Hannah Rosin's Mother Inferior

Hannah Rosin’s “Mother Inferior?” first appeared in the Wall Street Journal in 2011, while editing for the Atlantic. Very different from Amy Chua, Hanna Rosin is a typical “western” parent. She’s a dedicated, caring mother that isn’t in favor of Tiger Moms. A “tiger mom” is a strict over dedicated parent that expects nothing but the best from their children. While a “western parent” is an easy-going parent that wants their children to be sincerely happy. Her essay, “Mother Inferior?” basically sums up that parenting isn’t about perfecting our children, but to let them “roam free” and find their own interests. She also talks about the two parenting styles, and if you’re not a tiger mom then that doesn’t mean you’re second-rate mother. As a reader, …show more content…
She efficiently uses ethos and pathos to her advantage. She establishes her credibility by involving her personal experience of motherhood, her moral principles on children, and her trustworthy tone. Rosin won over my emotion in her opening paragraph. Rosin was playing a game with her two year old, and she had to act like a tiger and when she roared her child laughed so hard, then he patted on her head and said, “kitty kat” (309). For some odd reason I couldn’t help but picture it all in my head and this memory appealed to my heart. Another time Rosin appeared to my emotions is when she compares her childhood and adulthood and preaches, “I wanted them coddled and never to experience hardship” (311). This hit home and gave me a reason to care while earning my trust. I did notice the lack of logos in Rosin’s writing though. She made me think about the context of her writing, but lacked facts, statistics, and hard evidence. Rosin has a lack of documented sources in this essay. Rosin briefly mentions stories of “child prodigies gone bad”, but instead talks about her friend hating the violin (310). Sharing statistics about prodigies harming their mothers would have had a bigger impact on the counter argument. Even though she lacks logos, she doesn’t lack ethos or pathos in her …show more content…
An example of an ad hominem is, “Ms. Chua parenting prescription is that it exists wholly apart from any passion or innate talent” (311). Rosin might suggest Ms. Chua doesn’t know how to live life to the fullest, or maybe she is bland and had no childhood of her own. False dilemma is another fallacy I noticed in this essay. The way she says there is only two types of parenting, “tiger moms” and “western parents” leaves the whole world oblivious. You know there are many other parenting types, such as neglectful parenting, abusive parenting, or maybe a child doesn’t have their parents. It is a little closed minded for people with bright backgrounds to cross this out of their essay. Rosin wrote, “It is better to have a happy, moderately successful child than a miserable high-achiever” (312). I see this as another false dilemma because it only explains the scenarios of two individuals. How does one know if the individual suffers from depression, or has a very stressful event like a death in the family? That is enough to throw anybody out of track for a while. Another fallacy I examined was faulty cause and effect. Rosin pointed out, “Ms. Chua does it with Suzuki piano books and insults, while many of my friends do it with organic baby food and playrooms filled with fully curated wooden toys. In both cases, the result is the same: an excess of children who are dutiful