In lieu of class today, I would like you to respond to this blog post. First, tell the rest of class how you would define or describe an appeal to pathos. That is, in your own words, how does connecting with readers on an emotional level enhance a persuasive argument? (If it helps to explain this appeal by discussing an example from any op-ed piece you’ve read in the past few weeks, then please do so.)
Then, I would like you to give us a brief update on how your paper is coming along. Where are you at in the drafting process? What are you focusing on? What is the main point of your paper, or what would you say the main claim is? (If you’re doing option three, this is less relevant.) What questions do you have about this project as you continue working on it?
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Pathos is understanding and taking advantage of an audience's emotions. Maybe it is arousing anger toward an enemy in times of war or it may be appealing to happiness or calm that will ensue if only you vote for a particular candidate. Politicians may employ pathos to help gain people to a cause such as relief for Hurricane Katrina. There are many means to use pathos and many different degrees of its use making it a versatile means of persuasion. Not to mention emotions are tied directly to our logical decisions.
ReplyDeleteI am still in the reading and outlining stage of my rhetorical analysis. Reading and understanding David Harsanyi's arguments is key before I begin writing.
An appeal to pathos is when the writer focuses in on the emotions of the reader and tries to incorperate it into their writing. Connecting with readers on an emotional level can be a very persuasive argument because feelings and emotions are a big part of the majority of people's lives. For example, in a NYT article, the author compares Haiti to the genocides happening in the Congo today. The writer knew that a lot of people that would be reading his article would already feel bad about the devastation in Haiti, therefore comparing the two would also pull the reader's emotions and read that particular article as well.
ReplyDeleteAs of right now, I have my article but deciding how to organize and write the paper is a difficulty for me. The main argument of my opinion piece is that someone needs to help stop the genocide in the Congo and they need to help fast. A question I have about this paper is that if you are doing option 1, would the different parts of the paper be like the exercises that we have done on the blogs? And should the paper be in first or third person?
There are few things in life that are just pure “truth” because emotions are incorporated into reasoning. Depending on which part of the world you live in, different events can be viewed differently. Based on your beliefs, your emotion/ reaction to things will be differently. Emotions can play a very important role in persuasion especially when there are common enthymemes. By using emotions the writer can get a lot closer to the audience by forcing them to think through a different set of lenses. By forcing emotions on to a reader, the topics hit a lot closer to home, and when that happens, people tend to care more. Sometimes emotions can be stronger than reasons.
ReplyDeleteI have decided to choose option 3 for the essay. Right now I am looking through books; picking out terms that I feel would flow from one to another, and seeing how different books interpret each term.
Making an emotional appeal to - and connection with - readers builds a writer's credibility, and enhances the impact of a persuasive argument. An appeal to pathos can make the difference between an argument that goes in one ear and out the other; and one which truly hits home with a reader. Appealing to the many desires, fears and passions of an audience allows the writer to come down to the same level as the reader. For example, a presidential speech on healthcare reform will often include the very tactic that is so often used in politics: the heartwarming story about the 30-year-old mother who cannot afford healthcare for her sick 4-year-old, or the 80-year-old elderly woman who suffers because of poor healthcare. These are used because they allow the president (to appear at least) to sympathize with these hardships, and this will evoke a sense of urgency among audience members to support the president's goals and objectives.
ReplyDeleteI have begun my introduction and thesis, analyzing Timothy Egan's opinion piece Grifters' Tale, which appeared in last Friday's New York Times, which compares Sarah Palin and John Edwards and the pursuit of their own interests, masking them behind the guise of noble public service.
Pathos is using emotion in your writing to influence the readers’ perspective. We able to show pathos through words of emotion and expression like cruelty; this word tries and persuades the audience to your side of the argument. An example of pathos would be in the article by Vincent Carroll called “Pipkin fiasco no sign of crisis.” He explains that we need to be more careful on who are the ones handing the decease bodies in funeral homes. A quit mix up can lead families into more pain and suffering. Carroll shows his pathos by caring for those that had lost a loved one.
ReplyDeletePathos is the writer's way of evoking emotions and feelings toward their writing. This allows the writing to be more persuasive as it engages the reader. The reader becomes invested in the writing and feels apart of it, allowing for their opinions to come out, either in agreement or disagreement.
ReplyDeleteI have my article for my paper and a lot of the key ideas and facts that answer the questions that make up a rhetorical analysis. However, I need to put it all together in a coherent way.
Pathos is the ability of a writer to unlock the emotions of a reader towards the subject that is being presented. If used correctly, pathos can cause readers to believe in the writer's cause or argument with much more conviction than they would otherwise. However, if the reader does not agree or pathos is used incorrectly, the writer can alienate various readers or appear to be out of touch with reality.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm in the drafting phase for my presentation of David Brooks' ethos.
Pathos are the apeal of the audiences' emotions. An example of Pathos would be showing a cancer patient in a non-smoking add because the ill patient should apeal to smoker's sense of fear of becoming sick like the patient. Another example of Pathos is when non-profits advertise and put an extremely skinny child who looks scared and in need on the t.v. because the child apeals to the audiences' emotions (sadness, pitty...).
ReplyDeleteIf I wrote down where I am in my paper now you would never believe me...
Pathos is a call to the readers emotion. The author talks about things that the reader can relate to, in order to create emotions that will involve the reader. Figurative language helps with pathos to create an atmosphere that allows the reader to become emotionally invested in what the author is talking about. This helps connects the reader to the argument and enhances the persuasive aspects because if after reading an article the person really cares about what is being addressed they are more likely to do something about it.
ReplyDeleteMy paper does not use pathos that much. It is more about extrinsic proofs that make the reader believe what the author is saying due to facts. My paper is still a work in progress, I need to go more in detail and figure out more of what I want to go into detail about.
Pathos is connection with the emmotions of the reader. The author does this by discussing issues that are close to readers hearts'. If this is done effectively the author doesn't actually have to have a good argument present in the paper because often the emmotions of the reader will already have made them decide to go along with whatver the author would like them to.
ReplyDeletePathos is almost completely absent from my paper. The only closest thing to pathos would be the sarcasm that i thought was present when discussing how the author of the article I analysed pointed out that there was some negative aspects to Iran having a nuclear weapon. For the majority of the article he made it sound like it would be good for our country if we aloud it to happen and I dont think that connected with my emmotions, it was actually kind of confusing. But when he jokingly say that oh yea, the actuall fact that they had a bomb would be bad it made that connection with me that it was actually a big deal, but just not the topic of the article.
Here's Brooke's response:
ReplyDeletePathos is a rhetorical technique used by writers to speak to the emotions of their audience. The author must understand the state of mind (emotions) of their audience and either speak to these emotions or try to change them. Pathos can be used to change (narrow) the proximity between the reader and the people or situations the author is writing about. For example, in the article I am reading for my Rhetorical Analysis paper Nicholas Kristof makes the readers empathize with his characters who have been trafficked into sex slavery. By describing the details of their stories, the author is able to make the readers feel closer to people who have experienced this injustice and this makes the readers feel closer to the topics of sex slavery and trafficking in general.
I am almost done with the rough draft of my paper. I have all the main points and examples put together but I still have to work on a conclusion. The main claim of my paper is that “Throughout this emotional story, Kristof utilizes the rhetorical techniques of ethos, pathos, logos, and kyros in order to engage the readers and persuade them of why they should care about sex trafficking in places such as Cambodia” but I am a bit unsure if my paper needs to have a “therefore” conclusion that is different from this main claim. If so, I'm not sure what my final “therefore” conclusion is.