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Abstract
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, uses meiosis and ambiguity. It clearly omits traditional funerary and memorial rhetorical forms, yet it is very moving. Its rhetorical power can be related to its devices, including matters of self-reflection. To some observers, its openness to personal interpretation is itself a rhetorical, political statement. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, has been enormously popular ever since its dedication in November 1982. In this article, I examine its use of meiosis or understatement, ambiguity, reversals of expectations, and self-reflection.