Joan Didion Rhetorical Devices

Our teacher, Mrs. Hetrick, provided the answer to our question: “These essays could have easily been generated by a computer program. They tell me nothing about yourselves; why in the world you are telling me all of this? You need to make me care about the message you are conveying, otherwise, your writing is useless.” She then told us that while we were all communicating in the proper format, we had failed to take into consideration whom our audience was. In order to truly persuade and influence our audience, we had to do more than place complicated ideas into a grammatically immaculate sentences; we need to show the audience why they should care about our writing; otherwise, they will just lose interest. I realize now that this experience provided a stable foundation for what I consider to be an example of passionate rhetorical ability, which helps me reflect on what authors Wallace deems as “good” through their rhetorical strategies.

     The rhetorical style uses persuasive ideals in the use of language. For example, in the first sentence of the second paragraph, the parallel structure and

Aristotle came up with three appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos, all of which are found in all forms of writing, speeches, movies, television shows, and life within itself. Frederick Douglass used all three of these rhetoric devices in writing his narrative to tell about both his life as an American slave and his cause over ten decades ago. He uses these devices to identify himself to the readers, to bring emotion out of the readers, and to persuade the readers.

Authors, people and writers over time have used the available means of persuasion and making sure that they include what the rhetorical situation is. In the four texts about the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that talk about the first humans that landed on the moon, all were effective due to them showing ethos, pathos, logos and soaps which are the rhetorical appeals that one has to use when making an argument in a rhetorical situation.

To make clear how damaging this practice is, she sets up an attempt at an appeal to logos, which is persuasion through logic and reason. Her strongest appeal to logos, though, is in her use of sources. Although she speaks as a parent and reader, throughout the essay, she backs up her ideas by demonstrating her wide and deep knowledge with much of it being research-based. She incorporates sources, usually with direct quotations, throughout the essay. Logos is evident in Prose’s

In Neil Postman’s novel, Amusing Ourselves to Death, he argues that rationality in America has become dictated by television. Through the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, Postman demonstrates that his claim is valid and reliable. These are three forms of persuasion that are used to influence others to agree with a particular point of view. Ethos, or ethical appeal, is used to build an author’s image. Ethos establishes a sense of credibility and good character for the author (Henning). Pathos, or emotional appeal, involves engaging “an audience's sense of identity, their self-interest, their emotions” (Henning). If done correctly, the power of emotions can allow the reader to be swayed to agree with the author. Logos, or logical appeal,

In the essay “On Keeping a Notebook”, Didion uses pathos appeals to reveal emotions. In the second paragraph Didion states “I write entirely to find out what’s on my mind, what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I’m seeing, and what it means, what I want and what I’m afraid

Freedom of thinking, a different way of seeing things can be hard for some. In George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan, the Inquisitor gives a powerful speech, which demonizes Joan and her heresy. The Inquisitor uses his speech to persuade the church of Joan of the arc’s heresy. In his entreaty, he uses many rhetorical strategies such as ethos, pathos, and logos. He even uses similes and analogies to make his case. The Inquisitor keeps an intense and serious tone throughout the speech, while the situation being a grave one. He makes the plea a dying matter as if Joan killed someone.

According to The Writer’s Harbrace Handbook, “You can shape effective arguments through a combination of persuasive strategies, which include the rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos.” (Glenn & Gray, 2013, p 151). Ray Comfort, a Christian minister and evangelist, uses all three of the rhetorical appeals in his movie, 180, to change the hearts and minds of people about abortion and the Gospel. This essay will explore the effectiveness of Ray Comfort’s approach to swaying his audience to his point of view. This essay will answer the following questions:

Nicholas Carr addresses and adapts to his audience by effectively using pathos, a rhetorical appeal. The author captures his audience by appealing to their emotions. For example, Carr explains on page five,

The rhetorical devices found in the speech that Jane Addams wrote are hypophora, metaphor, conduplicatio, enumeratio, and personification. Each of these devices has a purpose in the passage, with the author combining all of the devices to strengthen her essay.

Prose appeals to logos by citing reading lists, surveys, novels, and plays. She also constructs her argument well, following a clear path. Her personal narratives about her experience with King Lear and the effect Wuthering Heights had on her son also help in the structure and flow of her argument.

The last and most notable rhetoric element in this article is logos, which refers to the logical appeal of the argument. In this article, Robinson’s strength lies in her ability to make logical appeal to the readers. Robinson used causes and consequences, analogy, testimony and syllogism to appeal to logics.

The rhetoric appeal that move the reader closer to the acceptance of the claim that she has helped killed this boy is by logos by showing that by her ignoring the boy in the alleys actions, he was killed and she could have stopped it but chose to turn her cheek.

For instance in the excerpt written by Jane Addams, she uses a lot of rhetoric when talking about the necessity for social settlements. In this excerpt there is one rhetoric in particular that stands out, which is pathos. Pathos stirs up feeling of sorrow, sympathy, and pity and that's exactly what Jane Addams does. Jane Addams put as lot of feeling into this piece of writing and that definitely helps build up her argument. When you read this you can get a