Rhetorical Appeals

Please look at the 3 passages and think of the rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos (your reading has the definitions). Each quote might have more than one appeal used in it. Please try to tell us what appeals are used and which is the dominant one in each passage. You can discuss all the passages in your response or just one or two of them.

Passage 1:
"...it is well for us to remember that, in an age of increasing literacy, 60 percent of world's illiterate are women. Between 1960 and 1970, the number of illiterate men in the world rose by 8 million, while the number of illiterate women rose by 40 million. And the number of illiterate women is increasing."
-- from Adrienne Rich, "What does a woman need to know?"

Passage 2:
"The Asian culture, as it happens, is something I know a bit about, having spent five years at Harvard striving for a Ph.D. in a joint program called History and East Asian Languages and, after that, living either as a student (for one year) or a journalist (six years) in China and Southeast Asia. At least I know enough to know there is no such thing as the 'Asian culture'."
-- from Richard Bernstein, The Dictatorship of Virtue

Passage 3:
"And what, exactly, do I mean by 'guys'? I don't know. I haven't thought much about it. One of the major characteristics about guyhood is that guys don't spend a lot of time pondering our innermost feelings..."
-- from Dave Barry, "Guys vs. Men"

Posted by hristova on August 31, 2004 at 04:40 PM
Comments

Hi;

I've just finished reading the chapter one of the handbook. So I'm not so sure about my analysis but what I want to tell is that;

The first quote simply has logos (i.e the writer used the facts to talk about the issue).

The second one mainly has ethos since the writer talks about his experiences and comes to a conclusion by analizing what he learned in the past.

The third one seems to have pathos. The quote has a definition of guyhood but the origin of the definition is more likely to be the general belief and thoughts rather than the personal experiences of the writer or the facts and logic.

That's all from me...
See you tomorrow;
Halil

Posted by Halil Saka on August 31, 2004 07:31 PM

Passage 1 mainly uses evidence to speak of illiteracy, therefore it would be logos. I think it also contains ethos because Adrienne Rich might be an expert on the subject. That would be why she knows those things.

Posted by Eduardo Arcos on August 31, 2004 07:36 PM

Passage one is logos because there is evidence concerning the subject, and the evidence is the percentages.

Passage two is ethos because the writer seemed to have done research on the subject.

Passage three is pathos because the writer is stating what he thinks about guys.

Posted by Alexis Shaheen on August 31, 2004 08:25 PM

I would agree with the people who've already commented. Your idetifications of dominant appeals are right on the mark.

Still, I want to draw your attention specifically to passage 3. It sounds simple on the surface, but has a lot going on in it. Can you tell us which appeals you see and how, in addition to identifying the dominant one?

Posted by Mariela Hristova on August 31, 2004 11:06 PM

Passage 3 is very short but based on what it does give the dominant one would be ethos because the speaker states his own thoughts about 'guys'. Another appeal would probably be logos because the speaker tries to appeal to his reasoning and evidence of how he views guyhood.

Posted by Miguel Martinez on September 1, 2004 01:55 AM

The the first passage defiantly has to do with logos, because the use of evidence is apparent. Through, the use of percentages and direct facts.

The second passage has to do mainly with ethos, because the writher shows that he knows from experience what the Asian culture really is.

Posted by Rakesh Mehta on September 1, 2004 10:33 AM

The first passage definitely has a logos appeal. It appeals based on logic and evidence giving numbers and statistics to suport the statement being made.

The third passage is dominantly ethos becuase he is giving his opinion which is not fact based and states that he doesn't even know what he means. However, it appeals to him because it is his statement.

Posted by Ariel Morey on September 1, 2004 11:46 AM