A Response to: “Finished with the War: A Soldier’s Declaration”. For a soldier in the military often times questioning why you are there fighting a war can be difficult because you do not want your loyalty to be seen as wavering. However, at some point enough can be enough. For Siegfried Sassoon he was able to muster the courage to voice his opinion on the war he was fighting in. The direct audience for his letter was Sassoon’s commanding officer. The letter was published in the Bradford Pioneer as well, so the larger audience would have been the citizens who read the paper. For Sassoon, his purpose for writing his declaration was to get out into the world his disgust. Not at the idea of war, but for how long it had been dragging on and that
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Ethos, which is his credibility is used because he is a soldier, which means he is able to relate his experiences and it is believable since he had actually seen it. The pathos Sassoon employs to get the reader invested is using himself as a noble character since he declares his letter is not just for himself, but for the suffering of other soldiers as well. “On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them” (Sassoon, “Finished with the War: A Soldier’s Declaration”). It was risky business to speak out against the war and that is why serious tone is used in tandem with the ethos and pathos to set the mood. Sassoon did not use a variety of logical fallacies in his declaration besides appealing to emotion. War is an emotionally charged subject so in my opinion that is forgivable however he did use ad hominem as well which is not as forgivable. Without stating any facts he claims that those who are in charge, willingly keep the war going without giving any facts as to why that could be. This logical fallacy would likely detract from his argument to his direct audience. Overall Siegfried Sassoon wrote a compelling letter that is remembered as one of the literary pieces from the great
Ethos, which is his credibility is used because he is a soldier, which means he is able to relate his experiences and it is believable since he had actually seen it. The pathos Sassoon employs to get the reader invested is using himself as a noble character since he declares his letter is not just for himself, but for the suffering of other soldiers as well. “On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them” (Sassoon, “Finished with the War: A Soldier’s Declaration”). It was risky business to speak out against the war and that is why serious tone is used in tandem with the ethos and pathos to set the mood. Sassoon did not use a variety of logical fallacies in his declaration besides appealing to emotion. War is an emotionally charged subject so in my opinion that is forgivable however he did use ad hominem as well which is not as forgivable. Without stating any facts he claims that those who are in charge, willingly keep the war going without giving any facts as to why that could be. This logical fallacy would likely detract from his argument to his direct audience. Overall Siegfried Sassoon wrote a compelling letter that is remembered as one of the literary pieces from the great