The selected paper revolves around the issue of cleaning and men’s unwillingness to engage in this activity. The author initiates the debates around the topic that, for decades, has been stereotypically considered as primarily women’s occupation. The central author’s thesis related to the problem is that regardless of the changes in the coherent society and the achievements of feminism and tolerance movements, men still refuse to clean their dwellings and prefer not to share this responsibility with their wives because of its dull and rewardless nature (Grose, 2013). To prove this assumption, the author offers multiple arguments that help to understand the problem better.
Use of Rhetoric Appeals
To communicate with readers, Grose uses persuasion and rhetorical strategies. For instance, she starts appealing to her own experiences. Being a married woman, the author has a certain authority in this sphere, which means that the phrase “he’s never scrubbed a toilet in the six years we’ve lived together” related to her husband can be considered an example of ethos (Grose, 2013, para. 2). Adding this element into the text, she demonstrates that she possesses credible knowledge about the discussed issue and can share it with other people to discuss the presented problem and formulate some conclusions. Additionally, it helps to interest readers by showing that the problem exists, and regardless of all changes in social life, men still consider cleaning not their job. Another example of the use of ethos is the reference to such recognizable agencies as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to support the basic ideas with sober facts (Grose, 2013).
Grose continues her cogitations by using logos. The author offers statistics stating that “about 55 percent of American mothers employed full time do some housework on an average day, while only 18 percent of employed fathers do” (Grose, 2013, para. 3). The employment of this tool helps to outline the scope of the discussed problem and appeal to readers’ logic. They should understand that there is a significant difference between men and women regarding this aspect, and it impacts households and life of both partners. Another example of logos is the phrase “women do 45 minutes more housework a day than their male partners,” which demonstrates the existing disproportion, and proves the relevance of the discussed problem by numbers (Grose, 2013, para. 4).
Finally, the text also contains examples of ethos. Grose (2013) asks some rhetorical questions such as “If they’re not even going to be rewarded for it, why bother at all?” or appeals to her personal experiences and other women’s knowledge to convince an audience by creating an emotional bond and triggering their response to these assumptions (para. 12).
The text is organized in a way that helps to hold the readers’ interest. Staring with some personal examples and supporting them with statistics and generalizations, the author contributes to its better understanding and sounds more convincing.
Conclusion
In general, the article can be considered an appropriate example of the use of the rhetorical appeals to achieve the persuasive effect. Employment of ethos, pathos, and logos helps to involve readers in the discussion and ensure their interest in the theme. However, one of the major weaknesses of the paper is its focus on a mainly female audience, while men would hardly be attracted by it because of the topic. To improve the article, information for men and triggers to attract them should be added both in the title of the paper and in its body.
Reference
Grose, J. (2013). Cleaning: The final feminist frontier. The New Republic. Web.