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How Does Paine Use Rhetoric

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Rhetoric? What do we use rhetoric for? Most of the time, we use rhetoric to persuade a type of audience. For instance, when we stare at advertisements on the road or on TV, those are considered rhetoric’s since it persuades us to do, go, or buy a certain thing that appeals to us. Rhetoric has also been seen in writing. An example would be the Declaration of Independence, but one writing piece that I want to talk about is; Thomas Paine’s, “Common Sense.” Thomas Paine -born in Thetford, England-, didn’t have the ideal intelligence that most renowned journalists had. He had failed out of school by the age of twelve and was deemed to work as his father’s apprentice. He failed at that as well. By 1774, he ended up taking up journalism in Philadelphia. In 1776, he published Common Sense. One thing that is noticeable in his pamphlet is the amount of rhetoric used. An example of this is, “whether you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried…. your house been burnt?” (Page. 26). This page shows a bunch of persuasion: In basic English, this paragraph means: “Whether you all love each other, honor, and faithfully use the power …show more content…

From the point of view as a reader, this entire pamphlet is a wake up call for England. Paine wants to persuade Britain into fixing its ties with America in order to become a strong country once again. When reading this pamphlet, you feel the emotions of the author and at the same time you formulate your own opinions. While doing so, you also feel a slight bit of hesitation when you feel inclined to agree, since the points are valid. This is exactly what rhetoric does; it makes the audience want to agree with the author, since the way he speaks is so moving. This causes the act of persuasion, which leads to new thoughts and

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