I think the most important aspect of rhetoric is pathos. I chose pathos because no matter how credible you are, or how many wonderful and relevant facts you can cite, none of it matters unless the reader is emotionally involved. In other words, making my reader truly care about what I have to say is my most important goal. My "Into The Wild" paper was very pathos based. The emotional connection I feel with Chris's story is what makes my argument strong, and pathos is the most useful way to communicate that. I did, however, use logos enough that it doesn't just sound like I'm ranting about the book.
On the other hand, my English Lit paper is way more logos focused. This is because I was trying really hard to sound like I knew what I was talking about, and I wanted to remove as much of my own opinion as possible past the point of saying which side I was one. Logos is handy when you are trying to write in an academic manner, but my personal writing style is focused mainly on pathos.
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I would completely agree. There was much more emotion tied to the McCandless essay and I defintely portrayed that in my writing. With the Engdahl essay, I didn't know much about the subject and tried my best to argue a point, using evidence from others who seemed to agree with me.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well that my McCandless essay was very pathos-oriented! Even after re-reading it, I didn't realize how much emotion I ended up putting in there! The Engdahl one I think balanced the 3 rhetorical styles better. Pathos is most important to me as well for the same reasons you stated. I love the way you phrased that - unless your reader cares about what you're saying, your argument won't be important! I'm looking forward to reading your writing!
ReplyDeleteOur American Lit paper definitely had much more logos. I found that I used more ethos than I had in my McCandless essay too. I used lots of interpretation, and focused on the credibility aspect.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see that we all find pathos to be one of the most important assets and ethos is less recognized. I wonder if it's because we have focused less on it in class!