Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in Keeping Close to Home by bell hooks

There are many different ways that writer tries to connect to their audience or try to get their point across. The three major ways a writer does this is through ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is any way the writer takes a reference or a quote from an expert with the same point of view as them to help build their own credibility. Pathos is words that can completely change the way the reader feels about certain way about a topic. Logos is anything that is logical and can be proven by statistics.

At Stanford, students were on hooks’ academic level, however few students identified with both her race and

In the essay we read, entitled “Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns”, we see the author use five main points, as well as using appeals to Ethos Logos and Pathos to help reinforce his view on the topic. The five main reasons that the author feels that college campuses are safer without concealed handguns are introduced to us in the opening of the article, listed as bullet points. The author then goes on to break the article into these separate sections to allow him to go more in depth and explain his position. In this way, he appeals to the reader’s sense of Ethos throughout the entire article by convincing us that he knows what he is taking about. However, the author does not stop here.

Finally, hooks used the strategy of cause and effect in her writings. She writes “Since our society continues to be a primarily ‘Christian’ culture, masses of people continue to believe that God has ordained that women be subordinate to men in the domestic household.” (hooks, pg2) By writing this, she effectively analyzes the cause of the problems, and why our culture continues to be sexist. For those who have scientific minds, this statement carries

Hooks writes that today she would be considered a well-paid member of the “Professional-managerial class” she rarely thinks of herself in relations to that class. She explains how she was taught at an early age, by her grandparents and parents, to assume that

Many writers use several diverse ways to persuade readers into believing them. Some writers may tell a story, provide facts and information, or other ideas to encourage his or her reader to agree with the argument. Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle describes three diverse appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos is based on facts and reasons explaining logical arguments that rely on information and evidence. Logos is built with enough evidence, data, statistics, and reliable information. Another type of appeal is pathos, which attracts the reader’s emotions and feelings into the work. Many writers who use pathos tend to write about their personal experience and by diction and tone. In addition to logos and pathos, ethos corresponds with

hooks felt hurt because her dad was a janitor. That was why it was so hard for her to look down on the working-class. Would it be easy for you to be able to suddenly look down upon your parents if they raised you to respect them? Because Stanford even accepted her into their institution, hooks felt as though she needed to act privileged. When she refused, the university and its students considered her rebellious; however, if she had not refused, she would have been ignoring and forgetting the values that she had learned from her parents.

She herself was put in the education system thinking she must assimilate, but with perseverance and the determination to succeed on her own terms, she was seen as the exception in her culture. Being "the exception," angered Hooks and made her more determined to help children rid themselves of this stereotype. Being successful in education means it was hard fought and deserved not just an "exception." In trying to establish an identity that borders their own culture and one that 's accepted within the education system, children are often teased, ridiculed, and mocked. This continues until they conform to the behavior accepted by their peers. Children are often taught to disregard family values and traditions which undermines a child 's character. Having a teacher or peer reinforce the fact that their behavior isn 't acceptable has devastating and lasting effects on children because they don 't know any better. Language is a good example of a difficulty a minority child might have when encountering an educational setting. In order to be successful, a child must have the opportunity to relate both with their community and their educational system to take one away with little explanation leaves a child confused. As Bell Hooks says, "that to deny ourselves daily use of speech patterns that are common and familiar, that embody the unique and distinctive aspect of our self is one of the ways we become estranged and alienated

The next element in the rhetorical situation is pathos. Pathos is defined as connecting the author and the reader using emotion. Pathos is more reader dependent than the other elements. Pathos helps the writer know to know their audience and who they are intending to write for. Connecting to the audience using pathos is a strong way to get the support of the reader. The audience needs to be moved by what they’re reading. Without pathos, the writer won’t be able to properly connect to their audience.

Pathos is the writers attempt to appeal to the audience emotions. For instance, “In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. ‘“I’m a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me,”’ the headline said” (Lukianoff and Haidt). The authors appeal to emotion paints a picture in the reader’s mind, further opening their eyes to make them feel how the professor was feeling. Also, naming the article “The Coddling of the American Mind” was a great was to represent how the problem was being addressed. The use of the word “coddling” reflected the way colleges were treating their students like babies. Enforcing trigger warnings to protect the students are not helping them for the future. This appeals to pathos because the audience gets a glimpse of what the after effect of “babying” has on

In Bell Hooks’, “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, Hooks introduces the reader to the state of poverty of many individuals that have to suffer because they are unable to live a normal life due to them being extremely poor and uneducated. She stresses about comparing the higher class people to the poor and how different their lives are in terms of survival rates and healthiness. The higher class people tend to be way healthier and survive longer due to them having many ways of treating their problems, while the poor have absolutely no way of paying their medical bills due to their low income. She makes many valid points referring back and forth to different stereotypes of people (mainly black people) and how each of those

It’s pretty clear that Bell Hooks hated her time in school, and the reasons for this go back to how her mother raised her. Bell was taught that it was wrong to strive for what you did not already possess, and because of this she did not make the most of her years in school. She believed wanting to be accepted by her peers, and wanting to resolve her other conflicts, was wrong, and because of this she grew to hate everything about her life at school. The “boundaries” that she believes were places upon her were the boundaries of her upbringing.

The use of pathos is what makes this essay influential because Hooks emotionally persuades her audience to feel similar about nature as she does, without much logical evidence. To attach her audience to the essay, Hooks uses various experts and quotes in hope to pull the reader in. “I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful, and that which is love (Hansberry, qtd: in Hooks 968).” This expert supports Hooks emotional appeal of wanting the reader to look at nature positively so they can appreciate it and can see life as she does: marvelous. Pathos was effective in Hooks essay because her audience will more likely comply with her, and not take nature for granted. She wants people to not be discouraged with what happens in daily life, but be happy with nature’s beauty around them, and see nature as she does; wonderful and beneficial to the human race.

The incorporation of pathos in an argument can form a strong structured reading or a make the reader feel emotionally taken advantage of. In Hooks argument she uses pathos effectively, without exploiting readers of her article. She states, "estrangement from nature and engagement in mind/body splits made it all the more possible for black people to internalize white-supremacist assumptions about black identity" (973). Hooks uses this sentence to appeal to those who have experienced a loss of identity to feel for the blacks. Also, the citation brings a desirable topic up of unity within different race and cultures, which adds more reason for the reader to be persuaded to her side of the argument: the emotional pull of how blacks were treated even away from their normal ways of living.

In analyzing both essays, Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance by Bell Hooks and There Is No Unmarked Woman by Deborah Tannen the authors address societal problems that highlight and emphasize the differences that certain groups in society must face and overcome, although the targets in both of the examples of societal dilemma between the two are very different, they both accurately represent how unjust the modern social structure is.