Mandatory Blog 1

We, writers, are familiar with the ancient rhetoricians and their belief that an argument is not complete unless appealing to ethos, the speaker’s credibility, or logos, the issue itself. But as Aristotle states`, there is a third intrinsic proof, pathos, the appeal to powerful human emotions. As English speakers, we think of the term “pathetic” as a grand insult for the most pitiful of behaviors, but taken strongly, the term literally means to arouse powerful emotions.
Aristotle stated three specific criteria for emotional appeal to be used as intrinsic proof within a piece. First, one must understand the state of mind of people who are angry, indignant, or joyful; second, they need to understand who is capable of arousing such emotions within people; and third, they must understand the reasons for which people become emotional. In his essay “Under the Influence” of which details the powerful effect a father’s alcoholism has on his son, Scott Russell Sanders adheres to all three criteria and creates a powerful essay that is sure to leave a lasting impression on even the most passive of readers.
He begins his essay with, “My father drank. He drank as a gut-punched boxer gasps for breath, as a starving dog gobbles food-compulsively, secretly, in pain and trembling. I use the past tense not because my father quit drinking but because he quit living. That is how the story ends for my father, age sixty-four, heart bursting, body cooling and forsaken on the linoleum of my brother’s trailer.” Clearly, without even really making a solid effort to do so, Sanders elicits a strong response in the reader. It is clear that the writer’s father and his voracious drinking had lasting psychological damage on him. By just evoking painful memories, we are able to sympathize with a man who isn’t directly asking for our sympathy.
Clearly he demonstrates the ability to understand human emotions, and because are emotions are generally affected by direct stimuli, it is known that those we care about, our friends and more so our family, have more bearing on our emotions than others. Sanders is talking about his father, the man that arguably shapes the young adult male (in many cases) more than any other person, and the debilitating psychological baggage that his father’s binge-drinking brought on. Sanders writes, “I lie there hating him, loving him, fearing him, knowing I have failed him.” He details the complex and confused emotions that occur from such a difficult experience as watching a loved and trusted family member destroy himself with booze. His father’s drinking was able to simultaneously make feel angry, helpless, and guilty, all while still being able to project love onto his father. These internal conflicts of facing a plethora of emotions brought on by a single event can relate to any human being as we are all faced with conflicting and confusing emotions, thus, he is able to directly relate to the reader even if he/she might not have any experience with alcoholism.
By appealing to the reader’s emotions, Sanders is able to make a highly convincing argument against alcoholism. By telling his own story of his father’s booze addiction he is also able to establish ethos, as a known talented writer and a man with personal experience in the matter, he clearly is able to come off as someone well-versed in the issue. Just to strengthen his argument, he even offers statistical numbers as to the vastly high rates of alcoholism in the United States. By using such grand emotional appeal, Sanders successfully elicits a strong response from the reader and makes a highly powerful statement of the social dilemma of alcoholism and its effect on the children of alcoholic parents.