Description
The essays we’ve been reading use pathos—emotion—to engage with readers. Pathos can be evoked through a story, specific word choices, and subtle shifts in tone; as we discussed in class, it can even be evoked by organization, repetition, and rhetorical devices. The point being that the authors we have read carefully use pathos to make us feel as they do, and in doing so they create more memorable and impactful prose.
In 400 words or more, I want you to evaluate how any of the essays we have read to this point uses pathos. [To clarify, I want you to analyze any one of the essays we have read in Food Matters or Geeta Kothari’s essay.] This means you must analyze that source’s use of pathos much like we did in class. That is, break down how and why the author makes specific rhetorical choices that build pathos. Discuss wording and tone, anecdotes and other choices, and give the reader an idea of why those choices have been made. That is, explain the purpose of those choices, what impact they are meant to have.
Further, your paper must assess the quality of those choices. It must pass judgment on them. Argue whether or not you think the text’s use of pathos is effective or ineffective, helpful to the argument or unhelpful, etc. Think of this as the thesis of the paper. For example, “While X attempts to use the concept of ‘home’ as a point of identification for the audience, the overuse of Y ultimately make his point melodramatic and undermines his argument.”
Keep in mind that just because you may disagree with a source’s stance, doesn’t mean that you must think it’s rhetoric is bad, or vice versa. We can think that people we agree with, people on “our side,” make bad arguments, and we can think that our opponents use excellent rhetoric.
Be sure to maintain focus as much as possible. Avoid creating a laundry list of all emotional aspects of the article you choose. Instead, focus on just a few closely related parts of the text, and analyze them in detail.
ALSO IN A SEPERATE ASSIGNMENT
As stated in the syllabus, you should be keeping a “food journal” throughout the semester in order to aid in brainstorming for later assignments, as well as to continue to expand on the ideas you have in class or in response to the readings.