Example Of Pathos In The Curious Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano?

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Rhetorical modes are a way or a method of presenting an argument through writing or speech. In making arguments, there are three major rhetorical modes, as outlined by Aristotle: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is an appeal to ethics and a way of showing the author or speaker’s credibility, Pathos is the appeal to the reader or listener’s emotions, and Logos is the use of logic and reasoning. In “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,” Equiano, who is the main character and author, uses these three modes to argue that slavery and the slave trade should be eliminated. He demonstrates Ethos by explaining his personal beliefs as a Christian and his personal experience as a slave . Pathos, through his emotions over being separated …show more content…
Throughout “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” I believe that Equiano did a really good job using the three modes because at the end of the narrative I felt like he was telling me the truth of what really happened. It was believable to the point at which I had no questions at the end. As I read the narrative I feel like Ethos was used much more effectively than Pathos and Logos because he uses personal experience and by the sounds of it, he seems to have learned a lot through this journey even though it was terrible one. He also gained a lot of credibility from his readers by describing the details of every event that happened while having to go through the many situations that he did. Throughout his narrative, he explains how he was one of the lucky ones who had been taken in by great families and while doing this he still thought about looking from the perspective of a slave who is mistreated. This definitely lets his audience understands that he is not biased and that he knows both sides of the story which persuades us as readers even further. In the end, Equiano has manages to use the three rhetorical modes to make me believe that slavery and the slave trade should be put to an

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