playing out behind the barn. There’s a dung heap, a pile of cow shit, that he loves to sit in for hours by himself.” I love how she’s not afraid of describing him like that because you would think after calling him the “Greatest Scientist of Our Time,” she would omit such undesirable events. But she doesn’t and it’s funny.

In the piece about Alex, she treats Alex like a human by actually being afraid of him. “I perch on a gray recycling box and try not to meet his flitty, glassy eyes in cause that pisses him off.” I find it humour how she doesn’t want to “piss off” a parrot and I also noticed the “perch” pun which was kind of funny.

The sources Mary Rogan uses seems to comprise of mainly primary sources, she actually goes and talks to the sources. This is the case in all three pieces that I looked at. In the Penninger piece, she travels to Austria to talk with Seitel, Josef’s physics teacher. In the parrot piece, she drives to Boston to talk with Dr.Pepperberg. In Girl, Interrupted, Rogan talks with Aqsa’s closest friends Ebonie Mitchell and Ashley Garbutt.

Rogan’s personal perspective is usually well hidden. It doesn’t feel like she is writing with the goal of persuading the reader to a certain viewpoint because she usually just states the facts without adding a personal opinion to the sentence. Although that is true for the majority of Rogan’s writing, there are instances where a little bias slips by. In the piece about Aqsa, Rogan poses the question: “Is it possible that Toronto has become too tolerant of cultural differences?” Even though that is a legitimate question, it does seem to be slightly weighted. In Rogan’s Penninger’s piece, it seems at times that she over credits him by stating really great things that he will do in the future. “When he wins the Nobel price for discovering God…” I know it’s meant as a joke but part of me believes it because it’s stated as fact. Overall, Mary is fairly unbiased throughout her work and only adds a pinch of personal perspective occasionally.