Example Rhetorical Essay

Shaheriar Malik

Mr. Tompkins

English 100


2nd November 2016

United We Rise, Together We Fall

The article “Our Gas Guzzlers, Their Lives” is about a country in Africa named Burundi, and how the climate change is affecting it. This article is mainly aimed at the people in well-established countries who have it better off. Nicholas Kristof, the author, wants the readers to be convinced that global warming is real, serious, and not a matter to be ignored. To achieve this goal, he uses the three rhetorical appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos in such a way that the reader is, both, convinced, and sympathizes with the text.

The author starts off with a hook to gain the readers’ attention and intrigue them. He uses strong adjectives and interviews different people to make it even more convincing, and states facts on strong grounds. He also adds a touch of sympathy, or pathos, in the article. He doesn’t only use the three rhetorical appeals, but shapes the sentences, and the entire article in such a way that it’s comfortable to read, and easy to understand.

Kristof arranges the words, and uses them in a way that makes the reader feel bad about the situation. This is where he brings in ‘pathos’. He tells us that Burundi is the poorest country in the world with an annual average income of $100 per individual. It is also stated that one of every five children die before the age of five, and that the average life expectancy is 45 years. Not only does he state facts but also quotes other people, like scientists, officials, locals. He even tells us his own opinion about it, and says that global warming affects the whole world, not only a part of it. “Against that grim backdrop, changing weather patterns in recent years have already caused crop failures – and when crops fail here, people starve [P4 GGTL]” he says. The last sentence of the last paragraph states “The cost of our environmental irresponsibility will be measured in thousands of children dying of hunger, malaria and war” which is the author’s own opinion but it also plays a part in pathos.

The author also uses facts and figures, or ‘logos’ in his article. Kristof says that Lake Tanganyika’s shoreline has retreated 50 feet in the last four years, and ships can no longer reach the port, and Lake Victoria is losing half an inch of water every day. The reason these facts are believable is because he quotes credible people like scientists, and people who live or work there. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, he states facts like the average life expectancy, the average income of an individual, etc.

The answer to the question “Why should I believe this?” is that he actually went there and shares his own experience. And not only that, he quotes credible people: scientists, officials including the president of Uganda, locals, etc. Some of these people live there and go through the harsh conditions every day. The author interviewed them and shares their opinions in his article. All of this comes under ‘ethos’. He quotes Mr. Ehrhart, “It’s at the least disastrous and quite possibly catastrophic. Life was difficult, but with climate change it turns deadly. That’s what hits the alarm bells for an organization like Care,” he added. “How can we ever achieve our mission in this situation?”

The article would’ve been dull and boring if not played around with. The author doesn’t leave the facts and quotes left separately, but mixes the three appeals. He brings in sympathy to logos and ethos, and gives his own opinion about the situation. All by shaping the sentences to make the reader feel bad, and agree with him. The facts like the shrinking of lakes, average income, life expectancy, death rate sound very sad because of how they are expressed, and how they are arranged. The author also mixes ethos and pathos by quoting others sharing their opinions about the climate change, and positioning them in a way that it looks convincing. All three rhetorical appeals are also mixed together when he quotes the panel “Projected reductions in yield in some countries could be as much as 50 percent by 2020, and crop net revenues could fall as much as 90 percent”, where there are facts in a quote which bring in sympathy.

The whole article is perfectly organized and arranged as it makes the reader agree to his argument and feel bad about it. The reader might share this article with others, so they can try and make a difference. The author slipped in his opinions in some parts, quoted credible people, stated facts to support his argument, and brought emotions in this article and did a very good job at it. Although there is a quote from a fisherman that says that even the hippos are unhappy, which brings in a bit of humor and makes the reader not take the matter seriously. Other than that, it was all well rounded.

Words Cited (this would be on a separate page)

Kristof, Nicholas. “Our Gas Guzzlers, Their Lives.” The New York Times, 28 June 2007