Rhetorical Analysis Of The Pursuit Of Getting By

In “The Pursuit of Getting By,” Amy Widner goes into detail on her first-hand encounters of students choosing to settle for only passing, rather than overachieving. Widner cannot understand the reasoning behind her peers forcing themselves to sound less educated, simply to fit in with others. She sees this as a waste of not only time, but also money; “it didn’t make sense in high school and it certainly doesn’t make sense in college.” The frustration Widner expresses is heavily shown to the reader. She feels her peers make not only themselves, but all college students seem lazy, in turn creating a false sense of security in the students who get degrees from being underachievers. Widner’s strong use of both ethos and logos helps the reader believe …show more content…
She is showing the audience because she experiences the same things as them, she is credible in what she is stating. Widner knows what the stressful environment college students live in, she also deals with multiple essays, projects, and tests, but states she is nothing like her fellow peers and gets her work done on time. She uses her credibility of being a full-time student to force the audience to believe her opinion is the correct opinion.
Her somewhat weak logical arguments seem to appear stronger when paired her strong credibility of being a student. This is what she uses to set herself up as the standard that should be followed by her peers. She attended the same classes, had the same schooling, and given the same deadline as other and if she can get it done and over excel, they should too. If she doesn’t procrastinate and lives with the same distractions her fellow peers have, the other students have no excuses. She has a matter of fact tone in the way she words the paper; the reader would have a difficult time trying to find her …show more content…
Widner believes the most important things to focus on is hard work, skills specific to their degree, and the knowledge of their degree. Widner addresses the fact that college students pay to attend college and are not forced to be there. She believes they should strive to obtain all the knowledge they can throughout their years of attending college. She notes the importance of knowledge to help graduates obtain a respectable job in society. As she says in her essay, “skills and knowledge are what help students get jobs in the real world.” That is why she wants her peers to know they should not be proud of having poor work ethics. Even though I agree with all of Widner’s arguments and points. She fails to help me relate to her on an emotional level and see where her frustration is nothing more than a condescending approach. Her quotes offer little to no solution, only harsh criticism that pushes the author away from being able to relate to her frustrations. Several arguments are clear in Widner’s essay in order to support her thesis, she just cannot find a good connection with the