Death Without Dignity Rhetorical Analysis

Well-known writer, Annabelle Gurwitch, in her article, Death Without Dignity, describes the effects of allowing euthanasia in all states of the United States. Euthanasia is not accepted in all states as of today. Physician aid in dying, or assisted suicide, is legal in the states of Vermont, Oregon, Montana, and Washington. The key difference between euthanasia and physician aid in dying is who administers the lethal dose of medication. Gurwitch’s purpose of this article is to persuade her readers to the benefits of allowing euthanasia and to encourage them to make this a “normal” way of leaving this world. Gurwitch uses pathos very well to draw in the reader’s emotional appeal. She adopts an emotional, some would even say dramatic, tone in …show more content…
You feel the pain similar to that which Gurwitch felt when she watched, and aided in, her friend’s prolonged suffering. Gurwitch effectively uses pathos when she states that “...she could no longer tolerate music, watch television, read, eat or rise from her bed, it wasn’t a complete surprise when another friend called to say that [Robin] wanted our help to end her suffering” (Gurwitch). When reading this sentence, it makes the reader experience what it must have felt like to be in Gurwitch’s shoes and not want to watch that friend spend their last days in severe pain. Almost makes you think that euthanasia is the right thing to do in this particular situation. Another great use of pathos is when Gurwitch describes what it must have feel like for the girls to be in that atmosphere with Robin by describing the great deal of feelings that are displayed. “We toasted her. We kissed her. We told her we loved her. The air was charged with adrenaline and sorrow” (gurwitch). These small gestures show the love that this tight group of friends feel for each other. Gurwitch succeeds at making a connection with the audience to make them share the pain that she feels in this awful dragged out process. Both of these examples do a great job of effectively urging the reader to agree with her argument of legalizing euthanasia by creating an emotional response.
Gurwitch had a unique way of trying to convince the …show more content…
This is a perfect example of how Gurwitch uses logos to persuade the reader that her reasoning for wanting to legalize euthanasia was for a good cause and that this cause should have been recognized earlier. One of Gurwitch’s reasons for writing this article is to persuade the reader that if euthanasia had been legalized before Robin had become terminally ill, she would have not experienced death the way she did. She seems to want “medical aid in dying” to be legalized (Gurwitch). Gurwitch makes a strong argument with her friend’s death in which you think, what if? What if Robin could of had a qualified physician to aid her? Would she have died with dignity? These questions arise from Gurwitch’s incredible use of logos. Gurwitch