The first chapter mainly focuses on the ideas of SOAPS and rhetoric. SOAPS is an effective way to analyze texts and their meaning, so that one can really understand what the author was trying to say. Rhetoric is a larger idea that focuses on how well a writer conveys their point with the rhetorical appeals. We mainly focused on the three rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos. While ethos, logos, and pathos are all very important we also learned that the strongest pieces use all three appeals to make a strong, convincing argument.
The "The July 16, 1969, Launch: A Symbol of Man's Greatness" article presents the moon landing as a symbol of all that man can achieve if he puts his mind to it. In contrast "Transported" the editorial cartoon portrays the moon landing as a distraction from tackling much bigger issues that our world faces such as war, poverty, and prejudice. These two pieces are very different in a variety of ways, they are both looking at the same event however they see it in two very different lights, they are also two different formats of text, one being a commentary and the other being a cartoon. This changes how the pieces use rhetoric to convince the audience of their opinion.
"A Symbol of Man's Greatness" uses all three rhetorical appeals to convey its message to the audience. Ethos is used indirectly in a way, as the commentary is from a first person point of view, and the fact that the author was present at the launch brings a sense of validity to her claims. Logos is used minimally in the article however it is effective where it is used. While exact statistics are not present there are several examples of factual information being used, such as the setting and description of the event. Pathos is the primary appeal that she uses, strong emotional language is used throughout to convey a strong sense of pride in what is being done. She went beyond the facts of the event in her description, she focused on how it made her and those around her feel. By making the audience understand her emotions related to the event it makes her conclusion that it is an inspiring example of man at his best much more believable.
"Transported" by Herblock shows a different view of the moon landing. Instead of portraying it as the shining jewel of man's achievements, he shows it as an event that took the world away from other issues like war, poverty, and prejudice. Herblock is much more limited in the appeals that he uses, his main focus being on pathos. While his main focus is on pathos, he does have some degree of automatic ethos to those that are familiar with is work, however he does not use any ethos in the piece itself to establish himself as a reliable source. There is no logos used other than the fact that war, poverty, and prejudice are actual problems that the world faced at that time, however this is more common knowledge than it is factual evidence. Pathos is by far his main appeal, as he uses the strong image of the Earth covered in a black cloud of problems while a man sits on the moon focused on a television screen. This is designed to stir emotions in the audience, to me it showed that in many ways the moon landing was a distraction from very serious problems that the world was facing. Whether these are the same emotions stirred in all viewers is unimportant, just the fact that it stirs thoughts and feelings is the primary focus.
"The July 16, 1969, Launch: A Symbol of Man's Greatness" by Ayn Rand and "Transported" by Herblock are two very different pieces, however they have distinct differences and similarities. The primary differences that the pieces have is that they are two different mediums, and have very different opinions of the same event. However both pieces do mainly use pathos as their primary tool.
The "The July 16, 1969, Launch: A Symbol of Man's Greatness" article presents the moon landing as a symbol of all that man can achieve if he puts his mind to it. In contrast "Transported" the editorial cartoon portrays the moon landing as a distraction from tackling much bigger issues that our world faces such as war, poverty, and prejudice. These two pieces are very different in a variety of ways, they are both looking at the same event however they see it in two very different lights, they are also two different formats of text, one being a commentary and the other being a cartoon. This changes how the pieces use rhetoric to convince the audience of their opinion.
"A Symbol of Man's Greatness" uses all three rhetorical appeals to convey its message to the audience. Ethos is used indirectly in a way, as the commentary is from a first person point of view, and the fact that the author was present at the launch brings a sense of validity to her claims. Logos is used minimally in the article however it is effective where it is used. While exact statistics are not present there are several examples of factual information being used, such as the setting and description of the event. Pathos is the primary appeal that she uses, strong emotional language is used throughout to convey a strong sense of pride in what is being done. She went beyond the facts of the event in her description, she focused on how it made her and those around her feel. By making the audience understand her emotions related to the event it makes her conclusion that it is an inspiring example of man at his best much more believable.
"Transported" by Herblock shows a different view of the moon landing. Instead of portraying it as the shining jewel of man's achievements, he shows it as an event that took the world away from other issues like war, poverty, and prejudice. Herblock is much more limited in the appeals that he uses, his main focus being on pathos. While his main focus is on pathos, he does have some degree of automatic ethos to those that are familiar with is work, however he does not use any ethos in the piece itself to establish himself as a reliable source. There is no logos used other than the fact that war, poverty, and prejudice are actual problems that the world faced at that time, however this is more common knowledge than it is factual evidence. Pathos is by far his main appeal, as he uses the strong image of the Earth covered in a black cloud of problems while a man sits on the moon focused on a television screen. This is designed to stir emotions in the audience, to me it showed that in many ways the moon landing was a distraction from very serious problems that the world was facing. Whether these are the same emotions stirred in all viewers is unimportant, just the fact that it stirs thoughts and feelings is the primary focus.
"The July 16, 1969, Launch: A Symbol of Man's Greatness" by Ayn Rand and "Transported" by Herblock are two very different pieces, however they have distinct differences and similarities. The primary differences that the pieces have is that they are two different mediums, and have very different opinions of the same event. However both pieces do mainly use pathos as their primary tool.