Introduction
The discussion in this paper will center on three texts designed to persuade the audience of a particular point. The first work is the article “Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” by Martin Gansberg. Another text is “Old Father, Old Artificer”, a chapter from Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home. The last work is George Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant.”
Summary of Texts
In the first essay, Martin Gansberg started by providing a detailed description of the murder of Catherine Genovese – the author gave the facts of what happened on March 14, 1994. In the second piece, “Old Father, Old Artificer,” Alison Bechdel uses flashbacks to make sense of her father’s untimely death – she compares his life to her own. Lastly, in “Shooting an Elephant,” it becomes clear that the narrator, probably Orwell himself, committed the act of shooting an elephant, an action he believed he had the right to do. Therefore, the three texts employed pathos, ethos, and logos to persuade and appeal to their audience, encouraging them to adopt a particular perspective.
Gansberg’s Article
Main Question
Gansberg did well by allowing the audience to reflect on what they could do if faced with a dilemma. Most importantly, the author strived to ensure the audience knew what was happening around them and why it was essential to help each other. The question throughout the text is why people choose to do nothing when Genovese cries for help? Gansberg expressed his extreme disbelief in the fact that “law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens” (1). In addition, the author employed two of the three Aristotelian devices: logos and ethos.
Logos and Pathos
In rhetoric, logos appeals to the audience’s reason by helping them develop a sense of authority, while ethos strives to make them trust the author’s point of view. Conversely, pathos appeals to emotions – it is intended to evoke sympathy or anger in the audience. Firstly, Gansberg employed logos by presenting precise information regarding the events of the night Catherine Genovese was killed.
Specific facts helped the author structure a sense of authority throughout the text. For instance, he quoted the Assistant Chief Inspector’s account of what happened to establish a factual analysis. At one point, the Inspector stated that “the assailant had three chances to kill this woman during 35 minutes” (Gansberg 2). Similarly, the author used specific times, such as 3:20 and 3:50 AM, and a brief overview of the police report on Winston Moseley’s arrest (Gansberg1-3). This clearly demonstrates the kind of research the author carried out before writing the article.
Bechdel’s Chapter
Purpose and Message
In “Old Father, Old Artificer,” Bechdel did well by utilizing the Greek myth about Icarus and Daedalus to describe her relationship with her biological father. In the myth, as explicated by Bechdel, Daedalus was “a skillful artificer who built wings for his son and designed the famous labyrinth” (7). In the Myth of Daedalus and Icarus, the son wanted to use the wings to fly, but his father warned him not to fly so high or too low in the sky. However, Icarus failed to heed the advice – he flew very close to the sun and, in the process, melted the wings (Bechdel 4). In “Old Father, Old Artificer,” the author achieved the objective of comparing her father to Icarus, the son who loved taking risks, and Daedalus to the weary craftsman.
Ethos
In the “Old Father, Old Artificer” story, ethos is utilized to establish trust and credibility – it helped the audience understand more about the author’s childhood relationship with her father.From the onset, the readers know some crucial information about her family. In this first chapter of Fun House, Bechdel spent most of her narration helping the audience familiarize themselves with her father, specifically her passion for restoration. An essential piece of information revealed in this chapter is the belief that her father killed himself. More specifically, Bechdel compared her father to Icarus, who died after he refused to heed his father’s advice about flying too high.
Orwell’s Essay
Theme and Message
From the onset, Orwell did well by informing the audience of the existing power dynamics in colonial Burma. While it is true that Orwell holds an essential position in society (symbolic authority), he is still unable to confront and stop the abuse he receives from the residents. The fact that he works as a sub-divisional police officer makes him a target of the townspeople, like the rest of the English. Although the people never organized a full revolt against the English, they expressed discomfort and displeasure by harassing the Europeans whenever an opportunity presented itself. The abuse, combined with the fact that Orwell failed to understand his position in the colonial power dynamics, explains why he hated his job.
Ethos
While it is clear that Orwell committed the crime of shooting an elephant, he utilized ethos and pathos to explain to the audience that he would never shoot the elephant again if given another opportunity. According to the author, the elephant is a symbolic representation of people’s innocence. Firstly, Orwell has utilized ethos from the story’s onset by stating that he despised the British despite working for them. “As for the job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear” (Orwell 1). This statement allows the audience to understand the author’s state of mind.
Pathos
Orwell also used pathos to convince the audience to accept his thinking. Using words such as savage, tyrant, and crucified was intended to evoke emotions in his audience. “With one part of my mind, I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny” (Orwell 1). These words were used to ensure the audience understood how he felt and as a demonstration that this story was personal to him.
Conclusion
The three chosen texts aimed at persuading the audience through ethos, pathos, and logos to support their stand and point of view on a specific subject matter. Firstly, Gansberg utilized logos by providing accurate facts about the events that occurred the night Catherine Genovese was murdered. The author also relied on Winston Moseley’s police report to establish a factual analysis.
Secondly, ethos was used best in “The Old Father, Old Artificer” to introduce specific information and details about her father to the audience. This helps ensure the audience trusts her argument that it is her father who killed himself. Finally, in “Shooting an Elephant,” the author draws on pathos and ethos to convey that he refuses to shoot the elephant again if faced with the situation.
Works Cited
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007.
Gansberg, Martin. “37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police; Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector.” The New York Times, Web.
Orwell, George. Shooting an Elephant. Penguin UK, 2009