Rhetorical Self-Analysis

Rhetoric is often times used as a form of persuasion. People use rhetoric in order to sway an audience towards their argument. With persuasion, comes goals. These goals are often obtained by using the three persuasive appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. In order to analyze my persuasive writing paper titled, “In Defense of the Confederate Flag,” I will be using these three persuasive appeals. This analysis will show my use of ethos, logos, and pathos throughout my paper and the effectiveness of these three appeals. My Paper In my paper on the confederate flag, I argue that the confederate flag representing racism is invalid and that people make too big of a deal about it. I give background on how the confederate flag came to be and also on the history that it contains. I also provide the audience with information on issues that have occurred “because” of the flag and America’s reaction. Theoretical Lens As mentioned earlier, ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade an audience. Ethos is the ethical aspect of the argument. Logos is logic, and pathos is emotional. Because this paper was written for the persuasive writing class at UALR, it was imperative to use ethos, logos, and pathos in order to complete my argument and sway my audience. Logos is used in order to bring logic into the argument. It is the logic based off of reason. The main goal of using logos is to provide the audience with a good sense of what is going on and give them a reason to believe and side with the argument you have presented. Ethos focuses on ethics. “In rhetorical transactions, this form of personal power is an important source of persuasion, commonly called ethos,” (Hauser). This could be the ethics of people, companies, or society as a whole. Ethos is the hardest one to achieve in educational papers due, but it is still attainable with the right wording and even with secondary sources. Pathos is the emotional aspect of an argument or paper. It is important to play with the audience’s emotions, but in a good way. You want them to support the claim you are making, not detest it. It is common to sway the audience to feel the way you do about the argument at hand. This is one of the ways to get the audience to support your argument. Analysis In my paper, “In Defense of the Confederate Flag,” I used secondary sources in order to bring logic to my argument. The sources are somewhat historical, but also provide a detailed explanation to enhance the argument that was being made. These sources also allowed for the audience to see what the flag stands for and that it is not what society makes it out to be. For example, in my paper I included this quote from a source, “Sarratt also goes on to explain the origin of the Confederate flag. He stated, ‘The banner which we now recognize as the Confederate flag was conceived as a battle flag after the first battle at Mannassas. The original flag, the stars and bars, proved to be too similar to the Union flag for soldiers to recognize in the haze of battle.’” In this quote, Davis Sarratt is explaining the origin of the confederate flag. This provides my audience with the history of the flag and gives them an understanding of what the meaning of the flag actually is. I also used the secondary sources to help with ethos in my paper. The historical sources that were used in the paper helped aid with ethos because it gave the audience background knowledge of this flag and how it came to be. These sources also showed the audience how ignorant society can be when it comes to issues such as the confederate flag. For example, I found an article by Ian Briggs. I found a part of his article that was interesting and inserted it in my paper in order to provide my audience with my historical insight and show them the ethics behind the flag. “Briggs noted, ‘While the Confederate flag may not be intrinsically racist, it represents the entirety of southern history, much of which was racist. There is a connection to racism and the confederate flag. People have the right to be offended, but they should not assume the motives of the person owning the flag, because it means something different to each person.’” My paper was nicely organized and my thesis was clear, making ethos for the rhetor (me). It easier for my audience to support my claim. Mainly, my paper is filled with pathos. I am very passionate about this subject because one of my ancestors fought in the Civil War. In my paper I stated, “The Confederate soldiers fought for the south. I actually have an ancestor who was a Confederate soldier in the 7th Alabama Calvary. His brother was also in the Alabama infantry.” In order to relate to my audience, I inserted that information into my paper. Not only does it make me human in their eyes, but it also reminds them that if they were in my shoes, that they would feel as strongly about this subject as I do. The main thing my professor noted about my paper was the fact that it lacked ethos the most. It was very logos and pathos driven, with little ethos. The reason it was so hard for me to incorporate ethos into this paper is because I felt so passionate about the matter at hand. The three persuasive appeals, ethos, pathos and logos, are used throughout my paper in order to get my audience to support my claim. I also use the three appeals in order to support my argument and make it stronger. While analyzing my persuasive writing paper, I have come to understand just how powerful ethos, pathos, and logos can be in arguing a point. While it is not always effective, it most certainly gives you a starting point and allows for you to build on the argument at hand.