Rhetoric is a type of writing tool that can help to produce very effective types writing in any subject. Such tools draw in certain types of readers and present a certain tone in writing, such as: Logos (logical appeal), Ethos (ethical appeal), and pathos (appeal to emotion). However English consists of some writing ‘guidelines’ that are – for the most part - universally well-known and hard to stray away from. This includes things such as using quotes, questions, MLA format, or Schaffer writing. All these tools can produce effective writings but can sometimes lead to a lack of variety in style.
The essay I chose from the StudentPulse website is “Postmodernism in Vonnegut’s 'Cat’s Cradle'” by Derek Miller. In this essay the author presents the idea of satire in Vonnegut’s novel. The author begins the essay with a quote, which can be recognized as a traditional ‘rule’ for beginning an essay. However the quote is not a mere inspirational quote from some other source, it is derived from the novel the essay is based upon. On the other hand I feel a lack of connection between the quote and beginning paragraph only because at that point in the essay I am not sure what exactly the quote means. Along the same lines as this the author also uses the basic method of questions to draw in the reader. Questions in the essay such as, “First off, what is postmodernism” effectively draws in the reader to be curious about the question and want to know more. The author also uses ethos and logos within a few sentences to make the writing more efficient. The effective questions can be recognized as logos to bring logic through questions for factual answers, and then answering the questions with quotations from other sources to present the credibility.
Through description of characters in the novel the author brings about more ethos in the essay by presenting ‘fake’ ideas or people and connects those fictional aspects with real information. The author utilizes characters and dialogue in his essay to present a solid break down of the usage of satire in the novel.
The author’s set up of the essay also provides an accurate back bone to prove his thesis. He begins the essay with an explanation postmodernism and background to help support the argument that he is trying to make. In other words it is set up by facts, descriptions, and then supporting evidence from the novel or other resources. The only thing however is that the start and middle of the essay provides a great amount of information and descriptions to set a nice flow to the writing, but towards the end of the essay it begins to feel a little ‘chopped’ up. The level of supportive information does not lose effectiveness, but the amount of writing seems to begin to dwindle as the essay goes on.
The diction of the essay is very effective and seems to fit for the audience that the paper is aimed for. The quality of writing is not low but it is not so high that it cannot be comprehended by majority of people. The author’s writing has a strong ethos and logos but I did not feel much pathos from it mainly because the writing and topic contains a more factual basis, which seems appropriate for the topic of the essay.
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