Rhetorical Analysis: The Changing American Family

The majority of american families are not what they used to be, as outlined in the article “The Changing American Family” by Natalie Angier. A traditional family is classified as two parents of opposite sex with one or more children under twenty living in the household. Families in this generation are becoming more and more diverse in ways ranging from ethnicity to religion. Settling down, getting married, and having kids is no longer the standard of the new generations. However do the few Americans that do settle down and live the traditional american family life live a better life than those that take a more modern approach? Pamela Yip, the author of “Nontraditional Families Struggling More Than Traditional Families” believes they do, but …show more content…
Bowman includes statements from multiple professionals from different national education centers, to help support her claim and provide a credible argument. While Yip also turned towards an outside source to provide more information, she did not venture out to more than one source. To prove that her argument is logical she includes a claim from Dr. Gibson-Davis pointing out the relevance of marriage in past centuries, when marriage was required for a woman to be financially secure as opposed to more recent years where a woman has the same opportunities that a man has. Yip compares the average income of traditional families to nontraditional families, but there are always outliers and families that are not taken into account. Pathos was presented in Bowman’s argument when she discussed other milestones being used as first steps into adulthood instead of marriage. Most young adults today can relate that they would rather establish a career, pay of student loans or other debts, or buy a house before they legally bond themselves to another person. She states that marriage is symbolic and while it is still respected it is not as necessary as it once was. Traditional families like marriage still hold reverence and while it is still the ideal situation for most americans it is not necessary to provide a loving environment, and a successful