Journal
 When do you feel that it might be okay to break the
law? OR why might you feel that it is never okay to
break the law?
Self-reliance Review
 What does “envy is ignorance; imitation suicide”
mean?
 How do the ideas the Declaration of Independence or
the constitution relate to some of Emerson’s concepts?
 What does Emerson think of people who call for
consistent in thought and action and who fear being
misunderstood?
 Agree/disagree with Emerson?
Rhetoric Review??
This is the Rhetorical Triangle
Match the 3 rhetorical appeals to the following terms:
Ethos
 Speaker/Communicator
 Message
 Audience
Pathos
Logos
RHETORIC
 Aristotle was the first to define rhetoric and he
came up with the 3 rhetorical appeals: Ethos,
Pathos, Logos and how they interact together (the
rhetorical triangle)
 Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the art of using
language as a means to persuade”
 The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines rhetoric
as “the art of writing or speaking effectively”
 Rhetoric has been used since ancient Greece and is
considered an ancient art.
Rhetoric
 We are going to use rhetoric to analyze the language
choices authors and speakers use to create meaningful
and persuasive texts.
 We will use rhetorical techniques in our own
nonfiction writing to create more meaningful texts.
 Ethos – establishing credibility
 Pathos -- emotional appeals
 Logos -- logical appeals
 These areas form the “Rhetorical Triangle.”
The Rhetorical Triangle: What are
the arrows for?
Logos
Pathos
Ethos: the speaker
 Why should we listen to this person’s
argument?
 The author or communicator has to
establish a persona (a personality that we
trust) and give us a credible reason to
want to believe him
 The author/communicator also needs to
establish him/herself as an authority on
the subject of their message and someone
who is worthy of respect.
Pathos: appeal to the audience
 Persuading by appealing to the reader’s or the
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AUDIENCE’S emotions.
Trying to tap into your audience’s values and beliefs
will help your argument. So you must know your
audience BEFORE you deliver your message.
Your audience will be persuaded when they feel any
sort of emotion towards your topic.
This is done through anecdotal writing or narratives
and “loaded words” words that have emotional
meaning
This is also done through description and figurative
language
Logos: the message
 the logic used to support a claim in the text or
MESSAGE
 Logic is accomplished through the use of facts,
data, statistics, details and examples to back up
your claims.
 Also used by citing authority and testimony,
establishing causes and effects and using
inductive and deductive reasoning
Reading for Rhetoric
 Whenever we read a non-fiction text we
should be reading rhetorically, or looking
for the hidden persuasion behind the words.
The Reader’s Rhetorical Triangle
 Logos
 Note the claims the author makes
 Note the data the author provides to support the claims
 Note the conclusions draw
 Ethos
 Note how the author establishes a persona
 Note how the author establishes credibility
 Note any revelation of the author’s credential s or personal history
 Pathos
 Note the primary audience for the text
 Note the emotional appeals the author makes
 Note the author’s expectations of the audience
Pop Quiz
 Put away your notes, and take out a piece of paper.
 Draw a triangle on your paper
 Label the triangle using what you have just learned
about the rhetorical triangle.
 You need to include: ethos, pathos, logos,
message, communicator/speaker and audience
and write any other words you can around the
triangle to represent/describe the different parts
Pop Quiz
 Trade papers with your partner and explain, using your
own words, how you have labeled your triangle.
 Turn this paper into the box
Resistance to Civil Government
Background
 In July 1846 Thoreau spent a night in jail because he
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refused to pay his poll tax (state’s required this tax as a
qualification of voting)
He refused because he was opposed to the government’s
support of slavery and the Mexican American War
This poll tax was going to the government, which in turn
would probably fund the Mexican American War
Many thought the US was involved in the Mexican War
only to expand their slave holding territory
He only spent one night in jail, his Aunt paid the tax for
him and he was set free
Ghandi and MLK were inspired by his essay
Reading Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience
 Read as a class
 While reading, annotate the text:
 Specifically underline or highlight portions of the article
that you think are pertaining to Ethos, Pathos or Logos.
You may want to label them as “E”, “P” or “L” or use
different colored highlighters.
Examples of Rhetoric
 On a separate sheet of paper: write down Thoreau’s
BEST example of each rhetorical appeal: ethos, pathos,
logos
 Explain WHY this is a good example