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Tanya Rodriguez

T. Brattoli

English 101

September 14, 2013

Logos and Pathos

The article “Introduction”, from Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich discusses how

happy American people really are and uses the rhetorical devices pathos and logos to support her

argument. Although Ehrenreich uses both pathos and logos, logos is not as effectively used

throughout the text as pathos is to help achieve the overall goal she is trying to convey.

Ehrenreich uses logos all throughout the article and an example of that would be at the

bottom of page twenty-five where she states, “Systematic positive thinking began, in the

nineteenth century, among a diverse and fascinating collection of philosophers, mystics, lay

healers, and middle-class women.” That statement is a fact nonetheless, but one can only wonder

how credible it is seeing no source was cited. Another primary example is, “We have lost so

much of our edge in science and technology that American companies have even begun to

outsource their research and development efforts. Worse, some of the measures by which we do

lead the world should inspire embarrassment rather than pride. We have the highest percentage

of our population incarcerated, and the greatest level of inequality in wealth and income. We are

plagued by gun violence and racked with personal debt” (26). Both of these examples are logos

because there are facts and numbers involved making them statistics; she has written and told her

readers about them discussing the perspective of the American people without mentioning a

single book, study done, or even an online article. For a statement to be considered credible or

supported it must have a source cited alongside with it but Ehrenreich fails to cite a single source

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to show where she gathered this information from, thus, making the reader question where it

came from. Because of that, the effectiveness of the logos used in this article is not very effective

at all. Having the article be more facts than opinion, it causes the author to lose credibility

because she does not show how she came about this information.

On the other hand though, her use of pathos is used effectively. She brings up 9-11 and

other major tragic events in our recent history that could have been avoided had there been more

attention drawn to them beforehand (29). That appeals to the reader because those were events

the nation will always remember and continue to suffer for and it is effective because those

events give the reader something to remember and to look back to and to take a step back from

the text to apply some emotion towards it. Another example of pathos from this article that is

considered effective is, “In another potential sign of relative distress, Americans account for two-

thirds of the global market for antidepressants, which would also happen to be the most

commonly prescribed drugs in the United States.” This is considered pathos because it

emotionally relates to the reader having them question themselves whether or not they are in this

situation being discussed and it is effective for that reason. It helps achieve Ehrenreich’s goal of

analyzing the true American perspective by discussing our major fallacies in the nation, one of

them being, we are generally too positive for our own good and that we have this “reckless

optimism” stigma attached to us. She discusses how being too positive can ultimately be a

dangerous thing if reality is ignored.

Overall, her goal is achieved. It gives information and events the reader can look back to

and also to relate to but not all of it is as effective as the rest. Pathos and logos are the rhetorical

devices she choses to use in her article but what is learned is that all examples of logos used do

not have a source cited to show where it came from. A fact or a statistic can include numbers and

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ratios and percentages but it becomes more effective once the author mentions a source to make

it more credible or believable. Pathos, however, is very effective due to the level of emotional

appeal included in Ehrenreich’s article. A reader can get involved and apply their prior

experiences to it and even think about if they can relate to what is being discussed. This is what

makes it ultimately very effective.