Thank YOU Jay Heinrichs

Who would have thought a book a bout rhetoric would be enjoyable to read? Certainly not me. Not only does Heinrichs give the basics of how rhetoric works and why, but he gives real-world examples that the reader can identify with, with a touch of humorous witticisms. When I used to think of rhetoric, I used to think of writing without personal investment, and hours upon hours of facing a computer screen trying to think of a way to get an A without doing too much work. But I came to realize through Heinrichs that rhetoric is a strategic that we use everyday. It's this innate ability to reason and to persuade that we have been using since we as little children would devise a plan to get our favorite cookie before dinner.

The three main rhetorical appeals, as have been taught to us since middle school, are logos pathos and ethos. But how do we establish those? It is this question that is really the basis of Heinrichs has been trying to say throughout his book. If everyone could effectively utilize all three of those appeals, then we would either be living in utopia or dystopia, I'm not sure which one. But one person's ability to master these appeals for his or her own argument arms this person with a weapon far greater than peer pressure or threats, and that is the weapon of persuasion. We all want something, and with each act of arguing and persuading, even if we lose, we are honing the skills that will sharpen in time.

But what do those three appeals entail? Logos, or logic, tries to appeal to our sense of right versus wrong in a methodical and scholarly way. Pathos is the use of emotion to establish some sort of a connection with the other person. And ethos is character and trustworthiness combined in which to give the other person a sense that you can be depended on. But each of these appeals cannot be used for every kind of argument, and that is what Heinrichs tries to teach us; that there are certain times to utilize each of those appeals to make the effectiveness of your argument greater.

Heinrichs obviously is a gifted writer if he can get uninspired and unmotivated individuals such as myself do my reading for class, and why is that? He uses each of those three appeals in different ways to engage his audience, and still manages to make a palpable connection with that audience. All I know is I actually intend on keeping this book instead of getting money for it at the end of the year.