Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies in "Of Mice or Men"

In this post, I will analyze the rhetorical strategies in my piece.

Snyder, Jason "WT and TK rat photo" 11/9/11 via Wikipedia. Public domain.

Appeals to Credibility or Character

• Which items on the bulleted list of "Appeals to Credibility and Character (Ethos)" on page 182 can you recognize in your text? There was acknowledgement of counterarguments and refutations to those arguments as well as appeals to beliefs shared by the audience.
• How and why would the author(s) use these strategies? The author used these strategies to appeal to a wider group of people and to help develop his case.
• How do these strategies affect the audience’s perception of the author's/authors' credibility and character? Acknowledging the counterargument and refuting it makes the author look more open minded by acknowledging the counterargument and by refuting it, the author proves that he considered those points but then decided against it for the reason given.
• How does the use of these strategies impact the effectiveness of the text’s overall message? Credibility is a critical part in debate. Most of the things that make this person credible has to do with logic but being able to follow logic adds to credibility.
• Does/do the author(s) seem to have any biases or assumptions that might impact their credibility? The author does have a bias but all biases expressed are backed with support to prove why that bias makes sense.

Appeals to Emotion

• Which items on the bulleted list of "Appeals to Emotion (Pathos)" on pages 182-3 can you recognize in your text? The author uses mainly repetition of keywords and level of formality to achieve appeals to emotion.
• What emotional responses is the author attempting to create? The author maintains a very formal tone and builds his case logically and does little to build an emotional response.
• What is the actual result? The author is not driven by emotion so for logical thinkers like me, this adds to his credibility.
• Are these emotions effective or ineffective for this particular audience and rhetorical situation? Those who oppose animal testing are usually fuelled by emotion rather than logic. This article seems like it's aimed toward the group opposed to his opinion, who are generally logical thinkers. The lack of emotion is therefore effective for his audience.
• How do these emotional appeals affect the credibility of the author(s) or the logic of the text? The lack of emotion and logic based argument adds to the author's credibility.

Appeals to Logic

• Which items on the bulleted list of "Appeals to Logic or Rational Decision Making (Logos)" on page 183 can you recognize in your text? This author uses historical records, statistics, expert opinions, effective organization, and clear transitions.
• What response is the author attempting to create by employing these strategies? The author is trying to build credibility by using logic.
• What is the actual result? It works.
• Are these strategies effective or ineffective for this particular audience and rhetorical situation? These strategies are effective for the audience because the audience is largely composed of logical thinkers.