In literature, authors use rhetorical devices and strategies to relay important information to the reader as well as an underlying point they want the reader to remember after finishing the piece. Depending on the authors audience as well as their attitude towards the matter at hand, affects which rhetorical devices they choose to employ. Throughout the article, “There’s More to Life than Being Happy”, the author deploys many rhetorical devices and strategies such as logos, pathos, ethos, and comparison and contrast to explain and relish the importance of searching for a meaningful life rather than a life full of happiness.
Logos can be described as the appeal to logic, judgement, and reason. Most of Smith’s article uses logos in her reasoning …show more content…
It isn’t used very often but it does come up a bit in the beginning of the article as well as towards the end. Pathos can be described as an appeal to the reader’s emotions to elicit some sort of emotional reaction whether good or bad. In this article, Smith talks about Frankl’s experience while in a concentration camp. This is meant to reference his credibility as well as appeal to the readers emotions. Frankl talks about how both his parents and his expecting wife perished in the camp and how he struggled to find meaning there. He also talks about his two suicidal inmates there as well and how he tried to help them find the motivation and meaning to go on, which they did. Frankl writes in his book: “everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance, to choose one’s own way” (Smith.2013). Smith ties in this quote from Frankl, to appeal to pathos as well as to get the reader to think. If Frankl and others in those camps could find meaning and the right attitude to move through unbearable circumstances, then society today should have no problem doing it as well. It’s a very affective quote and highlights what the rest of the article will be …show more content…
Ethos can be defined as the character of the author or the reference the author uses as well as the reliability of that source. When a reference has good ethos, it means they are credible as a reference source. Throughout this article, Smith uses a lot of ethos. The first and probably most important, is the ethos of Viktor Frankl, the author of Man’s Search for Meaning, as well as who the article is mainly written about. Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who was taken to a Nazi concentration camp in 1942. When Viktor was released from the Nazi camp in 1946, he wrote his book about his experiences there, as well as the pursuit of happiness and the meaning of life. Frankl has credibility to talk about the problems and issues regarding the pursuit of happiness because of his first hand experiences in the camp as well as his experiences while being a psychiatrist. Smith also claims Frankl’s credibility in paragraph three, when she talks about his experience dealing with two suicidal inmates at the camp. It was then that Frankl truly began to ponder the difference between the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of meaning in one’s life. Frankl explains in his book, when someone can find a purpose behind their life, no matter how big or small, they will be able to bear almost any unbearable circumstances. Possibly the best example of Frankl’s character comes in the third and fourth to last paragraphs in the
Logos can be described as the appeal to logic, judgement, and reason. Most of Smith’s article uses logos in her reasoning …show more content…
It isn’t used very often but it does come up a bit in the beginning of the article as well as towards the end. Pathos can be described as an appeal to the reader’s emotions to elicit some sort of emotional reaction whether good or bad. In this article, Smith talks about Frankl’s experience while in a concentration camp. This is meant to reference his credibility as well as appeal to the readers emotions. Frankl talks about how both his parents and his expecting wife perished in the camp and how he struggled to find meaning there. He also talks about his two suicidal inmates there as well and how he tried to help them find the motivation and meaning to go on, which they did. Frankl writes in his book: “everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance, to choose one’s own way” (Smith.2013). Smith ties in this quote from Frankl, to appeal to pathos as well as to get the reader to think. If Frankl and others in those camps could find meaning and the right attitude to move through unbearable circumstances, then society today should have no problem doing it as well. It’s a very affective quote and highlights what the rest of the article will be …show more content…
Ethos can be defined as the character of the author or the reference the author uses as well as the reliability of that source. When a reference has good ethos, it means they are credible as a reference source. Throughout this article, Smith uses a lot of ethos. The first and probably most important, is the ethos of Viktor Frankl, the author of Man’s Search for Meaning, as well as who the article is mainly written about. Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who was taken to a Nazi concentration camp in 1942. When Viktor was released from the Nazi camp in 1946, he wrote his book about his experiences there, as well as the pursuit of happiness and the meaning of life. Frankl has credibility to talk about the problems and issues regarding the pursuit of happiness because of his first hand experiences in the camp as well as his experiences while being a psychiatrist. Smith also claims Frankl’s credibility in paragraph three, when she talks about his experience dealing with two suicidal inmates at the camp. It was then that Frankl truly began to ponder the difference between the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of meaning in one’s life. Frankl explains in his book, when someone can find a purpose behind their life, no matter how big or small, they will be able to bear almost any unbearable circumstances. Possibly the best example of Frankl’s character comes in the third and fourth to last paragraphs in the