When writing a nonfiction novel, an author must take his or her time to establish authenticity. While there are many ways of doing this, a typical approach to the subject would be to use the modes of persuasion. The modes of persuasion are three separate categories that can be used to cover almost every aspect of a novel, the three categories are pathos, ethos, and logos. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the author uses a combination of the three categories to establish her authenticity. Although she uses pathos and ethos to connect to the readers, the author uses logos to further her authenticity.
Because of the subject of the novel, Skloot choose not to rely on emotions, or pathos, to establish her credibility. The use of pathos appears sporadically throughout the novel, the author tends to use it to make the reader sympathize with a certain character at a specific time. An example of this can be seen in chapter twenty six, when Deborah Lacks is reading about her mother, Henrietta’s autopsy, “After reading the passage, …show more content…
The use of ethics, or ethos, allows Skloot to establish both sides of an argument, while never actually stating her side on the subject. An example of this can be seen when Skloot exposes a virologist Chester Southam and his study where he would not tell patients he was injecting them with the cancerous HeLa cells. “The deception was for his benefit – he was withholding information because patients might have refused to participate in his study if they’d known what he was injecting,” (Skloot 130). In cases like this Skloot doesn’t offer her opinion toward one side or the other, but she brings in the ethics and morals of the readers and allows them to
Because of the subject of the novel, Skloot choose not to rely on emotions, or pathos, to establish her credibility. The use of pathos appears sporadically throughout the novel, the author tends to use it to make the reader sympathize with a certain character at a specific time. An example of this can be seen in chapter twenty six, when Deborah Lacks is reading about her mother, Henrietta’s autopsy, “After reading the passage, …show more content…
The use of ethics, or ethos, allows Skloot to establish both sides of an argument, while never actually stating her side on the subject. An example of this can be seen when Skloot exposes a virologist Chester Southam and his study where he would not tell patients he was injecting them with the cancerous HeLa cells. “The deception was for his benefit – he was withholding information because patients might have refused to participate in his study if they’d known what he was injecting,” (Skloot 130). In cases like this Skloot doesn’t offer her opinion toward one side or the other, but she brings in the ethics and morals of the readers and allows them to