The Power of Pathos In the words of Vincent Van Goh, “Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it” (Guillemets). Emotions guide people through life like a compass in a similar fashion to how a compass guides a sailor on his voyage. This emotional compass leads us in the path of an ultimately unknown yet assumed destination in life and we follow it blindly every day. In the good times and the bad, emotional experiences and relationships tend to be more memorable and important to people than those with less emotional connections. The fact that people can make connections with others on an emotional level through feelings of sympathy, empathy, anger, or any other emotion
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Anne Beatty’s “Survival Skills at a School in LA” exemplifies this fundamental principle of emotion to connect readers from completely different backgrounds through the heartbreaking stories of the …show more content…
Two graduate students had come to have the kids take a survey on the correlation of literacy levels and economic status, and Xavier had questioned the graduate students about the justice in a huge gap of the amount of money some schools have in comparison to his own. About why some schools have fully functional school supplies whilst others do not, and why differences in quality of education and facilities occur within school districts located relatively near one another. This basic injustice that this very smart kid understands and questions creates an extremely personal situation that translates across to the reader making the reader upset that this injustice exists. In a way, each one of Beatty’s anecdotes allows the readers a different perspective on life than the one that they have grown accustomed to, thereby allowing them to change or add onto their views on the injustice that goes on in the world, in this case specifically in LA schools. Emotional connections and influences drawn out by these anecdotes demonstrates the potential impact an author’s words can have on one’s opinions and thoughts about these
Anne Beatty’s “Survival Skills at a School in LA” exemplifies this fundamental principle of emotion to connect readers from completely different backgrounds through the heartbreaking stories of the …show more content…
Two graduate students had come to have the kids take a survey on the correlation of literacy levels and economic status, and Xavier had questioned the graduate students about the justice in a huge gap of the amount of money some schools have in comparison to his own. About why some schools have fully functional school supplies whilst others do not, and why differences in quality of education and facilities occur within school districts located relatively near one another. This basic injustice that this very smart kid understands and questions creates an extremely personal situation that translates across to the reader making the reader upset that this injustice exists. In a way, each one of Beatty’s anecdotes allows the readers a different perspective on life than the one that they have grown accustomed to, thereby allowing them to change or add onto their views on the injustice that goes on in the world, in this case specifically in LA schools. Emotional connections and influences drawn out by these anecdotes demonstrates the potential impact an author’s words can have on one’s opinions and thoughts about these