Rhetorical Analysis Of Undocumented Immigrants By Doug Laforest

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Rhetorical Analysis Doug Laforest wrote an article about how it is not socially acceptable to use any other phrase for an immigrant that has illegally traveled to the United States to claim residency should be referred to as an “Undocumented Immigrant”. When analyzing the article Doug writes, “Undocumented Immigrants”, there were many rhetorical devices used to get the point across effectively. Through the course of the article not only does the author use many effective strategies but the people he quotes also bring great devices to the table. The first thing that is written is “Language is Power”, which will come to play role later on in the paper. Jumping right into the reading right after that though Doug introduces us to a friend that …show more content…
Showing the journey of staring out being Filipino born, his family wanting a greater education for him but not being able to make it to the United States due to being and undocumented immigrant. His family wanted him to marry his way into a green card but he did not want to live a fraudulent marriage because he is gay. “Furthermore, the media has responded to Vargas’s insistence that the phrase undocumented immigrant be used (Ly).” This is another type of style, conflict, which is showing how the other went back and forth about what is correct usage and such. People are fiddling with how to describe the immigrants, he is telling them there is only one politically correct way, “undocumented immigrant”. Jose leads on and talks about how “illegal immigrant” and other terms used to label them as a criminal. Many people think of the word criminal when they hear these words, which is not right to the people. The Cornell Daily Sun wrote “No human being is illegal”. Which they also agreed that the term conveyed criminality. This establishes credit and appeals to Ethos, he uses this as a support, a big time newspaper had backed him up on the fact that the way people are describing illegals needs to be reevaluated and thought out more acceptably. Then the newspaper states that the act is illegal not the …show more content…
The children center is described as a “progressive” place “progressive in the sense that community building is emphasized and everyone is welcome, regardless of race, economic status and any other potential category of differences.” This paints a picture in the reader’s mind, imagery, shows that the children’s center is a safe and inviting place for one to go to. During this meeting there were a bunch of first generation parents that were immigrants that came, getting comfortable with their surroundings one man goes and describes introduces himself and describes his children all in Spanish, which shocked everyone so much that, “You could have heard a pin drop”, according to Doug. This is an example of an idiom, this shows that people are not accustomed to the use of Spanish, which should not be a big deal in this day and age. “Language is power.” The first sentence of the article, and one of the last sentences. This is repetition, always reiterating that words are powerful. With this statement being repeated it reminds the readers that words are key, no matter if it is directed at people who have Down’s syndrome, gay, or undocumented immigrants. They are all human beings and deserve to be treated so. This is what Doug is trying to get across when he says “Language is power”, it is all how people approach

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