My Reaction to Pathos, Ethos, and Logos (Class Connection Blog Post)

         To be honest, at the beginning of the school year when we first learned about the concept of pathos, ethos, and logos, I was confused. It was hard to grasp the idea that you had to examine writing this closely to gain a full understanding of its essence. I also wondered how I was ever going to remember which rhetorical device was which. As the past few weeks have passed, though, I've started to get the hang of things. After a while, you start to associate each term with certain ideas and images in your head until they just sort of come naturally to you in a way where you hardly have to think at all. Now, I have a pretty good basic understanding of which is which and some of the ways in which they are used. Lately, I've been starting to notice them in everyday things that I read, and even in some of my classes. Before this year, I wouldn't have even acknowledged these specific styles of writing hidden throughout the world.
        For instance, a while ago, a read a book called Mistaken Identity, written by Don and Susie Van Ryn, along with Newell Colleen and Whitney Cerak. These four individuals worked together to write a novel about the true story of two girls who were caught up in a terrible car accident. One of them died during the accident, while the other lived but was in critical condition for almost half a year. The girl who survived was badly injured and was literally mistaken as the other girl in the car accident (the one who had died). Over time, the girl recovered and the truth came out, but for a few months, everyone's lives were mixed up and there were some very rough patches for everyone involved. To elicit pathos, or emotion, authors use their wording carefully. One wrong word, and the writing can give you an unwanted emotion by mistake. When people use pathos in their writing, they elaborate on the subject while strengthening it with a certain sense of emotion. In Mistaken Identity, the authors used emotion such as hope and faith. They also used hints of sorrow throughout the book, but it was not overused. By using strong feelings of hope and faith, the writing is able to enlighten the reader and give them the feeling that everything happens for a reason, and even when life gets rough, there is always a glimmer of light. Also, since the authors were all family members directly related to the incident, they were able to use the events that occurred to establish ethos, or character. Everyone is able to relate to hardships, and some are even able to relate to such severe hardships as the ones in the book. This shows that the authors were able to successfully use the concept of ethos in their writing. They were also able to employ logos, or reason, efficiently within the book. Throughout the entire book, everything was organized in a way so that the events made sense. Nothing was confusing and all of the elements had a special place. The novel contained knowledge of right and wrong as well as the reasoning behind all of the strange occurrences that took place. No one could have imagined that a mistake as big as this could ever occur.
        Ever since we learned about ethos, pathos, and logos, I've been noticing more and more places where rhetorical devices can be found, just like in Mistaken Identity. It is nice to be able to make connections between what is learned inside of class and in writing samples all over the world. I still have a LOT to learn about ethos, pathos, and logos, but I'm on my way!