The Story of a Snitch by Jeremy Kahn, pg. 55
- The argument that the author is making that if you are a criminal and end up giving information to the police about other crimes, you're labeled as a snitch. Often, bad things happen to snitches, and no one really comes forward, because no one wants to be killed or harmed for giving police information that they need to solve crimes.
- The strategies the author uses to portray his points, is by telling stories to give examples. Kahn talks about John Dowery Jr. and the story of his life and shooting, in order to let the readers know what happens to snitches.
- Kahn establishes ethos by giving full details about what happened. Kahn is able to give dates, and times, which makes him seem like he fully knows what he is talking about. He gives facts, and then explains them, fully. He also uses quotes and other resources to validate what he is saying. Kahn's appeal to pathos is definitely centered around making us feel sorry for the position that some people get themselves into. It's definitely sad that you can end up getting hurt by doing what you feel like is the right thing. He definitely wants us to feel sympathetic and understanding towards Dowery's decision to tell what happened, because he mentions how Dowery feels when he saw and knew his friend had been killed.
Memoirs of a Woman Doctor by Nawal el-Saadawi, pg. 275
- This passage is about a young girl who starts turning into a young woman, and how she doesn't like, and tries to reject those changes.
- The author's argument is built off of her story of her life. She tells what is happening to her, and how it makes her feel. She gives examples and then explains them. She also compares herself to her brother and how she doesn't like how he's treated in relation to how she's treated. She despises the fact that he's basically free to do whatever he wants, while she cannot.
- The author's ethos are established by the fact that she's telling about something that happened in her life. This makes her credible because it actually happened to her. Her pathos are created because she wants us to feel bad that she doesn't feel as free as her brother. She wants us to be empathetic to the fact that she feel oppressed, and held back. She also uses very loaded words to get her points across, such as "an animal immobilizing its prey", "shameful", "woman's bloody tale", etc.
Nawal's "loaded words" as you called them stuck out to me as well, especially her animal reference. It seems like in essays that whenever a human is compared to an animal it gives a very vivid image in the readers mind and often has a negative connotation. It is interesting how a simple reference can direct the reader's thinking towards a certain opinion so easily.
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